Ima in Germany: A diary begun--and suddenly ended.

         Ima was ever the dutiful tourist on her “grand tour” of Europe in 1907. She was twenty-five years old. Every museum, every painting, every cathedral, every building, filled her travel journal in guide-book detail, from June to October.         

         Then, for reasons still undiscovered, she suddenly decided to stay in Germany. She said she wanted to learn German and work on her music. With the help of a “Mrs. Cranberry” (Grandberry?) she took a room in a house (Mrs. Cranberry’s?) in Charlottenberg, a suburb of Berlin, then a neighborhood for Jewish artists and intellectuals.

         Ima acquired a Bechstein piano, and a famous music teacher, Xaver Scharwenka. She went to operas and concerts and practiced her German and her music. She played checkers with “Buddy,”a handsome young man who  lived in the house and played the violin. (Was he a family member? A tenant?)

         

     Ima began a diary on January 1, 1908, and abruptly ended it on February 29.

          Why?

         Mystery upon mystery.