Chapter One: Who is Helga Voci?
“I was born in Prag, 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.“
NEXT: Helga meets DIEGO in Paris
What Christmas meant to Helga Voci. This says more about Helga than we have ever known.
From Helga;
“In my family Christmas was always a very traditional , also sentimental and familiar festivity with a lot of food preparation and each year it had to be the same dinner, as fish soup, carp with homemade potato salad and different other salads, big dessert. I remember my mother was cooking for 2 days and some weeks before Christmas she started with special Christmas cookies and Christmas cakes and nobody was allowed before Christmas to try them. We always spent the Christmas days with the whole family in Bavaria, it was cold and all covered with snow and at midnight we used to go to church, it was a small and cosy village church and it was very nice.
When I first knew Diego in Paris he was not a big fan of Christmas, I think he had been too long away from his family, mostly vagabonding through the world, then he became acquainted with Josiane, his first wife. She was from Genevra, her father had a cottage somewhere in the mountains and they went there in wintertime, skiing and probably also for the Christmas festivities.
The first year with Diego in Paris we decided to go and live in London, just before Christmas I left Paris and went to Germany to spend the Christmas days with my family, Diego, instead, left for London. At that time he did not yet know my family and he wanted to meet them another time. We stayed about 10 months in London and as it was raining a lot he wanted to leave and drive towards the south, as far as possible. So we landed in Almuniecar, a small village in South Spain, rented an apartment and stayed for about 6 months there, it was beautiful and warm but no Christmas atmosphere, I wanted a Christmas tree, and as there were no such trees growing there we went to Madrid(about 500 km or more) and bought a nice Christmas tree, packed it on the car and transported it to the South. Then later on we mostly spent the Christmas days in Bavaria with my parents and my sister and her family and my grandmother and Diego also liked it, he liked to be in the family and he liked our tradition.
Later on , when Alessandra was born and Lakshmi, our Indian housemaid stayed with us and we lived in Taunusstein, my parents also used to come to our house for Christmas, always with the same tradition. One year we had a very big Christmas party in our house (see image below), together with Christine and her family, Keyvan and Liliane Dussard with her children, my parents and Lakshmi, there is a foto we made at that time, it was a very beautiful party.
And then in 1985, a few weeks before Christmas Diego died, within 6 weeks and this year was my and my daughter`s most awful Christmas.!”
Helga Voci, widow of Diego Voci shares;
“In the beginning of the seventies we moved to #Bavaria, where my parents lived and where they intended to build a house and Diego was supposed to help them. So, we rented an apartment in the same #village. At the same time Diego did not like doing business with Joy Naffouj anymore; and Liliane Dussard, a #French lady who had been working for Naffouj in her #gallery for a while, wanted to change also.
So, Diego and Liliane decided to work together (around 1972 for several years). Liliane came to our house and she started to take contacts with #Nürnberg Ladies Clubs and Officers’ Clubs and had soon several dates for #exhibits. Now we needed frames, as everything was an #experiment. In the village, we found a #wood joiner and Diego made models of frames, so he started to do a collection of frames in different sizes, then we got these frames and Diego`s atelier became a frame workshop. Diego painted on #canvases and Liliane and me painted and #gold-plated the frames under Diego`s instruction. We were almost working day and night, as everything had to be ready for our first exhibit.
And then we started our first exhibit in the Officers’ Club Fürth near Nürnberg and it was a very big success.”
(This history is a little fuzzy with dates): Liliane Dussard (deceased now) represented Diego beginning in 1972 and times throughout his years until 1985.
Liliane arranged art auctions at Officer’s Club, hosted Gallery exhibits for Diego and shared Holidays with Helga and Diego. (see Art Auction flyer below for 1985 “Dussard Art Studio” in Taunusstein). 
Lilian Dussard moved to the United States in 1973 and opened a gallery with her name: Dussard Art Gallery in Strafford, Virginia.
Diego Voci; “Retour du Travail” #451-260 oil on canvas
We know Liliane’s had this painting by Diego Voci in her own collection: “Retour du Travail” #451-260
In the 1970, the parents of Helga Voci (Diego’s wife), built a new house in Bavaria. Diego’s artistic involvement can be seen in the interior and exterior to this day.
Here is an image of the front door (along with a close up) designed and sculpted in copper by Diego. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Diego_Voci#Germany_-_Naffouj_and_Dahms_galleries
The inspiration of the design was of the Roman time period. Notice the Roman numbers across the middle of the door.
To be fascinated by Diego’s talents Google “Diego Voci” and click “images”.
diegovociproject 