Jutta Matters (nee HŸbsch)

Story

Jutta was a girl who loved dancing and grew up in Vienna, Austria. Her Jewish mother Elizabeth was married to Emile HŸbsch who was thirty years her senior. Elizabeth had a daughter Viola to Emile in 1918 and on holiday in 1919 had a love affair with a young man called Franz Koller and Jutta was born in May 1920. Some time later Elizabeth became an early student of psychology and attended lectures by Sigmund Freud at Vienna University. Jutta left school at fourteen and in 1935, Elizabeth, whom Viola and Jutta called ‘Mutti’, saw an advertisement from a talent agency looking for ballet dancers. Jutta auditioned and was selected by the manager who, unbeknownst to her, was her father Franz. Jutta loved dancing. She went on tour in Italy and France, dancing in ballets, operettas, restaurants, vaudeville and nightclubs.

In March 1938 Hitler annexed Austria via the Anschluss. Mutti was isolated in Vienna and forced to scrub pavements on her knees with nothing but water. The anti-Semitic crowds jeered the Jewish women. Mutti was a definite target for the Nazis; an educated woman who spoke out on women\’s rights and ran a kindergarten. Mutti arranged secret codes with her daughters to use in their letters, therefore Jutta became worried about her mother. Meanwhile Emilie died and Mutti married Paul Langer in late 1938, to save him from the Dachau death camp. Viola and Mutti travelled to England to work as domestics, leaving Jutta to tour in Italy. Jutta joined them soon after in October 1938. In England, Mutti wrote to all the Government departments seeking passage to any country that would have them. In January 1939 Viola got a ticket to join her boyfriend Kurt in Australia. A month later the Church of England Council of Empire Settlement arranged for Jutta to travel to Australia. By the time she arrived in Sydney she had only £2 and a bicycle.

She arrived in Sydney on 5 April 1939. The press took a photo of her which when printed in the newspaper had the caption ‘Ballet Dancer Glad to be Servant’. She unsuccessfully auditioned for the Theatre Royal, but settled into a career as a sewing machinist. There wasn\’t much money to sight-see in Sydney but she loved the blue skies and sunshine and quickly made friends. Even with the pressures of war, she loved the freedom of Sydney.

In 1940 Jutta and Viola attended a dance at the Maccabean Hall at Darlinghurst and Jutta met a young German man Walter Mattersdorff and fell in love. They set a date to marry, but first Walter changed his name by deed-poll to Matters and they were naturalized on Australia Day 1942. They married on the 7 February 1942 at the Neutral Bay Presbyterian Church. As Enemy Aliens during wartime they were required to report to the police every week. Walter joined the Australian Military Forces and helped in the war effort. Meanwhile their flat was searched by the police and they interrogated Jutta because she had a German-language diary, full of ‘girlie’ writings. They thought she was a spy after she burned it the next day.

Jutta miscarried in both 1943 and 1944 and the doctors at Crown Street Hospital said that she may never be able to have a baby. By December 1945 Walter and Jutta had the deposit of £45 to buy a small house in Chelmsford Avenue Willoughby and Jutta discovered that she was pregnant again. However, she suddenly became very sick and was diagnosed with Polio. War ended, Walter was discharged from the Army and Jutta was admitted to Prince Henry Infectious Diseases Hospital at Little Bay where she was isolated with ten sick children for seven long weeks, only able to see her husband through a glass window. As she gained strength, she was returned to Crown Street Hospital. She was still weak and would need help with her baby. Her doctor, Dr Mackey interceded on her behalf with the Minister for Immigration, Arthur Caldwell, who arranged for her mother to come to Australia. Her son David Oliver was born suddenly, six weeks later, in September 1946 in the hospital bathroom.

Jutta had her first daughter, Nora Elizabeth, in November 1948 and her second daughter, Connie Hella, in October 1950. Her life was complete; her extended family was together in their ‘Promised Land’ and was so happy. As her family grew she became stronger and eventually returned to work as a sewing-machinist. Jutta continued to work until 1969 and then, in retirement, relaxed with her beloved books and saw her children marry and have their own families, but she was always passionate about ‘her’ Australia, the way of life and tolerance of different cultures. Walter and Jutta moved to a retirement village and lived there for four years. Jutta died in 2005 at 85 years and after 62 happy years of marriage. She left behind a family whom loved her dearly.

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