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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2003 - excerpts from the editorial
Bamberg: A Thousand Year-Old Treasure
by Dr. Gregory H. Wolf
Renaissance architecture, stunning views and dark, smokey Rauchbier beckon from this glorious Bavarian city.
Located in Upper Franconia in northern Bavaria, Bamberg is a stunningly preserved medieval city that combines history and progress to create a vibrant, dynamic, and energetic atmosphere. With more
than 2,000 buildings in its city center, Bamberg is one of the best preserved cities in all of Europe. In 1993, UNESCO (the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) elevated Bamberg to
the status of World Cultural Heritage, which makes this city of 70,000 residents one of UNESCO’s 27 cultural or natural sites in Germany and 730 worldwide.
Upon arriving in Bamberg, you will notice that, like Rome, Bamberg spreads across seven hills, on top of which sit seven churches, each dating back to the 11th through 14th century. Though the
history of Bamberg dates as far back as 1000 B.C., the city’s development and rise in prominence can be attributed to two individuals: Emperor Heinrich II and Pope Clemens II. When Heinrich II was elected
emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in 1002, he remained in Bamberg where he ruled until his death in 1024. With his beloved wife, Kunigunde, he built the city’s first cathedral, established
the basic architectural plans of the city still evident today, and proclaimed Bamberg the new capital of the empire. As an important ecclesiastic city, Bamberg bishops played a vital role in the empire, serving
as chancellors. When the Bamberg bishop Suidiger was appointed Pope Clemens II in 1040, the city’s religious, cultural, and economic importance was magnified.
The sheer number of sights in Bamberg makes it impossible to introduce them all, but a good starting and orientation point would be the most dominant structure in Bamberg, the Kaiserdom, the
imperial cathedral with its four unique spires. Consecrated in 1237, the cathedral reveals a combination of Romanesque and early Gothic styles in its interior and exterior. Inside you will find the ornate burial
tombs of Heinrich II, Kunigunde, and Clemens II, making it the only church north of the Alps in which an emperor and pope are buried. Also located in the Kaiserdom is one of the most photographed images in the
city, the Bamberg Rider, an enigmatic, idealized statue portraying a medieval Christian king. The large cathedral square is flanked by the Old Court, a series of Renaissance buildings from around the beginning
of the 15th century, and the impressive New Residence, an elegant baroque structure, which houses the Museum of German Masters of the Renaissance and the State Library, which counts in its collection more than
3,000 volumes from the beginning of the book printing industry in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Entering through the New Residence, visitors arrive at the flowering geometric Rose Garden overlooking
the old town…
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Finding a Kur in Heiligendamm
by Sue Grant
The search for a therapeutic Kur leads to the recuperative shores of Germany’s Baltic coast.
Of course I refused. A protracted battle with pneumonia and pleurisy had rendered me – in the eyes of my German physician, relatives and friends – a classic candidate for a Kur. For the sake of my
health, they begged me to go – all to no avail.
Admittedly, I had never seen one of these venerable institutions from the inside, but repeated exposure to television coverage on the subject had left me with the unshakeable conviction that mud
baths would play a large part in the procedure. I did not want to sit in a mud bath. So I remained uncooperative.
Then, one day, friends stopped by. “Shut your eyes,” they told me. Just for once, I obeyed. When I opened them again, I was looking at a color photograph of a gracious curve of white villas,
bordered by luscious green grass and overlooking a sandy beach with sparkling blue water. “I’ll go,” I said. “Where is it?”
It is called Die Weiße Stadt am Meer (The White Town on the Sea), Germany’s oldest Seebad or spa clinic, built in the English style on the Baltic coast in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, west of the port
Rostock in former East Germany.
Which explains why, a few weeks later at the beginning of August 1994, I found myself driving in zigzags to avoid the potholes in the road, cruising through shady tunnels of tree-lined roads and
past fields of waving wheat and rye, heading for the legendary Ostseeklinik Heiligendamm.
The photograph had not lied. One glance at the elegant Speiseesaal with its Doric columns and I was ready to sit in ten mud baths. As it turned out, I did not have to. Schlammbäder, I discovered
to my relief, were for rheumatism patients. Lung people like me needed mostly rest and fresh air and strolls along the beach. I should spend the first three days of my four-week stay acclimatizing, I was told,
and anyway, as a visitor from the West – then still a rare occurrence – I enjoyed special status.
During the course of its 200-year-old history, Heiligendamm has catered to many privileged Kurgäste. From the inscription on the massive 220-ton founding stone on the lawn outside my window, I
discovered that, in 1793, a certain Friedrich Franz I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, had started the ball rolling. Following the advice of his personal physician and the contemporary fashion of sea-baths to
enhance one’s well being in England, the Duke commissioned Germany’s first coastal spa. A string of classicist villas in blinding white, cottages in the wood, the Kurhaus, promenades and colonnades with shops –
each feature blended perfectly to create Die Weiße Stadt am Meer.
Since then, it has enjoyed a reputation for being noble and exclusive. Neither wars nor natural catastrophes nor rival spas could scar it for long. Throughout the 19th century and well into the
next, Heiligendamm attracted the European aristocracy. After a slump at the turn at the beginning of the 1900s, it changed from being a spa clinic to a grand hotel for the seriously rich. Hitler and Mussolini
dropped by in 1937 while Göring and Goebbels were regular visitors. After the war, the East German government restored it to clinic status, reserving the best rooms for their party elite, but neglecting upkeep
and maintenance…
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Hemingway in the Schwarzwald
by Peter Henault
Great trout fishing lured the literary giant but the magic of the Black Forest contributed even more to his writings.
On a hot Monday afternoon in early August 1922, a smoke-puffing steam engine pushed a train crowded with vacationers into the village of Triberg in the heart of Germany’s Schwarzwald – the Black
Forest. With a great whoosh of steam from under the engine, the train rolled to a halt and scores of excited passengers loaded down with rucksacks and cooking gear clanging like cowbells climbed down onto the
platform. Most of the passengers were German – out-of-shape factory workers from the industrial north. There was a predominance of crew cuts, shaved heads, pigtails, Lederhosen, bare legs, and hats with colorful
cock feathers.
Four of the passengers, two men and two women, were clearly Auslande – foreigners. The taller couple was striking and athletic looking. He was wearing knickers and mountain boots and a peaked felt
hat common in the Black Forest. A closer look revealed the earliest stage of a mustache. The woman next to him clutched a fly rod and was wearing a full dark skirt, white blouse, and a beret. The shorter man was
thin with brushed-back hair and serious penetrating eyes. His wife, the smallest of the group, wore a white blouse and light skirt.
The tall good-looking man was an American journalist based in Paris. He was 23 and had moved to Paris to become a writer. His name was Ernest Hemingway. The woman with the beret was his wife, Hadley. He called her Hash. Everyone called him Ernie. Bill was setting up a printing house in Paris on the Ile St. Louis and would soon publish a series of works by Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and Ford Madox Ford.
Ernie and Hash had moved to Paris the previous December. Three months earlier they had married in upstate Michigan where the Hemingway family had a summer home on Walloon Lake. Ernie had fished
the lake since he was three and had become an ardent angler. Badly wounded on the Italian Front in 1918, he had recuperated on Walloon Lake while fishing solo and writing short stories he could not sell. He
eventually took a hack writing job in Chicago where he met and fell in love with Hadley. Ernie began thinking of marriage but worried about having to give up fishing. Women had just won the right to vote, did
not smoke in public and showed no interest in hunting of fishing. Then it dawned on him – he would teach Hadley to fish. “Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be better than me,” he told her. “That’s ridiculous!”
she had replied.
Ernie arrived in Paris with letters of introduction to Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and other literary notables and, for bread and butter, an agreement with The Toronto Star to buy his essays and
sketches of European life. Ernie and Hash were soon exploring Paris and the Ile de France and adventuring down to Switzerland and northern Italy. Ernie wrote vivid sketches of their travels and his observations,
reported on the World Economic Conference in Genoa, interviewed Mussolini before few had heard of him, and traveled as far as Constantinople to cover the Greco-Turkish War.
During his first year based in Paris, the Star published 83 of his articles covering events in 11 different countries and just about every aspect of European life.
By mid-summer the Hemingways were ready for a vacation away from the August heat of Paris. Ernie had learned that the Black Forest was famous for its trout and he was fascinated by Mark Twain’s
description in A Tramp Abroad. Twain had created a magical image. “A rich cathedral gloom pervades the pillared aisles...” The diffused light of the low afternoon sun," wrote Twain, “takes on a color from
the mosses and foliage, and pervades the place like a faint, green-tinted mist, the theatrical fire of fairyland.” Ernie pictured a vast, unbroken fir and pine forest of mysterious mountains of great beauty.
Hash was thrilled over the idea and they talked it up with Bill and Sally. Bill said he could not afford it, was no camper, and had too much to do setting up the new press. Ernie insisted nothing
happened in Paris in August. They would stay in small family inns. With German inflation cascading out of control, they could live like royalty for only a few dollars.
Bill gave in and they agreed on dates.
The four arrived in Freiburg on the edge of the southern Black Forest on Friday evening, 3 August. Here they stayed through Sunday while Ernie worked and the others played tourist. Ernie wrote an
article about how Germans were coping with the plunging mark. Its value when they left Paris was about 650 to the dollar. By the end of the coming week it would be 833:1; by the 17th, 1,011:1; by the end of the
month, about 2,200:1. In his Star article, he told how shop keepers were forced to sell far below replacement costs and how residents were spending as fast as they could while the mark was at least worth
something. During their stay in Freiburg, a five-course dinner cost the Americans the equivalent of 15 cents each. Lodging was the equivalent of 20 cents a night…
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Discovering Chestnuts
by Sharon Hudgins
When I was a child in Texas, I daydreamed about tasting chestnuts. I heard about them in songs ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."). I read about them in books ("Under the
spreading chestnut tree..."). People talked about "pulling one's chestnuts out of the fire" (when I had not a clue what that meant). However, where I lived in Texas, chestnuts were not part of the
landscape, nor were they sold in any of the food stores. For me, they existed only in the realms of poetry, proverb, and song.
Twenty years later, the first autumn I lived in Germany, I was thrilled to find fresh chestnuts at the local market. I bought half a kilo, determined to make some of those roasted chestnuts I had
heard so much about. I preheated the oven to 425° F., scattered the chestnuts on a baking sheet, and put them in to roast. Ten minutes later, while I was reading a book in the next room, I heard a series of
explosions in the kitchen. Rushing to see what had happened, I discovered that the chestnuts were blowing up inside the oven. My ignorance of chestnuts was vast: I did not know you were supposed to cut a
crisscross gash on the shell of each nut, to let the cooking vapors escape!
Fresh chestnuts are available in most European markets from mid-September until March. Street vendors selling roasted chestnuts make their appearance in the autumn and remain through the coldest
days of winter. Anyone who has been to Europe during that time of year knows that the aroma and taste of roasted chestnuts can brighten up even the grayest dreariest day.
Processed chestnuts come in many forms and can be purchased year-round: canned (whole or pureed, sweetened or unsweetened), frozen, dried, preserved in sweet syrup, and ground into flour. The
versatile chestnut can be eaten roasted, steamed, boiled, grilled, sautéed, pickled, or candied. It turns up on the table in soups, stews, gravies, sauces, relishes, stuffings, breads, cakes, and puddings – and
in combination with other vegetables, or even as a starch by itself. The least caloric of all nuts, chestnuts contain a large amount of carbohydrate, but very little fat. They make an excellent accompaniment to
meat, game, and poultry (but not fish or shellfish)…
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Bellotto’s Dresden: Rebuilding the Baroque City
by Richard Varr
An Italian artist becomes a favorite son of Dresden and plays a pivotal role in the war-ravaged city’s reconstruction and rebirth.
Life-size statues stare out in a stone-cold gaze from atop Baroque archways. Horses strut without moving. Carriages stand still in a historic trance. The courtyard of the Zwinger Palace is alive
but silent – a snapshot frozen in time. Suddenly, I blink my eyes and my daydream ends. In my mind I stepped back exactly 250 years ago, imagining I was walking in the expansive Dresden courtyard as seen through
the eyes and heart of 18th century view painter Bernardo Bellotto.
Today, I am standing nearby – perhaps only footsteps from where the Old Master actually captured this scene and dabbed it on canvas so long ago. I am indeed very much inside the same Saxon palace,
studying and admiring Bellotto’s magnificent view paintings. Three dozen of them are here in Dresden’s famous Old Masters’ Art Gallery, the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, which is now a vital part of the Zwinger.
I approach another of his four-by-seven-foot paintings and again imagine casting myself back in time. Bellotto’s precise brush strokes and muted colors so vividly capture another breathtaking view
of Dresden, this one from across the Elbe River. I see a vibrant skyline dominated by the Hofkirche Cathedral’s unusual three-tiered tower, and by the Church of Our Lady’s gargantuan stone dome. Bellotto painted
many such panoramas of the old city that clearly depict prominent city landmarks – some of which still tower over Dresden today.
“If you look at his cityscapes, they are exact – very precise renderings of the city,” says Dr. Gregor J.M. Weber, the museum’s Curator of Italian Paintings. An author and expert on the works of
the Venetian painter, Dr. Weber leads my wife Beth and me on a tour of Bellotto’s masterpieces. “What are Bellotto’s strong points?” I ask him.
“The artist’s precision together with his picturesque abilities,” replies Dr. Weber. He points out those qualities through Bellotto’s clear delineation of 18th century houses; by his accuracy in
highlighting cityscapes with long shadows from a sun-tinted sky; and by the way he mixed warm and cool colors in reflections on the Elbe River.
Bellotto made Dresden his home in 1747, after King Augustus III hired him as court painter for the Saxon Court. “The King invited Bellotto to Dresden to represent the city in painting,” explains
Dr. Weber. “Many think his paintings are like photographs.”
“For Dresden, these paintings are treasures – absolute treasures.”
I awaken to church bells chiming from across the Elbe, reverberating through a Sunday morning drizzle. The windows are open in our upstairs suite at the Westin Hotel Bellevue. I peer out and see
the Hofkirche’s tower in the distance – beyond the leafy trees that drape the quiet river. Despite my sleepy haze, it takes me just seconds to realize that this was perhaps the very spot where Bernardo Bellotto
painted his classic view of Dresden.
Just an hour later, my observation is confirmed. “Bellotto went to the opposite shore to where the Hotel Bellevue now stands, because it was the nice view – the bellevue,” explains guide Cosima
Curth, who joins us in the lobby for tea before our fast-paced city tour. “Bellotto painted a lot of city views from this side.”
After tea, Cosima leads us across the Augustus Bridge – the same one painted by Bellotto. “The center of Dresden has an atmosphere like that of Baroque times,” she tells us in quick breaths. We
dart across Theaterplatz, the expansive square outside the city’s landmark Semper Opera House. Our next stop is the Hofkirche, built when Bellotto was a young man. Known as the Cathedral, it was once the Saxon
Royal Family’s own court church and is now the city’s foremost Catholic church.
Adjacent to the Hofkirche is the Royal Palace, which dates back to the 15th century. The palace’s tower has a viewing area, giving me yet another perspective of the city below. To the south, I see
the historic towers of both City Hall and the nearby Church of the Holy Cross. Directly below I see pedestrians crowd Bruhlsche Terrasse – a promenade just above the Elbe River and fondly referred to as
“Europe’s Balcony.” This walkway offers splendid views of the gently curving river speckled with gliding cruise boats…
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Pictures From My Homeland: Part II
by Edith Borchardt
Homeland means childhood: not only in Bavaria, but also in Austria with my grandparents, in the Burgenland close to the Iron Curtain on the Hungarian/Czech border, where one could see the watch
towers from the corn fields and could not cross over to the relatives we had never met.
There was the customs building at one end of the village, occupied by the Russians, where I played with my cousin in my uncle’s quarters, a customs official married to my aunt Aurelia. Here I
spent summers with my grandparents, who had grown up bi-lingual at the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. With the neighbors, my grandmother spoke Hungarian when she did not want me to understand her. From
the roof of the shed in the backyard, I listened to their secret conversations while picking mulberries from a tree. To my childish ears their talk resembled the sound of chickens cackling. With their dark
kerchiefs, dresses, and aprons wrapped around them, the women looked like lamenting ravens and could have been at home in countries further to the East.
In my first memory, my grandmother holds me in her arm while stoking the fire in the stove of the peasant kitchen. In the doorframe stands a chimney sweep with his brush and top hat. The men were
in the fields cutting the kukorica or maize, and Omi prepared dozens of palacsintas, keeping them warm for their evening meal. In a big wooden chest, there was flour from which she made noodle dough and kneaded
bread, which I took to the baker's and picked up later as a dark brown loaf.
What I liked most was playing with my cousin Werner. With boys from the village, we roughhoused in the haystacks and burrowed into them like moles until my grandfather discovered us and bid us to
come down, lifting his fist toward us as he approached. While combing the hay out of my loosened braids, my grandmother voiced her regret that I did not associate with girls. In the roofed storage bin of wood,
open between the slats for air, where the maize was kept after the harvest, we forgot the mulberry juice on the shelves and the next day, to our surprise, found giant corpses of moths in the cups. We went
swimming in the canal outside the village or rode our bikes over the dusty main street beyond the central square where, from afar, we could see the castle on the other side of the Czech border. Over there was
Bratislava, formerly Pressburg, where my grandmother's sister lived.
I associate homeland with my grandmother's tears for her son who did not return from the war, for whom she lit candles and said prayers while holding me in her arm in the chapel next to the
Catholic Church. Today his name is engraved on the list of the fallen right next to the crucified Savior. I find his name also on the war memorial on the main street, which ends at the customs house, where the
tollgate used to be.
I was born in the so-called Ostmark, the eastern territories, it says in an old passport. I never knew my uncle. He was young and tall and slender and looked like my mother, as I remember from
pictures I saw. He had to fight for the so-called Fuhrer, who sent transports with Jews through Austria. These trains rolled past the railway stations and could not be stopped.
Homeland: that is history, which for a long time one did not discuss, and there were not books about it. The teacher dictated what one was allowed to know about Hermann, the Cheruscan, up to
the Treaty of Westphalia, and I illustrated my notebooks with pictures from Sanella the margarine company showing Arminius, the Teutonic hero, in battle in the Forest of Teutoburg. Suddenly, there were new
students from Silesica and Thuringia for whom one had to move over on the school bench. They had a different dialect and had left their families and all their possessions in the other part of Germany. One
homeland became two. Our homeland was divided and split in two halves, not to be united again until recently…
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Names and Naming
by James M. Beidler
When it comes to ancestors, it could be said, “There is nothing like a name” (with apologies to Rodgers, Hammerstein, and South Pacific). German names pose a number of complications for
genealogists attempting to use this basic piece of individual identification in their research.
Probably nothing confuses those beginning a search for German roots more than the “Rufnahmen” (German for “call name”).
Virtually all children in 17th through 19th century Germany, as well as those who immigrated to America, were baptized with a “first name” of Johann or Hans (John) or Anna or Maria (Ann or Mary).
However, contrary to what we are accustomed to in 20th century America, that “first name” was seldom used after baptism. Instead, what we would call the “middle name” was the individual’s “call
name.” Virtually the only exception was the name Johannes, which was a “true” John.
A typical German family of the 18th century might have children baptized with names Johann Christian, Johann Peter, Johann Michael, Johann Jacob, Johannes, Anna Elisabetha, Anna Catharina, Anna
Maria, Anna Christina, and Anna Magdalena.
With the exception of Johannes and Anna Maria (usually a double name in the way people use “Ann Marie” today), all of the children would be called by the “middle names.” One way in which this can
complicate things is that one of the few occasions that the first name might be used after baptism was on a will, sometimes leading to such a document being indexed under “John C.” for someone named “Johann
Christian” (who in most records would be identified and therefore known as “Christian”).
Occasionally a child might have two longer names, such as Elisabetha Catharina, and, in general, the middle name was the call name. In part of 19th century Germany, a greater proportion of the
children would have three given names. Once again, the given name closest to the surname was more often the one used in common discourse.
Another way in which German given names may baffle is the way in which most diminutives or nicknames are formed. Among English-speakers, most nicknames are formed by dropping the second syllable.
For example, Samuel becomes Sam, Donald becomes Don, and Matthew becomes Matt.
Among the Germans, most such diminutives are created by lopping off the first syllable. Male examples include Johannes becoming Hannes or Hans, Hermannus becomes Mannes, Niklaus becomes Klaus,
Sebastian becomes Bastian, and Mattheis (the German form of Matthew) becomes Theis. With females, Kathrin turns into Trin, Christina is shortened to Stin or Stina, and Margaretha is chopped down to Greta.
This creates problems of familiarity, since a diminutive may be used in church registers and other records of the family. Even more potentially confusing are nicknames that seem to have no rhyme
or reason. In the Pennsylvania German heartland, Molly was a nickname for Magdalena and Polly was used as short for Anna Maria.
One of the most difficult to resolve situations for genealogists with Pennsylvania German ancestry has been the seeming interchangeability of the names Margaretha and Rebecca in the 19th century.
In short, there are a number of women born with the first name Margaretha, the German form of Margaret, who in later life are found with the name Rebecca…
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Germany – A Music Lover’s Destination
by Victor Tigron
Tourism gives a new focus to Germany’s 200-year-old role as a music destination for performers and the public.
There’s music in the air and Germany is an audible experience, as the tourist industry makes ready to salute the nation’s sound heritage. Preparations are well underway hailing 2004 as “Music Land
Germany” with promotional activities worldwide.
After years of touting Germany’s best-known and biggest music festivals, tickets to which are almost unattainable, reality has set in. Emphasis is now being placed on hundreds of destinations
where tickets are readily available at affordable prices.
Furthermore the offers are not just exclusively for the classics but extend the gamut of taste: opera, orchestra, and ballet across the boards to musicals, jazz, pops, and over the other side of
the tracks to include—rock, and hip-hop.
Basically, almost all German towns and cities enjoy a vibrant musical life with emphasis on local performances, many of which are astonishingly good. This is not just in the great metropolises and
larger cities, but in smaller towns and rural communities as well.
The mere fact that Germany’s musical endowment includes four centuries of creative and re-creative music making is reflected in the fact that this still occurs in fifty government-funded opera
houses.
The opera houses present opera, concerts, ballet, dance, recitals and musicals. Venues also include hundreds of concert halls where sacred and temporal music is regularly performed as well as in
civic centers and in churches. In the churches this is both as part of the liturgy as well as in concert throughout the entire year, not just during holidays. Considering that Germany is about 1/35 the size of
the United States, roughly as large as New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle, the density of performance venue is phenomenal. The activity is nationwide. From Neustrelitz to Donaueschingern, from Meppen to
Burghausen, in Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony, Thueringen and Bayern, in medium and smaller cities like Augsburg, Chemnitz, Weimar and Wetzlar, in Mainz and Magdeburg, Darmstadt and Dessau, among scores of others…
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Rothenburg – A Medieval Gem
by Kate Sutton
Fine food and medieval charm are but some of the attractions found in this treasure on the Tauber River.
Before I left on a recent trip to Germany, a few people told me to avoid the medieval town of Rothenburg because it was a tourist trap. I’m glad I didn’t listen. It’s true that cars and motorbikes
are a common sight on the main streets of Rothenburg, and it is a popular spot for tourists from all over the world. But you need only walk a few blocks away from the Rathaus in Market Square to enter the
medieval Rothenburg you’ve always dreamed about.
One reason Rothenburg is a popular tourist spot is because it can be seen easily in one day. But rushing through Rothenburg robs it of much of its charm. Allow yourself at least two days
there to discover the true flavor of the town and surrounding area. Begin your visit by choosing a hotel inside the city wall that fits your needs and budget. Although you will find some room vacancies simply by
walking around town and looking for signs in the windows, it’s best to make reservations before your arrival. For younger adventurers, rooms at a local youth hostel are available.
Many of the accommodations in Rothenburg are provided by quaint, clean Gasthofs. These smaller, no-frills establishments often include breakfast and tend to be more moderately priced than
larger hotels. The one I stayed in, Glocke Hotel, has 24 rooms, is located right by the Plönlein and is about one-half mile from the train station. It provided a bright, airy, non-smoking room with a rooftop
balcony and private bath, comfortable twin beds with down comforters and pillows and breakfast all for about $69.00 a night – at the height of tourist season. However, there are also a few upscale hotels in
town, if that’s more your style. Many of the hotels and Gasthofs provide parking, but be sure to ask about parking facilities when making reservations.
Once you’ve unpacked and put on a good pair of walking shoes, take a few minutes to plan your strategy. Base your plans on the time of day. If you need to do some souvenir shopping, start at
9:00 am when the shops first open. Everyone else will be standing in Market Square staring at their maps, waiting for their groups and trying to make decisions about their day. You’ll have the shops to yourself.
If you need more time to shop, think about going between noon and 1:00 pm, or 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm, when people are clearing out of the shops and into the restaurants. Plan your lunch for either 11:00 am or 2:00
pm to avoid the crowds. If you get hungry before that, you can always grab a snack at any one of the many delightful bakeries around town. Although the Schneeballs – deep-fried, sugar-dipped balls of pastry
dough – are Rothenburg’s claim to fame, I highly recommend the Waldmeister ice cream. It’s green and it’s good. I have no idea what’s in it but it’s like no ice cream I’ve ever tasted. Just try it. Better yet,
put some on your Schneeball.
Late morning or midday is an excellent time to visit the Reichsstadt Museum (Imperial City Museum). If you have time to visit only one museum in Rothenburg, make it this one. A former
convent, it is pleasantly cool on a hot summer day and is full of unusual treasures. For example, visit the life-size statue of Moses, dating from the 14th century. If you’re wondering what’s on his head, those
are horns. Was the sculptor implying that Moses was evil? Actually, it's quite the opposite. The horns should have been the rays of light commonly portrayed around the heads of saints. In the book of Exodus
(34:29) it’s written that Moses’ face shined brightly after talking with God and receiving the Ten Commandments. However, when St. Jerome was translating the Old Testament into Latin, he confused the Hebrew verb
for “shine” with the word for “horned”: “Videbant faciem Moysi esse cornatum,” which translates as, “They say that Moses’ face was horned.” As a result, in the medieval world, a horned head could represent
divinity, power or horror, and many religious sculptures and paintings of the time show horns on the heads of their holy subjects.
As you continue with your museum visit, be sure to see the art gallery. Rothenburg owes its rebirth to the artists whose pictures are displayed on those walls. A town that fell into
disrepair and poverty after the Middle Ages, Rothenburg was rediscovered by artists during the second half of the 19th century. Their work captures the spirit of a town left behind by time: some of the pictures
will haunt you. And don’t forget to see the famous Elector’s Tankard, which has a capacity of about 7 pints (3.25 liters). The accompanying tale tells us that during the Thirty Years’ War, Mayor Nusch used the
massive drinking glass to save the town from invading forces who planned to execute every member of the city council. The leader of the invasion, General Tilly, said he would spare the lives of all if one man
could drain the tankard of wine in one draught. Mayor Nusch rose to the challenge, astounded the general and saved the town leaders. Amazingly, the good mayor survived this ordeal and spent three days sleeping
off his stupor…
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Terrific Teutonic Train
by Ralph Renkert
Following many innovations in transportation, Germany stands poised to change the face of mass transit with the maglev train.
Perhaps no other group has had a bigger effect on transportation than German-speaking people. That’s a bold statement, but the facts speak for themselves.
It was Baron Karl Von Drais who created the world’s first bicycle in 1816.
The world’s first electric streetcar was installed in Berlin in 1882. Nikolas Otto patented the world’s first four- stroke engine in 1876. Gottleib Daimler constructed the world’s first motorcycle in 1885 and the first motorboat shortly thereafter. Daimler along with Karl Benz created the world’s first gasoline powered cars in 1886. In fact, Benz’s 1886 patent is widely recognized as the birth certificate of the automobile. Rudolf Diesel patented the first Diesel engine in 1892. Felix Wankel was issued the first patent for the Wankel engine in 1929. These German inventions created the foundation for the motorized ground and sea transportation revolution.
Hans Von Ohain created the world’s first jet engine while working at Göttingen University.
His engine was used to power the world’s first jet aircraft in 1939 and he went on to develop the modern (axial flow) jet engine in the 1940’s. The Germans also invented the sweep wing design. It was the German sweep wing design and axial flow jet engine that ushered in the jet age.
With such an impressive list of creative accomplishments unmatched by any other group, the age-old question arises - what have you done for us lately? The answer is an interesting mixture of
extraordinary vision and saint-like perseverance.
Herman Kemper, a German, received the world’s first patent for a magnetic levitation train, on August 14, 1934. He built a prototype in 1935 and did extensive pioneering work. Herman
Kemper is regarded by many as the Father of magnetic levitation trains. World events in the 1940’s sidetracked German work on maglev trains. In the 1960's they established a solid development program.
In 1979 the world’s first maglev train licensed to carry passengers was placed in service at the International Transportation Exhibition in Hamburg, Germany. During 1988 long-term tests began at near application conditions at an elaborate test facility in Lathan, Germany. After 70 years of history and 34 years of modern day development the Germans have evolved to their eighth modern model, the TR08.
The result of all this development and testing is a transportation system that, while real, seems to be science fiction.
The Germans call their magnetic levitation train the Transrapid. Maglev technology holds many advantages over other forms of transportation…
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Pray and Work - Ora et Labora
by Robert A. Selig
DECK: Religion and hard labor were used to keep the children of the Juliusspital workhouse in Würzburg on the “straight and narrow.”
On 30 June 1695, the City of Würzburg and with it the whole Prince-Bishopric celebrated the opening of its Zucht- und Arbeitshaus, the new Penitentiary and Workhouse. In his decree of the same
date announcing the event, Prince-Bishop Johann Gottfried von Guttenberg (1645-1698) expressed his desire that the institution would serve as a place of detention for many of the "loafers, disobedient,
depraved, intractable, and lewd persons" in his state, thereby improving law and order and foster virtue among his 160,000 subjects. He also expected that the experience would guide those incarcerated
"toward daily labor" until "a noticeable and honest improvement of the previous ungodly Life and an fondness toward work" had developed so that they could be released back into society as
useful members.
With his workhouse, Guttenberg joined a reform movement based on the new concept of education and rehabilitation as a way to deal with criminal and immoral elements in society. The very idea that
"criminals" in the broadest meaning of the word could and should be "reformed" demanded a fundamental reform of the existing penal system. The idea of forced, long-term detention as the basis
for re-education and re-habilitation was a tenet of a new system of justice that was beginning to replace a medieval penal code based on deterrence, retribution and swift and immediate punishment. (See "Eye
for an Eye? Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Germany" December 1998/January 1999)
The Zucht- und Arbeitshaus of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe was conceived to meet many needs. The authorities saw it as a means to improve law and order and to address the moral
shortcomings of their subjects. For those inside it was to be an institution of punishment but also provide an opportunity for their moral rehabilitation and improvement. For those in danger of falling into
immorality, detention was intended as a proactive form of keeping them on the "straight and narrow" path of virtue. That included, from the very start, children as the members of society both most
easily educated as well as most in danger of going astray. And lastly it was to be a profit-making enterprise for the state: in the economy system of mercantilism, every member of society had a duty to
contribute and there was no reason to exempt those in the prison from this obligation.
This multiplicity of intentions was also spelled out in the decree establishing Guttenberg's workhouse. In order to achieve his goals, he instructed local officials to compile lists of the poor,
slothful, and begging subjects in their jurisdictions for possible drafting into the workhouse. There they were to be forced, if necessary through the use of "whip and rod," to give up the damnable
idleness" which was the "cause of many despicable vices." Unwillingness to work was the reason for poverty, idleness led to slothfulness, begging was economically unproductive and contrary to
biblical law. Beggars do not eat their bread by the sweat of their brows. Guttenberg like many others saw idleness at the root of all evil, and work, as the name of the new institutions already implies, was one
of the cornerstones of the process of education, and re-education, "so that the state will be enriched and blessed with capable and industrious subjects." …
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Calendar
Please contact events directly to confirm dates, times, locations and admission fees.
October:
Huntington Beach, CA
September 15-October 27: 26th Annual Oktoberfest at Old World Village. For information call 714-647-7107 or visit www.oldworld.ws
Helen, GA
October 1-November 1 (Sat. & Sun): Oktoberfest. For information call 1-800-858-8027 or visit www.helenga.org
State College, PA
October 2 – Pennsylvania in the Civil War. 7:30 pm at the LDS Chapel in State College. For information call 814-238-7183; email: njt5@psu.edu; or visit www.rootsweb.com/~paccgs/index.htm.
Reading, PA
October 2-5: Oktoberfest. For information call 610-373-3982 or visit www.readingliederkranz.com
Leavenworth, WA
October 3-4 & 10-11: Oktoberfest. For information call 509-548-8153 or visit www.projectbayern.com
New Ulm, MN
October 3-4 & 10-11: Oktoberfest. For information call 507-232-4300 or visit www.newulm.com
La Mesa, CA
October 3-5: 30th Annual La Mesa Oktoberfest. For information call 619-440-6161 or 619-462-3000 or visit www.eastcountychamber.org/event_oktoberfest.html
Manning, IA
October 3-5: 8th Annual Low German (Platt) Conference and Genealogical Workshop. For information call 1-800-292-0252 or email: heritage@pionet.net
Fredericksburg, TX
October 3-5: Oktoberfest. For information call 830-997-4810 or visit www.oktoberfestinfbg.com
Leavenworth, WA
October 3-5 & 10-12: Oktoberfest. For information call 509-548-5807 or visit www.leavenworth.org
San Diego, CA
October 3-5: 30th Annual La Mesa Oktoberfest. For information call 619-440-6161 or visit www.eastcountychamber.org
Socorro, NM
October 4: Oktoberfest. For information call 505-835-0424.
Zoar, OH
October 4-5: Zoar Village Apfelfest. For information call 1-800-874-4336.
Hunter, NY
October 4-5, 11-12: Hunter Mountain Oktoberfest (free admission). For information call 1-888-HunterMTn or email infor@HunterMtn.com
Canon City, CO
October 4-5: Oktoberfest. For information call 719-275-7507 or visit www.royalgorgebridge.com
Newark, DE
October 5: Erntedankfest (Thanksgiving) Delaware Saengerbund. For information call 302-366-9454 or visit: www.delawaresaengerbund.org
Washington, DC
October 6: German-American Day at the German-American Friendship Garden. For information call 202-467-5000 or visit www.ugac.org
Kissimmee, FL
October 6: Oktoberfest at the Kissimmee Valley Agricultural Center on Rt. 192. For information call 407-933-4778 or visit www.ugac.org
Rayne, LA
October 6-7: Robert’s Cove Germanfest. For more information call 337-334-8354 or visit members.aol.com/germanfest
Lancaster, PA
October 9-12: Harvest Days and Pumpkin Patch.
44th Annual Penn. Dutch harvest celebration, threshing, food preserving, traditional trades and crafts, and more. For more information call 717-581-0591 or visit www.landisvalleymuseum.org
Ocean City, MD
October 10-12: 22nd Annual Oktoberfest with arts and crafts. For more information call 410-524-7020 or visit www.oceanpromotions.info
Kitchener-Waterloo, ON, Canada
October 10-18: Oktoberfest. For information call 1-888-294-HANS; email: info@oktoberfest.ca; or visit www.oktoberfest.ca
Frohna, MO
October 11: Saxon Lutheran Memorial Fall Festival with arts, crafts, food and entertainment. For information call 573-824-5404.
New York, NY
October 11: Annual Conference for German language schools and teacher development in USA. For information call 732-249-9785 or visit www.germanschools.org
Baltimore, MD
October 11-12: 34th Annual Maryland Oktoberfest. For more information call 410-522-4144 or visit www.md-germans.org
St. Louis, MO
October 11: German Men’s Choir of St. Louis Annual Concert & Dance. For tickets or information call 314-638-4499 or 314-638-0848.
St. Louis, MO
October 11: Lecture – German POWs in Missouri During WWII. Missouri History Museum at 3:30 pm. For information call 314-956-7353; email: mopows@aol.com; or visit: http://mopows.tripod.com
Newport, RI
October 11-13: 11th Annual NBC-International Oktoberfest. For advanced tickets or more information call 401-846-1600 or visit www.newportfestivals.com
Mayestown, IL
October 12: Oktoberfest. Annual craft and food fair. For more information call 618-458-6660 or visit www.maeystown.com
San Francisco, CA
October 16-19: Annual Oktoberfest at Fort Mason. For more information call 888-746-7522 or visit www.oktoberfestbythebay.com
Tulsa, OK
October 16-19: 15th Annual Oktoberfest in River West Festival Park. For information call 918-744-9700 or visit www.tulsaoktoberfest.org
Deerwood, MN
October 17-19: Oktoberfest. For information call 1-800-450-4545 or visit www.ruttgers.com
Wilmington, DE
October 18: Mid-Atlantic German Society Fall 2003 Meeting. “Exploring New Records in New Venues.” For more information call 732-606-6032 or visit www.rootsweb.com/~usmags/meetings/fall.htm
North Bergen, NJ
October 18: Schützen Park Oktoberfest. For information call 973-259-1046; email: YGAC@aol.com or visit: www.ygac.org
Crawford, TX
October 18: Texas German Society Oktoberfest. For information call 254- 486-2366; email vmassirer@yahoo.com; or visit: http://htgs.shorturl.com
Marthasville, MO
October 18 & 19: Deutsch Country Days. For information call 636-433-5669 or visit www.deutschcountrydays.org
Miami, FL
October 18 & 25: Oktoberfest. For information call Marge at 305-553-8587.
Bedford, PA
October 20-21: Old Bedford Village Oktoberfest. For information call 814-623-1156 or visit www.oldbedfordvillage.com
New York, NY
October 21: Dietlinde Turban-Maazel (dramatic reading) and Aya Ishihara (piano). Deutsches Haus at NYU. For information call 212-998-8660 or visit: www.nyu.edu/deutscheshaus
Baltimore, MD
October 22-23: Sour Beef Lunch/Dinner. Zion Church of Baltimore. For information call: 410-727-3939.
Yuma, AZ
October 25: Oktoberfest. Downtown Yuma. For information call: 928-782-5712
Fresno, CA
October 25: ASHGR 27th “Original” Oktoberfest at the Fresno Convention Center. For more information call 559-229-8287 or email ahsgrfr@mindspring.com
State College, PA
October 25: Seminar – Centre County Genealogy Research for Beginners; LDS Chapel in State College 9:00 am to noon. For information call 814-238-7183; email njt5@psu.edu; or visit www.rootsweb.com/~paccgs/index.htm
Richmond, VA
October 25-26: 34th Annual Richmond Oktoberfest. For information call 804-342-0310.
Atlantic City, NJ
October 25-26: Trump Taj Mahal’s Oktoberfest. For information call 732-528-5135.
Fairfax, VA
October 26: Jubiläums! - An Anniversary Jubilee.
German and Bavarian music celebrating the Alte Kameraden's 25th birthday. For information call 703-352-ARTS or visit www.fairfaxband.org
November
New Braunfels, TX
October 31-November 9: Wurstfest at Landa Park. For information call 1-900-221-4369 or visit www.wurstfest.com
New York, NY
November 4: Exhibition Opening: “Translating Gursky: On the Mexican Spanish Encounter with the German Image.” For information call 212-998-8660 or visit: www.nyu.edu/deutscheshaus
Newark, DE
November 8: Christkindlmarkt - Delaware Sängerbund. For information call 302-366-9454 or visit: www.delawaresaengerbund.org
Wheaton, MD
November 8 or 15: Washington Sängerbund Concert & Dance. For information call 202-310-4691 or visit www.geocities.com/saengerbund
Louisville, KY
November 8: Christkindlmarkt. For information call 502-425-7276 or 502-368-3068 or visit www.german-americanclub.com
Baltimore, MD
November 9: Lutherfest. Celebrating Martin Luther’s birthday. Zion Church of Baltimore, 7-9:00 pm – reservations required. For information call 410-727-3939.
New York, NY
November 14: Andrea Köhler: The Art of Criticism – The Criticism of Art. For information call 212-998-8660 or visit: www.nyu.edu/deutscheshaus
Baltimore, MD
November 14-23: Luther Exhibit: Martin Luther – The Reformer. Touring exhibition from Saxony, Germany. Zion Church Adlersaal. For information call 410-727-3939.
Ferdinand, IN
November 15-16: Christkindlmarkt. For information call 1-800-968-4578 or visit www.duboiscounty.com
Covington, KY
November 15, 16 & 22, 23: Christmas Open House. For more information call 859-491-0458 or visit www.mainstrasse.org
New Braunfels, TX
November 21-23: Weihnachtsmarkt at New Braunfels Civic Center. For information call 830-620-6229.
Cincinnati, OH
November 21-23: Christkindlmarkt. Germania Society. For information visit www.germaniasociety.com
Fredericksburg, TX
November 27-January 1, 2004: Texas Hill Country Regional Christmas Lighting Trail. For information visit www.tex-fest.com
Denver, CO
November 28-December 21: Denver Christkindl Market. For information call 303-260-6001; email: genova@denverpavilions.com or visit www.denverpavilions.com
Leavenworth, WA
November 28-30: Christkindlmarkt. For information call 509-548-5807 or visit www.leavenworth.org
Elkhart Lake, WI
November 28-30: Classic German Christmas. Including a reception, Neunerlei dinner and concert; 3-day village wide event. For information call 920-876-5812.
Bethlehem, PA
November 28-30: 10th Anniversary Christkindlmarkt. With over 175 visual artists and craftsmen, festival of trees and holiday music. For information call 610-861-0678 or visit www.fest.org
Chicago, IL
November 28-December 23: 8th Annual Christkindlmarkt at the Daley Center Plaza and “Block 37”. Open daily. For information call 312-644-2662 or visit www.christkindlmarket.com
Baltimore, MD
November 29-30: Christkindlmarkt. Zion Church of Baltimore. For information call 410-727-3939.
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