Moj prvih devedeset godina: Sjećanja

My First Ninety Years (1969/1971) is an autobiographical work by the prominent Austrian theater and film actress Tille Durieux (1880–1971). In her memoirs, the great actress vividly describes her life journey from her native Vienna through Zagreb and Opatija, where she spent almost twenty years, until her return to German theater.

The book is a rich testimony to the turbulent 20th century – from Vienna's fin de siècle and the dazzling Berlin theater life of the Wilhelminth and Weimar eras, through emigration and war events, to the post-war reconstruction. Durieux was the muse of many artists (she was portrayed by Renoir, Kokoschka, and others), the wife of the famous art dealer Paul Cassirer, and an active participant in cultural and political life.

She spent almost two decades in Croatia, and that part of her life is described in detail in her memoirs – from her theatre engagements in Zagreb to her life in Opatija. The memoirs are full of anecdotes, encounters with great figures (Max Reinhardt, Thomas Mann, Einstein, etc.), turbulent love affairs, political engagement and difficult years of persecution during Nazism.

Tilla Durieux writes honestly, with humor, self-criticism and lucidity. The book is a must-read for lovers of theatre history, art and memoir prose, as it provides a direct insight into the life of a strong, independent and extremely active woman who marked the European culture of the 20th century with her work and destiny.