The NEUROTH Story

Transcription

The NEUROTH Story

Leykam
The NEUROTH Story
The history of a
family business
Doris Piringer
Doris Piringer
The Neuroth Story
Doris Piringer
The Neuroth Story
The history of a family business
Leykam
Photos:
Province of Styria
Chris Hofer
Robert Frankl
onomato Agency
Private
Neuroth
© by Leykam Buchverlagsgesellschaft m.b.H. Nfg. & Co. KG, Graz 2012
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form (whether by
photograph, microfilm or any other process), or processed, copied or
distributed using electronic systems without the written permission of the
publisher.
Front cover pictures: Portraits by the Viennese painter Bettina Filz
Cover design: Hermann Masser
Published by: Leykam Buchverlag
www.leykamverlag.at
Contents
Preface
To begin at the beginning
The black sheep returns
First of all, a clear goal
Twin sister
Europe on the horizon
Neuroth stories
Customer‘s stories
Photo and picture album
One more thing …
The role model
A look back
The deaf genius
|7
|9
| 21
| 41
| 68
| 79
| 89
| 107
| 147
| 179
| 180
| 185
| 194
7
Preface
For a long time Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth resisted
starting this project, despite the efforts of her family
to convince her otherwise. One might ask why? But
those who know her well realise that Waltraud does
not like to put herself out in the front row or become
the centre of attention, even if she is often the one
who holds all the threads in her hands. We spent many
hours together in countless, long discussions, delving
deep into the past and going right back to the beginnings of the last century. But at no point in our discussions did Waltraud shirk issues or censor any of my
questions, even when they were uncomfortable, and
I am grateful to her for this and admire her openness.
I must also extend many thanks to all those who
have given their time to talk with me, both the close
family members and the long-standing, loyal companions and employees of the company.
In the course of these discussions, one thing has
become increasingly clear: there is within this family a
common life force, a Neuroth spirit that is plainly evi-
8
Foreword
dent even in what is a still-youthful and yet to be fully
tested fourth generation. Such a spirit is a very rare
and precious gift. It has to do with how to deal with
people, how to value them, and how to connect with
them. This respect for others, in particular when dealing with what some might see as just the customer, is
something that nowadays is difficult to find in many
other companies.
To be a member of the Neuroth family seems to be
something special.
Doris Piringer
Our story begins at the birth of the 20th century. Its
prologue is set in a bustling, cosmopolitan city of two
million people.
Cast your mind back to a time before more than a
century of tumultuous change, and imagine yourself
wandering around the streets of the exciting, vibrant
Vienna of 1900. From all corners of the Austro-Hungarian empire, people are flocking into the rapidly modernising but historic city, coming to live and work, and
bringing with them a whole bundle of dreams, ambitions and energetic hopes for a better life. As the capital
city of an empire and monarchy uniting 15 separate
historic states, and bringing together peoples of a variety of languages, national traditions and faiths, Vienna
welcomes all its many newcomers, and prides itself on
being an ethnic and cultural melting pot for a great part
of the European continent. And what a splendid city
has been built to house them! The Ringstrasse with its
magnificent pomp and splendour has been laid out and
finally completed, thereby linking up the majestic Palace with the grand civic institutions housing the State
Opera, the Burgtheater, the City Hall, and the Houses
of Parliament.
9
10 To begin at the beginning
A rtistic
ferment
Art Nouveau is in its heyday, and this style shapes
the buildings in the heart of the imperial capital to a
large degree, while also making its mark on furniture,
jewellery, graphics, and tapestries. To this day the
works of architects such as Otto Wagner, Kolo Moser,
and Adolf Loos stand to remind us of their incomparable sense of design and imagination. But the city is
also a powerhouse for painters, writers, musicians, poets, authors and journalists who meet together in, for
example, the famous Cafe Griensteidl near the Imperial Palace, a kind of relaxing parlour or friendly forum
for so many creative minds.
Imagine sitting down at a table and ordering a coffee. You watch as a copy of Die Post, Vienna’s daily
newspaper, is brought over to the table of the poet
Peter Altenberg, as he holds forth amongst his companions as a master in the art of polished conversation. Over on another table you might see Theodor
Herzl, eagerly discussing his ideas for a Jewish state,
and responding to questions from the writer and opera librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal and the author
and dramatist Arthur Schnitzler.
It was altogether a time of great artistic and intellectual ferment and excitement for Vienna. The composer Gustav Mahler was in charge as the director of
the State Opera, while elsewhere in the city Sigmund
Freud was treating patients and founding the therapy
of psychoanalysis. And in the painter Gustav Klimt’s
studio the most precious works of the Art Nouveau
style, its visual epitome, were being created: the
Kiss, the Beethoven Frieze, and the portraits of Adele
Bloch-Bauer, for example. Some of these paintings today fetch incredible sums in recognition of their undying expression of artistic endeavour.
Turmoil
on the streets
Back on the streets of Vienna in 1900, outside the artistic and intellectual hothouses, the hustle and bustle
of daily life is in progress. How did the city’s inhabitants
live day to day? What did the Viennese enjoy, and how
did they spend their few precious hours of free time?
The ordinary citizens loved sightseeing tours riding
in the elegant new tramcars, “Electrics” as they were
known, rattling through the street and mingling in an
excited jumble with the many horse-drawn carriages
of the well-to-do. Or people would stroll through the
Prater public park, stopping to marvel at the Prater
Ferris wheel or enjoy a small jug of wine while sampling their choice of what might be Bohemian, Moravian or Hungarian cuisine.
But it was also a stern and strict society, one that
contained great inequality. In a middle-class family,
children had to address their mother and father correctly as “Ma’am” and “Sir”. But many of the workingclass neighbourhoods were frankly just slums, with
many families living and suffering in destitution,
11
squalor and disease. This class dislocation within what
was also a multinational state led repeatedly to tense
conflict. And while Emperor Franz Joseph ruled over
what was still on the face of it a thriving empire and
monarchy, on the horizon, the dark clouds could be
seen forming that a few years later would lead to the
disastrous First World War and its many repercussions.
H ealing M edicine
But we are still at the beginning, at the threshold
of the 20th century. At that time the Vienna Medical
School was unsurpassed and enjoyed an international
fame in several disciplines. Psychiatrist and Nobel laureate Julius Wagner-Jauregg conducted research in
Vienna, as did the orthopaedist Adolf Lorenz, whose
son Conrad many years later received a Nobel Prize in
medicine. Karl Landsteiner discovered blood groups
and their classification in 1901, and was also awarded
a coveted Nobel Prize.
In otology, the study of the ear’s anatomy and its
diseases, the physician Adam Politzer made his name
with more than 100 scientific papers, and his standard textbook was translated into French, English and
Spanish. His clinic in Vienna became a European phenomenon, treating 15,000 outpatients and performing 400 surgical operations each year.
Politzer’s international reputation is impressively
documented and celebrated, no more so than in
America, where as one New York physician put it, the
American school is as one with the Viennese school.
Politzer trained many specialists from around the
world and in his study and work he founded otology
as we know it today; until, with the coming of old age,
he had to bid his clinic farewell in 1907.
A nd
now the story begins
And in that same year of 1907, immersed in the creative atmosphere of this troubled but bubbling and
productive city, where so many things still seemed
possible, is where our story proper begins.
It is in part a family saga, with all the intimacy and
intrigue, happiness and heartache, that families share
between their various members, young and old. It is
also in some small part a history of a nation, Austria,
and of an emerging state, people and economy. In
particular, it is an object lesson in how to do business
in the Austrian way: how entrepreneurs and workers
can cultivate trust and empathy, as well as make and
sell good products, so that their customers are satisfied that their needs are taken into account, understood and met; and how in return the business enterprise can succeed and grow for the benefit of all those
whose working lives depend on it.
And then again it is in no small part what is called in
German a Bildungsroman. It tells of the coming to age
of successive generations, assembling events, stories
13
and anecdotes to form vivid and touching snapshots
of key moments in the lives of individuals through the
memories of the family and friends who knew them.
We share their ups and downs as they learn the
lessons of life, sometimes painful, often joyful and
rewarding, while they work together in their joint endeavour to build up and be proud of a family business.
The
foundation of a specialist
establishment
And so it was that in 1907 Johann August and Paula
Neuroth together made a momentous decision. On
13 December the newly married couple founded “the
first specialist establishment for equipment for the
hearing impaired”, and they set up their business on
the first floor of a regal Art Deco building at 20 Blechturmgasse, just off the Wiedner Hauptstrasse in the
5th district of Vienna.
It was the first store in the whole of Austro-Hungary offering products of use to hard-of-hearing people;
worldwide, there were only two other such companies, one in Berlin and one in Denmark.
The couple invited their customers to attend consultations on the first floor on purpose, so as to prevent any prying eyes seeing in from the street; at that
time, loss of hearing was regarded as an “unseemly”
disorder, one that those with prejudiced minds associated with a lowering of intelligence.
Family
origins and the hop
trade
In origin, the Neuroth family were Protestants
whose roots went right back to northern Germany,
under the name “Neurode”. Their ancestors had migrated south via the Sudetenland, arriving in Vienna
in the 19th century. On the way they had built up a
flourishing glass and porcelain factory in what would
become Czechoslovakia, but all that had been lost in
the international financial crisis of 1866. In Vienna, one
member of the family soon rose to become the head
of an engineering factory.
“This was my grandfather, Johann August Neuroth,”
says Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth. “He lived with his
family in a small mansion, or palais, in Kaisermühlen.”
A French governess educated the children, giving them
piano lessons as well, while in the lowland forests around
the palais the children shared long happy days and grew
up in carefree times. “There were lots of animals, deer,
horses and dogs. That was pure nature; fantastic, and
totally untouched. For such children, without a doubt,
they enjoyed a perfect world before the onset of the
First World War.”
As a young man, Johann August Neuroth devoted himself with great success to trading in hops. He
bought from farmers and sold their crops as valued raw
material to breweries throughout Austro-Hungary especially in what became Czechoslovakia, where even
then the beer enjoyed the reputation of being the best.
15
The Vienna
connection
Johann August was 29 when he married Paula in
1906. She was 24 years old, and born in Vienna. But
fate had already dealt Paula a hard blow, giving her a
genetic condition descended down the female line:
otosclerosis of the ears would at that time certainly
lead its sufferers to deafness, by slowly stiffening the
ossicles in the middle ear so that sound waves are no
longer transmitted into the brain.
At first Paula became aware of her ailment only
gradually, as more and more she found herself having
to ask people to repeat themselves in conversation, or
by her not being immediately aware when someone
approached her out of her line of sight. However, even
at a young age, gradually she came to realise that, inevitably, she would lose her hearing. Today, this disorder can be treated with surgery.
A
woman of courage
Nevertheless, Paula Neuroth had courage, and she
decided she did not want to simply accept her fate.
She accompanied her husband on his business trips,
and eventually, in Berlin, where at that time the best
hearing aids could be found, she discovered the start
of what she had been looking for.
Her first hearing aid was a monster, a desktop amplifier weighing 20 kilograms. But, said Paula Neuroth
to herself: “If it can help me, then I can help other people.” In line with her brave credo, as well as starting
the company she founded the Vox Deaf Association,
using the Latin word for “voice”, where people with
lessened hearing could, for a while at least, escape
their isolation by joining in the pleasure and intercourse of social gatherings and cultural events.
The young head of the company made herself into
a highly dedicated and enterprising businesswoman,
even as increasingly she had to cope with her handicap. As her hearing worsened and communication
with others became more difficult, so that hearing
aids could no longer help, Paula Neuroth learned to
lip read, even while she knew her way into isolation
was predestined.
Among her few pleasures was her daily visit to the
Casa piccola cafe in Mariahilferstrasse, right next to
the main premises of the fledgling Neuroth business;
reading the newspapers brought a little variety into
the silent world of Paula Neuroth.
Her great-niece, Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth, recalls
her then: “I visited Aunt Paula when still a child. She
was a very serious and lonely woman, always dressed
in dark clothes. I never heard her laughing, but I had
enormous respect for her as an individual.”
17
Life
for
Aunt Paula
Waltraud can still describe her aunt’s apartment very
accurately.
Aunt Paula lived in the 7th district in a beautiful Art
Nouveau building. She had put in a private elevator,
with a dark lattice wrought-iron frame. On the first floor
were huge double doors to the left and beautiful hardwood
floors with Persian carpets. The bathroom had ornate oldfashioned fixtures, and even at that time was equipped
with a hot water cylinder. In the living room stood a black
chesterfield suite, on the walls were hung lots of art from
the Biedermeier era of the first half of the 19th century,
along with several chiming clocks and a rocking chair.
And there was also a white dog: a Scotch terrier, I think.
The children were not allowed near the white dog,
or the rocking chair. “And we had to be quiet, and were
not allowed to play around, or rock back and forth on
the rocking chair.
“And yes! There was also a maid, a woman from
South Tyrol, with her hair braided in long, jet-black
plaits that were tied up around her head like a garland.”
“Don’t
touch anything”
The great-niece remembers other details:
When we visited Aunt Paula, we as children always had
to be good and to do as we were told. I once had to recite
a poem - but I was so scared that I hid behind a door and
I blurted out the words very quickly.
Waltraud and her twin sister, Elfriede, were instructed as children to “not touch anything”. Of course,
when they talked to Aunt Paula, they had to do so
very clearly, so she could read their lips. They also had
a chalkboard to write notes to her on, one that could
be rubbed over back and forwards to clean the board
and write a new message. That was another way to
communicate.
Another memory is of Aunt Paula having a television set, one of the first available in the 1950s. “I was
very impressed,” says Waltraud. But in general, she
adds, after having paid their visit to their austere if not
forbidding aunt, the children were pleased “to be out
of the door again”.
The company founder spent her holidays in the
Salzkammergut, in Bad Ischl and Gmunden. In earlier
times she often visited Küb in Semmering; but she
lived there on her own and always soon returned to
Vienna.
19
For her retirement, Paula Neuroth chose a Protestant nursing home in Purkersdorf. “She lived in a
nice apartment, and we often visited her there,” says
her great-niece. In 1960, after suffering from a stroke,
Paula Neuroth died at the age of 78; she is buried by
her husband’s side at the Meidlinger cemetery.
As happy as was the marriage between Johann
August and Paula Neuroth, despite their mutual difficulty in communication, in one further aspect it remained unfulfilled: the couple were childless. Around
1925 they finally decided they would look for a male
heir to take over the growing company. Their choice
fell on August Carl Neuroth, a young member of the
family circle.
But, to begin with, there was a serious flaw to this
plan: this nephew was no longer in Austria, and in fact
was unable to take up in person what would be his
vital role in the business.
Up until 1920, August Carl had attended the Protestant school at Karlsplatz. But at the tender age of 17
he decided to take his destiny into his own hands; he
quit school, embarked on a ship, and sailed all the way
to Brazil as a hired deckhand.
It must have come as a bolt from out of the blue to his
family, his mother in particular, and all they stood for.
His father having died suddenly in 1909, from having
a burst appendix, leaving his mother alone, she did not
show a great deal of excitement for her son’s decision,
21
22 The black sheep returns
said Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth, in a dry summary of
what would have been a sad and distressing moment.
Being born in 1903 into what was a reputable manufacturing family, August Carl grew up in the palais in
Kaisermühlen leading a very sheltered life, enjoying all
the trappings of an upper-class upbringing. And despite
the devastation of the First World War, he was afforded
the best education then available, which naturally included piano lessons and the learning of foreign languages; already, the young August Carl showed a great
talent for painting.
But in 1920 suddenly everything was different. The
family fortune had been lost, gone overnight due to
the world’s economic and financial crisis, while the
family’s war bonds were not even worth the paper on
which they were printed.
The
passion of youth
“Certainly, it was this crisis that drove him on; but it
was also the passion of youth,” suspects his daughter,
Waltraud.
“On top of this, there was a statement of defiance
and adventure which may have played a role, a declaration that he had left Europe and instead chosen
South America. After the collapse of the monarchy,
my father wanted to experience a new and different
world, and to break out from the dismal European
situation.”
In Brazil, the young man found himself in Rio de
Janeiro, an exotic location which was then the capital and a vibrant centre already famous for being the
epitome of joy and love of life.
Needing to earn a living, August Carl Neuroth
took on just about any type of job; in a restaurant he
worked as a kitchen hand, and there at least always
had something to eat. But equally, in what was already birthplace to Rio’s world famous carnival and
its samba music, he taught the locals to dance to a
different tune, by giving lessons in the Viennese waltz.
However, after five years in Rio, a letter arrived for
him from his native city:
You are needed in the company business of Uncle Johann
and Aunt Paula. Please come back to Vienna.
And so it was that in 1925 August Carl bid farewell
to his South American adventure and sailed back over
the ocean, this time weighed down with a thousand
beautiful memories to stay with him forever, to land
back in his homeland.
Chinese
whispers
After a short spell in Vienna, August Carl began his
career, in what by then had become Czechoslovakia,
with a kind of apprenticeship. Nestled in a traditional
“hop” family, working so to speak as an ambassador, he
23
got to know the ins and outs of the business. He was
taken along to the sales meetings and gradually met
and got to know the top families in the industry.
“My father recognised very early on that you could
combine both businesses and family in an ideal way,”
says Waltraud. So he dealt with the hop trade on the
one hand, and the growing demand for hearing aids on
the other. Then August Carl began to import the latest
models and hearing-aid innovations from the United
States and Germany, and took them with him on his
sales visits for the other side of the family enterprise.
The breweries were indeed mostly family businesses, and it was quite common for at least two generations, young and old, to sit together during these negotiations. Then as now, older family members often had
to struggle with hearing, and August Carl could offer a
possible solution. The word spread quickly, of course,
since everybody knew each other.
It was just like Chinese whispers. And soon my father
was stopping at hotels and guest houses to give his first
consultations, so that this business could continue to develop and grow successfully.
Over the years, a large sales force was built up in Austria; and this was followed by holding the first consultation days in radio shops and opticians, while the firm’s
contacts with clinical experts in the field of hearing loss
were promoted.
Wordly
wise
In this way August Carl Neuroth got to know many
people, their characters and foibles. “My father had
certain principles by which he lived,” notes Waltraud.
“One of his principles was, for example, that you must
not judge people by their appearance.
Once he told me about a quirky, elderly lady from Salzburg who attached no particular importance to wearing
fashionable or elegant clothes. Despite her commonplace
dress and manner, she was in fact very wealthy. One day
she was walking around Salzburg and saw a beautiful old
mirror hanging in an antique shop. “How much does it
cost?’ she wanted to know from the owner. He looked at
her with a dismissive glance, and told her she probably
could not afford such a valuable piece. On hearing this,
to the storekeeper’s dismay she swung back her walking
stick, and with a single blow smashed the mirror into fragments. ‘The bill should be sent to the Obertrum Brewery,’ said the lady quietly but acerbically as she walked
out of the shop. It was only at this point that the antique
dealer realised with whom he had been dealing.
Waltraud often thinks of this anecdote today: “Because its wisdom has lost none of its validity. This
story is a perfect example of how one should not be
swayed by appearances.”
25
M arriage,
and then off to war
In 1932, at the age of 29, August Carl and Katharina
got married. “My mother had a job at Kuehne & Nagel
at Vienna Graben, but gave up working after her marriage. She only had time for her husband, her house
and her garden, a choice which in very many ways fits
in with the social customs of the time.
“So while August Carl was very successfully developing the business at home and abroad, Katharina focused on home and family as the core of her life; later,
she would also have to help out her mother-in-law
with gardening the plants in the latter’s nursery, which
was not an easy situation,” recalls Katharina’s daughter
Waltraud, drawing on a number of family stories.
But then the couple’s world, as for so many others, was knocked completely out of kilter. The Second
World War came and left its devastating mark.
August Carl Neuroth began his army service at the
military academy in Wiener Neustadt, but was soon
transferred to the Russian front as an infantryman. “At
the beginning of the war he was a handsome man
weighing 110 kilos; then, like many others, he went
through a horrible experience,” says his daughter.
“But at least he survived.”
Having been injured in the foot by a fragmentation grenade, he was able to get aboard one of the
last ships to escape the cut-off and besieged city then
known as Danzig.
L etters
home from the front
Touching letters were sent home by August Carl
to Katharina, letters harping on the anxieties of separation, fear of loss, and uncertain communications in
wartime. In one he wrote:
My dearest and most beloved wife! I wrote to you from
here on 14th, and also sent a telegraph, but have still
not received an answer. My fear and concern for you
is once again increased immeasurably … unfortunately, having not received any news about you, I
am still in terrible uncertainty over your fate or wellbeing … but for now, my little beauty, I hope you
are keeping well and healthy, and that after so long a
time apart, I shall soon hold you in my arms again.
As always and forever, your one true admirer.”
With his serious foot injury, it was to take six
months before August Carl could be transferred via
a series of military camps en route, and travel all the
way from Gdansk to Salzburg. But no news was getting through, and for both husband and wife it was to
be a long period of waiting frantically and fearing the
worst.
“My mother was also troubled by what were her own
very bad experiences of war,” says Waltraud.
In fact, terrible to tell, Katharina lost her dear mother,
due literally to starvation. And this came after what
27
had happened in the First World War, when her young
sister had died of tuberculosis. Katharina’s only support was hope and the thought of her husband having somehow managed to survive at the Russian front.
Bombs
on
Vienna
Then another calamity arrived.
There was a bombing raid on Vienna in November
1944. When we returned to our house, the building
was just a smoking pile of rubble. Not a single teaspoon
was left of the family’s possessions.
All that Katharina and her mother-in-law had to
their name was what they had on their backs. However, as a precaution their warm winter clothing had
been hidden elsewhere, and now the two women
plodded off hopefully to find this hiding place. “But
they found nothing, absolutely nothing there. Everything was gone; all of it had been stolen!”
“Grandma,” Katharina said to her mother-in-law, “I
know everything is shattered, and we do not know
how we shall live. But it will all come good again. I
know my husband will come back home.” She held
onto this hope, even though there had been no sign
of life for six months; no letters, nothing at all from
August Carl.
By the time of the war’s end, Katharina was housed
with her mother-in-law in a small wooden hut, maybe
25 sq. metres in size; it was called a “temporary shelter”.
Then suddenly a letter arrives! “Dad is alive, he is in
Salzburg!” cried Katharina, as she later told her children. Immediately, and once again at last after all these
terrible years, she wanted to hold him in her arms. “But
it was not so easy,” as Waltraud remembers all too well
the situation that continued until 1955. “We had the
Allied occupation of Austria, and Salzburg was in a
different zone to Vienna.”
But by using a trick, Katharina was able to get across
from the Russian to the British zone.
“My mother had a valid stamp to cross the Reichsbrücke, the famous bridge over the Danube in Vienna.
She thought to herself, ‘the border guard won’t be able
to read anyway, I’ll show him this stamp’ … and the
deception actually worked. He gave her the green light
to get to Salzburg.”
R econstruction
As said, August Carl had started into war six years
earlier weighing 110 kilos. Now he was emaciated and
barely recognisable. “The main thing is we’re alive! We
live!” said Katharina, as her daughter remembers her
saying. “Father came straight to Vienna into our tiny
hut. My parents did not even have water, absolutely
29
nothing, but that did not matter.” The two had each
other and they were able to live what were some of
“their finest, most light-hearted years” together, as
their daughter can testify.
August Carl immediately began to rebuild the
company. In the shop in the Vienna Mariahilferstrasse,
a customer file was still there to be found.
My father rattled off letters to these addresses, in so far
as the buildings still existed, and newspapers adverts
were placed so he could call in old equipment to reuse
for parts. From these remains of hearing aids a technician was able to put together functioning devices; they
managed to do this in working conditions that are no
longer imaginable.
The hops business was reactivated, too. There
were new crops, and the arrow pointed straight up.
A
beautiful moment
But the most beautiful moment in the life of
Katharina and August Carl was yet to come: In October 1949, 17 years after their marriage, healthy twins
were born, Waltraud and Elfriede; Dad’s “Schurli” and
“Elferle”. Now, more than ever, the joy of this pair was
perfect.
With much energy and a new zest for life August
Carl dedicated himself to his business. He felt a need
to show the world his personal motto: “Even when
you haven’t studied, you can be successful and achieve
a lot in life.” August Carl was a businessman of the old
school. “Trust and integrity were all important, for
him. A handshake was considered as sealing a done
deal.” There was no talk of lawsuits or non-compliance contracts, just the yearly cycle of the hop business.
In autumn, the harvest was looked over and August
Carl visited farmers, driving out, for example, to Cilli, Leutschach or in the Holledau, to check whether
the hop cones hung properly and whether the flavour
compounds were in order. “The whole plant was analysed. Only afterward is the harvest bought, dried on
site and delivered to the breweries in Germany and
abroad. While Dad was busy negotiating, we children could wander about and look around the farms,”
recalls his daughter, leafing through the memories of
her childhood.
L ending
a helping hand
Of course, this business was also associated with
risk. “If you have not bought at the right time and
secured the harvest, prices can go through the roof
within a matter of hours. Dad often sat up all night in
his office, and was very worried.
“But nature can also play havoc. For example,
when suddenly just before the harvest small spiders
infest the hops, sometimes they are all destroyed; a
31
catastrophic situation, especially when the crop has
already been bought and sold on.” But even such hard
blows could not shake August Carl’s determination.
My father had a very sunny disposition. He repeatedly
told me, ‘Schurli, do some good and it will come back to
you at some point in life from somewhere’. I took good
note of this and, in difficult situations, I often think of
this wise and optimistic piece of advice.
After the war, this willingness to help each other
was particularly strong. August Carl helped former
comrades and often lent them money. “When you’ve
made a success of it, you can return the favour,” he
said to his friends. He also supported widows of former comrades missing or dead in Russia.
“My father never told me, I learned quite by chance
of those he had helped out,” commented his daughter.
R eliving
trauma
Despite this active and fulfilling life, the horrific experiences of the recent war were never far from the
minds of Katharina and August Carl Neuroth.
“My mother always had to relive her trauma. She
never forgot the hunger. She even collected grain
husks in the fields after harvesting, so that they could
make something good, some bread, to eat. If you have
experienced something like this, you cannot really en-
joy life, even if it is handed to you by your husband on
a plate. My mother could not, at least.
“It was not always an easy situation for us, as children, because as a consequence we were brought up
too cautiously.”
Such a word is itself chosen with caution, perhaps
to suggest the surprise and incomprehension felt
by children growing up with parents who had seen
and experienced so much, experiences perhaps unspeakable and in any case unknown to those born
innocently into a peaceful post-war world of apparent freedom and opportunity.
Code
of honour
August Carl Neuroth was a man with a tall, handsome figure, broad shoulders, and a distinctive face,
framed by a full head of blonde, curly hair right up until
his death; he had dense eyebrows over green eyes, and
a firm voice. He had a very positive attitude, and for
many he was their pillar of strength,” says his daughter. August Carl made a point of always trying to understand other people and their point of view. “Think
first, before you speak,” was his credo; “you must not
prejudge.”
“In business, he taught us, his children, to check beforehand in order to make sure everything fits together
really well.
“Listen closely to what anyone says. This is espe-
33
cially important for people with hearing problems.
What may be a single word has to have its value and
validity, and can’t be mixed in with the Viennese banter and lost. Merchants back then had a code of honour
which they had taken over from their parents. Within
the circles of brewery owners, such direct speaking was
the basis for business relationships, and my father lived
by this conviction.
In the family, in the innermost circle, he was the
“padrone” par excellence. As Waltraud says frankly:
“What he said had to be obeyed. When he said that
this is so, then this was so. There was never any contradiction by our mother. She never faltered a millimetre
from his opinion.
“Of course he was very authoritarian, but in a charming way; he could also be very emotional. “When contradicted, he either reacted immediately or not at all.
‘This is a viewpoint I will not accept in my house’ could
be heard at times.”
Politics
and business
August Carl was open to discussion, but you were
not allowed to violate his principles. He made this
abundantly clear. But what about his political convictions? One thing his daughter mentions is that he did
not support the views of Bruno Kreisky, the Socialist
politician who served very successfully as Austria’s
chancellor from 1970 to 1983: Kreisky is known by
history for helping build a welfare state and Austria’s
prosperity, but he is also notorious for having said at
one election that he was prepared to sustain employment by using deficit budgets.
“My father saw this as a step backward, and the
debt policy was unsustainable for him as a businessman. ‘Those who do not pay attention to the figures
will not survive as an entrepreneur for long.’ That was
his conviction. He also did not want to take people
for a ride; it was such an alien attitude to him. “Otherwise, politically, he was not active. The bitter disillusionment of the events of the Second World War had
been quite enough. He made it his duty to uphold the
honour of trade as a profession.”
A
bon viveur
Waltraud recalls life at home: “My father always referred to my mother as ‘Schurli’, it was a kind of an
affectionate nickname.” Later, he also gave this name
to his firstborn daughter of the twins. Although August
Carl often wished his wife would accompany him
on his business trips, that was out of the question for
Katharina.
“Basically, she did not want to leave her house. That
was her kingdom, her family, her garden, almost as
nice and neat as Schönbrunn (Vienna’s imperial pa-
35
lace), and she was firmly fixed there. As children we
took it all for granted.
“But my mother got little recognition for all her
work. However, there’s the other side. She lacked
any interest in her husband’s business, his lifework.
“Sometimes Dad came home full of joy and proudly
showed her the balance sheets. But they were not important for Mum; they were just numbers.
What was important for her, however, was that
August Carl, an old school bon viveur, should pay attention to his weight. And so, my mother often served
him very lean meat, sometimes going to the trouble of
removing the fat with nail scissors before cooking it.
Of course, what Mum did not know was that Dad had
earlier in the day sent out for a thick ham sandwich
or hot knackwurst for his morning snack in the office.
And thus she was always wondering why he did not
lose weight, despite putting him on her diet!
August Carl enjoyed his food with passion. Top
of his list of favourite dishes were Wiener Schnitzel,
braised beef, ham pasta, goulash, and, as a hop merchant, of course a large beer. “No, Dad wasn’t fussy,”
says his daughter. “Food and a good glass of wine for
him was always a beautiful moment. He knew how to
enjoy life.”
A
life of just one luxury
But what about any taste for ostentation? What
constituted luxury for this man who enjoyed his simple pleasures? “A sleek Mercedes,” says Waltraud, “yes!
That was his one luxury.” But he also needed to know
he had a safety cushion, life insurance policy. So, no
matter when or where, he always had 10,000 shillings
in cash hidden safely somewhere, just in case.
“And another thing! When the Russians invaded
Czechoslovakia in 1968 and quashed the Prague
Spring, August Carl acted immediately. A whole load
of non-perishable food had to be purchased to take
home; lots of lard, canned food, beans, flour, almost
anything that was durable.
Many cans of petrol and bags of coke were stored in
our cellar. We laughed, and did not realise how serious
our Dad had taken the situation in the neighbouring
country - ‘If we have to flee,’ he said, ‘then we have
at least a little in reserve’.
The wounds of war were still bleeding a long time
after, even decades later, leaving an indelible mark on
people for a lifetime.
37
Trip
to
Berlin
In the 1930s, August Carl frequently paid visits to
Germany’s most famous city. “He often talked about
Berlin, and of this vibrant city, a sophisticated capital
with elegant people. The artists at the time impressed
him, and he liked the exciting atmosphere. Remember, he had painted pictures himself in his youth and
for a long time he continued playing the piano,” recalls Waltraud from the travel stories he told her.
In 1977, she accompanied her father on a trip to
Berlin; he was going there for what was the first time
since the war. “But this visit was terrible,” his daughter
shakes her head, “just awful.” The two arrived in the
evening at Tegel airport, the whole city was black and
dark, and only the concrete strip along the Berlin wall
was lit up brightly. “It was depressing because nothing I saw fitted with the stories of my father.” In addition the chairman of Germany’s employers’ federation, Martin Schleyer, had just been assassinated, so
the airport was locked down and passengers could
not travel onward.
We had to stay there a day and a half. There were
no escalators or walkways, and I had to carry all the
suitcases myself, while my father became so stressed that
he had to be taken to hospital; he could not breathe due
to fluid accumulated in his lungs. It was all too much
for him. I’ll never forget how frightened I was for him.
A fear that was not unfounded. In his final years,
this strong man increasingly suffered from shortness
of breath, and more and more often August Carl had
to seek medical attention at a hospital.
L ast
respects
In the summer of 1979, on 21 June, Waltraud’s firstborn child, Gregor Schinko, now the eldest of three,
came into the world in Graz.
Of course Dad wanted to see his grandson immediately,
and visited us in Graz. I immediately saw how unwell
he was. He could barely climb the stairs, but he wanted
to show us his joy at the birth of Gregor.
On 2 July, August Carl celebrated his 76th birthday
with his close family, and his daughter travelled to Vienna with a big bunch of roses. It was a hot summer,
and talking was already a great effort for him.
“I remember when it happened, the 15th of August,
a public holiday. Dad’s doctor could not be reached,
and he was so bad that I could no longer take the responsibility for him remaining at home. His breathing
problems had got much worse, but August Carl absolutely refused to be taken to a hospital.
Against his will, I called the emergency services. He was
very angry with me, and would not look at me. I think
he knew that he would not be coming back.
39
40 First of all, a clear goal
A week later, on 22 August, he fell asleep peacefully
in hospital. August Carl Neuroth found his last resting
place at Vienna’s Central Cemetery. “Hundreds of people came to his funeral,” said his daughter, recalling
that it had been an extremely humid day.
My mother was surprised that so many people paid their
respects to her husband. She’d lived only in her world,
and had little idea of the outside. She then gave me the
letters that Dad had written to her during the war, ‘to
my dear and most beloved wife’ …
Katharina Neuroth survived her husband by many
years. Her five grandchildren, Gregor, Julia, Lukas, Heidi
and Susanne, were her new and very fulfilling life.
“My mother died in 2005 aged 94. Until the very
end, she was in top shape physically and mentally; she
was an admirable woman, she had a tremendous vital
force.”
As you drive along the route between the towns of
Feldbach and Leibnitz, in south-eastern Styria, a turning branches off the road alongside an inconspicuous
sign saying “Neuroth”, and like a narrow ribbon winds
up the hill, past pretty houses with manicured gardens,
past the grazing sheep and excited scratching chickens.
After a sharp right turn, suddenly ahead is a bold yellow flag with the Neuroth logo fluttering in the wind.
Leaving the car behind in a parking area surrounded by age-old trees and passing through the green
foliage to the entrance, one arrives at the centre, the
heart of the company.
From a distance this beating heart is hardly visible,
protected by the high forest and almost like a hideout. The cuckoo calls, along with all kinds of other
birds, and invites you to a concert in unison. The feel
of the scene is more like an idyll than a hectic business headquarters. But this is where the Neuroths
have their home, and it is now the headquarters of
the group, accommodating its manufacturing facilities and all the other relevant departments; about
200 people are employed here.
41
A rrival
of a twin pack
What we can see today was certainly not always
the case. When in the fall of 1949, Waltraud SchinkoNeuroth was born along with her twin sister Elfriede,
the country was only beginning its reconstruction after the ravages of the war. “Like a twin pack”, as the
proud father, August Carl, used to say, the two young
children announced their joint arrival into the world
as two not one, much to the surprise of their parents.
For Katharina, it was a very difficult birth in the Rudolfinerhaus, the Vienna hospital founded in 1882.
Waltraud was first, while Elfriede came 20 minutes
later.
Immediately the girls were baptised, and Great Aunt
Paula acted as godmother. “Each of us twins was given
a little ruby ring,” says Waltraud, “and we each preserve
these treasured pieces of jewellery in a safe place.”
The girls’ first years of life were spent with their
parents in the so-called temporary home, a small log
cabin near the Old Danube, the family home having
burned to the ground during the war. Inside the hut,
the wind whistled through the room, and of course
there was no hot water. But there were compensations.
“I remember the cows in the neighbourhood and that
we were always able to have enough milk.” Their good
friend, “Aunt Leila”, was now living in the log cabin,
and allowed the children many things that their parents
had forbidden.
Soon their father had a house built nearby for the
family, one that could also accommodate grandmother.
And out of their grandmother’s former nursery, a huge
garden of approximately 12,000 sq. metres was created.
Growing
their own food
“Mum grew everything from seed herself, and they
had a great deal of work to do to look after this garden,”
says her daughter. The children were called on to help
pick the fruit: plums, cherries and sour cherries. Their
home was near the “Alte Donau”, or Old Danube, in
Vienna, a former river branch, separated from the actual Danube by a dam, and forming a shallow lake that
is now popular as a recreational area. Truth told, the
two girls did not want to be busy with their mother’s
fruit trees, but would rather have gone off to bathe in
the Old Danube; but their mother would not allow it
until the entire crop had found buyers or a deserving
recipient.
We would go around visiting from monastery to monastery, until the very last piece of fruit had been given
away. My mother saw it as a mortal sin if something
was thrown away, and it was an outrage to her when
something was left rotting on the tree. Mum suffered
from starvation during the war, and it was a lesson she
taught us quite strictly. That is something that stays
43
with you, and I know exactly how you have to deal
with food.
All the garden vegetables were harvested, and
the celery, for example, would be buried in an earth
clamp to be kept for winter. Eggs were preserved in
pickling solution in a large jar, and we had red meat
only on weekends. On the everyday menu would be
ham, pasta, potatoes, green beans, dill, egg dumplings, gherkins, semolina pudding, apple pie and everything else associated with tasty home cooking.
All in all, the two girls experienced a “good time” as
they say, running around the garden and swimming
in the Old Danube. But there were shadows. “Unfortunately, our mother was frequently in a melancholy
mood. She was marked for life by the events of both
world wars,” explained her daughter.
These experiences also rubbed off on the children’s
education. “Mum was overly cautious, and many
things were prohibited. And when we went to school,
by comparing ourselves with the other children, we
first became aware of everything that we were not allowed to do.” Television? No! Going away for holidays?
No! Children’s birthdays? No!
And Mother was afraid that we might wander into
poor districts and put ourselves in danger. She always
wanted to have us close to her, so that nothing could
happen to us. She was always afraid for us. She was
so loving and yet exceedingly protective.
M ercedes
children
It was only when the twins had become seven
years old that they left home so they could attend a
private convent school, the Salvator.
Dad took us there in the Mercedes and picked us up
after lessons ended. We felt like outsiders: being children from a family in trade, we were also treated as if
we were somehow different.
Later, even in the public grammar school, this attitude did not change. “We were given the label of
being the children from a family in trade, of capitalists,
and the teachers in particular made sure we knew it.
We were repeatedly treated very unfairly.”
But Waltraud does have some pleasant memories of
her school days. After the twins had several bad experiences in succession, their father responded by changing their secondary school, and while attending the
Marienanstalt, a private commercial college, the young
teenage girls felt they were in very good hands.
“It was just great, there! We had some wonderful
years in this school going up to graduation,” recalls
Waltraud. She can also remember a “great bike” she
was given, and that Dad always brought back beautiful stuffed toys for the twins from his travels.
At Christmas fried carp was served with potato
salad, and Mum decorated the Christmas tree with
hand-painted balls.
45
“I used to flick the balls with my finger, a test that
unfortunately they did not always pass,” said the now
repentant but then mischievous child.
Two
peas in a pod
On Krampustag, when the mythical beast Krampus
accompanies St Nicholas punishing naughty children
while the saint rewards the good ones with presents,
the twins received the gift of a basket filled with oranges, tangerines, pineapples and peanuts. “That was
something very special, and we handed them out
among the other children in the school.”
And what was it like to live as a twin? “Wonderful,”
the answer comes spontaneously, “just gorgeous.
I was always the bad one, and my sister always the
good one.
“Elfriede often said to me: ‘Oitschl! You just can’t do
that!’ And the more she repeated this advice or warning, the more I did something I shouldn’t, and the
more I enjoyed it.”
“Oitschl?”
“Yes, that was the dialect diminutive of ‘Oldie’. I
was 20 minutes older than she was,” smiles Waltraud.
If this singular but vital fact of 20 minutes’ precedence
could never be forgotten, at other times when one
of the twins had forgotten something or other, then
they both had forgotten. For example, if their parents
had to intervene because they were fighting over one
thing or another, then the two instantly stone-walled
in solidarity against their parents.
“It’s like the pot calling the kettle black when it
comes to you two,” grinned their father, shaking his
head. They both had the same haircut and wore identical sets of clothes. But of course, there were differences.
“Elfriede is overly cautious, I am direct. She likes
cooking; I don’t like it at all. She only ever wanted
her family, but for me that was too restricting,” says
Waltraud thinking of Elfriede and the contradictions
and paradoxes of growing up as twins, being of one
mind and as alike as two peas in a pod, but at the same
time very much separate and, indeed, the opposite to
each other.
Dad,
the rock
At the age of 18, the twins were allowed to attend
dance lessons at the Ellmayer school. “Dad drove
us down there in the Mercedes and returned again
later to pick us up, which was very annoying,” says
Waltraud, “but he was like a rock, always there.” Again,
remembering both her pride and her humiliation at this
time, she tells how, on Sundays only, the two girls were
allowed to go out unaccompanied between 2 and 6
o’clock in the afternoon.
Then, on their return, would come what felt like an
“interrogation” by their parents, because the two girls
had gone off on their separate ways, of course, having
47
first agreed together on the story they would tell their
parents later.
That stratagem worked well for a while, but one time I
completely forgot what Elfriede and I had agreed upon
earlier. Without thinking, I stammered something
about the two of us having been, as it were, everywhere
and at the same time nowhere. And immediately a
severe thunderstorm broke out over our heads.”
For August Carl, Sundays were a day to spend at
home. He would read the national papers. Often he
would listen to his classical music; having the latest
high-fidelity equipment was important to father.
Eventually the parents had to accept that their
children had grown up. “We were allowed to acquire
driving licences. Each alternate weekend Elfriede got
the Mercedes, and the next weekend I could use it.
Of course, the miles clocked up were checked, and
we had to tell our parents exactly who we have been
with and where.”
The two young ladies also got a subscription to
attend the State Opera and the Burgtheater, and
Waltraud has many fond memories of the performances
and the growth of her cultural knowledge.
Understanding these classic works does not always come
immediately. It’s only later that you get to understand it.
Not everything always goes as you might imagine it to,
and in this sense it also helped prepare us very well for life.
After finishing the twins’ time in high school, the
family went away to Kitzbühel for three weeks. “On
this holiday, I have a quite incredible memory of thousands of fireflies flying around in the air. I have never
seen so many of these tiny creatures before or since.”
After this break, on 1 August 1970, Waltraud and
Elfriede entered their father’s business, “The Neuroth
special house for hearing aids” on the Vienna Mariahilferstrasse.
And did this move come regardless of whether or
not the twins themselves always wanted to make it?
“Well,” hesitates Waltraud, “I really wanted to study
medicine, or veterinary science would have also been
a subject that really interested me. But it was understood that we children would join the company. Our
parents had made such a thing of it, that you could
hardly imagine the opportunity not to do so. But, in
the end, I acted out of my own conviction.”
Girls
for everything
This career start for the young ladies was like jumping into cold water.
I was not prepared for it. Up to that point I’d had little
contact with other people, and now, from one day to the
next, I had to carry out vital customer conversations.
49
August Carl Neuroth briefly introduced his eight
employees to his daughters – and that was about it.
“We were just there and got on with it.”
The store was located on the first floor. At the front
of the salesroom, there were two hearing cabinets for
customers, two desks and huge filing cabinets with customer details. “I did anything and everything,” recalls
Waltraud of their period of baptism into the business.
Everything meant holding client consultations, taking
in repairs, sending out batteries for the hearing aids,
arranging displays, organising mail delivery, attending
trade shows, writing invoices, checking inventories,
dreaming up and scripting posters, and handling customer correspondence and telephone calls.
I also had to do the cleaning, which was taken for
granted. On the floor lay a red carpet, and in rain
and snow it was quickly soiled. And, you don’t have
to ask, this had to be cleaned too. All in all, I had an
awful lot of work. And in the evening, I was often
still there packing hearing aids and then taking them
to the post office.
Nevertheless, parallel to all this work not to say
drudgery, the owner’s daughter began studying for a
master’s qualification in audiology at the Vienna General Hospital.
However, at that time, an extension of the company
was thought unlikely, because August Carl Neuroth
was not convinced about the wisdom of having additional branch offices.
It was very difficult to get well-trained staff, so we
focused on the business in the centre of Vienna and
on the sales force. Dad also didn’t want to neglect the
flourishing hop business.
P rince Charming
appears
It was one Friday afternoon, the 12th of June in
1978, to be precise, when the phone rang and the
junior boss picked up the receiver.
“Hello, this is the so-and-so company here!” the
caller says, “We need some batteries. Immediately,
by express post.” Waltraud imagines a large order,
perhaps 60 or 100 items. “In fact, the customer only
wanted two batteries, just two small units,” and she
holds up her two fingers to emphasise.
I tell him it is me that is doing it, because I’m the
daughter of the boss. And he laughs and says that’s
good, he is the son of the boss too, and he would have
liked to invite me for a coffee.
51
But, as it is, she must speed away to another appointment, and she makes her way to the post office
and sends off two batteries. Just three days later, the
following Monday, the gentleman is in Vienna, and
calls again: “I’m blond, and have a yellow Porsche.
Can we meet up…?”
“Well…we could! A large red rose bouquet complements this all-important first meeting, and after a
mere fortnight it was clear to both of us that we should
marry.” And that is exactly what happened, just as he
had already foretold his sister was bound to come true.
On 14 December, in that same year, wedding bells rang
in Vienna for Waltraud Neuroth and Georg Schinko,
the building contractor from Eastern Styria.
Their honeymoon took them to the Caribbean,
where the young couple had their first serious storm.
“Yes! It was a ferociously wild hurricane, and we had to
spend seven days waiting in the airport, until the weather calmed down and we were able to fly back home.”
Weekend Couple
Unfortunately, however, having survived the
storm, back at home the news is not good: The health
of August Carl Neuroth had deteriorated significantly;
his breath was a torment to him. The newly married
couple can only make time to see each other at the
weekend. Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth has to spend
the whole week in Vienna, while Georg Schinko was
busy in his company in eastern Styria. In addition to
this, the young wife is soon expecting her first child.
The couple’s little Gregor is just six weeks old, when
August Carl Neuroth is laid to rest.
“The situation after my father’s death was extremely difficult,” says Waltraud. In his will, nothing had
been settled between the daughters, “We had only
promised Dad that we would not argue. But my sister
and I had such a good relationship that after half an
hour it was all agreed.” Although this hurdle had easily
been overcome, in private a difficult time began for
the businesswoman, as her weekend marriage went
on for four years.
My husband, my son and I shuttled from one guest room
to another, from my mother’s house in Vienna to my
in-laws’ house in Styria. But all the same, it was a very
intimate time. Gregor was well looked after. We had a
very dear nanny, and my mother had found a new and
welcome task in caring for her grandson, after my father
had died. Nevertheless, soon we longed for our own home.
Professionally, dark clouds were on the horizon:
Even before August Carl’s funeral, Neuroth’s competitors had met together secretly with the aim of being
able to divide the Neuroth pie among themselves. “I
recognised this plan quickly and thought: I am not accepting that! I’ll show them! I will make Neuroth number one! I have the strength, the energy and the will
to do it!”
53
H eart
and soul
Waltraud immediately went to work on her vow to
succeed: What are the strengths of the company, and
what are the weaknesses? On the one hand, the independent hearing aid house has a good standing with
international agencies, it has a skilled and motivated
staff, it gives excellent service for its many customers;
and its boss knows the business inside out. On the other hand, the company has too few employees.
I could inspire people, and I could offer them opportunities. I wanted to open other specialist outlets, but
for this I needed more good staff. It always gave great
pleasure for all of us if we were able to attract new
customers. We worked with a lot of love and passion.
Waltraud thinks back to this testing time. “Very specifically, I was looking for new locations for stores. They
had to be easily accessible to vehicles, but the best sites
to be found were always in pedestrian zones.”
But, in 1980, the second Neuroth House was opened
in Graz in Südtirolerplatz, the laboratory was set up, and
a new direction was taken in the company’s advertising.
We fitted out many specialist consultants, and more
specialist outlets were added. With the help of my husband’s construction company we could build the business quickly, and our company has grown and grown.
Another important point: staff training was intensified, and the company established its own academy.
Waltraud attended many conferences at home and
abroad, always on the lookout to be at the international
cutting edge of expertise. “We handled all the specialist
diagnostic and examination equipment for the medical specialists, and we marketed specialist treatment
centres. Our goal was that we should become a complete service provider. A one-stop shop! ‘Neuroth is the
quality provider for its business partners.’ That was our
way to become number one.”
The branches were no longer called “branches” but
had the title and function of dispensaries. “We are not
just a typical studio, we have specialised dispensaries
with specially trained staff, that’s a big difference,” she
clarifies. A new philosophy also updated the business’s
external form. “We no longer hid the retail space as before. We made everything open access, glass facades,
with large display windows.
“Hearing is a part of life, just as much as seeing;
why should we hide it? We no longer give our customers the feeling of being an outsider, we want to
put ourselves in their situation and show them we
understand. You have a problem, and we can help
you. What you need is quality of life.”
Such liveliness gushes forth with passion from
Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth. It is difficult to hold her
back when it comes to the company.
55
No
cock-fighting
Success. What is it? What does it mean?
“Success is being satisfied. Success is not to say that
I’m the best and most beautiful, my success also has to
make my opposite feel successful. The work must lead
to the goal, for me that is success. And in particular,
our employees should be happy to work for the company.” During her working life Waltraud has learned to
properly assess people. “It is important to recognise,
over time, if someone really has the skills necessary or
whether they are just pretending. This determines if
someone fits in with us or not.”
If you walk through the firm’s various workshops or
offices together with “the boss”, you can often hear her
say, “Servus! how are you?” or “I haven’t seen you for
a long time, how’s it going?” That “the boss” uses the
informal “Du” form with her employees is worth noting. “Yes!” she confirms, “We get along together as if we
were a family. I’m not an authoritarian type. I want to
work with what I view as my colleagues and be at eyes
level with them. I want to strive alongside them, and
treating people as “Du” instead the formal “Sie” is more
successful.”
In her employees, she values honesty and sincerity,
but especially the enjoyment of work.
I don’t like hotheads. If I turn one cog in a company,
then so many others move with it. You have to know
and recognise this. You always have to see the whole
thing, and not just look to oneself. I do not want to see
what we might call cock-fighting in my company, but
instead I want to have pragmatic people who maintain
continuity.
She always had faith that she could steer the ship
through its storms and difficulties. But what happens
when it does not work so smoothly? If the pretty picture book is closed and thrown to one side, and the
people sitting opposite do not agree with her approach and attitude? Is that when the pens are thrown
across the room? “No, not at all,” she replies, “it is not
so hard. But yes, I can just yell, if I really have to. If I
am pushed to the limit, then it may be that I lose my
composure.”
How often?
“Maybe two or three times.”
In a year?
“No, in total!”
A
leap abroad
By 2003 it could be said with confidence that
Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth had achieved her ultimate
goal, to be number one in Austria.
There are no official statistics or numbers, unfortunately. But we offer a very high quality, and in our
57
company we are not just driven by increasing sales.
We also want to have the best laboratory, the best
workshop, the best support for customers on site, and
naturally the best hearing aids.
The move abroad was rather surprising, although
for Waltraud it had always been important to look
beyond Austria’s borders and keep an eye on international developments. “Our foreign business activities began in Switzerland. We were invited to take
over an existing agent, and in 1999 we started with
wholesale.” In 2001 the first shop, or hearing centre
as it is called in Switzerland, was opened in Zurich.
“Healthcare is undergoing a complete transformation, and you have to embrace this situation.” She
sees the development in the neighbouring country
realistically. Except for the Ticino region, and “that
will come”, Switzerland, including Liechtenstein, is
adequately serviced nationwide with its 55 hearing
centres. In French-speaking Switzerland, there are 12
hearing centres under the “Neuroth Centre auditif ”
brand.
And the next step is Slovenia.
“We have watched this market for years and hired good
employees. Our experience has been very positive. We
have been buying out competitors, adapted the branches
to our quality criteria, thus bringing them up to the
Neuroth level. The same is also happening now with
the Croatian market.
Window
seat
It is not just the Neuroth Company that grew steadily, the family also increased in size. Gregor, the eldest
son, was born in June 1979 , followed in February 1981
by daughter Julia, and by son Lukas in March 1987. After the birth of Julia it was clear that the family needed a permanent home, so to speak, and the constant
commuting between Vienna and Kirchbach in Styria
had to come to an end.
Georg Schinko’s parents had bought a ten-acre,
secluded plot in Schwarzau, Schwarzautal, which included a tiny wooden house dating from the 17th century. It was originally intended to develop the plot as a
retirement home, but the parents decided that its secluded location was not really ideal for them. “A threefamily house had already been built, but it was just a
shell and we were the only ones living there,” recalls
Waltraud. In May 1983, three employees moved into
the attic, so the company was located at the top of
the house. The family’s children lived on the ground
floor. “That was a good solution for everybody.” Over
time, the laboratory was added, a workshop and accounting, IT, sales, the staff canteen, and finally all the
other departments belonging to the company. “In
those years, we rebuilt and extended the buildings
five times.”
In 1993, there was a major disruption in the life
of the managing director; Georg Schinko collapsed
in the middle of a meeting. He had suffered a heart
59
attack and was later diagnosed with a posterior wall
infarction, needing a major operation. “I was terribly
distraught, and long feared for my husband’s life.”
Three years later, he had to have a further difficult operation. “These were fateful years, and partly I lived in
a trance.”
Breach
of trust
Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth also had to suffer a
deep blow herself. A competitor systematically attempted to undermine the company, and began to
poach employees from all departments.
This was a very bad situation. When leaving work at
the end of the day, our people would be accosted outside
our centres and enticed away with a bounty. In Vienna,
two specialised institutes were suddenly left with no
staff at all. And as each end of the month came, the
time when people might hand in their notice, I was
waiting and worried, asking who will quit next? It even
affected my personal secretary. I was totally shocked,
because with very few exceptions there was no one left
I could count on.
Seventeen legal actions were to follow with this competitor, a situation that was totally unprecedented for
Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth.“ Up till then I had absolutely no experience with court cases.”
But even this blow had a positive effect in the end:
“That was the birth of our academy. With immediate effect we trained our staff ourselves, which was
a boon for the company. The director also got to find
out who were the people who could not be bought
for money. Those were good times for me, I felt a lot
of strength.”
And, in the end, those employees who had been
poached away also had to recognise that “they had
been used by charlatans, and had been blinded by
money. After six months they were no longer needed, and were turned out on the street.” Waltraud took
back around 30 of these people in to the company.
What would her father say if he had seen it? She
struggles with the answer, and then acknowledges:
“Dad would say: ‘Schurli, I’m proud of you’.”
Time
to relax
When and where does she find peace of mind?
When and where do the telephones no longer ring?
Can she ever forget about the pressures of time?
“Oh yes!” she laughs, “I can, very well indeed.” In
music, for example, she can relax completely. She feels
very connected to Beethoven, but also to Mahler and
Bruckner. For nine years she learned to play the piano.
“Unfortunately, today I do not play anymore; but, who
knows, maybe it’ll come back?” She still has her old collection of records that has accompanied her through her
life. Time and again, she visits the Salzburg Festival and
61
finds great pleasure and enrichment in the performances.
Oil paintings and watercolours from the 19th century
can also inspire Waltraud. Generally, she is interested in
how people lived after the 1848 revolution that at the
time formed the basis of what is now today’s society.
Best
friends
An even greater and very special passion is probably
the love she feels for animals, in particular dogs, of
which she has four. “First, there is my Hummele, a St
Bernard,” she begins to enthuse, “a real stubborn old
girl, a genuine Tyrolean, and an outstanding guide dog.
“She has the other three totally under control. She
is the mistress of the house and she has my husband
under her guard,” she smiles mischievously. Originally
Georg Schinko did not want any dogs, and certainly
not in the house.
But since then Hummele has become his “one and
only” and is allowed do anything; she can come into
the house; she can lie on the Persian carpet or on the
Chesterfield suite, without any argument whatsoever,
it doesn’t matter at all.
The St Bernard’s sparring partner is Konrad, an Irish
wolf hound, although he lets himself be completely
dominated by Hummele. “They are so sweet to each
other, quite inseparable,” says the hostess.
And then there are the “bullies” as Waltraud almost
tenderly calls her two Mastino Neapolitans. Tarzan
and Jane are siblings. “The two are very bad,” she is
forced to acknowledge, “they snap at everything. To
tell the truth, the two are totally good-natured,” explains the devoted dog lover, “they are guardians and
protectors.”
Nevertheless, the two have injured each other, and
in order to enforce a general ban on fighting, their
plot has been divided in the middle by a steel fence;
with Jane languishing on the left side and Tarzan on
the right.
There is also the old wooden house, where Tarzan
has been housed. “At six o’clock he starts to howl,”
explains the lady, “and he stares at you as if he were
carrying all the sorrows of the world; I just can’t hold
out against it.” So Waltraud gets up and takes him for a
walk. “He simply needs this bit of TLC in the morning.”
But when Tarzan yelps, then Jane on the other side
of the property also starts howling. “Naturally, I do my
early morning round with both of them,” as the hostess describes the start to her day. “But they are a real
handful, and I have to watch out in case one of the
dogs spots a badger on the move.” On at least two
occasions Waltraud has suddenly found herself flat on
her stomach being dragged horizontally behind one
the dogs as it shot off like an arrow in hot pursuit of
wild life. “Of course as soon as Tarzan and Jane realised their mistress was lying prostrate on the ground
and they were caught in her long hair they became
63
upset and immediately wanted to take care of me.”
After reluctantly taking her leave from other animals in her Noah’s Ark, a pig, two donkeys and a small
but fairly aggressive goat, with a heavy heart, she sent
them to a good home. Waltraud still has in addition
about 50 apricot coloured Amazon perch together
with a few turtles in the aquarium, and some large
Japanese carp fish in the pond.
P hilanthropy
Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth does not just have a soft
heart for animals. She is also active in the Sovereign
Order of Malta, and has worked with a fellow employee in Bosnia, where they have fitted hearing aids
for children and the elderly; free of charge, of course.
She also funds training for special guide dogs.
There are dogs that can help paralyzed people or accident victims in daily life. If these people can build up
their courage again, I am pleased to support them. I
know of one case where a girl was able to get out of her
wheelchair again due to a trained dog.
Special training can make it possible for a dog to
detect an epileptic seizure in its human protector in
advance of it happening, so that preventative action
can be taken.
Twin sister
A very special project was put into action by
Waltraud together with the film actor Karlheinz Böhm
and his Aid program in Ethiopia. In 2001, Böhm was in
Salzburg as a customer in a specialist outlet, and as an
aside asked to meet the head of the company. The two
quickly got to know each other, and Böhm was able to
inspire the director to assist in his Ethiopian project.
“My son Gregor said we absolutely have to go
along with it.” They organised joint events and finally
flew to Ethiopia. She funded the building of a school
for 300 children there, plus housing for its teachers so
that they would have the incentive to stay on.
But apart from this school building, something
much greater impressed her:
We, in developed countries, cannot imagine under what
hardships people have to live there. They have nothing, just hunger and drought, poor water and disease.
One cannot praise Karlheinz Böhm enough for what
he has done there.
And in the same breath she berates the rich arrogance of some Europeans. “Here, everything is laid
at your feet, but nothing is valued any more. There,
children walk with a younger sister or brother on their
back to school, sometimes 15 kilometres, in the hope
that someday they might live a better life. We do not
even know anymore what is normal, and that makes
me angry.” She clenches her fist: “We should be happy,
but we are not.”
65
66 Twin sister
Three
in a
Boat
It brings a lot of personal joy and happiness to
Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth to see all three of her
children choose to take an active role in the business.
I know it’s not always an obvious thing to happen. You
cannot force such decisions, and I doubt that I could
have had any direct influence in any case. But they
each made their choice and that is how it has worked
out with us.
The children grew up in the really great pioneering years of the company. Perhaps this experience has
helped shape their image of a positive entrepreneurship. The eldest one, Gregor, is a lawyer in Graz and is
a member of the supervisory board of the company.
“He is an excellent mediator, and the most balanced and calm of us all. He sees things from an objective, outside point of view, and that is important,”
his mother points out.
Her only daughter, Julia, also studied law, and she
has gained a lot of experience working abroad. Now
as chief financial officer she holds one of the most
important control functions in the company. “She is
very meticulous and careful, which are great qualities
to have in her role.”
Finally, there’s Lukas, successor to his mother as
chairman of the group. “I finished my term with the
Twin sister
company on 30 September 2011, and I always vowed
not agree to an extension,” says Waltraud.
Lukas qualified as a telecommunications engineer,
and worked with the company for a number of years
creating an innovative computer programme, which
put it on a new footing.
“Lukas has made the grade as a true master of his craft.
He has worked in marketing, as well as in sales and
distribution, so he is well prepared for his new role”
Before handing over to the fourth generation, the
head of the company called all the senior staff and
asked each one of them if they would place the same
confidence in her children, Lukas and Julia, as in their
current boss.
“Every single one of them took my hand and
promised the same loyalty and commitment to the children that they had given to me. I vacated my office
without sadness, leaving the executive chair to Lukas.
We were all convinced this was the right decision at the
right time.”
Lukas Schinko was only 24 years old when made
CEO. Have there been any voices raised to warn he
might be a little young? “Yes, of course,” acknowledges his mother. “Some have called it sheer madness;
but most have complimented me on it.”
67
68 Twin sister
Twin sister
For Elfriede Neuroth, the twin of Waltraud, her life
today is very much as it was when it started.
She lives in the huge, almost enchanted garden
near the Old Danube. Here where her childhood
roots are, she later built her own house and created
a beautiful comfortable home to raise two daughters
of her own, Heidi and Susanne.
Elfriede Neuroth connects many memories with
this spacious property. “After the war it was still in the
countryside, and we didn’t have the feeling of living in
a big city. There were cows and pigs, huge pigs even,
and chicken; all sorts of animals.
“With having the chicken, I remember that my sister sometimes used to simply suck a raw egg, which
turned my stomach; but Waltraud did not care a bit.
She would also let worms crawl over her hand, and
she collected beetles with a passion. Waltraud was a
real tomboy.
“Our mother used to plant tulip bulbs for the spring.
The flowers bloomed beautifully, but Waltraud would
pull off all the flower heads. She was just terrible!” acknowledges Elfriede with a mischievous smile.
Twin sister
I would beg Waltraud to stop it, as long I could stand
to do so, or instead I would remind her that our mother
had forbidden it; it only just spurred my sister on all
the more to do what was forbidden.
Another instance of rebellion was once in November when the two girls used the raft to venture out
across the river to a small mud bank in the middle
where ducks made a home. And you can anticipate
what happened. On landing, Waltraud took a huge
stride off the raft, putting one foot on the bank while
the other was still on the raft, and before she knew it
she was soaking wet in the water.
Although the girls’ parents appeared severe at
times, it was mainly only concern for their two children. “Our Dad was very generous and loving underneath, and when away travelling on business, he often
brought back with him stuffed toys from the famous
Steiff company for his daughters.”
“I still have a whole collection of these toys, including lots of teddy bears, but also some Mekis, the cute
little hedgehogs. Unfortunately, they are slowly perishing as these toy animals are made of rubber which
crumbles over the decades. It’s a shame.”
Elfriede can also remember her aunt and uncle, Paula
and Johann August Neuroth, the company’s founding
couple. “Uncle August had a huge collection of clocks
in his apartment. Almost every moment, one or the
other clock on the wall would chime.” She also remembers how, contrary to their own home, where the doors
69
70 Twin sister
were all fitted with raised wooden thresholds at the
base, which as toddlers the twins had to step over, the
doors at Uncle August’s house had none at all. Nevertheless the two young girls would still step over at each
door, out of habit, which caused much laughter for their
aunt and uncle and visitors.
Crime
thriller fantasy
It is a typical Sunday in the Neuroth home: unfortunately for the twins, their mother is an early riser, even
on a Sunday morning.
At seven o’clock the bedroom door opens and on goes the
light. “Time to get up! I didn’t enjoy that at all, because
often until late at night I would read a detective story
under the bed covers with a flashlight, and the next day
in the early morning I would be terribly tired.”
At that time of her life Elfriede wanted to grow up
to be a police officer. “Preferably in murder investigations. It had to be an exciting profession, because at
least in books it was always like that.”
The source of ambition was her father, who himself
enjoyed reading the crime novels of the English writer Edgar Wallace, or the stories by George Simenon
about the French detective Maigret. “Dad used to sit
in our garden on a wicker couch under a beautiful,
tall hanging Blue Pine tree with one or other of these
Twin sister
books in his hand,” is how Elfriede Neuroth treasures
her vivid memories.
“The wicker couch is now with my daughter, Heidi,
and is very well looked after.”
Following the death of her father, the Blue Pine
slowly died off from the roots, “but I have planted
a new one.” Elfriede Neuroth’s children are also immortalised in her large garden, so to speak: for each
daughter she has carefully nurtured a tree grown
from a chestnut. “You continuously have to remove
the side shoots, so that only one trunk is formed. The
trees are now at least 10 metres high,” she says of her
horticultural success that holds a symbolic meaning.
Sundays
at home
But back to Sunday in the Neuroth home: lunch on
that day is always one of the highlights of the entire week.
Only on the seventh day there is meat on the table, cooked by Aunt Leni, “a friend of our mother”;
her roast chicken was particularly crispy and delicious.
During the rest of the week, only vegetables from the
garden were cooked and served.
Later in the afternoon, August Carl Neuroth would
listen to classical music; he also played the piano and
the accordion. “I remember that he almost always
played the same piece, I think it was Schubert; but at
some point he no longer liked what he heard.”
When the girls were about 17 or 18 years old, they
71
72 Twin sister
were at last permitted to leave the house alone on
Sundays. “Between 2 and 6 o’clock in the afternoon
we were allowed out. Our parents thought we were
with friends from school. But of course it wasn’t strictly true. We were watching a film in the cinema, which
was forbidden, and not ‘with school friends’,” Elfriede
Neuroth winks knowingly.
L oopholes
And what about school itself? For Elfriede, the
business academy was largely overshadowed by having myocarditis, inflammation of the heart. “It was a
carry-over from a flu virus which had had potential
fatal consequences,” she says reluctantly about this
troubling and difficult time. For more than two years
she laboured under every imaginable sort of health
trouble, and was left with a corresponding amount
of learning to catch up on. She pushes away these
memories with a gesture: “That was a difficult time,
and we prefer to forget about it.”
After high school, the whole family went on holiday
to Kitzbühel. “Waltraud and I were allowed to take our
boyfriends. The two boys slept in one room, of course,
and we sisters were together in another,” says Elfriede,
but then adds with a smile: “Our parents failed to take
into account the fact these two rooms were connected
by a common balcony.” There are always hidden but accessible loopholes to be discovered in a strict upbringing.
Twin sister
Following this carefree and idyllic holiday in Tyrol,
the twins were immediately faced with the professional
seriousness of life. “And that meant getting down to
things and doing it,” Elfriede states succinctly.
At that time, in what was the single business in
the Vienna Mariahilferstrasse, there was only one employee, and that person had broken his hand and consequently had to stay at home. “Somehow, Waltraud
and I were there all alone.”
Outside the business, her private life altered. “I got
married in December 1970, a few months after graduating from high school; and then, four years later, my
first daughter was born.” Elfriede’s father August Carl
was struggling at the time with very poor health, and
had to be taken to hospital on many occasions. “That
was a very, very bad time”, and even now, decades
later, his daughter will not talk about the details of
this period. And after the death of their father in 1979,
the two young women were forced to make decisions
completely on their own.
Waltraud and I quickly agreed. My sister took over the
hearing aid business, and my husband and I ran the
hop trading and the distribution of radio communication equipment.
73
74 Twin sister
P ut
in cells
But before this watershed, the hearing aid business was the centre of their lives for each young sister.
Waltraud and Elfriede Neuroth attended the first course
on hearing aids given by the chamber of commerce at
Saint Pölten in Lower Austria; it was the only one available at that time.
Elfriede laughs: “I’ll never forget that, never!” The
two stayed in an old mansion with a tall tower for
the 14-day training. They were assigned two out of
a number of rooms, each with a large wardrobe and
a small TV, in accommodation strictly separated between male and female occupants from the course.
“Eventually we stood in front of our rooms, opened
the door and got ready to enter in. And that was about
it: the room was exactly as long as the bed, with a folding chair against the wall and a storage shelf above
the bed. There was nothing for washing, and we could
not even do our studies together, because there was
nowhere to sit properly. These tiny cells were designed for 14-year-old apprentices, and not for adult
women.”
But this exceptional accommodation did not affect
their progress through the course. In fact, on this occasion its only participants were Waltraud and Elfriede,
and they completed their syllabus and were awarded
excellent results, filling their father with great pride.
Step
by step
In the years to come, Elfriede Neuroth took over
the hearing aid business for Vienna and Lower Austria,
later adding Burgenland.
From Mariahilferstrasse we systematically began to
grow the business network, branch after branch, from
the centre in Vienna. Of course, we had to do it all
ourselves: I produced the advertising, created the job announcements myself, and trained the local employees on
site. When one expansion was completed, we started
on the next branch or specialist outlet.
“I am a very deliberative person,” says Elfriede. “I always think through in advance what could be the consequences of my actions and what they might lead to.
I’m also a realist, and weigh up what are bound to be
the negatives, as well as what will undoubtedly be the
positives.”
She takes stock. “It might be said that I cannot react
as spontaneously as others, but in retrospect I have
been right on many occasions.” And then she evokes
the Neuroth spirit, and what the business really adds
up to for her in human terms.
“This means a lot more than just selling a product.
And of course, strange to say at first, it is a fact that
we sell something which people actually do not really
want to have to own,” she points out with a sudden
show of passion.
75
76 Europe on the horizon
It is very different from, for example, a car; something
that is a dream product, something to show off with.
A hearing aid is something you really do not want.
You just want to hear well. So that’s what we need to
convey to our customers: that with our product you will
once more be able to understand the person next to you.
You will have the choice to go out and enjoy yourself
together with other people, and you don’t have to stay
at home on your own. Communication is one of the
most valuable things that people can share.
What
is success?
And what about success? What does success mean
for Elfriede? The answer comes quickly. “Success is
achieving a goal. Personally, I have never aspired to
attain what would be very challenging or distant targets, nothing that would be too far away. Step by step,
that’s been my way, and achieving the next goal.”
For example: “If we decide we want to open up a
specialist outlet in a particular district, we look at who is
already there from among our competitors, so we know
the concrete things that have to be done. This process
is a sure way to reach our objectives.” Through her attitude she has set an example and demonstrated to her
employees how to serve the needs of their clients.
We need a lot of empathy for our customers, and endless patience. Older people are not always easy. They
can be suspicious because of their past experience; and
that’s a resistance we need to break down. Be friendly
and polite, of course, and technically adept, but the
human element is the most important.
P reserve
the status quo
Back in Elfriede Neuroth’s large garden, which
looks more like a well-maintained park, her dog,
Leni, is waiting for her.
“She’s a small West Highland terrier; and she’s the
fourth ‘Westy’ I’ve had. Leni is still a young bitch and
I’m biased, unlike my sister with her huge dogs. Otherwise I would have to buy the car to fit the dog,
and possibly with a trailer attached! No, don’t take
me seriously,” she laughs, “I need to be able to catch
hold of my dog, I prefer to be practical.”
When Elfriede first visited her sister in their new
empire in Eastern Styria, many years ago, she was
somewhat shocked.
Apart from chickens there was nothing. But, as anyone
can now see, that has all changed. Waltraud wanted
it that way. She followed her path consistently and
successfully.
77
And does Elfriede have any requests or advice for
her successors? “Protect what is already there,” she
says slowly, “and create the new things only when you
can perceive how they might take shape. But, in any
case, I wish them a lot of strength and good luck!”
But now the baton has been handed over by
Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth, and it is members of the
fourth generation of this family business who have a
firm grip on the helm.
Lukas Schinko heads up the company as chief executive officer, while Julia Draxler-Schinko, his sister,
serves as chief financial officer. Their older brother,
Gregor, has for some time represented the family’s
interests on the company’s supervisory board.
With a smile, Lukas Schinko explains how he came
to be where he is today.
“No! I never wanted to be a train driver or a fire
fighter. Even as a child, that was never what I wanted
to do.” He was born right into the heart of the company, and it is not in his nature to separate what is family
from what is the business they run. “This is not just a
phrase, but something I grew up with. I was always
there, I always sat in the boat.”
But, practically speaking, all his life Lukas has shown
a strong leaning toward technology.
79
My brother, for example, once had a computer, and
was trying to get it to work for about an hour. Then I
came along and I knew immediately what needed fixing, and I started playing right away. You don’t have
to explain things to me.
No radio or TV was safe from him. “I always took
off the back cover, and wanted to know exactly how a
new device looked inside and how it all worked. That
fascinated me. I was very at home in the technical college. It gave me a lot of fun,” says Lukas in speaking
of his training as a communications engineer at the
respected institution in Graz.
Moving
moment
The date of 8th October 2011 will always hold a
prominent place in the long history of the Neuroths
and of their company. The family summoned the firm’s
senior staff for an official transfer ceremony to be held in
the Salzburg Congress building. “It was an emotional
moment,” recalls Lukas Schinko, then aged 24.
More than that, “it was a very moving moment.
For the first time in a long while the whole family was
united on the stage, and everyone had a small, hidden tear in their eye. But everybody was in such good
spirits. It was just beautiful, simply great.”
Lukas was presented by his mother with the watch
of his grandfather, August Carl Neuroth, a symbol representing the culmination of a final handover of the
top executive’s chair. Yet another gesture surprised the
new CEO. An employee of the firm handed him a picture frame, encasing an ornate, gold key carrying the
initials ‘LS’. “That was a big surprise, because I never
expected it,” said Lukas, still pleased today by this
symbolic gift.
The Neuroth
spirit
The day before this happy event, however, had
been marked by a serious time of doubt for Lukas. He
had arranged for a professional speech to be written
for him to deliver. It would be his first major speech
as CEO.
“I tried to remember the essentials of this text. I tried
very hard, but it just did not fit. These were not my
thoughts, and they were not my words. It just wasn’t
my speech. On the eve of the handover, I could no
longer stand it,’ he recalls. “I sat down, I crossed out
everything, and then I rewrote it.”
The CEO laboured over what was now “his” speech
till four o’clock in the morning before it was finished:
“Now it’s okay, now it fits.” But what distinguished
the two texts? What had been missing in the first that
was now present in the second, in his own version?
Lukas does not have to think for too long. “The
spirit of Neuroth was not apparent and therefore the
first version was not my speech.”
81
What exactly is the spirit of Neuroth? “It is a real desire to help people whose hearing is impaired. That
is the bedrock,” he states firmly. And taking up this
point, it is to be remembered that it was the founder,
Paula Neuroth, who first attached this desire to help
to her banner and to that of the company.
A nd
how it works in practice
In his speech at Salzburg, Lukas Schinko amplified
and filled out the significance of this spirit, and among
other things he told his listeners:
Today is a great day of hope and confidence for the
future of you all, and it is the key, or rather the time,
for the next era in our company’s history to be placed
in other hands.
We have a philosophy for the future that builds on the
principles of clear benefit to others. We sell hearing
aids, eyeglasses, and hearing protection; but much more
than that, we give our customers back two extraordinary treasures: We give them quality of life, and we
give them joy!
Dear colleagues, I can now open a gate to a path that
has been trodden and beaten out for more than one hundred years by a strong family network, and with great
success. It is a path that always points in one direction:
To enable people to have better hearing.
I have had almost a quarter of a century in which to
prepare for this task, and it is now quite a few years ago
since I adjusted my first hearing aid and then checked
it with its prospective user. And immediately I saw in
the eyes of my customer, what an incredible sense of
wellbeing that person gets.
This was the first time when I was absolutely clear that
my decision to help others toward a better life, using
our skills, our products and our people, was the right
one. This is exactly why I take on this wonderful task
of leading the company in the fourth generation, and it
motivates me every day to …
A pplause
from the floor
At this point in his speech, Lukas was interrupted
by enthusiastic applause, during which his employees
told him that he had found exactly the right words.
… We work for people who already suffer greatly,
but also for those who are unaware of the danger of the
noisy environment they are exposed to. This is exactly
why your active efforts are of the utmost importance.
83
It pays to talk to people, because the basis of discussion
with the customer lays the foundation for our success.
The decision to buy one of our products is not a matter
of seconds or minutes, but it often takes days, weeks,
months or years. We do not operate a ‘get rich quickly’
business, and that’s good!
Trust is the basis the consultant must build to ensure
that the customer can accept any advice or suggested
solution. Therefore, the continuing of our individual
counselling and the personal interview will be the primary objective for Neuroth.
And no matter what challenges the future will bring,
I am confident that we can master them brilliantly;
because we sell quality, we give pleasure, and our daily
work brings benefit to ordinary people. Together we
have the opportunity to do great things and to celebrate
great success. We will pull together and join forces to
create an incredible reality.
With much pleasure we will go on and serve more satisfied Neuroth customers who have hearing impairment
or require hearing protection, so that in a few years my
parents will be able to look back with great pride and
pleasure on this company as it evolves. I look forward
from today to taking this step with you!
A
name to remember
Loyalty is the most important quality to Lukas
Schinko, something he appreciates in his employees.
And with such loyalty he describes the vital importance of his mother, Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth, in the
firm’s long history.
My mother has always been the commander of this
ship. Everyone looked up to her, the blonde angel, the
luminous star of the company. But I have to add my
own personal note; I cannot simply take every aspect
over from my mother unchanged. I am the new face of
Neuroth. I have my own goals and visions. Yet I could
never make them happen, if my employees were not
standing loyally at my side.
A strong self-motivation drives him. “It is innate in
me, and part of my nature,” says the CEO, “I am a perfectionist, and I want to make it better.” But Lukas also
places value on differentiation: “As I’ve said, I am a perfectionist; but I’m not a pedant, there is a difference.”
And his personal goal? This is clearly defined and
unambiguous. “I have looked at Europe very carefully
as a whole, and I want the name of Neuroth to become as strong in the minds of older people across
Europe, as the name of Apple and its user-friendly innovation or Red Bull, as a flagship of Austrian record
breaking excellence, is for young people all around
the world.
85
“Everyone needs to know us. We’re just ‘there’, as
it were, part of the landscape! That is the vision that
drives me. My mother made Neuroth number one in
Austria, and I want us to be number one in Europe,”
he declares.
Specify
the direction
The first course for this growth has been set: Lukas’
sister, Julia Draxler-Schinko will head up the work in
developing the French market. “Of course we need
the appropriate people with the appropriate profile,”
Lukas specifies with an eye on reality and the putting of this vision into practice through the personnel
whom the firm recruits.
These are people who like to work with older people,
who enjoy it and have a corresponding manner and
outlook. I do not want smooth-talking sales people.
“Therefore, it is important that our employees welcome our customers with a handshake; and, of course,
that the door is kept open and a drink is offered, so
that customers at Neuroth feel at ease.
“One also needs patience and empathy. That is also
very important.” Lukas emphasises once more the
centrality of what he terms the Neuroth spirit.
“This is the way that we can also differentiate ourselves from our competitors.” And again: “I think I un-
derstand our customers well. Therefore, I also know
how to address their needs.”
And Lukas particularly knows those areas where he
does not feel inspired, the places where the Neuroth
spirit will not go. “You can go into some shops where
the staff neither knows where the product is located,
nor what it looks like, or doesn’t know how to talk to
customers. I just do not understand how one can have
such staff. It makes me boil, and I have absolutely no
sympathy with this type of business strategy.”
Am I
the boss?
But what are the characteristics he himself possesses that could project Neuroth to the top in Europe?
Lukas Schinko considers.
“In operations, I have a firm grasp. I need to learn
to manage a business of this size. But I will get there.
I have to keep an eye on the big picture, and set the
direction. I pull in a lot of opinions and then make my
decision. Good advice is always important, especially
when it comes from a family member. My brother,” he
said finally, “is the person I absolutely trust.”
One more question: Does he want to be loved as a
boss? He gives a sceptical response: “Is that at all possible?
Respect, yes! Accepted, yes! But loved?” He chooses his words carefully:
87
Occasionally I have to make decisions which need to
be illuminated from all sides and to be considered very
carefully, against a balanced set of arguments, before
then being put into action.
Sports,
travel , and
baroque music
What does Lukas get up to in the few hours when
the company is not at the centre of his life and dominating his thinking? “Sport,” it comes out like a shot.
“Power training and traveling.” He visits the gym regularly, and swimming is one of his passions; formerly,
kickboxing with his brother stood at the top of the
list. “With sport, I lose track of time, I cannot lie in the
sun for three hours and do nothing. It’s impossible; I
have to dissipate my energy.” This is also true when
traveling. “I prefer city breaks: Rome and Barcelona
are close to my heart, pure joy, I like living centres. I
like the 24-hour life in a city, it has the vibrant life that
I need.
“And sometimes baroque music; the pleasure of listening to such quiet, sublime pieces totally relaxes me.”
Neuroth stories
Neuroth stories
The family members have had a hands-on approach to the business since its earliest inception,
which continues today in the fourth and newest
generation. As the business has grown the commitment of employees has often been equally strong,
and their input just as key in taking the company to
where it is today.
They all are imbued with the spirit of the family,
and jokingly refer to themselves in German as the
“Neuroth-iker”, which in English might be better
stated, “You don’t have to be ‘Neuroth-ic’ to work
here, but it helps!”
A top career
Gertraude Schneider is a member of the firm’s supervisory board, which monitors and oversees the
work of its management board.
On meeting her, you can sense it almost immediately: Neuroth without Gertraude is hard to imagine;
without her, something would be missing from the
89
90 Neuroth stories
company and its ethos. From first having started as
an accountant, she is now, a good 30 years later, an
acknowledged and vital member of the board.
If you enter Gertraude’s office and take a seat at the
conference table, you won’t be left sitting there all alone.
At the end of the table sits a longstanding visitor, a cute
panda bear with her cub to offer a welcome to visitors.
“Yes, this teddy bear is the symbol for our children’s
hearing aids, and has been specially designed and made
for us. And besides,” added Gertraude with a smile,
“when the two are here, you do not feel so alone in
the office.” On the wall of the office are placed large
portraits of the young Neuroth leadership: Gregor, Julia
and Lukas. Following a questioning gaze, there comes
an immediate response in explanation: “I took over the
office of Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth, and she has left
me the pictures of her children.”
After graduation from business academy, this native
of Gleisdorf first worked in a tax consulting firm and
then managed several small businesses. But one day by
chance she came across a newspaper advertisement, one
that set her on the path to her future.
“Wanted: self-employed accountant.” She answered immediately. It was Georg Schinko who replied, and he referred the young Styrian to his wife
Waltraud; however, the latter was working in Vienna
at that time. “Mr Schinko arranged a flight for me, and
his wife wanted to pick me up at Schwechat airport.
I asked him, how would I recognise her? ‘That’s easy,’
he said, ‘she’s pregnant.’
Neuroth stories
“It was the middle of winter, and freezing cold.
Waltraud wore a headscarf. To this day I can still see in
my mind’s eye how she stood there carrying her unborn child; and of course I recognised her immediately
and went over to her. From the moment we got along
well together.”
This foundation for a long journey travelled together was laid on 9 December 1980, and Gertraude
Schneider started working for Neuroth.
Vienna
and the
P rovinces
“I got a little shock when I saw the accounts in
Vienna,” she says of her first days.
There was a customer list, divided into two blocks. One
was called “Vienna”, and everything else was “the
Provinces”. There were no states, and all the regions
outside of Vienna were just “the Provinces”. To be
honest, I was somewhat irritated by this.
“It took me many, many nights, together with a
couple of assistants, to prepare all this data for input
into a computer. The fastest any of us managed was
130 addresses per hour,” Gertraude recalls of the firm’s
first few faltering steps into the electronic age.
A few years later the Neuroth headquarters moved
to Schwarzau in Eastern Styria, and the upper floor of
the family house was cleared for the company offices.
91
92 Neuroth stories
And this transition was again a bit of a shock. Gertraude
had to commute to Schwarzau from Graz, and that
didn’t really give her any joy. “I used to have such a
wonderful walk to work through the Graz city park to
Neuroth on Südtirolerplatz. But now the company was
so far away from my apartment.”
Fortunately she shared this change of fate with another secretary in the company, so the suffering was halved.
A few years later, Gertraude bought her own house and
moved a step closer to the headquarters in Styria.
Stability
and success
Gradually the company has grown in size and with
it the department of the former accountant.
“Of course I have been with them each step of the
way; and each step has always been associated with a
great deal of joy. We have grown big organically and
slowly, so there is stability in our business.”
Looking back over its history, the woman who
rose to be on the supervisory board emphasises the
continuity in the company. “The same executives
have always been around and that has meant security for our employees. As one of them, it had always
been other people who created the financial figures,
the prosperity of all employees; at that time I would
have only processed them.
“But now it’s nice to work with the younger family
members, and to see how the boys see things and
Neuroth stories
set their priorities,” she says with a look at the pictures on the wall.
I feel somehow as if I were a family member. I have
seen the children grow up, every one of them.
What does success mean for Gertraude? She does
not need long to think it over. “Success is being satisfied with myself. That means, for example, that my
desk is cleared each day. I must have order,” she says,
“structure is part of my life, and that’s the way it is.”
She looks back with pleasure over the centenary of
Neuroth. “On one occasion we drove through Vienna
on a vintage tram and we stopped at all the important
buildings. I got a sense of what it must have been like
in Vienna a hundred years ago. At night there was a
big party with all the staff at the Marriott hotel.”
And she adds: “I am quite proud, to be working in
such a company. To be so involved, as an outsider, in
such a family is quite a great feeling,” Gertraude states
with enthusiasm.
A dmiration
and radiance
She admires the “peace and strength” of her longstanding boss, Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth.
93
94 Neuroth stories
She has an outward radiance that comes not just from
the face. She is always there for all of us, and her door is
always open. And there is something else characteristic
about this woman. She is prudent, and she considers
everything twice before making a decision. But when
something has been decided and fixed, she goes through
it by applying rigorous and sometimes meticulous detail. And you can’t pull the wool over her eyes. Nobody
knows the business as well as she does.
Speaking in general, however, the company’s recipe for success is one very basic concept. The focus
always has to be on the customer.
“We are all here because of the customer, and this is
certainly true on a larger scale. Our CEO Lukas Schinko
has big ambitions, with Europe held in his sights.”
At the ceremony to transfer the business to the
youngest son, the whole family was there. “All of them
were proud of their mother, and now all of them stand
totally behind Lukas. It was, after all, his wish to take
on this great responsibility.”
Thinking of this, Gertraude recalls an anecdote:
“His sister Julia was a girl of about five years old when
she ran into my office shouting, ‘Baby! Baby!’ I did
not know what she meant, and so I asked: ‘Julia, who
is having a baby?’ – ‘Mum!’ she told me quite out of
breath, ‘Mum!’” And thus an early announcement of
the future CEO’s arrival in the family was made.
Neuroth stories
A
best friend and a gentleman
Over the decades, Hans Koller has been a true companion, and is now one of the pillars of the company,
a fixture that has always been there. There has never
been a time when he has not been an audiologist, even
in the days when this profession did not exist as such.
Hans knew the “old man”, as August Carl Neuroth
was often affectionately known, and has fond memories of him from the 1970s before he joined the company. “I was in the same industry so I knew him well,”
Hans recalls.
August Carl often invited people to dinner, and at the
end he would stand up and say: ‘The official part is
over now; who would like another cup of coffee?’ His
eyes would fall immediately on me, and it was so obvious that I took the hint and stayed around to talk;
which I enjoyed, very much in fact.
Often, there were informal but explicit talks whether Hans should join Neuroth. “But during the lifetime
of August Carl, this didn’t happen. Apparently the
time was not right. The ‘old man’ was an impressive
character, with a great personality. Everyone has immediately captivated. One could feel in his presence,
that he had such a positive attitude.
“And he was also totally trustworthy. You didn’t
need to watch every word you said with him, and you
could be open with him about your fears, doubts and
95
96 Neuroth stories
suspicions.”
Hans is openly complimentary about the father
of Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth. “If he said something,
then that was his word. People knew it was binding,
even without a written contract. Today, that would be
quite impossible.”
Now, everything has to be “legally tied up down
to the last detail” compared to that bygone era which
Hans remembers.
Baptism
into the company
In 1979, just a few months after the death of
August Carl Neuroth, a call came from Waltraud
Schinko-Neuroth. “We knew each other from the audiology courses at the hospital; she always sat with her
sister Elfie in the front row.”
The two arranged to meet in Graz. “I still remember it was in Neutorgasse, and Waltraud had her son
Gregor in her arms. He was just a baby, maybe five or
six months old.”
The child was not so thrilled about this meeting: he
was upset, and started to cry. “I myself was a father of
three, and so I picked up Gregor and tried to calm him
down. I managed quite well, but suddenly I realised
that my trousers were all wet where the child was sat,”
laughs Hans.
“I knew then that cooperation with the House of
Neuroth was sealed … as soon as I was ‘baptised’ by
Neuroth stories
a family member!”
And Hans has dedicated body and soul to the company from the very beginning.
When you’re with a company in such a way as I am,
then you have to be a little bit crazy,” he explains with
a little flash of mischief in his eyes.
“I live my profession; I see it as a calling. Everything else is just a job,” as he points out with his keen
sense of language. It’s a fine point of differentiation, but
it makes all the difference, and Hans can recall many
examples of this ethos in action over the years. “At
Neuroth it’s just that bit more intense.
More
than just a customer
Between Christmas and New Year, Hans often went
skiing with his family on the Teichalm. But so did many
others. And since his profession is also his calling,
things began to happen.
“People got to know of my visits, including the local shepherds, and some would even be waiting for
me to arrive,” he recalls. So his holiday often began
with some work fitting hearing aids. An example of
such a “busman’s holiday” came one Sunday morning, as the Koller family were having breakfast in the
garden. “Suddenly the gate opened and a man came
97
98 Neuroth stories
in and said he had just come away from a flea market
and needed to get back quickly so he could sell his
things there.”
“But, he said, he couldn’t hear well enough to know
what his customers wanted. So I had to rush down into
the office with this guy and adjust his hearing aid.”
In another example, one of Hans’s customers had
a severe hearing loss in both ears, and needed a set of
glasses with bilateral bone conduction. But his health
insurer would pay for one ear only.
“I couldn’t understand this decision; for me it was
quite impossible. Actually, the man was an actor by
profession, and he could not perform on stage unless he
could hear in both ears.” After a long struggle with the
insurer, this “absolutely vital” hearing aid was paid for.
Sometimes Hans looked after several generations
within a family. Once there was a child aged three
needing his help. The grandparents were already
customers; and then again, a while later the child’s
parents also needed assistance. “It grew into a real
friendship, between the customers and me, and that
often happened across Austria. You have to give the
customer the best, with the attitude that you are doing it for your best friend. How do you advise him?
How can you really help him?”
And as Hans reminds us, “something else is very
important too! You must not abuse the trust of the
customer! Never! This is the unbreakable rule.”
In another instance, a professor teaching at three
universities, and who frequently had business abroad,
Neuroth stories
could often only find time for a consultation with Hans
on a Sunday.
Suddenly, one day the professor broke with formality
and used the personal ‘Du’ form with me. He also said
he had the feeling of being more than just a customer.
Over the years, a real bond had formed between us.
H eart
and soul of the family
One day a famous politician came to see Hans in
urgent need of a hearing aid, but also insisting that,
as a man very much in the public eye, this aid should
be invisible.
We discussed the options at length. And I explained
to him precisely why, in his particular case, it was just
not possible for him to have what he wanted. ‘Sorry,’ I
said to him, ‘but for your problem such a device is not
the right thing.’
Faced with this, the politician stalked right out of
the store. A fortnight later, he was back – this time
together with his son. “I explained once again, why
an invisible device was unsuitable. And suddenly the
son pipes up: ‘Dad, you take the other one.’ And that is
what happened. Family members have to be included
in the decision, and they shouldn’t be ignored.
99
100 Neuroth stories
“With a listening and speaking test, it is good if
someone else from the family comes along, as they
can provide much support.”
Sometimes Hans made house calls. “If I knew a customer could not get into the shop for health reasons, I
would drive out to see them myself.” And it is when
quoting such instances that Hans Koller senses the overarching link maintained over the years right back to
Paula Neuroth. “Our company founder wanted to help
people, and this philosophy has not changed. It simply
belongs ‘to the heart and soul’ of the family, to reintegrate the hard of hearing back into society. The hearing
aid is not like other products that you can easily sell.
You need to establish a relationship with the customer.”
There is another guiding principle of the Neuroth
spirit that Hans takes to heart. “The customer must not
just be satisfied, he must be thrilled! Deep down, our
customers don’t want to buy a hearing aid; they want
to hear well! It is this desire that we have to meet.”
A
chivalrous bow
Hans regards training for a young audiologist as
very important, and part of what the company does
for its staff. “We at Neuroth were not satisfied with
what was available on the market. So many years ago
we created our own academy. Otherwise, how could
we pass on the knowledge already contained in our
own heads to our young people, if they go outside to
Neuroth stories
get their training from elsewhere?”
This point leads to another focus in the company:
training is not for just one period and once only; it
must be on-going.
For Hans Koller this starts with something quite basic, knowing how to speak to customers.
You have to ask questions to find what customers themselves want. If you do not ask the right questions, you’ll
never know what a customer actually wants or needs.
The countless thank-you notes that have reached
the house of Neuroth over the past decades are testimony to these touchstones of the correct path taken
by the company. Many customers have spoken up
freely and generously.
One touching moment in the life of Hans Koller is
still held dear and talked about in a special way by
him. It came at the handover ceremony of Waltraud
Schinko-Neuroth to her son Lukas in 2011. The retiring
head of the company was to receive a very beautiful
and precious bracelet given to her by all her employees as a symbol of their appreciation and remembrance on this special day.
On behalf of everyone, Hans Koller came over to
Waltraud on the stage, bowed, knelt down, and then,
with white gloves on, courteously placed the bracelet
on her wrist. Why such a gentlemanly but rare gesture? “It’s quite straightforward,” Hans says easily, “I
did it as I did out of respect for a person who has done
101
102 Neuroth stories
so much. I also wanted to demonstrate my gratitude
that I had been able to be there with her to accompany her working hours.”
From hop taster to specialist
Walter Latt is a tall, slender octogenarian with a
light spring in his step. He opens his door to visitors
with a hearty “good morning”. He is almost a walking
piece of company history. For decades he was such
an integral part of the development and growth of
the company he calls his own that he was regarded as
almost a permanent fixture. He refers to August Carl
Neuroth respectfully as “the old man”. For Latt he was
a patriarch, “but you could always talk to him. He was
one of the old school, and always took care of his people. We learned a lot from him and he was greatly appreciated.”
The Christmas celebrations hold fond memories
for all the employees.
He would invite us, for example, to the Vienna State
Opera to see Carmen. Then we would dine out in style
at the Weissen Rauchfangkehrer or in the Rathauskeller basement. Sometimes we would continue on to
Grinzing and on occasions end up at the Eden Bar.
But Walter Latt doesn’t just remember the parties.
He was also deeply impressed with the old man’s ac-
Neuroth stories
curacy and his love of order. “I was a real scatterbrain
when I joined the company. But this changed dramatically.” Over time Latt became very accurate, or as he
prefers to call it “a fanatic for detail”. For instance, you’ll
never catch him eating something in the car. “Crumbs
on the seat? For God’s sake! That’s a disaster!” he exclaims clasping his hands above his head.
This Viennese native came to the company in the
1950s and started in Mariahilferstrasse as more than a
hop taster. “I visited the breweries and I took the hearing aids with me just like the boss.” But he soon devoted
himself purely to the target business of hearing aids.
A
trip to the countryside
August Carl Neuroth wanted to expand the business
in the city of Vienna out to the neighbouring province
and get closer to the customer. “At the time, I had to
plan my business trips using public transport and looking up travel times in the train and bus timetables. But
it did require organisation”, remembers the long-term
employee. On one such outing, Latt travelled from
Vienna to Amstetten, where he sought out a suitable
guesthouse and asked if he could hire out an additional
meeting room in the future. He wanted to give a lecture on the topic of hearing and how to help people
with hearing difficulties. Posters were printed and put
up in prominent spots in guesthouses and hotels for
visitors to see. This attracted interested customers to
103
104 Neuroth stories
the venue. “I gave sales talks and advice throughout
Lower Austria, and I visited all the major cities; Krems,
St. Pölten, Neunkirchen, Wiener Neustadt etc.” This
business developed well, until a significant improvement was introduced for Walter Latt.
That was the day that the boss gave his private car at
my disposal. I still remember it distinctly. It was a dark
green Fiat Standard.
Instead of laboriously following train and bus timetables around the state, Latt was now free to time his
schedules independently. He held his consulting days
in the morning, between 8 to 12 o’clock and in the
afternoon between 2 to 6 o’clock. Once a month he
visited every major city and was often eagerly awaited
by many customers. The format was very successful
and in the end, this form of business was expanded
to other states, first to Upper Austria, then Styria,
following on to Carinthia and Burgenland, and finally on to the west to Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg. “There was a 14-day tour excluding the western
provinces. The tour of western provinces lasted three
weeks.” The business expanded and started to focus
on specific customer segments. Latt visited electrical
stores, and radio dealers, and later opticians and physicians. “I met people right from the Neusiedler See to
Lake Constance.” Over several decades, Walter Latt
covered approximately 60,000 kilometres per year for
the company.
Neuroth stories
The
honey bear
After each “tour of Austria”, there was a lot to do for
everyone in the main branch in Vienna. An inventory
was made of the suitcase and the contents were reorganised. The hearing aids, spare parts and accessories
had to be re-stocked. And pretty soon it was back on
the road again to the customers. In his rounds Walter
Latt was often confronted with all the different traits
of Austrians. The most difficult ones! Namely the variety of dialects used in different parts of the country.
To be honest, my most difficult problems were with customers from Vorarlberg. And as for the dialect around
the Bregenz Forest, I just couldn’t understand it. I
always had to ask someone to repeat what they said.
Their philosophy is to sell the dog and bark by themselves. For me this was a tough test.”
Latt also recalls a visit to Klagenfurt. “A Slovenian
with a very funny accent needed a hearing aid. At that
time it was not permitted to take money out of Slovenia into Austria, which also made me wonder how
he was going to pay. Suddenly in the middle of the
consultation the man pulled off his shoes and took
out the insole, exposing a wad of hidden money. It
was then that the penny dropped.”
And what about other provinces? “The Upper Austrians are pleasant people,” says Latt, “and the Styrians
are their own unique breed.” People from Burgenland
105
106 Neuroth stories
are his personal favourite, while Carinthians can seem
to “take the mickey” sometimes. But there was one
Carinthian Walter Latt visited who always sold excellent honey and he would often take some back to the
delight of Waltraud’s young children . “They never referred to me as ‘Mister Latt’, they just called me their
honey bear”.
Customers’ stories
For the employees of Neuroth it has been a privilege
and joy to serve hundreds of thousands of customers,
over the last 100 years or so. They have extended across
the whole spectrum of humans from young to more often older, easy to deal with to complicated, gracious to
somewhat less so. Amongst them many have taken time
and trouble to write and recount their experiences with
a hearing aid and pay tribute to the company. Some of
these messages have even been sent in verse and many
of them are touching. From the archives of the company, a brief journey through the decades of compliments
and “letters of thanks” is presented below.1
1 These letters have been translated from the original German
into English
107
108 Customers’ stories
Vienna, 11th November 1926
Dear Mr Neuroth,
I have been in the possession of one of your most
excellent hearing aids for a month now, and I
thought I should let you know what a blessing it
has been to me. As previously it was only possible
for people to communicate with me by shouting,
and even on occasions only by writing, I had gone
so far as to avoid all social intercourse, as far as I
could. Now I am able to conduct conversation once
again with ease, and can seek out the companionship of others. It has started what is virtually a new
life for me. Everywhere I go, I sing an enormous
song of praise for your wonderful hearing aids, and
I advise all my fellow sufferers to avail themselves
as soon as possible of one of your wonderful aids,
so that, like me, they may also benefit and feel the
same sense of real blessing and be filled with a new
vitality.
Yours most grateful,
Judith W.
••
Altaussee, 26th July 1930
Dear Mr and Mrs Neuroth,
I would like to tell you how very satisfied I am with
the hearing aid you supplied. When walking in my
neighbourhood it performs excellently should I
need to ask for directions or have to listen out for
fast approaching cars on the roads. Wearing the aid
continuously also enhances my pleasure in nature
and the sounds of the birds, or of a stream or waterfall; in fact, almost everything has become much
more noticeable for me. And the absence of any
background noise demands particular praise.
Naturally, there are one or two aspects which would
benefit from improvement, such as a better fit of
the bud in the ear, greater volume, and a longer battery life. And I hope that these improvements can
come soon - so that I might live to see them; that
would be truly fantastic!
Your devoted servant
Adele F.
••
109
Strobl, Salzkammergut
My most esteemed sirs,
I refer to the hearing apparatus sent to me by you, for which I
wish to extend my warmest thanks. The very same has given me
complete satisfaction: thanks to your invention, it is now possible for
me to listen to talks and concerts, and I am no longer obliged to be
excluded from society. I cannot recommend the apparatus highly
enough, and only wish that everyone could feel as happy as I did at
the moment when I found I no longer had to listen to the priest’s
sermon with deaf ears. I now hear everything, and nothing escapes
me!
Yours faithfully
Paula V.
••
10th September 1931
Timisoara (Banat)
Dear Sirs,
I must confess that during the long period of my hearing impairment I have been going to other suppliers as well to purchase many
of my current hearing devices, including ones which were some of
their most expensive. But time and time again I have come back to
your products, because I have become convinced that your equipment gives me the best results.
I am therefore making it a personal duty of honour at this point to
express my complete satisfaction with the latest apparatus you have
supplied. Spoken words are clear and loud, and there is absolutely
no background noise; in addition, the ease of operation and use is of
particular salience when compared with other devices. I am eternally grateful for the service you have provided, and I promise not
to allow my loyalty to stray from your products again.
With my high regards, I remain
Director Viktor P.
••
111
Vienna 4
Most esteemed Sirs,
I most humbly request a further delay to 1 November in the due date
for making my payment. Please also excuse my inability to keep to
the previously promised deadlines, but due to the unexpected acquisition of local premises I am temporarily financially embarrassed.
Please do not consider me as being ungrateful. Without wishing to
offer insincere flattery, I must say that I owe you the greatest vote
of thanks, and I would not dispense with my hearing aid for all the
money in the world. It makes me so glad to live again that I don’t
know where to begin to describe the benefits.
But please permit me, however, to request that you send me two more
batteries. May I ask you once again for your kindness in this matter,
and to please wait for payment until the date mentioned above.
With my highest regards, I remain your
Johann P.
••
Ljubljana, 7th February 1934
Dear Mr Neuroth,
Beginning in 1910 due to a flu virus, I started to suffer from hearing loss. In the initial stage this was still bearable, but with time the
loss has increased in both ears to such an extent that I can now only
understand speech when the words are spoken very loudly and close
to my ear. Outside my profession as federal land surveyor, I am
a great music lover and I am active in many singing groups as a
choral conductor and pianist. I therefore took this blow, the loss of
hearing, very hard. On further discovering that the best ear specialists were unable to offer any improvement, I became reclusive, bad
humoured and tired of life.
By a happy coincidence, however, I then came across your address,
and I was able first to purchase from you a simple hearing aid microphone, and, more recently, a dual microphone apparatus. This
latter has become my constant companion and my best friend, as
with it I can once more hear excellently. I have regained a cheerful
disposition, and once again I can join in society and attend concerts
and theatre. Just like my fellow human beings with normal hearing, I can fully enjoy everything again.
For this reason, Mr Neuroth, I feel deeply indebted to you and I
wish to express my deepest thanks for your incomparable hearing
aids. And I will continue to make all my fellow sufferers aware of
your excellent business.
Your obedient servant
Joseph V.
••
113
Vienna, 10th September 1934
Mr J.A. Neuroth,
This January I had two Signa indicators fitted to let me know
when people called. I cannot help but express to you my deepest
and most heartfelt thanks. As you may recall, I was full of scepticism and could not decide whether or not to buy the Signa warning
lights. But after what has been a long period of eight months of
flawless functioning, I can only describe the Signas as an absolute
blessing for my nervous disposition.
Previously I could not bear to be alone: I was constantly anxious
that someone might ring the door, and I would be unable hear them
at the door. Now I can carry out my work calmly and free of care,
because my Signa indicators have proved reliable in telling me
when anyone is there. Thank you so much once again, and please
keep me informed of any further improvements.
Yours faithfully
Josephine K.
••
Vienna, 12th November 1935
The hearing aid has been such a joy to me, especially at school. It is
really wonderful to hear just like other children.
Yours faithfully
Gertrude P.
Second year high school student
••
115
Our most sincere thanks!
In 1964, after countless medical examinations, our three year old son
was diagnosed with a hearing impairment. You can understand our
state of despair, especially after several doctors recommended that we
put our child into a home for the disabled. During this difficult time,
your company in Graz was recommended to us.
From the very first encounter with Mr Koller our hopes were raised,
not least due to his cooperative and friendly manner. The day that
our son received a hearing aid truly became a milestone in our lives,
because the device was a “magic bullet” allowing our son to pursue an
unhindered life and giving him a happy childhood.
It enabled him to attend primary school as a normal pupil, followed
by secondary school and the completion of his diploma course at the
technical college in Maribor this year.
Over all the years since that fateful day of our first meeting in Graz,
Hans Koller has selflessly applied his expert knowledge for the benefit of our son and constantly provided him with the latest advances
in this vital field.
From the initial business relationship, over the years a personal
friendship developed between our families. We are also convinced
that our son passed his diploma with distinction due to the great merit
of Hans Koller.
We can only express our deepest thanks to Hans Koller, and hope,
with his very deep human empathy and his outstanding expertise, he
continues to assist other hearing impaired children like our son.
Yours most gratefully
The D. family
••
Vienna, 4th Juli 1936
My most honoured Mr JA Neuroth,
I am pleased to inform you that your hearing aids continue to provide me with brilliant service. Despite the fact that my hearing has
continued to worsen in recent years, and today has got to the point
where direct communication is almost impossible, your devices allow
me to carry on my profession without difficulty, and I can communicate with my patients within normal working hours without effort.
It is no exaggeration when I say that it is only thanks to your equipment I can continue to work and not be shut off from society, and I
sincerely hope that this will continue to remain so.
Yours faithfully
Dr. Ernst H.
Radiologist
••
117
Vienna, 22th August 1936
Dear Mr Neuroth,
For many months I have been using one of your new Sonoton
devices with a bone conduction hearing aid, and I am pleased to
inform you that I am extremely satisfied with the performance of
your product. One doesn’t have the feeling of wearing a hearing aid
at all; on the contrary, with the device the hearing loss is diminished
to such an extent one can understand everything without difficulty.
Yours faithfully
Edward L.
Manufacturer
••
14th September 1936
To the specialist in equipment for the hearing impaired, Vienna, JA
Neuroth
It would be a grave omission on my part not to express to you my
fullest appreciation and thanks for the hearing device you have supplied.
My condition had worsened to such a degree in recent months that I
could hardly carry on in my job as a commercial representative. The
device I had was virtually no help at all, and my communication
with customers had deteriorated to the uncomfortable extent that my
boss reluctantly made me understand that he could no longer use me
as a salesman in the field. I am not exaggerating when I state that,
for me, the situation had become literally suicidal.
That was until I was made aware of your establishment on the advice of a lady acquaintance. Since attending a consultation I have
used your CX device with a double microphone. I can express only
unqualified praise to you. And I hope that other sufferers like me
become acquainted with your acoustic apparatus, which stands as
testimony to the performance of German technology.
I remain with kind regards
Yours truly
Frederick H.
••
119
Linz, 17th December 1936
Dear Sirs,
I must finally express my joy in having bought your Sonoton hearing aid. It is really wonderful! For years I have been unable to take
part in conversation at the dinner table. I simply did not understand a single word, but now I can join in and chat just as before.
My family and I often attend concerts, and now I can hear music
wonderfully. A few weeks ago Councillor Rossipaul visited and
asked to try out my new device. He was so delighted that I am quite
certain he has already obtained one of his own.
Yours faithfully
Betty B.
••
Vienna, 6th February 1939
To the J.A. Neuroth Company
Thanks to your truly delightful hearing aid, the use of which has
almost perfectly remedied my profound deafness, I was able to progress to getting permission from the City of Vienna to apply for a
driving licence.
I can now pass on to you the exceptionally good news that I have
passed the exam and have gained my full driving licence. During
the driving test I did not hesitate a bit, as I heard everything perfectly through the Sonoton bone conduction device, and succeeded
in fully meeting the conditions required to drive a motor vehicle.
I am sure you will be pleased to learn of this very gratifying result
for me!
Paul K.
••
121
Sauerbrunn, 23th December 1949
To the Neuroth company
I am pleased to tell you of my superlative experience with your
hearing aid. Since 1st September I have been working in a busy office, when previously I could never have imagined being able to take
down dictation from a manager.
You can appreciate the newly found joy with which I can perform
my professional duties. It is only now that I realise how bad my
ears had become. If I turn down the device, I immediately feel
excluded from the world.
So I wish to thank all at your company for helping me to select and
buy the hearing aid. Being aged only 20, I don’t know what else I
would have done had I not had your support.
At parties I was unable to join in conversation, as I just couldn’t
understand what was said, and this was particularly painful for me;
it shouldn’t be overlooked that in such a situation one tends to shy
away from people. Now, however, no one knows, unless I explicitly
tell them, that I wear a hearing aid.
Margaret K.
••
Voitsberg
Dear Sirs,
Thank you for the Neuroth hearing aid I recently purchased. I use
it when I’m talking with others, but I don’t use it at night. I am
getting rather old (83 years) and frail. Can you advise what should
be done with my hearing aid in the event that I should die?
Yours faithfully
Elizabeth J.
••
123
Graz
Dear Sirs,
I write to tell you I am extremely satisfied with your hearing aids.
After having had to spend five years at home as a housewife, it is
only thanks to your devices that I have become able to consider
returning to my old career as an office assistant and telephonist, and
to find a suitable vacancy quickly. This return has made me very
happy, because I no longer feel inferior.
There is also a visual advantage (eternal vanity!), because nobody
knows otherwise. Without these two devices I would have just been a
“char lady” for my two children and merely earned my keep. Now
my self-confidence has returned once more.
Yours sincerely
Ingeborg D.
••
Almost at the end, but ... (Neuroth)
A man with the love for all creation,
Gradually sinks into deep frustration.
Softly and softly the joys disappear,
Weaker and weaker ebbs the gift to hear.
Where once confronted with intellectual banter
And immediately parried with clerical mantra,
To deep chagrin he now must request:
“Please repeat that, I hear not the best!”
Those little words of “what?” and “pardon?”
Raise a fearful spectre of personal martyrdom.
Where jokes once brought laughs of priestly elation,
The punch line is lost in his deep isolation.
Social gatherings he avoids at all cost,
In public discourse the words are just lost;
The mutterings surround his lonesome grin,
Surely their whisperings are not about him?
Are people conspired in soundless rout?
The whole world rises up to cast him out.
“Is this the purpose of God ’s holy ordnance:
To end my life to rid this annoyance?”
But, in the dark of the supposed last night
He stirs in his sleep and awakes to a light.
A shining apparition or is it a dream?
A fairy sprite beckons; what can it all mean?
How tender she acts, both carefree and meek;
Her hand gently strokes across troubled cheek
And then, so it seems, moves up to his ear
And places there something, but what is not clear.
125
On the morrow from bed as the man is rising,
With day lit up and the sun bright shining,
His delusion dissolves as he hits his own brow.
“My goodness”, he calls, “that cat cried Meow!”
Arriving down stairs two at a bound,
The clock is now “ticking” not just going round.
His cares fall away like a new day dawning
He runs from the house with a “Hail! Good morning!”
His neighbours echo back with hearty “Good day!
We are happy to see you recovered this way.”
On he hastens down the shortest route
To tell all his friends and colleagues to boot.
Dearly would he join them in choral class
And drink their health to the chink of a glass.
For so dear heaven has ordained this reprieve
And restored the man and his faith to believe!
The moral of the story is clear to relate
For a device from Neuroth it is never too late.
Father Felix, Tyrol
••
Music is all important.
When I play the saxophone, many people do not believe that I
suffer from a loss of hearing. And as long as I keep in practice,
performances with the orchestra do not present any problems to
me. At home I often relax and unwind by sitting at the piano, just
playing a bit, or by sitting and listening to my children when they
play some music. Music is all important to me, and without hearing
of course it would not be possible to enjoy it.
Nevertheless, my loss of hearing has almost become an “old friend ”
to me now. It has been an important part of me since my early
childhood and was a critical factor in my choice of career. At the
age of 30, I’ve decided to turn what otherwise is a shortcoming in
many situations, into an advantage for myself and for others. I
have worked as audiologist at Neuroth since 1991.
Because of my own hearing loss, I am particularly able to put
myself in the situation of others and help them with their problems
and wishes. In my work as well as my private life I believe it is very
important to teach other people that you can also live a full life and
be happy with a loss of hearing.
Edmund L.
Senior audiologist at Neuroth
••
127
Vienna
To the Schinko-Neuroth company,
I have wanted to write to you for some time, but just like other pensioners I tend to be a bit slow and forgetful.
My story starts ten years ago, when I moved home and changed
my doctor and audiologist. This is how I ended up at your branch
on the Meidlinger Hauptstrasse in the Vienna 12 district.
I needed a new hearing aid and was advised by a very friendly
young man. Although I had suffered from a completely deaf left
ear for countless years, one that neither doctors nor experts could do
anything with, that day I was in for a surprise.
The young man, Mr Lehner, took extra effort and examined both
ears thoroughly. And the upshot was his discovery that I could
hear through the bones on my left side. Thus I came to be fitted
with a device for my “dead ” left ear as well. And for this I am
externally grateful to Mr Lehner because, even if it is a little weak,
I can now hear in this ear too.
So, now you know everything. It just remains for me, once again,
to send you
Many thanks!
Margaret S.
••
Vienna
Dear Mrs Schinko-Neuroth!
I just want to thank you for the beauty of the birds. It is just fantastic to hear the blackbirds singing, and I am so happy with my new
hearing aid.
But there is just one more thing! You couldn’t just find my little
feathered friend for me as well? He’s so adorable when he sings: Jus!
Jus! Just a moment! I would love to know his name and what he
looks like.
Wishing you a happy Easter.
Yours faithfully
Maria-Anna S.
••
129
Kiev
Dear Sir or Madam,
We would like to express our enormous thanks for your generous
assistance in providing a hearing aid for our daughter, Hannah,
who has a serious hearing impairment. The hearing aid you have
given our daughter means that she can now attend a normal school,
and follow the lessons.
The problems of poor hearing effects our whole family, as my wife
and I have lived with hearing impairment since childhood, and it
has been impossible for us to find a normal job. Our disability pension income amounts to 70 euros per month, and hence it would
have been impossible for us to obtain a hearing aid for our daughter. Therefore we are truly delighted that Neuroth has responded in
this way and given us such generous support.
Thank you,
Her family, Marina and Igor L.
••
Dear Mrs. Schinko-Neuroth!
I feel I must write to you in praise of the highly professional staff
you employ in your Eisenstadt outlet.
I work in Eisenstadt in the health and medical insurance service,
and I have repeatedly heard accounts of how older people are afraid
of and shy away from hearing aids, tending to lose their quality of
life, before they can accept the need to wear one.
Then it happened in my own private life that my father got to
the situation where he really needed a hearing aid. My father, at
the age of 76, is normally open minded and has both feet on the
ground, but when the conversation turned to a hearing aid, he more
than literally stopped listening.
However, your Mrs Riedl was able to convince him otherwise, in
such a nice, human and sensible manner that I couldn’t get over my
surprise. Later I was assured of similar reactions by others.
I can only congratulate you on your staff!
My family and I thank you for the quality of life that Mrs Riedl
has given us.
Yours sincerely
Elfriede P. from Hornstein
••
131
Dear Madam,
It gives me pleasure to write to you and take this opportunity to
congratulate you and all of your staff in the Südtirolerplatz and at
Eisernes Tor. It gives one a good feeling when entering your outlets
to know that you will be looked after and cared for.
I got to know one particularly distinguished specialist, Mr Hans
Koller, while in discussion with him on the supply of a hearing aid.
Simply put, yours is truly the epitome of a sound company.
Yours sincerely
Franz W. (Parliamentary President, retired)
••
Graz
To the Neuroth company
Samira is a 17-year-old girl from Kosovo with damaged hearing
who came to the province of Styria a few months ago with her family.
Efforts were made here to help her, but before anything could be
done the refugees had to return – although a full medical report on
her condition had at least been made.
From Samira’s uncle who lives in Austria, I learned of the desperate situation of the girl and approached the Neuroth Company in
Graz. They spontaneously donated a set of free hearing aids for
both ears, together with a sufficient number of batteries for a prolonged period, which the uncle duly took to Kosovo. On his return
he was pleased to tell me that Samira was now able to talk!
May I offer many thanks to the Neuroth Company on behalf of
Samira and her family!
Irmgard K.
••
133
To Mrs. Schinko-Neuroth!
I must confess that I do not actually know exactly how long I have
suffered from loss of hearing, but it is probably since birth. However, as my hearing loss is only 20 dB, at first it wasn’t really noticed.
It was only at the age of nine, when I was first given English lessons
in the third grade of primary school, that my teacher realised I had
difficulty in grasping pronunciation. You learn foreign languages
partly through listening and speaking, but I had problems in distinguishing “s” and “z” sounds, and especially the very common “th”
in English. This of course showed up in my school results.
My teacher talked to my parents about her suspicion there might
possibly be a problem with my hearing. My loss was verified by
having a hearing test, and I was immediately fitted with a hearing
aid.
Since then I have had no further problems with English pronunciation. And my school results have improved all round; apparently
there were more things I was not picking up at school than I had
realised.
Because I can still hear reasonably well without an aid, I only wear
it at school and at home. Naturally, if I go swimming, or if I am
traveling, cycling or skiing, then often I don’t wear it at all. But
I’m glad that now I am always able to understand everything when
it is necessary to do so.
Andreas Z., student
••
Vienna
Better hearing
Getting older and a little wiser?
Things around are getting quieter!
It seems to you all is not clear,
The likely problem is in the ear.
This ageing of the human form
Starts on earth the day we’re born.
To us all God ’s will be done,
Exemption here, there is not one.
For better hearing please take note,
It’s easy when you find “Neuroth”.
Relax, good hands are very near
To help your cares soon disappear.
Friendly people and professional too,
Take control of all that’s to do
In a few days you’ll have found
Once again you hear every sound
Friedrich B.
••
135
Puchenau
A hard nut to crack
There are many varieties of flora and fauna, and some of which are
largely unknown. While many have heard of carnivorous plants,
few are aware of the wild hearing aid eater. We must confess to
owning such a rare specimen.
Two years ago, we were enjoying a pleasant evening finishing with
nuts and a glass of wine. Grandpa needed a new battery for his
hearing aid, and therefore put it down on the table. And as he
turned to get a battery, our beloved husky, Atika, snapped up the
device and gobbled it down, no doubt believing it was a nut.
Although we were on the lookout over the following days when taking her for walks, the hearing aid did not reappear.
At this point our granddaughter turned to Grandpa and asked,
“Can Akita now hear through her stomach?”
Every time we now visit our granddaughter, she whispers sweet
nothings to our dog, not just in her ear but also to her stomach.
Hermine M.
••
Salzburg
My story
At the age of eight, I caught scarlet fever and at the same time had
a serious tonsillitis infection. This marked the start of my hearing
loss, although as a child it still left me relatively free of cares. However, at the age of 17, my German teacher at the Annahof College
for Women gave me an ultimatum: “Either you wear a hearing
aid, or you will get a grade 4 in German.”
And my secure little world fell apart. The thought of a device on my
ear with a cord to a case in the pocket terrified me; that was for old
people, not for me!
But a “satisfactory” in German, where previously I had always
achieved “excellent”, was something that I just could not cope with.
After many tears and gentle support from my parents, I decided to
go ahead with the hearing aid: it was a behind-the-ear device with
the bud in the ear. My German teacher was delighted for me, even
if I was not for myself.
That was back in 1966. In 1983 I decided to use a second unit, and
this has now become essential for me.
I switched to Neuroth for my hearing aid service in 2003, and I
was immediately struck by the patient, caring and competent service.
I have been working with the elderly in the Order of the Sisters of
Charity for 30 years. Every three years we have the opportunity
to attend spiritual conferences and meetings at our main mission in
Paris, but unfortunately I could never go because I could not manage the headphones linked to the translation booths. Without hearing aids, everything was silent, and with them the French transla-
137
tion far louder than the German and totally incomprehensible.
It made me very despondent, with tears and feelings of inferiority
causing me to retreat within myself.
However, thanks to the expert help of Michael Neuhofer from your
Mirabellplatz centre in Salzburg, I was fitted with a hearing aid
that allowed me to go to Paris for the first time, and hear everything from the translation booths. It was 30 days of absolute bliss, a
truly great experience for me that strengthened my self-esteem!
May I send a very big thank you to Mrs Waltraud SchinkoNeuroth and her daughter Julia Schinko for continuing and improving on the work of your ancestors with such great fervour and
enthusiasm!
I pray with all my heart, for God ’s blessing on you and all your
work.
Sister Maria
••
Garsten
To the senior management of Neuroth hearing aids.
I am Cecilia K. and I am 87 years old. I have asked my nephew
Karl D. to write you a few lines of thanks.
I have one of your hearing aids dating from 1994, but after using it
for a number of years I had some serious problems with my ears. In
all, I paid some 23 visits to a very good ENT specialist, but eventually
just gave up. It seemed almost impossible to diagnose the problems
with one ear, the one that was most impaired.
However, after six months, the lack of hearing in this ear canal miraculously improved. At this point I sought out the assistance of Mrs
Emilie Mattausch, your branch manager in Steyr.
And l owe to Mrs Mattausch my most hearty thanks for her enduring patience and her tireless efforts and care in resolving my hearing
problems, and for fitting me with a new hearing aid. I am so very
pleased. Mrs Mattausch is a true professional. I am sure that her
very human and helpful approach in her work with “Neuroth” must
certainly provide support to many hard of hearing people such as me.
It is for this reason that I wish to write to you, not to complain about
my old hearing aid or about poor service (the usual instances where
many people might perhaps want to make their views known), but
rather to congratulate “Neuroth” and one of its most thorough and
conscientious employees.
Cecilia K.
••
139
Deutschkreutz
To Mrs Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth
I have been looked after by Mrs Riedl in your Eisenstadt branch
with much patience, perseverance and human empathy for quite a
period of time. And as a totally satisfied customer, I feel compelled to
write and say what a first-class professional service Elisabeth Riedl
provides.
I have suffered from tinnitus for more than 20 years, and increasingly I became more desperate and depressed at the inadequate expertise
I found among the staff of the large number of other suppliers which
I have tried.
But thanks to Mrs Riedl and Neuroth I have now gained a new
confidence!
Yours sincerely
Maria R.
••
To Schinko-Neuroth AG, Schwarzau, To the Company Management
I have been aware of an increasing deafness for several decades, and
managed to overcome many hurdles by lip reading. Apart from the
strain on my wife and two sons, who all hear normally but have to
speak very loudly to me, I found myself confronted with increasing
problems in my professional career. As a senior official of the Criminal
Investigation Service I depend on good hearing.
It is hard to believe that I could have survived the massive burden
of deafness all these years, in many dangerous situations, totally unscathed, were it not that I actually experienced this for myself.
The entire scale of the problem is only now becoming fully apparent
to me, thanks of course to the hearing aids prescribed for me, as I not
only experience the happiness of enormously increased hearing, but can
also enjoy the related opportunities and benefits. Today I can listen to
television and radio without headphones. The fear of missing the phone
ringing, or not hearing the door bell, is gone. Recently it has also been
pointed out several times that I now talk much less loudly, an outcome
which I personally find very pleasing.
The route to this significant improvement in my quality of life took
me to your specialist outlet in Vienna 6, Mariahilferstrasse, and led
directly to Mrs Doris Weis. This turned out to be a stroke of luck! One
can only congratulate you on such a professionally trained staff member. I wish to convey my thanks to the Schinko-Neuroth company for
the help that has been given me, and to assure you of my continuing
loyalty.
I wish you well and remain
Yours sincerely
Kurt S.
••
141
Hoheneich
To Senior Management of the Neuroth company, Schwarzau
We would like to draw your attention to the highly skilled and,
above all, very courteous and forthcoming staff employed at your
specialist outlet in Freistadt. Due to his exceptional commitment
Mr Reinhard Fenzl has given our daughter Christina a new lease
of life, a better way of living.
For many years, probably from birth, our daughter has suffered
from unexplained hearing loss. Several ENT doctors, psychologists,
and even university professors have been unable to make a definite
diagnosis. All that the doctors could say was that there is no physical loss of hearing. Nevertheless, our daughter was “different” from
other children. She was unable to “automatically” listen, and communication with her was very, very difficult. But the fact was, no
one could really help our daughter.
We finally decided to look at buying a hearing aid and made an
appointment at your branch in Freistadt. From the day of that
appointment onward, I had the feeling that there was someone who
wanted to really help us and also possibly could.
Despite the fact that up until then the ENT specialists held the
unanimous view that a hearing aid was not what our daughter
needed, Mr Fenzl looked at everything to help Christina. Despite
objections from doctors, he cut through the red tape and very
quickly organised a suitable hearing aid for our daughter. We went
to Freistadt with no great expectations, but a totally unexpected
miracle suddenly took place: CHRISTINA COULD HEAR!
As you can imagine, we were speechless. Mr Fenzl just smiled and
said, “That seems to be alright.” We had two weeks in which to test
the device, and it really worked! Christina started a whole new life.
She could hear her teacher, listen to birds singing, join in conversation, and take part in many more things.
We wish to thank you and your employee Mr Fenzl for his friendly efforts to help us, and in particular Christina. It is due to him
alone that it is possible for Christina to hear.
Furthermore, we would like to ask you as managers of the company
to ensure that Mr Fenzl is given due thanks and recognition in a
suitable manner for his dedication to our daughter.
Bernhard and Melitta B.
••
143
Liberty and security
Right from my childhood, with each new hearing aid that I was
given, a part of my personality changed.
While in kindergarten I was a very withdrawn little girl, and
played for hours all alone, focusing mainly on myself.
But each new generation of better hearing aids has given me a bit
more freedom and confidence in dealing with other people.
These days, I am very communicative, and really enjoy talking
with other people, being together with them and working together.
Communication plays a special role in my profession as an architect. I constantly have to discuss and exchange ideas with others, or
explain things and give instructions, often in the very noisy environment of a construction site. Thanks to the hearing aid, I like to
think I don’t have a handicap.
Previously, it was always difficult for me, when listening to people, not to look at their mouth; without realising it at the time, I
automatically compensated for my hearing loss by lip-reading.
Of course this way of coping would not work when my view of the
speaker’s face was obscured, for example, in a crowded lecture hall as
an undergraduate.
I have been wearing Neuroth hearing aids since I turned 26. With
them lip-reading is a thing of the past. Due to the aid ’s optimum
setting I can again understand language without running into barriers; and my passion, listening to music, is finally a real joy.
Marion P., architect
••
Vienna
A jubilant district court
A few years ago I witnessed a traffic accident in Lower Austria, in
which one person was injured. Six months later I was summoned to
the court hearing.
When I was called to give evidence, the judge asked me to give my
name, address and “date”. At that time I did not hear so well, and
was a little nervous, too.
I answered the first two questions, but for the date I said, “Just a
moment, I have to look it up.” And I took the accident report from
my bag to check the date. When I turned back to the judge’s bench,
I looked in amazement at the grinning faces of the court attendants.
“Why do you need to look it up? Everyone normally knows it by
heart”, exclaimed the judge. To which I replied, “I’m sorry, I’m
afraid I don’t. It was rather a long while ago.”
At this there were titters and grinning faces all around the courtroom. “I am sure that is certainly the case,” the judge said, “but I
only wanted to know your date of birth!”
Of course all this took place in the time before I had been fitted with
a Neuroth hearing aid, and when I could still raise a laugh in the
courtroom.
Horst K.
••
145
Hartberg
To the Neuroth Company!
For the attention of Mr Pelzmann and his team
I have to take my hat off to you for your amazing efforts in customer care and service, and for your technical expertise in fitting a
new hearing aid for me in only five hours. I wish to extend sincere
thanks to you and your staff. I was particularly impressed with the
kindness and patience shown to me yesterday.
Today, I was in Fürstenfeld, and Mr Eber carried out some further fine tuning. He also took the trouble to explain everything to
me, and adjust the hearing aid fully. Please also pass on a big thank
you to him!
I have had dealings with many hearing aid suppliers, and two of
my children also wear hearing aids from other brands, but I have
received this high level of service only from you.
Yours sincerely
Mr Robert E.
••
Paula and Johann August Neuroth in the
drawing room at their Vienna apartment
Theresia and Viktor Neuroth
with their son August Carl
Paula and Johann August Neuroth
taking the summer holiday in Bad Ischl
For many decades the main company premises:
The 1st floor establishment in the Mariahilfer Straße
The company moved to the Mariahilfer Straße
(Vienna) in April 1936
One of the moving letters from August Carl Neuroth
to his wife Katharina
Best wishes sent on 13th December 1947 to mark the
40th anniversary of the company foundation
Picture above: One of the first company Christmas
celebrations after the Second World War
Picture below: Neuroth staff together with international
audiologists on a boat trip in Hamburg
Registration of the VOX Deaf Association
formed by the company founders
Wedding bells ring out for Waltraud and Georg Schinko
The proud grandparents Katharina and
August Carl with granddaughter Heidi
Happy mother with youngest son Lukas
Brother Gregor and sister Julia in a large wing chair
Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth with children Gregor
and Julia as well as nieces Heidi and Susi
and Caesar the dog
The managers of the future
Gregor, Julia and Lukas ( from below)
Hearing spectacles from the 1950s
Advertising in the 1950s:
In her left hand, a model is holding an out-dated desktop
unit and, in her right, a modern „behind-the-ear” device
Development of the company logo over time
The House of Hearing at Südtirolerplatz, Graz
Customers send their appreciation
A thank you note from the famous actor,
Karlheinz Böhm
Picture given by the staff to Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth on
the occasion of the 80-year anniversary of the company
This figure originally stood on the desk of the founders.
It is now kept by Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth.
A gesture of great respect: Hans Koller fastens the precious bracelet from all of the staff on the wrist of his boss
Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth in action
Elfriede Neuroth receives a precious bracelet
Sisters Waltraud and Elfriede Neuroth
with Gertraude Schneider
The new management of the company:
Lukas, Julia and Gregor Schinko
CEO Lukas Schinko delivering his inaugural speech
Picture above: (from left) The couple Waltraud and Georg
Schinko with their children Lukas, Julia and Gregor
Picture below: Cutting the cake at handover of the
company leadership in Salzburg in 2011
Recipient of many awards: Waltraud Schinko-Neuroth
receiving the Styrian Golden Medal of Honour
A long-standing
friendship: Waltraud
Schinko-Neuroth and
and the actor
Karlheinz Böhm
1907
Paula and Johann August found the specialist
in equipment for the
hearing impaired
1936
Establishment of the first Neuroth
specialist outlet in Vienna‘s
Mariahilfer Straße, which still
exists today
1927
August Carl Neuroth joins
his aunt’s business
Neuroth AG
1979
16th specialist
outlet in Austria
1992
Waltraud SchinkoNeuroth takes over
the company from
her father starting
with 8 employees
1999
Opening
of Neuroth
optical centre
in Graz
2002
2003
1st hearing
centre in
Switzerland
50th specialist
outlet in Austria
2000
Establishment of Sound
Academy in Schwarzau
Expansion to
Slovenia
2008
2012
Expansion to
Germany
1st hearing centre
in Croatia
2011
2009
Opening of Neuroth
Academy in Gleisdorf
Currently: about 800
employees in 112 specialist
outlets in Austria
over 55 hearing centres in
Switzerland and Liechtenstein
15 hearing centres in Slovenia
5 hearing centres in Croatia
◀

One more thing …
One more thing …
179
180 One more thing …
The role model
It is a regrettable fact that hearing impairment is
still subject to a certain level of stigma. Indeed other
people’s reactions to hearing disability can be more
varied than for instance with serious sight disability.
However, awareness of and attitudes toward hearing
impairment are improving, not just because of the
technical advances and wider availability of hearing
devices in the last 50 years, but also because of the
increase in the size of the aged population. Since
hearing is subject to the same type of physical development in humans as their vision, it is quite normal
to wear a hearing aid at a certain point in one’s life.
Without doubt, one of Neuroth’s most prominent
customers is the actor Karlheinz Böhm, most famous
in Austria for having played the young Emperor Franz
Joseph opposite Romy Schneider in the Sissi trilogy
of films, but also known for his work in Hollywood
and the UK, and with the German director Rainer
Werner Fassbinder.
He is a long standing friend of Waltraud SchinkoNeuroth, and they both actively support his charity
project in Ethiopia, called People for People. In an in-
One more thing …
terview with the Neuroth customer magazine, Böhm
spoke about his school for children with hearing disabilities in Ethiopia.
“The children need to learn to express themselves,
so that they can communicate with those around
them,” Böhm commented.
Unfortunately, children with residual hearing in Ethiopia are very isolated. In our school, we can train roughly
200 children to give them a sense of belonging, and a
future to look forward to.
But how does Böhm manage with his own loss of
hearing? He is refreshingly candid. “I have worn hearing aids for several years, and I haven’t been ashamed
or embarrassed about myself for one second. My experience isn’t one bit negative; they give me back my
quality of life! If you have poor eyesight then wouldn’t
you wear glasses? And if you have poor hearing you
need a hearing aid.”
The actor believes that a person with poor hearing can often be tormented, sometimes for years, because of their inhibitions about getting a hearing aid.
As he emphasises: “It cannot be said too loud or too
frequently: poor hearing should be just as acceptable
as poor vision. Personally, all I can say is that my life is
hardly diminished by hearing loss, because the hearing aid compensates and allows me to live my life and
to communicate in the same way as before.”
And, he confides, “I was also fortunate enough to
181
meet someone who responded to my hearing needs.”
He smiles and adds: “It is a shame that there are not
more Neuroths around the world. I for one am very
pleased to have been introduced to this company.”
H all
of fame
Karlheinz Böhm is not the only celebrity, whose
quality of life has been restored with a Neuroth hearing
aid. For many people, good hearing is absolutely vital,
something without which they could not carry on in
their profession; actors and politicians are particulary
affected in this way. Thus, over the years many famous
names, ranging from the former Austrian imperial
family to honoured members of an Arab royal family,
have enlisted the help of Neuroth. The list includes two
former presidents of Austria, Kurt Waldheim and Rudolf Kirchschläger, while the former interior minister
Franz Olah was able to improve his hearing by means
of modern miniaturised hearing aid technology.
Over the decades, the Neuroth specialists have
helped senior dignitaries of the Catholic Church as
well as many well-known theatre people. The latter include a legendary Hungarian director and playwright,
the late George Tabori, and an unforgettable Austrian
actor, the late Richard Eybner, a member of the Vienna
Burgtheater ensemble who directed many films together with a very well-known Viennese comedy actor, the late Hans Moser, who was also the user of a
One more thing …
Neuroth hearing aid. Gusti Wolf, given the honoured
title of chamber actress, put her trust in Neuroth, as
did the Burgtheater legend Hermann Thimig. Other
celebrities with hearing problems included the unique
Paula Wessely, star of many post-war films, and actors
from the famous Vienna Volkstheater, Paul Löwinger
and Karl Paryla, whose roles in the 19th century Viennese popular theatre of Johann Nestroy and Ferdinand
Raimund remain unforgettable. And last but not least,
the world famous Romanian Ana Aslan, a pioneer in
the science of gerontology, also took advice from the
experts of the house of Neuroth.
Take
strength
Of course, on the international stage, there is a
growing list of celebrities, who wear hearing aids.
While known only as a movie actor, Ronald Reagan
had his hearing severely impaired by the loud sound
of a gun going off by accident while on location. Several decades later in 1983, while serving as America’s
President, he openly stated that he, the nation’s leader, had some damage to his right ear which meant he
could not hear properly and had to wear a hearing
aid; by making this announcement, Reagan wanted
to encourage everybody who had a hearing impairment to take the step of wearing an aid.
This message led the way to an enormous demand
for hearing aids in the United States, and subsequently
183
even the President has had to have an annual health
examination. In 1997, a spokesperson for Bill Clinton
informed the public that the then President had undergone a hearing test which indicated a loss of hearing;
ever since Clinton has worn a hearing aid.
But the list of hearing-impaired world leaders does
not stop there. George Bush has been affected, just as
were the former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and
the former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt. And
the specialist magazine Audio Info has reported that
the complicated world of politics was improved with
hearing aids for Otto von Habsburg, the last heir to
the Austrian imperial throne, the statesmen Jacques
Chirac, Sir Winston Churchill and Deng Xiaoping.
A look back
A look back
These figures speak for themselves: In Europe there
are more than 70 million people aged between 18 and
80 who have a hearing loss greater than 25 decibels.
This is not a random or arbitrary measure, but has been
defined by the World Health Organisation as “hearing
impaired”. In the United States, 35 million people are
affected; in the developing world, the total has reached
an estimated 70 million - this rapid increase in the developing countries is believed to be due to a rise in
untreated ear infections. The WHO estimates that by
2015 around 700 million people worldwide will suffer from a significant hearing loss. These figures show
that the subject of healthy hearing will be of increasing
concern to future generations.
A
fight for life
Good hearing has been an essential element for
survival since the beginning of human history.
Only days after fertilisation, the human embryo
begins to form ears that function, and the grow-
185
186 A look back
ing foetus can hear from inside the womb. Studies
in England have found that an unborn baby can already hear so well that, on being delivered from the
mother, the baby can distinguish her voice from all
others right from the start.
Since before recorded history, people with hearing
loss have tried to alleviate their suffering in different
ways. The time when actual hearing aids, in whatever
form, were first used cannot be determined exactly,
but a mural from ancient Egypt shows young girls
cupping their outstretched hands to the ear; thousands of years ago this was the simplest way to be
able to better hearing.
And the basic principle of how to amplify sound
mechanically has certainly been known since time
immemorial, since the ability to hear at night and to
detect the sound of wild animals was an early necessity for human survival. Large leaves shaped into a
funnel, hollow animal bones or bull horns will enhance sound when put to the ear, and such simple
instruments will have been used by people in the
distant past.
However, one will look in vain for depictions of
hearing aids in the art of Antiquity or the Middle Ages.
It is believed the reason was the tendency of people,
still prevalent today, to simply try to hide their hearing difficulties. Were any of the almighty rulers such as
Alexander, Caesar or Cleopatra ever portrayed with a
stethoscope to their ear? It’s unimaginable. Any such
medical histories would have been kept under wraps;
A look back
even back then doctors were under a vow of secrecy.
Nevertheless, there are clues as to the importance of
hearing accurately. In ancient Egypt the wealthy of
both sexes wore elaborate wigs and headdress made
of starched linen which were shaped so they automatically pressed the ears forward a little bit; this had
the effect of reflecting the sound, as if a hand were
held behind the ear.
And the majestic thrones of ancient rulers were
built according to a conception similar to that of a
large wing chair, the auditory effect of which was further enhanced by having a shell-shaped canopy. Not
only did such a throne have a strong visual impact, its
design made it easier for the ruler to hear and understand those to whom he or she gave audience.
A fflictions
of the mighty
The Roman emperor Claudius suffered from numerous ailments due to a very complicated premature
birth, and historical sources assert that people made
fun of him in public and even called him a fool, although when the constitutional lawyer was acclaimed
emperor it had been against his will. Since having
measles in childhood, Claudius was also deaf in one
ear; if engaged in conversation, he always bowed his
head to the side, as the right ear was still reasonably
intact. But since this mannerism was an opportunity
which might be exploited by cartoonists, he would
187
188 A look back
avoid conversations where possible and often communicated with a writing slate.
Even the warlike Julius Caesar was not among the
healthiest rulers of his time. He had severe headaches
and, as the historian Plutarch noted, was seen to suffer spells of dizziness and cramps, and foaming at the
mouth. He was reported to hear strange voices at
times, followed by a sudden deafness and temporary
tinnitus. These ailments were grouped under the term
“epilepsy”, probably for the reason that in ancient
Rome epilepsy was regarded as a “sacred disease”.
If Hannibal and Alexander the Great were known to
have suffered from a loss of hearing, then why not also
Caesar? It is recorded that Caesar never wore headgear and simply ignored the icy winds in the north; it
is possible therefore that he may have had incurred a
middle ear infection, which led subsequently to loss
of hearing.
William Shakespeare made reference to this belief
in his play. Walking through the senate, a blind soothsayer warns him with the words: “Caesar! Beware the
Ides of March!” But as Caesar did not immediately understand what had been said to him, Brutus repeats
to him: “A soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of
March!” And a little later Caesar asks Mark Anthony
to: “Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf.”
A look back
I nto
the arena
Since antiquity, hearing has had a high priority,
and over the centuries a great deal of effort has been
applied to assisting this sensory organ. It was even
believed that the ear was the seat of memory, and
that pinching the ear lobe would ensure that something important was not forgotten. Yet such fanciful
ideas should not obscure, for example, the high degree of technical skill and capability in acoustics that
went into building ancient amphitheatres.
Such huge architectural marvels, still to be seen
today, could accommodate up to 20,000 spectators,
and yet their design was such that even way up at the
topmost levels of the bowl, the audience could hear
and understand every word of the speakers on the
stage far down below - as a modern visitor to such an
amphitheatre can experience for themselves.
In the past architects also built recesses into theatres as a type of reflector capable of throwing sound
and directing it to selected individual audiences.
And Greek actors wore masks not only to represent
certain character types, comic or tragic for example,
but also because the masks worked as sound amplifiers for their voices emerging through a small opening
at the mouth piece.
189
190 A look back
A ntique
bugging devices
Such ancient knowledge of acoustics had other
applications. From Herodotus we know that in the
wars between the Greeks and the Persians, the latter used a huge type of hollow shield as a device to
listen in on their enemies making plans for attack;
an early type of bugging device, one could say. Similarly, the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse reputedly had
carved out for him an underground dungeon with a
sound-reflective vault, similar to the shape of the human ear, so that he could listen to the conversations
of his prisoners. This cave has excellent acoustics and
came to be known as the “Ear of Dionysius”.
The Oracle
of
Delphi
The Oracle of Delphi in the Temple of Apollo was
considered the cultural centre of the early Greek
world, and enjoyed the highest reputation among its
citizens. Standing in the middle of the temple, which
was built on a large rock and surrounded by olive
trees, the oracle’s priestess, Pythia, would raise her
arms high over a crevice and be enveloped by mysterious mists. For a long time, people believed that
Pythia could answer questions by filtering out the
predictions emanating from this fog.
Today, of course, we have known for a long time
how the oracle worked. Again it has something to do
A look back
with sound. Underneath the temple, there was a natural cavern in the rock, connected by a fissure with
the interior of the temple above. The priests would
gather in the cavern below and through the fissure
they could listen and understand every word that was
spoken in the temple above, in particular the questions which people were asking to Pythia. In return,
the priests would concoct answers and whisper them
up into the fissure for Pythia to hear up above and
relay to her audience. The fog was there merely to
distract the audience: what was a mist created from
water vapour, often with a colouring agent added
to give it a tinted hue, would divert the attention of
those present away from any risk of them hearing the
messages coming up from the cavern below.
So
much wind
For a long time Christianity forbade any dissection
of the human body for medical research. This meant,
in one culture at least, that for centuries there was no
possibility for progress in the treatment of hearing
loss. It was not until the 13th century, in the Italy of the
early Renaissance, that any indications can be found
of examination of the human body for the detection
of aural disease and malfunction.
Instead, deafness was often thought to be a kind
of flatulence in which thick, stagnant air accumulated
in the inner ear. Doctors would use a small silver tube
191
192 A look back
to suck out this “stagnant air”, but it is not recorded
whether this resulted in any improvement of the patient’s hearing.
In the 16th century, the Italian surgeon Berengario
identified the function of the tympanic membrane
and ossicles. But because he went against religious
edict by repeatedly studying human corpses, he was
eventually banished from Bologna. It was not until the
18th and 19th centuries that any significant move forward was made in the science of otology.
The
first hearing trumpets
There are strong indications that ear trumpets
came into use as early as the 17th century. The English scientist Sir Francis Bacon wrote in 1627 of being
aware that ear trumpets were in use in Spain, while
the first drawing of a stethoscope is dated 1673 and
depicts a device developed by a Dutchman which
looks more like a trumpet than a tube.
Hearing aids were first mass-produced and offered
for sale in England, with a design borrowing heavily
from the construction of musical wind instruments.
Right across the European continent “hearing machines” were being invented, all of them serving a single purpose; to ensure that hearing impaired people
should be able to hear better.
The early 19th century heralded a “golden age” for
ear trumpets, with the new “hearing instruments” be-
A look back
ing produced in all sorts of metals such as copper, tin,
brass or bronze, but using glass as well.
For royalty and rulers with hearing difficulties, ear
trumpets were hidden in their throne. We know that
Queen Victoria owned such a hearing throne. Rich
ladies with enough money had a hearing device incorporated into their wig, or, for funerals, an ear trumpet could be customised with black bows and frills to
make it almost unrecognisable and a fitting accessory
for mourning clothes.
In Victorian England a version of the top hat called
the “Hearing Hat” was patented; an ear trumpet was
installed so that the sound went straight to the ear.
Later, leather ear cups were produced, and in 1852 an
English physician, Joseph Toynbee, developed an artificial eardrum that used a disk of vulcanized rubber
attached to a rod. These devices paved the way for the
age of technology and today’s advanced hearing aid
technologies.
193
194 The deaf genius
The deaf genius
For most people it is difficult to imagine what it is
like to suffer from loss of hearing, unless we personally experience it. Not only does awareness of hearing disability lag behind such physical impairments
as poor sight, personal accounts of the impact of
poor hearing in history books or literature are few
and hard to find.
There is however one very famous and well-document life story, associated with the history of Austria,
where deafness played a pivotal role and where we
gain a deep insight into the distress that lack of hearing can exert.
It is a story of extremes, of highs and lows, and of
someone who was both “cursed” and “blessed” with
hearing disability. He is considered one of the most
brilliant composers of the western world. He wrote
grand piano concertos and symphonies, and numerous other outstanding pieces of music including one
opera. Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn in
1770 and died in Vienna in 1827.
But his fate is one of the most touching and most
unusual in the history of music, as when Beethoven
The deaf genius
composed some of his most important works he was
completely deaf. From his pen flowed the European
anthem, Ode to Joy, as the closing piece and culmination of his final work, the Ninth Symphony.
World
premiere
It is a balmy spring evening on 7th May 1824 in
Vienna, and at the famous Kärntnertor theatre (the
“Imperial and Royal Court Theatre of Vienna”, to give
it its official title) a gala performance is listed on the
concert programme. Inside the packed auditorium,
there are many friends and admirers of the composer.
The first piece to be performed that evening is the
glorious Missa Solemnis, but it is the conclusion of the
programme which is eagerly anticipated: a symphony
with a finale that includes choral and solo voices singing Schiller’s poem, Ode to Joy.
Holding the baton is Michael Umlauff, who first received a rapturous reception ten years earlier when
he conducted the premier of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio. The premiere on this occasion is a work
called the Grand Symphony, though later it will become known simply as the Ninth. According to those
present on this evening, the composer stood directly
next to the conductor with his back to the audience,
setting the various tempos of the music. Beethoven
was said to have been an imposing figure, wearing a
green frock coat with black knee breeches and shoes
195
196 The deaf genius
with brass buckles. Around the neck he wore a bright
cravat, while his usually wild mane of hair was hidden
under a cap.
The Missa Solemnis is received with rapturous applause at its conclusion, but from the first notes of the
new symphony the assembled members of Viennese
society can barely keep still. As the timpani drums
ring out the beats in the second movement, the audience break out into a spontaneous applause, in the
middle of the music, creating such a loud noise that
the chief of police is prompted to intervene and call
out for calm.
In the fourth movement there is a sudden mighty
fanfare, heralding the deep tenor solo “Joyously…”,
which is picked up by the chorus, echoing the hope
and brotherhood of the Ode to Joy:
“Be embraced, millions!
This kiss to the entire world!”
Those present that evening reported several seconds of stunned silence after the final notes, before
the audience broke out into thunderous applause
and the loud cheers for the latest of the great master’s
work and for his apparent boundless genius.
But Beethoven himself heard nothing of all this!
Absolutely nothing! Not one single sound! There he
stood at the side of his music stand, oblivious to the
tumult behind him, smoothing out his score so that
he could put it in his pocket.
One of the singers realises the situation. She goes
to him and by taking his arm she turns him to the
The deaf genius
audience so that the maestro can also experience the
great success of his work. He stares into the auditorium
for a long time and then bows, barely noticeably. This
is to be the last time that Beethoven stood on stage
and experienced the fervent response of the audience:
hundreds of hats flying in the air, and countless white
handkerchiefs waving to the grand master.
H is
afflictions
Ludwig van Beethoven suffered from various afflictions throughout his entire life. Deafness was the
one that he struggled with most, but perhaps more
than anything it spurred him on to be his most creative. At an early age he suffered repeatedly from
stomach and digestive complaints, to which over the
years were added migraines, painful abscesses and
infections, and pneumonia. When he came to Vienna
in 1792, chroniclers reported that he suffered from
various cramps and digestive disorders, and was he
plagued by a “terrible typhus” in 1797.
In 1801 at the age of 31, he made his first written
admission that his hearing was deteriorating, in a letter written to his friend, the physician Franz Wegeler,
in apparent desperation:
“For three years now my hearing has been getting
weaker. This comes on top of my terrible abdominal troubles, which as you already pointed out were
quite wretched before but here are much worse, as I
197
198 The deaf genius
am afflicted constantly with diarrhoea… “
“But to give you an idea of the extent of this deafness, I must confess that when I am in the theatre I
must stand very close to the orchestra and even lean
forward to understand the actors. I cannot hear the
high tones of voices and instruments at all.”
“It is curious that in conversation there are people
who do not notice my condition at all; since I have
generally been absent-minded, they account for it in
that way. Often I can scarcely hear someone speaking
softly; the tones yes, but not the words. However, as
soon as anyone shouts, it becomes intolerable. As to
what will become of it all, only heaven knows.”
Beethoven went from one doctor to another and
endured a whole variety of treatments, including
strict diets, drinking cures, almond oil, and almost
every other type of medicine that the first half of the
19th century had to offer. His constant stomach and
digestive problems and a recurring fever tied him to
his bed. His doctor prescribed a strict diet without
coffee, wine, alcohol, or spiced food, and gradually
the fever abated, so that Beethoven could travel to
Baden, near Vienna, and take curative mineral baths
every day. His condition improved for a time, and he
continued his compositions with joy and verve.
The deaf genius
The
demon in his ear
Over the course of many years Beethoven tried
and tested all possible and impossible forms of mechanical hearing aids, with depressing results and no
success. He studied such journals as existed and tried
with great effort to unearth the most recent scientific
findings. He made himself a bone conduction hearing aid: a long wooden stick which he held with the
flat end between his teeth and the other end pushed
against his piano; he hoped that through the varying
vibrations in the wooden stick he could distinguish
individual notes. In another, no less desperate attempt, he had a special resonance plate installed on
his grand piano in an attempt to feel the vibrations of
the instrument. Increasingly with age, he would yell at
his colleagues to “Speak louder! Shout! I’m deaf!”
In his final years, he could only converse using a
writing tablet and conversation books. The majority
of these books have been preserved to this day, and
provide a deep insight into his suffering.
By the autumn of 1802 Beethoven was so distraught over his rapid, progressive deafness that he
wanted to give an end to his life. In a letter he wrote to
his brothers, but never sent, he comments that “only
art stops me and holds me back, and I find it impossible to leave this world until I have produced all that
I feel I have been called upon to produce before I end
this miserable life.”
199
200 The deaf genius
He expresses similar thoughts in a letter to Wegeler:
“Perhaps I would be the happiest man if not for the
demon that set up residence in my ears. I once read
somewhere that man cannot voluntarily depart of this
life as long as he may still perform a good deed. But
for this I would not be here, anymore - and that too by
my own hand! Oh, life can be so beautiful, but for me
it has been poisoned forever.”
Beethoven long held the notion that his deafness
was imposed on him as a special personal trial. In
1802, following a deep crisis, he heard a new tune in
his “inner ear” that spurred him on with newly found
courage to write some of his greatest works.
The neurologist Oliver Sacks has proposed the
paradoxical hypothesis that Beethoven’s musical genius could only develop because of his loss of hearing.
According to this view, only after his deafness could
Beethoven’s brain develop the great musical imagination he exhibited. The Missa Solemnis and the Ninth
are undoubtedly two of his greatest works, but both
were written when completely deaf. He could never
hear the notes of these pieces as we experience them.
Testament
During 1826, Beethoven’s forces became progressively weaker. He suffered from more frequent and
increasingly severe colics, as well as being plagued by
severe eye pain and hydropsy, now known as edema
The deaf genius
or absorption of liquid; his entire body was swollen
and gave him almost unbearable pain. One of his doctors, the Viennese pathologist Andreas Wawruch, recorded the composer’s deplorable state in a letter:
When I visited him this morning I found him most
disturbed. His whole body was jaundiced and a terrible
bout of diarrhoea and vomiting had threatened to kill
him the previous night. A terrible fit was brought on
by a fierce bout of anger, followed by a deep remorse for
the ingratitude shown. Trembling, he doubled over in
pain, while at the same time his legs were exceptionally swollen. With some loving coaxing by his friends
the threatened commotion was soon soothed away, but
nevertheless the underlying disease moved forward by
leaps and bounds.
On 3 January 1827 Beethoven wrote a will naming
his only nephew Karl as the sole heir. His condition
improved a little, and he asked a friend to fetch some
“stewed cherries, but without lemon, just simple; and
perhaps a small dessert such as porridge would please
me, too”.
It had been common knowledge for many years
that Beethoven would drink a bottle of wine with every meal, and even at this time he sent a special request
to his German music publisher for some Rhine wine.
At his bedside, he received many visitors, friends
and supporters, as well as unknown admirers who
wanted to meet the great master in person. But it was
201
202 The deaf genius
obvious for all to see that Beethoven was dying.
With a wry smile to one of his friends he confided
that it was now time to “applaud, the comedy is over”.
In early March, he was given the last rites, and on the
same day the wine arrived from Mainz, which he was
very pleased to see, but admitted to a friend in a whisper,
“what a shame… too late”. Later that same evening, he
fell into a coma and on the evening of 26th March 1827
his heart finally stopped beating. Beethoven was at last
released from his many ailments.
Twenty
thousand mourners
The sculptor Joseph Danhauser took a death mask
of Beethoven in plaster. His body was laid out in a
highly polished coffin in the courtyard of his apartment building.
His funeral procession took one and a half hours to
cover the distance of four blocks; about 20,000 people were said to have come out to watch and pay their
last respects, about a tenth of Vienna’s citizens. Eight
conductors carried the coffin, and a choir from the
Royal Court Opera sang the composer’s Miserere.
After a funeral mass in the church of the Holy Trinity, the Dreifaltigkeitskirche, the coffin was placed on
a hearse drawn by four black horses and followed by
200 carriages in procession to the Währing cemetery.
A funeral oration written by Franz Grillparzer was
read at Beethoven’s graveside. “The last master of re-
The deaf genius
sounding song, the gracious mouth by which music
spoke… has ceased to be; and we stand weeping over
the broken strings of an instrument now stilled.”
Mourners filed past for a last look into the open
coffin. But many noticed that Beethoven looked a lot
different. Chroniclers tell of a “tremendously changed
face”, and of an almost mutilated head. Almost nothing could be seen of Beethoven’s famous mane of
hair. In memory of the great master, many admirers
had cut off a lock of his curly hair, a custom not unusual at that time.
The
locks of hair
Amongst the many mourners on the day after
Beethoven’s death were the composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel and his musical protege, Ferdinand
Hiller, aged a mere fifteen at the time. The two were
allowed in to the bedroom to bid Beethoven farewell.
Just three weeks before his death, on 8th March, the
two had visited the ailing composer. He greeted them
warmly and assured them that their presence would
most “certainly” have a beneficial effect on his health.
Hiller later recorded that Beethoven wore a long, grey
dressing gown open down its full length. He had not
shaved and his full head of half grey hair fell over his
temples in disorder. But he wore a friendly expression
on his face, and he and Hummel greeted and embraced each other most heartily.
203
204 The deaf genius
On 13th March, Hummel and his pupil paid another
visit. Hiller wrote:
We found his condition worsened considerably. He lay
in bed, seemed to have a lot of pain, and sometimes
groaned deeply; but he talked a lot and was lively. He
also talked about never having been married, and he
seemed now to take this regret to heart.
The following week, the two were back at the sick
bed. Beethoven whispered to his guests with a meaningful look that “I’ll probably make it up there soon”.
A week later, he was laid out before them in a dark oak
coffin with his head on a white silk pillow. His hair had
been combed and a wreath of white roses laid on top.
Beethoven’s cheeks were sunken, and his face had a
blue tinge. In the early hours of that morning, the pathologist John Wagner had performed an autopsy
and removed the temporal bone from the skull and
the tiny middle ear bones for further investigation.
The young Hiller asked his teacher if it was permitted for him to cut a lock of hair from the mane of the
most revered of composers. It was obvious that other
admirers of Beethoven had already done so. Hummel
nodded to his pupil, and so Hiller took out a pair of
scissors, pulled out a lock of the semi-grey hair and
cut it off. He carefully laid it between two sheets in an
album, and later he instructed a picture-frame maker
to mount the lock in a small black-painted wooden
frame, or locket, with the hair curled loosely and protected between glass.
The deaf genius
An
unusual present
In December 1911, a Cologne antique dealer, Hermann Großhennig, was busy with the pre-Christmas
rush, but a special request immediately roused his interest. Paul Hiller, a handsome man with an impressive beard in the Kaiser Wilhelm style, entered his
shop holding a small locket in his hand.
It was a precious relic given Hiller by his father as a
birthday gift in 1883, he explained, and he wanted to
have it restored. Inside was a lock of hair that, he said,
had come from Ludwig van Beethoven; some 84 years
previously, Hiller’s father had himself cut the lock from
the head of the deceased composer and placed it in
the locket. Großhenning was delighted to undertake
this unusual commission, and one week later Hiller
called again to pick up the carefully restored locket.
Over the decades, Beethoven and his music remained extremely vibrant and present in the hearts
of his fervent admirers. It is possible that after the
First World War, lovers of the composer were more
reticent about displaying enthusiasm and their affinity with such a strong icon of German culture, but
we can only speculate what happened to this relic
following these disruptive times. After 1911, all reliable records as to the whereabouts of the lock of hair
disappeared. It was only decades later that the relic
resurfaced once more, surprisingly in a small Danish
fishing village.
205
206 The deaf genius
Secret
journey
The manner in which Beethoven’s lock of hair
changed hands during the turmoil of the Second
World War will probably never be resolved.
The known facts are: in October 1943, in the village of Gilleleje, on the northern tip of the island of
Zealand, occupying German forces rounded up Danish Jews. Among the persecuted were descendants of
Ferdinand Hiller. Around the 6th of October, the locket and its precious contents were handed to a Danish
doctor, Kay Fremming. The doctor never spoke of the
circumstances surrounding the transfer, and it is not
known whether he just received the locket for safe storage, or if he was given it out of gratitude for hiding Jews
and saving them from being taken to the death camps.
For many decades, the locket remained in the drawer of a desk in the doctor’s house; nobody else except his
wife Marta knew about it. After his death in 1969, his
widow initiated the couple’s adopted daughter into the
existence of the locket, but it remained in the drawer
for a further ten years as if it were nothing special at all.
The relic finally passed into the hands of the daughter, who at age 40 was already a widow and had to
bring up two sons. In April 1994, she and her grown
up children finally decided to offer the locket for sale.
The family had no special relationship with the music
of Beethoven, and had no idea what value the lock of
hair inside the locket might have.
The deaf genius
The Copenhagen office of Sotheby’s sent the locket
to the auction house’s headquarters in London to verify
its authenticity. The experts in England concluded that
the locket and its contents were genuine. The origin,
in the visits of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, is clear for
anyone to read about in the literature on Beethoven.
A
price worth paying
The following entry appeared in the 1994 Sotheby’s
Christmas catalogue in a prominent position on page 22:
Beethoven (Ludwig van), lock of Beethoven’s hair with
a hand written certification, signed by Paul Hiller, the
son of Ferdinand Hiller, who cut off the lock… framed
and polished, oval, approximately 10.5 x 9.5 cm.
2,000 to 3,000 pounds sterling.
The catalogue went to music dealers and collectors all over the world, and an auction took place on 1st
December in London; the winning bid of £3,600 was
made by a dealer on behalf of an American client.
A small Beethoven group had established itself in
Arizona, and one of its most fervent members was
a certain Ira Brilliant, who worked in the real estate
business. His greatest desire was to have something
intimately related to his idol Beethoven; perhaps a
letter, a handwritten score, or an insignificant note,
just as long as it came from the great master himself.
207
208 The deaf genius
In the 1970s Brilliant had already bought one letter
written by Beethoven, but, as with all passionate collectors, the more you have, the more you want. His
younger friend, the physician Alfredo Guevara, had
a similar passion. Both were totally consumed with
the great composer’s music, and had registered their
interest in Beethoven relics with all the major auction
houses and antique dealers in the world of music.
Then, in November 1994, the lucky break miraculously arrived in the post. In the Sotheby’s catalogue
Ira Brilliant discovered something he never expected,
because logically it should not have existed. In the
first place, there was a first edition of the Opus 1 being auctioned in London; but there was something
else that caught his attention with a magnetic attraction. A lock of hair from Beethoven’s head was being
offered, and for just a few thousand pounds! He immediately informed his friend Guevara and the two
determined to purchase this unique piece.
A
wonderful experience
They authorised their agent to bid up to £4,200 at
the auction. There were no comparative figures, and
nobody could tell in advance how much a lock of
Beethoven’s hair would be worth. The hammer fell at
£3,600 pounds. The two Americans had won the bidding.
Opening the locket was a “wonderful experience” –
The deaf genius
thrilling, moving and exciting. An investigative anthropologist was on hand and by examining a few hairs under
the microscope he determined that their follicles were
present, which meant that a genetic analysis was feasible.
In the Heiligenstadt testament, a letter written by
Beethoven to his brothers in 1802 but never sent, he
records his despair over his increasing deafness and
his desire to overcome his physical and emotional ailments to complete his artistic destiny. Beethoven kept
the document hidden among his private papers, and
probably never showed it to anyone; it was only found
in 1827 after his death.
Beethoven wrote, among other things, that maybe
someday the cause of his deafness could be determined and made publicly known. This was a mandate
for the new owners of the lock of hair.
An accurate count of the locket’s contents brought
a new surprise: Ferdinand Hiller had cut off far more
hair from the dead Beethoven than suspected: to be
exact, 582 in total.
Dr Guevara conducted a worldwide search to find
two scientists to investigate the hair more closely. One
was Werner Baumgartner, an Austrian by birth, who
headed up a medical centre in Los Angeles and specialised in the analysis of hair samples.
In Beethoven’s lifetime, it was common for patients suffering pain to be treated with morphine or
other alkaloid drugs contained in preparations derived
from opium. But Baumgartner could find nothing in
the samples. “The fact that no traces of morphine were
209
210 The deaf genius
observed in his hair, talks volumes in terms of his character,” Baumgartner stated in his expert opinion. “Almost all his life, the composer suffered from extremely
painful disease… but he was still creatively active on his
deathbed… that would not have been possible if he had
been sedated with morphine.”
M assive
lead poisoning
Another past theory, that Beethoven’s deafness
was due to syphilis, can no longer be regarded as
plausible in the light of recent studies. In the 19th century, mercury was administered as a cure for syphilis,
and Beethoven would have most certainly taken this
drug had he been suffering from this disease. But the
mercury content found in samples of his hair was so
low that the metal could barely be detected.
A second scientist, Walter McCrone, was provided with a hair sample for more detailed studies. In
the 1980s, he had been able to prove that the Turin
Shroud had been painted in the 14th century, and
therefore could not possibly be the shroud of Jesus.
McCrone had also determined by an examination of
the hair of Napoleon that the French ruler had not
been poisoned with arsenic, disproving what had
been a popular theory.
After a thorough investigation McCrone was able
to establish beyond doubt that Beethoven had suffered from severe lead poisoning for many years; he
The deaf genius
found a lead concentration in the composer’s hair that
was 42 times higher than that in control samples.
Lead no longer poisons children and adults as commonly as it once did, but in the years before its very
deleterious effects on the human body were fully understood, lead in cooking pots, tableware, and water
pipes, among many possible sources, had poisoned
millions of people around the world, sometimes only
subtly, but often with disastrous results: Beethoven
also consumed considerable amounts of wine to ease
his ailments, which in that era was often “plumbed”
with lead to lessen its bitterness.
Only since the beginning of the 20th century
has it been recognised that lead contains a poison
that affects the nervous system and can cause serious illness. This can explain the many diseases of
Beethoven; the stomach and intestinal colic, vomiting, diarrhoea, gout and headaches. But visual impairment is also mentioned in the literature as well as
progressive hearing loss, which are caused by damage to the visual and auditory nerves.
Perhaps it arrived a little late, but the wishes of the
great composer in his testament have finally been realised. Some 170 years after his death, the cause of
his deafness, and of his many other diseases, could be
resolved by the application of science.
The explanations of this last chapter are based on:
Beethoven’s hair by Russel Martin (piper)
Die Geschichte der Hörakustik by Rainer Hüls (Median-Verlag)
Die Hand am Ohr by Rainer Hüls (Innocentia Verlag)
211

The NEUROTH Story

Transcription

Similar documents