59  Josef  Berger  •  Martin  Ziegler:  Einzelmöbel,  Bimini-Werkstätten.  -  Reproduktion  nach  zeitgenössischem ­
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shortly  afterwards  from  a  heart  attack.  His  homeless  widow  foliowed  him  soon  after.
Bimini  glasses  had  now  become  collectors’  items.  Amongst  these  was  a  playboy,  who
every  year  ordered  elaborately  decorated  wine  glasses,  which  he  smashed  against  a
wall  having  drunk  in  the  New  Year.
Fritz,  reluctantly,  had  to  accept  a  partner  with  Capital  -  he  hated  attending  to  the  commercial
  site  of  the  business.  The  shop  was  duly  enlarged  to  include  ceramics  and  small
furniture.  But  the  partner  did  not  bring  the  hoped  for  enlarged  profits.  Frightened  by
political  developments  he  moved  out  of  the  partnership  and  emigrated  to  Palestine.
Fritz  and  Hilde  had  rented  rooms  in  the  house  where  the  sisters  Berger  had  their  steadily
  expanding  model  dress  workshop.  When  the  daily  work  was  finished,  the  reception
room  became  a  literary  salon,  where  artist  friends  came  for  advice,  inspiration,  or  unfailing
  entertainment  by  Fritz,  a  brilliant  conversationalist.  Among  the  visitors  there  was
J.  M.  Hauer  the  inventor  of  12-tone  music,  looking  much  out  of  place  in  his  black  cutaway,
  complaining  much  about  his  competitor  Schoenberg  .  .  .  Paul  Engelmann
brought  his  friend  Wittgenstein  along.  He  did  not  open  his  mouth  once.
Fritz  continued  to  write  poetry,  started  a  Schubert  novel,  never  finished,  and  painted
with  untrained  skiii  and  passionate  invoivement,  hundreds  of  miniature  watercolours.
An  impressive  shop  on  the  Stubenring,  near  the  Museum  of  Arts  &  Crafts  was  now  the
place  where  Bimini  glass  was  made  and  sold  with  moderate  success.  Commercial  matters
  and  bookkeeping  were  looked  after  by  Mitzi  a  pretty  and  friendly  girl,  while  Fritz
looked  after  the  production  side  and  Publicity.  He  was  woken  up,  rather  suddenly,  from
this  well-settled  life  by  the  bloody  fight  between  the  government,  relying  on  support
from  fascist  Italy  and  the  secret  Organisation  of  the  Nazis  preparing  the  ground  for  a
takeover.  It  was  time,  high  time,  to  pack  up  not  only  the  personal  belongings,  but  also