  Marianne Hahn was born in
Stockerau, Austria near Vienna on September 9, 1903.She
was the youngest by many years of four children in a
middle class family. Being the youngest, she was
spoiled as a child by her parents, sisters Chlotilde and
Elvira and brother Richard. Chlotilde had three
daughters, Edith (who later lived in London), Hansi and
Mimi; Elvira had a daughter, Yulchie, who still lives in
Vienna; Richard moved to Sacramento, California.
Marianne attended classes through college with an
emphasis on business and commuted to Vienna after
gymnasium to attend a “housekeeping” school.
Marianne
and her brother Richard were very sound sleepers.
During WWI, Richard was in the Austrian Army. His
unit was taken prisoner by the Russians and marched until
exhaustion set in. Many died along the road.
After one rest, Richard woke up and discovered he was
alone; apparently, he was sleeping so soundly that the
Russians thought he had died and left him behind!
Genetics played a part, as later Alex, during his boot
camp basic training, would sleep so soundly (as did his
partner in the pup tent) that other soldiers would have
to kick in the tent to wake them up. 
 When she was in her early
20s, Marianne went with her mother (Dorothea Hoffman) to
holiday at a resort in Austria. Adolf’s father
(Aleksa Robicek) had business in Austria and took some
time off to go to the same resort. The bags were
brought to their rooms and when Dorothea opened what she
thought was her suitcase, she found men’s clothing;
meanwhile, Aleksa found the opposite. They had
identical suitcases and keys. They met to exchange
their suitcases and struck up a friendship.
The
next time Aleksa came to Vienna on business, he brought
his son Adolf. Adolf was 10 years older than
Marianne and they quickly fell in love. Adolf spoke
German (along with 7 other languages), so they were able
to communicate in her native language. Her family
didn’t want her to move to Yugoslavia because they
felt that Balkans (Serbians) were “barbarians,”
yet a few months later they married and she moved to
Belgrade. It was very difficult for her, as she
didn’t speak the language and didn’t have an
ear to learn easily.
Marianne was very
submissive prior to the war (conversely, Adolf had a very
strong personality). Being the youngest of the
siblings and ten years younger than Adolf, she
didn’t really have a strong sense of who she was and
what she wanted. She was always a negative,
apprehensive person and felt a great deal of guilt for
leaving her mother. She didn’t know how to
enjoy life and, although she loved her children and
grandchildren, didn’t trust anyone outside of the
family (this distrust of people could have sprung from
her war experience). Marianne lived in world
of “what ifs,” whereas her children Alex
and Vera were the opposite in their beliefs. Alex
and Vera learned from what happened in their lives, moved
on and didn’t look back.
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