Page 420 - Microsoft Word - Belicena respaldo

to sell tannin to the blooming Arab and Turkish textile industries, for it he started a journey
through Middle East which final destination was Egypt. I had eighteen years in that period and,
opposed to the desires of my father who preferred to see me converted in an Engineer, my
greatest aspiration was to be a farmer. Trusting in that the long journey would end dissipating
what my father took it as a caprice, and he accepted to take me with him.

When we arrived to Egypt we were received by his great uncle, Hans Siegnagel, member
of branch of the family that dwells, until our days, near to El Cairo. The Siegnagel’s of Egypt live
there, apparently, since the invasion of Napoleon, along with hundreds of families of German
origin, and they constitute a strong community.

Well; during the days that we passed in El Cairo, my interest was focused in the
observation of the great skilfully Engenho that was extended around the Nile and the endless
sown extensions with sugar cane.

When my Dad saw that my inclination for the Agriculture instead to decrease it became
more intense, he understood then that this was my real vocation and he decided to accept the
generous invitation of the Baron Reinaldo Von Sübermann, landlord of a powerful empire of
Engenho, to stay in his plantations studying the techniques of the cultivation.

I was there since the year 35 to the 38, where the perspectives of the enduring world
peace went diluted rapidly, yielding to the insistent calls of my father to return to Argentina.

I undertook the return voyage in June of 38, but not alone; the daughter of the Baron
Von Sübermann, a beautiful Valkyrie who for grace of Wothan you can contemplate here
present.

We all laughed, especially my mother who had remained with the eyes rolled, while my
father was remembering his fascinating life.

–What happened then? –I asked, knowing that it would be good for my father to
complete the story.

–The war opened painful gaps and forced definitive separations. After the death of your
grandparents (my father and the Baron) we lost the communication with our relatives of Egypt.

I’ve felt it many times for your mother –his voice went loosened– who is German-
Egyptian and has suffered a lot for the separation.

Instead –he continued more compounded– my patriotic feelings are with this country
and I won’t be better in any other place. You must notice that your great-grandfather, the first
Siegnagel who came to America, did it in 1860 at the request of Government to work in the

420