Manon Gropius (1916-1935)
Alma´s third daughter

On 5th October 1916, Alma bore her husband Walter Gropius a daughter who, from the very first moment, cast her spell over everyone: »His mind, my body! The consummation of us both must give rise to a demigod!«. Manon enchanted all visitors: »She radiated timidity still more than beauty, an angelic gazelle from heaven!« (Elias Canetti). One evening in Venice in April 1934, she complained of an excruciating headache and the doctor was called; within just a few hours, she was paralysed. The cause was polio, and she was seventeen years of age. Back in Vienna, the enchanting Manon, who would have liked to become an actress, would sit all dressed up in a wheelchair and be taken around the large house on the Hohe Warte. She died very suddenly, on Whit Monday in 1935. In remembrance of Manon Gropius, Alban Berg composed his violin concerto, dedicating it to »the memory of an angel«.