“HELGA and #DIEGO VOCI” by Helga Voci

#DIEGO VOCI Aficionados get a special bonus. Nobody knew #DIEGO VOCI better for 25 years than Helga Voci.  She is sole owner of the Diego Voci Estate and provides us with this terrific insight into her, and her years with #DIEGO VOCI.

Chapter One:  Who is Helga Voci?

“I was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1939, just before the war started. My parents were Germans, at that time many Germans had been living in Czechoslovakia for generations. When the war started my father had to join the army and he was killed in 1941 in Russia, my maiden name was Drössler.  In 1945 all Germans had to leave Czechoslovakia (because Hitler had lost the war) and we were brought to Germany, my family to Bavaria.

“Prag / Tschechin”, D. Voci 1964, oil on wood, 56 x 80 cm. 

In 1948 my mother married again, her name was then Brandl, I kept the name Drössler. After high school I went for 1 year to a Hotel boarding school, where I received my diploma when I was 18. In order to improve my language knowledge in English and French which was very important for that profession, I decided to go to Paris together with a girlfriend of that school. A few months before we had made a short trip to Paris to find out what possibilities we had to find accommodations, the right school and the way to make some money, as my family and her family were not quite happy about the idea to see us in Paris (this was over 50 years ago!)  and did not want to finance this project.

Anyway, we took the train in December 1957, went to Paris, took a taxi and went right away to school. There was a big blackboard in the hallway with many ads of families who were looking for au-pair girls. We called several numbers and within short time we both had a place to live.

In Paris we stayed until March 1959. It was a beautiful time, we studied, in the evenings we frequented the typical Parisian coffeehouses where we met many students and many artists and during the holidays we made trips through France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece and so on. In March 1959 we decided to work for the season to make some money. So we both found work in a Hotel in Bernkastel at the Mosel/Germany for 6 months, until September 1959. Then we both went home to our families for a few months.” – Helga Voci 

NEXT: Chapter Two: Helga meets DIEGO VOCI in Paris

6/10/2010 AC DV History #30