Aloisia Wagner (born 1905/1906, date of death unknown), better known by her stage name Violetta, was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

woman who was born without legs or arms with a condition known as

tetra-amelia Tetra-amelia syndrome (''tetra-'' + '' amelia''), also called autosomal recessive tetraamelia, is an extremely rare autosomal recessive congenital disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. Other areas of the body are also affected b ...

syndrome. She was born in

Hemelingen Hemelingen (Plattdeutsch ') is a German city and district of Bremen belonging to the Bremen district East. Geography and districts Hemelingen is located about 6 km east of the center of Bremen on the right bank of the Weser. The neighbor ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and had a lengthy career in sideshow performance. Aloisia Wagner was born in either 1905 or 1906. The exact date of birth is unknown. On March 23, 1924, she left her birth city of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

-Hemelingen,

, with her stepbrother and manager, Karl Grobecker, aboard the which arrived in New York on April 3, 1924. According to the ship manifest, Aloisia had blonde hair and green eyes, was 3 feet tall, and was allowed into the U.S. for 25 weeks to work for

Samuel W. Gompertz Samuel W. Gumpertz (1868–1952) was an American showman who played a part in the building of Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brookly ...

in his Dreamland Circus Side Show. She was the daughter of Elise Wagner, of

, Moltkestr. 26 (map). The manifest's "Held For Special Inquiry" page shows that both were held (in hospital) for one day before being allowed to enter the U.S. Other pages of the manifest from this ship list many members of the

John Robinson Circus John H. Robinson created the John Robinson Circus, whose winter quarters were in Terrace Park, Ohio. Famous elephants Chief "Chief", an elephant from John Robinson's circus, killed his trainer in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tillie Tillie the ...

, which was later acquired by

John Nicholas Ringling John Nicholas Ringling (May 31, 1866 – December 2, 1936) was an American entrepreneur who is the best known of the seven Ringling brothers, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Bros World's Greatest Shows ...

, Violetta's later employer. For many years Aloisia performed in several

sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. Types There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions: *The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten seq ...

s and

Freak show A freak show, also known as a creep show, is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with ...

s as a singer and oddity, including

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

's Dreamland, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and the

Mighty Haag Circus Mighty Haag Circus was started by American entrepreneur Ernest Haag (17 June 1866 - 1 Feb. 1935) in Shreveport, Louisiana.

. A 1925 photo (shown on page) shows her performing at the World Museum (freak show) in Los Angeles. According to his biography, famed writer

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

visited Violetta at

Luna Park, Paris Luna Park was an amusement park near Porte Maillot in Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,4 ...

in 1927, describing her as "a stubborn German woman." In 1929, the Belgium surrealist journal ''Variétés'' published a photo of Violetta. Wallace Stort of the wrote of her several times. Stort's 1940 article is the last known publication referencing Violetta, describing in detail how she moved herself by hopping from place to place on the bottom of her torso, and was able to manipulate objects with her mouth enough to comb her own hair, dress herself, thread a needle, and sew. Stort also stated that Violetta was married and wore her

wedding band A wedding ring or wedding band is a finger ring that indicates that its wearer is married. It is usually forged from metal, traditionally gold or another precious metal. Rings were used in ancient Rome during marriage, though the modern pract ...

on a gold chain around her neck, though no other information about her husband can be found.

References

External links

Violetta at quasi-modo.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Violetta 1900s births Year of death missing Sideshow performers People with tetra-amelia syndrome German amputees German emigrants to the United States Entertainers from Bremen German people with disabilities

See also

References

External links