The name Elisabeth has held its own for centuries, also because many secondary forms have formed. And should he ever disappear, he will remain immortal, at least in the glory of an empress.
After the Queen’s death, the question arises as to how powerfully the noble name Elisabeth will still sparkle in the future. In Bavaria it will probably not be lost any time soon, where this name has asserted itself for centuries. However, at the price that strange secondary forms have formed. Little Lisi, life-bent Lies, funny Betty, cheeky Elli, noble Sabeth…
And then there is the radiant Sissi, a name that immediately brings to mind the former Austrian empress, who in turn signed her letters Sisi. At home in Possenhofen, the village children called her Zopf-Liesl, for her father she was Lieserl. That may not really fit the myth that surrounds this eccentric woman. At the moment it’s getting pretty wild again, the feuilletons are overflowing with reviews of new series, films and books that are supposed to shed light on Sisi’s mystery.
At least one suspicion arises: if you want to stay in people’s memories forever, you should behave as crazy as possible and take human existence ad absurdum. Sisi did a great job, even with the many bizarre encounters she experienced – even after she died. On the afternoon of September 11, 1898, the special train with the coffin of the empress murdered in Geneva rolled through the town of Lambach in Upper Austria on its way to Vienna. The dignitaries and the school youth had posted themselves at the station to pay their last respects. In the midst of the crowd, a nine-year-old choirboy, Adolf Hitler, also greeted her corpse.
The absurdity of life celebrated by Sisi also flared up during an audience that her court hairdresser Fanny Angerer chatted about. The Empress tended to mumble, which proved fatal at the celebration. She was introduced to a highly decorated but hard of hearing man, to whom, according to the protocol, she had to ask two questions. The first was, “Is he married?” The hard of hearing didn’t understand anything, but wasn’t allowed to ask questions. According to author Wilma Pfeiffer, he replied as innocuously as possible: “From time to time!” The bystanders almost bit their tongues off because they weren’t allowed to laugh. Sisi then asked: “Does he have children?” Again he didn’t understand a word and said: “Sometimes!”