eighty years ago ...

it was eighty years ago on thursday that my father z"l and his brother charles z"l were born. this is the story of how they were born, as told to me by their sister, my adorable auntie d:

the friedls were living in berlin, on the motzstrasse north of the nollendorfplatz. in those days, one gave birth at home with the aid of a midwife. so mutti had her baby, a boy, and alex called the doctor to tell him. then mutti got up and had a cup of coffee. a while later, much to everyone's surprise (especially mutti's), she began to go into labour again. she gave birth to another boy. alex called the doctor to tell him. 'you already told me that,' said the doctor, ' you're drunk, man!' 'no, no, no,' said alex, 'another boy! there are two of them!!'

can you believe nobody figured out she was having twins? i can never remember who was first, and they spent the first several years of their lives being known as 'the twins'. more pix tomorrow.

nb albert is the one on the right

UPDATE auntie d tells me that i misremembered. first of all, mutti did not get up, she drank the coffee in bed. secondly, alex did not call the doctor, but rather his friends down at the rowing club. apparently they thought he was too old to sire one son, let alone two at the same time!