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Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 12 (Boat-ride)

2008-06-11T01:45:00.000-07:00

Today the weather is gorgeous and my time in Heidelberg coming to an end; so at Manuela’s suggestion I take a boat-ride on the river. It’s a very relaxing ride up river to Neckargemund and then on to Necharsteinach, where the ship turns round and comes back. The Neckar River rises in the Schwartzwald (Black Forest) flows for 127 miles and joins the Rhine at Mannheim. It’s a lovely three-hour ride with beautiful scenery; we pass through two Schliessen (locks) each of which raise and lower the ship 9 feet. I have a good lunch on board and talk to an American family from Half Moon Bay (about an hour from Oakland) traveling with their two teen-age sons, one of whom is studying in Heidelberg.

Photos:
The river-boat 5#041
Castles on the river 5#034 and 5#039
The locks 5#040

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 11 (Neckargermund and Lucia)

2008-06-11T01:38:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the weather is beautiful and I take a drive through the countryside. I drive through Heidelberg and along the Neckar River to Neckargemund, a pretty little river-town with an old castle some lovely old buildings. Then head inland through woods and farmland to Mauer and Meckesheim where I see a signpost for Anglasterhausen, I like the sound of that and drive along narrow country roads and through tiny villages till I get there and find that the name is the most attractive thing there! Then on to Sinsheim for a bite of lunch and home on the Autobahn. Lovely!

In the evening I go to Mannheim for “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Donizetti. It’s a Festlicher Opernabend (Festive Evening of Opera) meaning there are special guest singers and everybody gets dressed up. This is one of the best dressed audiences I’ve seen; most men are wearing suits and ties and I see several where the man’s tie is an exact match to his lady’s gown! The music and singing are spectacular. Iride Martinez from Argentina sings Lucia, Franco Vassallo, who has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Vienna State Opera sings her brother Enrico. Salvatore Cordella sings her lover Edgardo. This is another modern interpretation. The setting is Scotland at an indeterminate time with the men in tartan kilts that look more like sarongs. There’s a choir of 25 men in kilts and bright red tam-o‘shanters and a woman’s choir of an equal number wearing tartan skirts, white blouses and beehive hairdos! Arturo, the man Lucia is being forced to marry is dressed as Idi Amin. The scenery is very modern; on stage there is a small pond in which Lucia dangles her fingers and in the third act she dies on stage in a much larger pond!

The European Soccer Cup matches started yesterday and luckily Germany beat Poland in the first round. 23 year-old Podolski kicked in both goals. The whole country would have gone into a large-scale funk if they had lost! Evidently all team members must be citizens and several of the German players had played for Arsenal and Chelsea (British teams).

Monday night, at the Stadthalle, I go to a piano concert by students of Mannheim University; of the six students five have Asian names. I speak to two of the students, a woman from Korea who had played an obviously very difficult Prokoffiev sonata and a young man from Bulgaria who had played an extremely complicated piece by Ginastera, an Argentinean composer. These students play without a score, are very talented and I believe are the future “Van Cliburns ”.

Photos:
Neckargemund 5#007
Neckargemund 5#008
Stadthalle, Heidelberg 5#012
Die Comedian Harmonists 5#011

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 10 (Pascal Mercier and Eugen Onegin)

2008-06-11T01:30:00.000-07:00

This evening I go back to the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut to hear Pascal Mercier read from “Nachtzug nach Lissabon” (Night Train to Lisbon) an international best-seller that I’m working my way through, in English. He is very good, speaks German with a Swiss accent and the large room is packed to the rafters. He studied in Heidelberg in 1993 and later in Berkeley. The book, which I find very dense and slow reading, concerns an elderly college professor of Latin, Greek and other ancient languages in Bern, Switzerland; who suddenly changes his entire life by taking a night-train to Lisbon. Mercier, a Swiss philosophy professor living in Berlin says that, “its partly in homage to his teachers”. I was surprised at how much I understood; including his jokes and at question time I asked, “How he liked the English translation?” He gave a long answer, after all he is a Professor of Philosophy, about the translator coming to Berlin for 10 days and they worked together from 10 till 10 and he feels that the translation is an “American Night Train to Lisbon!”

This evening I had to choose between Pascal Mercier; a concert of Lieder by Franz Schubert based on Johann Wolfgang Goethe at the Musikhaus Hochstein AND a concert of Klezmer music!

On Saturday fireworks are planned for Heidelberg Castle and the newspaper warns that many streets will be closed, with traffic at a standstill. I have dinner at “Zum Goldenen Schaf” (Golden Sheep). In spite of the restaurant being founded 1749 and owned by the family of Dr. Kischka; the food is very mediocre, the service slow and the place full of Americans. Next time remind me to pass on this one! I then walk over to the Stadtische Buhene for ”Eugen Onegin” by Tchaikovsky. Once again an ultra modern production; the set is a 1920s fairground with a very dilapidated merry-go-round in the center and overhead a sign of lights “LIEBE MACHT GLUCKLICH” (Love Makes Happiness) which harkens back to “Arbeit Macht Frei” the sign over the gates at Auschwitz. For some reason, completely beyond me, most of the characters wear these large fiberglass (?) heads, taking them off and on and often singing with them on! The voices are unbelievably beautiful; Tatiana is a Russian soprano, Onegin is Spanish and Lenski sung by Emilio Pons, a tenor from Spain, who I saw previously in Idomeneo. This time I sit in the front row of the balcony of a very full house. As we come out of the theater the last of the fireworks are going off and traffic is a mess.

Photos: City Theater, Heidelberg 4#056

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 9 (Music for Voice and Roma)

2008-06-11T01:18:00.000-07:00

Next evening I attend another Mannheim University chamber concert; this time it’s Kammermusik fur Stimme und Instrumente (Chamber Music for Voice and Instruments) at the Alte Aula in the old University of Heidelberg building. I love this old room and the professor of voice introduces the program and says that the spirits in this room always inspire her! The students put on an interesting program: voice with Waldhorn (English horn) and piano, voice with piano and viola, and voice with flute. During the first half all the singers are women and have wonderful clear, ringing voices. I leave at intermission; the hall is very hot and I need a ‘Campari Orange’!

Next day at class I bring in photos from California and explain them to Manuela. We again talk about finding an apartment for next year. In the evening I decide against two chamber music concerts at Stadthalle and at Palais Prinz Carl.

On Wednesday morning while at the little newspaper store on Rohrbacherstrasse I talk to the newsagent and his wife a dental surgeon; they both favor McCain because, they think he will keep US troops in Germany and Obama will bring them home. She thinks that without the troops Russia will take over Germany! I discussed this later with an American studying in Heidelberg and he thought it was Quatsch! (garbage) I had planned on going to a concert by the Monet Quartet at the Stadthalle; however, it started raining so I stayed home for a quiet dinner.

Many of today’s papers have stories and pictures about the high-speed train wreck that happened 10 years ago in Eschede, in north central Germany in the vicinity of Hamburg and Hannover; 101 people died in the derailment caused by a faulty wheel. The worst train accident in Germany since the War.

On Thursday after class I visit the Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrum Deutscher Sinti und Roma, a Yad Vashem (the Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem) for the Nazi persecution of the gypsies of Europe. Gypsy, Zigeuner in German, are now considered discriminatory terms. Roma originated in Romani the language of this minority living in Germany, while Sinti refers to those living in other southern European countries. The Nazis persecuted this minority to the same degree as they persecuted the Jews; their identification papers were stamped with a red Z for Zigeuner. Most of them were sent to Auschwitz and other camps and 500,000 were murdered. This permanent exhibition shows and explains their lives previous to the Nazi era and their persecution and extermination. The exhibition is very moving with an excellent commentary in English. On a Wall of Remembrance I find several entries for Samujlowicz and almost a dozen for Sakozyi!

Photos:
Old University of Heidelberg building 4#052
Heidelberg 4#053
Heidelberg 5#029

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 8A (Mannheim & Wine Road)

2008-06-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the Weinweg (Wine Road)

Photos:
Neustadt 4#002
Weinweg 4#011
Weinweg 4#012
Weinweg 4#013

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 8 (Mannheim & Wine Road)

2008-06-06T02:12:00.000-07:00

Today I drive to Mannheim to look around. I leave the car in the big garage under the Haupltbahnhof, ride trams and take pictures; there’s a street fair going on; with live music, lots of bars and stalls, with hordes of people and I enjoy that! Later take a tram to Marktplatz for an early dinner at the same French café. It was still hot and muggy and eventually it started to rain very hard. I was under the awning and finished dinner without getting wet. The rain lets up for a bit so I catch the next tram to the station, pick up my car and head home; then it starts to rain ‘cats and dogs’ with lots of lightning. I drive home very carefully. According to the newspaper, the Mannheinner Stadtfeste (the city fair) had 280,000 visitors over three days!

Today, Saturday, is Heidelberg’s Lange Nacht des Einkaufens (Long Night of Shopping), when the downtown shops will stay open till midnight. In the afternoon I take the bus downtown and check it out. There are lots and lots of people; but as my buddy John Marshall (who I worked with in Washington DC 40 years ago) would say, “Don’t count the people, count the shopping bags.”

After a ‘Campari and orange', my now favorite drink at my now favorite bar I go to the concert at the cathedral. It’s early Renaissance music, written in the 1500s and 1600s and played by three women on a viola de Gamba and two early wood flutes. This is not my favorite music and at intermission I leave.

On Sunday, June 1, I explore the Weinweg (Wine Road) I drive through Mannheim, cross the Rheine at Ludwigshaven and to Neustadt; where I follow the Weinweg south through tiny old wine villages surrounded by vineyards as far as the eye can see. I take lots of pictures and do not stop even once at the many wineries offering tasting! The weather is hot and humid so I drove home via Landau and Karlsruhe. Later, when the weather has cooled, I drive into Heidelberg, stop for dinner at the café at the Hauptbahnhof and attend the cello concert at the Stadthalle (City Concert Hall). This is something quite different! The concert is by students from the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Mannheim. (State University of Music and Performing Arts) this is where Germany gets its talent. Students aged from 19 to 21 play cello sonatas and duets with enormous skill and precision. There are about 30 people in the hall including parents, teachers and fellow students. The hall is a beautiful semi-circular Baroque room with gold ceiling, walls with large frescos of old battle scenes and gold and red plush seats. The students play very complicated sounding scores without notes; one of them appears to be playing two different tunes simultaneously. Afterwards I speak with a couple of the students, one is 19 from Heilbronn, still in high school with five years to go at the university; another from Mannheim is 21. After the concert I drive to a section of town where I have never been before, near Police Headquarters and have an ice-cream and walnut sundae for dessert.

Photos:
Water tower, Mannheim 3A#032
Street fair, Mannheim 3A#038
New bridge, Ludwigshafen 4#001
Mannheim cello student 4A#023

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 7 (Liederabend)

2008-06-06T02:02:00.000-07:00

In this week’s two classes Manuela and I read the newspaper and talk about La Bohéme. Over the past few days the weather has been very hot and muggy – schwule, with an umlaut means stuffy or muggy; schwule without an umlaut means gay!

In the early evening I drive to Rohrbach, about 10 minutes on the way to Heidelberg to look around. It’s a pretty little old town that is now a suburb of Heidelberg; at one time it had a major Jewish presence and a synagogue. Now there is only a recently erected monument to the former Jews of Rohrbach. I have a lovely dinner at ‘Roter Ochsen’ (Red Ox), Rindermedaillons und Schpaetzel (Beef medallions) in a fresh mushroom sauce with a salad and half-liter draft beer for €17 or $25.

On Wednesday I take the bus back to Rohrbach for a haircut. Previously I had seen “The Barber Shop” so walk in. There’s only one barber and I’m the only customer. The young barber tells me that the shop belongs to his newly married brother, who has taken the day off. The young barber introduces himself as “Kawa” originally from Northern Iraq and for the past 10 years a barber at Patrick Henry Village, the US Army base. That’s when I should have gotten out of the chair and left! I do not leave and he gives me a real military haircut. He trims my eyebrows and wants to shave off the beard; I say a loud “Nein” but the haircut is definitely very short!

In the evening I go to a ‘Liederabend’ (evening of songs) at the Stadtische Buhne (City Theater) the concert is a sheer delight. Maraile Lichdi one of the leading sopranos of the Heidelberg Opera (and Electra in the Idomeneo, that I saw) performs a program of songs by various composers based on the poems of Friedrich Schiller, the famous German poet and writer. Lichdi has a beautiful full voice; she’s accompanied by a woman pianist and sings the entire program without notes or score. There are Shubert songs, a group by Hugo Wolf and a collection of modern lieder by Pfitzner, Ullman and Reutter; I have never heard modern lieder before! And later check ‘German Wikipedia’ and find that:

Hans Erich Pfitzner 1869 – 1949 was born in Moscow, died in Salzburg and
taught master-classes in Berlin and Munich, later Vienna and Salzburg; composed operas and other works.

Viktor Ullman, contemporary Czech composer, born 1896; deported in 1942 to Theresienstadt, wrote piano sonatas, string quartets and songs.

Hermann Reutter 1900 – 1985, born and died in Stuttgart; studied composition, piano, organ and songs at Munich. Composed several operas including “Die Brucke von San Luis Rey” based on the 1927 novel by Thornton Wilder.

The theater is less than half full, however the audience is very enthusiastic and the diva sings two encores ending very appropriately with the lullaby “Gute Nacht.”

Yesterday’s newspaper carries an article about the new Berlin memorial “Denkmal fur Homosexuelle” (Memorial to the Homosexuals) recently opened to memorialize the discrimination against gays during Nazi times; the memorial cost about €600,00 or almost one million dollars and is located in the vicinity of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. There is also an article about Prime Minister Angela Merkel opening an exhibition at Berlin’s Schoenefeld airport about the Berlin Airlift of June 1948 to May 1949. Today’s newspaper, which Manuela and I read together, has an article about “Kinder von Zamoec” a group of 20 Holocaust survivors from Poland brought to Heidelberg by Caritasverband, Heidelberg and Das Max-Kolbe-Werk, two organizations dealing with Holocaust education. The group met with the Hauptburgermeister and spoke at local schools.
As I said before – not a day goes by without a newspaper article or TV program about the Holocaust. Manuela also talks about a German film “Leroy” with Gunter Kaufman, concerning a young German black kid falling in love with a very blond German girl, daughter of a family of neo-Nazi skinheads.

Later I arrange with Kasia, the Academy Housing Officer to look at one of the apartments at Rohrbacherstrasse16. The Academy leases 3 or 4 apartments in this building, then rents out individual rooms at €620 per four weeks with a small kitchen and tiny bathroom for communal use. The individual room I look at is very small with Salvation Army furniture. I don’t think that I would be very comfortable or happy here!

The hot weather continues, 32 C and 18 at night, corresponding to 90 and 65; and very humid. I decide against the chamber-music concert by the Trio Parnassus and “Bunbury – Ernst des Lebens” (Importance of Being Ernest) by Oscar Wilde at the Staadliche Buhne!

Photos:
Rohrbach monument to its former Jews 3#044
Rohrbacherstrasse16, Heidelberg 4#041
Heidelberg 4#025
Heidelberg 4#031

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 6 (La Bohéme)

2008-06-06T01:52:00.000-07:00

Today is a religious holiday; however, even as a good Catholic Manuela could not tell me what Fronleichnam was. With the help of Wikipedia, it’s Corpus Christi. Manuela invited me to a big parade featuring pictures made of flower petals at her local church in Handschuhsheim.

Note: Corpus Christi is a Catholic feast in honor of the Holy Eucharist; it is customary, after Mass, to hold processions, often outdoors, with the Host followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

On Saturday I go to the opera again, to see “La Bohéme ” at the Staatliche Buhne (City Theater) Before the performance there is another lecture about the production, which, I find fascinating. Afterwards I ask the lecturer (in English) about the current trend of doing operas in modern dress. He replies that it costs much less, since period costumes and scenery are very expensive; also it allows for more up-to-date interpretations. “Idomeneo” was in modern dress, the upcoming ‘Eugene Onegin” is modern, as is tonight’s “La Bohéme.” My fourth row center seat is €31 or about $50; the San Francisco opera is at least four times that!
The action of this “La Bohéme” starts before the music begins. The curtain is up as the audience comes in, and while the orchestra tunes and before the conductor takes the stand, the four bohemians are rearranging furniture, watching TV and one is taking a nap! There is no overture, once the music starts the singers sing. The four young singers are wearing Jeans and Rodolfo is stripped to the waist. Mimi enters and asks for a light; not for her candle but for her cigarette! Act 2 takes place in a shopping center and the Café Momus is a take-out food stand. The singers are young with terrific voices that soar and fill the theater. In acts 3 and 4 the Bohemians have grown older and successful, they look back on their previous life with nostalgia. Mimi is sung by a 34 year old Russian with the voice of an angel and dies, stage front center as the curtain falls. The full-house audience is ecstatic, they clap in unison and won’t let the cast leave!

Yesterday the roof of the Berlin Philharmonic caught fire and much to her consternation Pamela Rosenberg, late of the San Francisco Opera, had to cancel all concerts for the next week!

This Sunday is a day to do things Jewish! In the morning I drive into town and go on a walking tour of Jewish Heidelberg. About 20 or 30 people meet at Alta Synagoge Platz (Old Synagogue Place) and listen to a historian from the City of Heidelberg talk about the Jewish history of the city. The good professor tells us that there have been Jews in Heidelberg since 1275 and this Platz is actually the site of Heidelberg’s third synagogue, which was destroyed on Kristallnacht. We then move to Heumarkt, the old hay market and the building on the corner was the first Jewish and Kosher hotel in Heidelberg. Next stop along Unter Strasse (Under Street) being the first street below Hauptstrasse (Main Street) and the building on the corner of Dreikonigstrasse (Street of the Three Kings) was the former home of one of the town’s leading Jewish merchants and a few houses away was another much older synagogue of which nothing remains. I don’t think that the Professor mentions that Heidelberg was the first city in Germany to declare itself Judenrein (clear of Jews) in 1938!

In the afternoon I hear a recital by Druschba-Cheverut, a Jewish-Ukrainian men’s chorus from Munich at the Heidelberg Jewish Community Center next to the new synagogue. They sing “O Sey Shalom”, several Russian songs and a selection from “Fiddler on the Roof”. Most of the audience is Russian and Ukrainian and are very enthusiastic. The Master of Ceremonies tells us that the combined age of the chorus is 1,400 years! I also get a chance to look at the sanctuary; it’s orthodox with a bema (desk for reading the Torah) in the center and the women’s section is upstairs in the balcony.

Photos:
Tour of Jewish Heidelberg 3#047
First Jewish Hotel in Heidelberg 3#056
Dreikonigstrasse, Heidelberg 3#049
Jewish-Ukrainian men’s chorus 3#057

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 5 (Early Modern History)

2008-06-02T04:11:00.000-07:00

On Monday I see Herr Kuehne, the guesthouse manager and tell him how much I enjoyed Speyer because I remembered he lives there. He tells me that the cost of housing is lower than in Heidelberg and the weather better. He also thinks “the people are more friendly because they are happier”, a very interesting concept; I don’t think that the people of the Napa Valley are either happier or friendlier! Spent much of the rest of the day having the outside mirror replaced on my VW Golf, which was demolished a few nights ago when someone sideswiped my car. I drive to the VW dealer, Bernhardt Volkswagen Zentrum, Heidelberg on Hebelstrasse close to the railway station and Yalcin Sezar the Serviceberator (Service Advisor) spends almost as long making sure that they have the proper parts in stock and completing the paper work as the mechanic spends installing it. The dealership is huge, taking up the equivalent of a city block with many salespeople, service people and other personnel. The estimate is €130 and it will take an hour. I catch a #33 bus at the stop outside the door and spend a couple of hours riding around the town. At Piccadilly, the local English shop I buy “Shakespeare” by Bill Bryson as a paperback for €13 and have a bite of lunch. Back at the dealer, the car is ready and the total bill €115.43 or about $170; I believe considerably less than in the States. In the evening, on TV, I watch a German dubbed B & W movie with Frances MacDermond (the woman from ‘Fargo’) and the guy from ‘Sopranos’. It’s probably an early Cohn brother’s movie, which takes place in Santa Rosa and Sacramento.

Tuesday in class; Manuela and I spend most of the time on the German synopsis of Frau Ohne Shatten in the program. The story is very obtuse, the language obscure and we both have a terrible time getting it straight. I also get some help from Wikipedia.

At the next class Manuela brings in a couple of different local newspapers, which she had used in one of her other classes. We look through ‘BILD’, a tabloid similar to the English ‘Daily Mirror’, which has a nude picture on the lower half of the front page, every day. Manuela says this paper is not delivered to homes and can only be bought at newsstands; it costs €. 60, while the ‘Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung’ that I buy almost everyday costs €1.10.

In the evening I go to a lecture sponsored by the ‘Hochschule fur Judische Studien’; it’s as esoteric as they come! Dean Philip Bell, visiting professor from ‘Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies’ in Chicago is speaking on “Early Modern Jewish and Christian Relations in Central Europe: The Context of Environmental History”; luckily he speaks in English. Philip Bell is the author of several books on Early Modern Jewish subjects including “Sacred Communities, Jewish and Christian Identities in 15th Century Germany” and “Jews in the Early Modern World” published 2008 by Rowman & Littlefield. I know that you all will want to get your own copies of these! The early modern period of Jewish history is from 1400 to 1700.

Oh, I also get a parking ticket for €15, my first one. I show it to the desk clerk at the hotel and she explains that I fill it in with my bank account details and the bank pays it direct. Since I don’t have an account here, I go to the local bank pay them cash plus €2 service charge and they pay the ticket – clever!

Photos:
Professor Philip Bell 3#041
Heidelberg 3#003
Heidelberg 3#027
Bicycles at Hauptbahnhof 3#043

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 4 (Frau ohne Shatten)

2008-06-02T04:01:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I decide to drive to Mannheim to look around and maybe go to the opera. I have no trouble finding Mannheim (about 45 minutes) and the Hauptbahnhof in the center of town and park in the underground garage. I ride several different trams around the city taking pictures of Paradeplatz (the center of downtown), a beautiful new pedestrian bridge across the Necker River at Collini Center and Marktplatz, where I have a late lunch/early dinner at a very French outdoor café. I find the National Theater and Opera House and buy a fourth row center ticket (€46 or $65) for Frau ohne Shatten (The Woman without a Shadow) by Richard Strauss; another opera that I have never seen before. A woman without a shadow is one that cannot have children and this opera story is even more convoluted than most. The hall is huge with very steeply raked seats (stadium seating?) no center aisle, no balcony and almost sold out. This production is not modern, it’s ultra modern and the orchestra is big. The huge stage has an enormous turntable in the center, the middle of which is in about four pieces that go up and down and tilt independently, a stage director’s dream or nightmare. The music is wonderful, sometimes atonal and sometimes it reminds me of Rosenkavalier and the Strauss four last songs, my very favorite piece of music. The singing is fabulous with four main female singers; one in a long shimmering silver wig looks spectacular and has an even more spectacular voice. The libretto is by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and in this production, a character on stage. The program notes, dialogue and super-titles are all in German and do not help in my understanding of the story.

The story involves two married couples the Emperor and Empress and Barak, the dyer and his wife. The Empress who is not human: she was caught by the Emperor in the form of a gazelle; assumed human shape and he married her, but she has no shadow symbolizing her inability to bear children. The Empress has a nurse and a messenger arrives from the underworld telling the Nurse that if the Empress does not obtain a shadow within three days, she will be forcibly returned to the underworld and the Emperor will be turned to stone. The Emperor leaves to go on a three-day hunting trip seeking his favorite falcon. The Nurse, who is steeped in magic, suggests finding a woman who will sell her shadow. Now pay attention, because questions will be asked! Barak, the dyer lives in a hut with his wife and three brothers: one is one-eyed, one has only one arm and the third has no legs and gets around on a little wheeled thing. I am not making this up! The Empress and Nurse come to see Barak and his wife and promise her luxuries in exchange for her shadow. Barak’s wife agrees to deny her husband for three days during which the Empress and Nurse, in disguise, will live in the hut with them. The Empress, as a servant helps Barak leave for work and is troubled by what she’s doing. The Nurse conjures up a couple of handsome young men in order to tempt the wife. On stage the youths are in silver body-paint from the waist up and wearing moon-boots! The wife gives up her shadow and when, in the light of morning the dyer sees this, he moves to strike her with a sword that magically appears in his hand. Whereupon, the Empress and Nurse leave on a magic boat. In the last act the Wife, haunted by the voices of unborn children states her love for Barak, who regrets his violence. The Messenger from the underworld condemns the Nurse to wander the earth and the Empress finds her husband almost turned to stone. The dyer and his wife are heard singing off stage and the Empress decides she cannot take away their future happiness. This renunciation gives her a shadow and restores the Emperor to life. The opera ends with both couples singing of their happiness and their unborn children. Today, this opera is considered by many to be Strauss's finest work in the genre, although less frequently produced than some of the others

Photos:
Paradeplatz, Mannheim 3A#009
Pedestrian bridge, Mannheim 3A#017
Marktplatz, Mannheim 3A#020
Nationaltheater, Mannheim 3A#023

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 3 (Idomeneo)

2008-06-02T03:53:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I went to see “Idomeneo” at the Stadtische Buehne (City Theater), which is fabulous. First there’s a pre-show introduction by the Director, which even in German is helpful. This is Mozart’s first mature opera and was written when he was 25 and living in (close by) Mannheim attempting to obtain a position with the court. Mannheim at that time was one of the major music centers of Europe. The first performance was in 1781 in Munich.

The story is very complicated involving Idomeneo, King of Crete returning after 10 years at the Trojan War with captives including Ilia, a Trojan princess that he is in love with. Now, he also has a wife (Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, the Greek king) and a son, Idamente and the son is also in love with the Trojan princess. A mixed Romeo and Juliet story with Oedipus thrown in! In a huge storm on his way home from Troy, Idomeneo is saved by Neptune and Idomeneo makes a vow to sacrifice to Neptune the first human he sees, when he gets to dry land; it’s of course, his son Idamante, who he does not recognize because its been 10 years! The production is in totally modern dress. The Trojan princess wears a simple evening gown, Idomeneo, a beat-up old army coat and Idamante, the son is played by a woman! Of course the German super-titles do not help much; however the story is not as important as the music and the music is lovely. The singers are fabulous; Idamante, the son is sung by Jana Kurucova, a 25 year old Czech mezzo-soprano with a beautiful, very strong voice. Idomeneo is Winfred Mikus, a German tenor, who has sung in Berlin and the USA. There seems to be an abundance of young, good-looking opera singers in Germany; some German, some foreign-born and mostly trained in Germany. The scenery is very modern, the first and last acts take place in a bombed-out cellar or construction site with lots or ropes; there’s a chorus of 20 and the harpsichordist is on stage. The theater is a small jewel-box with completely up-to-date equipment; the entire pit is on a lift and for the first and last acts the orchestra is level with the audience and the singers appear from among the orchestra!

Saturday evening I go to the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut on Adenaurplatz in Heidelberg for a reading by Annie Proulx. The reading is very interesting; evidently part of a seminar on American literature being held in Heidelberg, cosponsored by the American Embassy in Berlin in part to celebrate the opening of the new embassy building. She’s introduced by the American Culture attaché, himself an interesting man being, as he tells us, German born and a US citizen. Annie Proulx is terrific; she reads most of one of her fabulous short stories that was in the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago. Her touch for the American west and the voices of the cowboys is amazing. Afterwards she answers many questions about where she lives; in Wyoming and it was snowing just a few days ago. She also talks about her writing style and methods and how she had to convince Ang Lee, director of “Brokeback Mountain” to retain the cowboy dialog; Lee wanted to use “New York TV announcer” speech! The reading is in a very large room, filled to capacity with students, expats and other English speakers. There is a real ‘Ugly American’ sitting behind me with a loud, ugly American voice; a professor of English at the University of Heidelberg teaching English and English literature. She spends the half-hour while we’re waiting regaling her friends and neighbors about how poorly she is integrated into the German community, that she has no German friends, all her friends are Americans, Brits and other native English speakers and she, her husband and three children have been in Heidelberg for more than 10 years! By-the-way on Wednesday the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut has an English lesson for children aged between 3 and 5. I believe this is for the kids of over-achievers only!

Annie Proulx, pronounced PRU; born 1935, wrote “Shipping News” (Pulitzer Prize) and “Brokeback Mountain” as a short story. (Wikipedia)

Photos:
Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut, Heidelberg 3#070
Adenaurplatz, Heidelberg 3#072
With Karl-Heinz Rippel, Director of ‘F & U Academy’ 3#061

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 2A

2008-05-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

More pictures.

Photos:
Stift Neuburg seminary 2A#018
Heidelberg 2A#023
Marktplatz, Heidelberg 2A#029
Heidelberg Castle 2A#025

Another Month in Heidelberg, Part 2

2008-05-28T02:44:00.000-07:00

Today is PFINGSTEN, Whitsun (for “White Sunday”) the seventh Sunday after Easter. In the Christian calendar known as Pentecost, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. (per Wikepedia)

Later I leave for Handschuhsheim, a suburb of Heidelberg lying north and across the river. I take my usual #29 bus, buy a one-day ticket and at the bottom of the hill change to a #24 tram, which goes through Heidelberg, past the Hauptbahnhof (main station) and drops me at Handschuhsheim, where it’s a 5-minute walk to the Tiefstadt (deep or underground town) a former moated castle whose ruins have been renovated into an entertainment center. I find it absolutely fascinating. The central tower of the old castle has been renovated into a restaurant and dinning room while parts of the old castle courtyard had been roofed over and the whole space filled with tables and benches with people eating and drinking. There’s a huge bar, a grill station selling sausages, schnitzel, German hamburgers and French fries and a large counter serving Kaffee und Kuchen. The town band of about 20 musicians is playing. As I walk through Manuela, my teacher calls me over; she’s sitting with her husband Mike, all three kids and her parents. Her kids are delightful especially the baby Arian, that watches me the whole time with his big blue eyes and Paulina, the middle child that holds my hand when we walk over to get a closer look at the band. Manuela’s father is such a proud Opa continuously having one or two of the kids on his lap or taking them for a walk around or to the restroom. I spend the rest of the afternoon talking with them and feel very much at home. After they leave I buy a cup of coffee and slice of homemade chocolate cake and sit down. Pretty soon an elderly couple (ie. about my age) sit down and start talking to me about the music; by then the town band has been replaced by a very German band all in brown corduroy pants. When the elderly man hears that I’m from California, he wants to know about Hillary and Obama; he’s a retired Gymnasium (Grammar or High School) teacher. We have a lovely conversation; he twice asks if I had German parents or grandparents and eventually I tell him that I was born in Dresden and am spending some time in Heidelberg. Later I tell him the band is too German for my liking, they’re playing drinking songs, and he understands.

I took the tram back to the Hauptbahnhof, which is crowded with people and about the only place with open shops. I buy a London Sunday Times, printed in Brussels, and catch the next tram back to Rohrbach Sud, where the #29 bus to Boxberg is waiting. On Sundays both of these bus and tram- lines run only twice an hour, however they run on time and connect.

Handschuhsheim (literally hand-shoe or glove home) The coat of arms of the local Prince featured a hand wearing a glove.

Next day I spend most of the morning writing up my notes; then drive to Leiman, (pro Lyman) a small town about 20 minutes south to look at the Freuhlingsfest (Spring festival) being held in the center of town. It’s very warm and not too many people about. I have a crepe with Grand Marnier then drive to Stift Neuburg, a Catholic seminary and church located on the hillside across the river from Heidelberg for a special Pfingsttrompeten (Whitsun trumpet) concert. The tiny church is wall-to-wall people and the concert by the Trumpet Consort and Peter Shumann, organist from the Heidelberg cathedral, very interesting. They play music by Diabelli (1781 – 1858) as well as Bach, Mozart and Handel; some parts are a bit ragged; however most are extremely well played and I can follow the program without difficulty. Afterwards I drive along the river stopping to take photos in the late afternoon sunlight.

Photos:
Tiefstadt, Handschuhsheim 2A#001
Manuela, Mike and Arian 2A#005
Joshua, Paullina and grandparents 2A#006
Leiman, Freuhlingsfest 2A#017

Another Month in Heidelberg, part 1

2008-05-28T02:32:00.000-07:00

After class I have a quick bite then go to the Israel 60th birthday celebration right in the middle of town. The event is organized by the Students Union of the High School for Jewish Studies with the support of the Oberburgermeister (Lord Mayor) of Heidelberg. There’s an introduction from the German – Israel Committee and an address by Dr. Joachim Gerner, Burgermeister fur Bildung und Kultur (Deputy Mayor for Education and Culture) who had just returned from Israel. I talk to him afterwards about speaking at the local High School. There are information tables from The Friendship Circle Heidelberg – Rehovot (Rehovot, Israel is a sister city) and Die Neuapostolische Kirche (New Apostolic Church – who run a sort of “Jews for Jesus” group) The event also offers a crash-course to learn some Hebrew and later Israeli folk dancing. On the way home I make a quick trip to the little supermarket and find that beer costs €0.40 a half-liter bottle (about 70 cents) plus €. 08 deposit! However the bad news is that for the first time the price for beer at the Munich Oktoberfest will rise to over the €8 mark; that is about $12 a liter!

On Saturday I go over to the Hotel ISG and spend an hour on emails. I cannot access the Internet in my guesthouse. The weather has been lovely and sunny with highs of about 80 and about 50 at night; the humidity seems very low. Montserrat Caballé, the famous opera diva and now 75 is giving a recital this evening in Heilbronn, about an hour away on the road to Stuttgart. Instead I drive down the hill to the huge Famila Shopping Center, which being Saturday is a zoo! I drop off shirts at the cleaners and pay up front €2.50 a shirt (about $3.75) and they’ll be ready on Wednesday. I walk through the enormous supermarket and treat myself to a plastic ice cube tray and a proper coffee mug plus a few other food items for €12. In addition I stop at the Provencal-type olive shop and spend another €10 on olives, hummus and a delicious cream cheese spread.

Later I drive into Heidelberg, stop at my favorite bar by the cathedral and have a very special experience. I order a beer, when a gentleman comes over and asks if he can sit down. We start talking and I tell him that I’m in Heidelberg taking German lessons. He asks where and I tell him “F & U Academy”. He laughs and says that he’s the Director, his name is Karl-Heinz Rippel; such a coincidence! We have a lovely conversation in German, with him correcting me every once in a while. He apologizes and I tell him that I appreciate it. I also tell him about living in Boxberg, he gives me his card and suggests that I come to see him and he will help. I talk about moving to Wiesbaden and he thinks it a bad idea. “Wiesbaden like Baden Baden and Bad Homberg are very quiet and only for old people! Heidelberg and Munich are lively with lots of young people and lots to do”. He is right about Heidelberg; if I lived in town I could go to a concert or other event every night.

We part and I go to the organ concert in the cathedral. The concert is very interesting and includes works by Buxtehude, Bach and César Franck. I talk to two Americans, one an organist, who explains that this Steinmeyer organ is about 10 years old; many German church organs were installed or rebuilt for the 2000 Centennial. This pipe organ is air driven (by electricity) and the pedals and keys are all mechanically connected to the pipes; however there are also electronic connections, which regulate the pipes. Fascinating!

Photos:
Heidelberg 2A#012
Israel Day, Heidelberg 2#003
Israel Day, Heidelberg 2#002
Cathedral, Heidelberg 2#005

With Eliane in Heidelberg and Speyer

2008-05-24T01:45:00.000-07:00

Monday is a wonderful day, warm and sunny and we decide to drive to Speyer, which Manuela my teacher) mentioned as worth visiting. The town was also mentioned in the Jewish Museum in Berlin as having one of the oldest Jewish communities in Germany. Speyer is delightful; we take a look at the Dom (cathedral) the largest Romanesque cathedral in Germany, which is huge and very interesting. We then walk into the beautiful old town located immediately in front of the cathedral. We buy some postcards and Eliane finds several bargains at a local boutique. After lunch at an outdoor café we walk to the Medieval Jewish Court, where the city has preserved a Mikveh (Jewish ritual bath) and the only remaining wall of the synagogue, which were built between 1110 and 1120! In the Middle Ages Speyer was one of the most important Jewish communities north of the Alps. The community became important as a center for Torah study producing many important scholars. The community flourished till the beginning of the 16th Century, when the Jews were expelled. The communities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz formed an alliance, known as the “Shum”, named after the Hebrew initials of the three towns, which was considered an authority in religious matters all over Germany. Of the 77 Jews living in Speyer in 1939, 51 were deported and all but 15 were murdered by the Nazis. No Jewish community exists today. The ruins of the Jewish Court have been preserved and protected by a large glass roof designed by a local sculptor.
On the way home we stop at the Famila Center, a huge shopping center with an enormous supermarket located on the highway near Boxberg. We buy a few things and have a quiet dinner at home.

Next day is also warm and sunny and we drive to Heidelberg and Eliane does some last minute shopping, while I sit by the river and read the newspaper. In the evening we drive to Ladenburg, the Roman city where Henry and I had such a good traditional German dinner. We have an aperitif in the village square and talk to a local couple enjoying a cup of coffee and huge pieces of cake. They are very friendly, they live in the little town and he works in Heidelberg. They recommend a Greek restaurant, however when we got there, they’re fully booked and cannot fit us in. We walk over to Zum Sackpfeife (at the bagpipes) the same restaurant that Henry and I visited. This time we are shown to a table out in the courtyard and have a fabulous dinner. We start with a white asparagus appetizer; the best asparagus to date because it’s cooked to order and served al dente. Then, from the menu section “for two or more” choose Alemannspies, which includes six small broiled steaks of beef, pork and lamb, over Risotto, which is more like rice pilaf and 4 or 5 different salads all served on a huge carved wooden board. It’s delicious and we certainly do it justice!

On Wednesday Eliane finishes packing and we drive to the Crowne Plaza hotel in Heidelberg to catch the Lufthansa shuttle to Frankfurt airport. In just over an hour we arrive at the airport for Eliane to check in at United and then go downstairs for lunch at Marché, which is her last chance for Bratwurst und gebrattene Kartoffle. I walk her as far as security and she leaves for Los Angeles and I have a Haagen Dazs icecream before catching the shuttle back to Heidelberg.

Photos:
Dinner at Ladenburg 2#160
Dom, Speyer 2#130
Mikveh, Speyer 2#147
Mikveh, Speyer 2#143

Dresden and Berlin...Berlin 3

2008-05-24T01:40:00.000-07:00

And more Berlin photos.

Photos:
The Wall 2#061
Brandenburger Tor 2#066
Berlin 2#0078
Berlin 2#080

Dresden and Berlin...2

2008-05-23T03:04:00.000-07:00

More photos.

Photos:
Berlin 2#036
Jewish Museum 2#050
Schloss Charlottenburg 2#055
Schloss Charlottenburg 2#094

Dresden and Berlin...Berlin

2008-05-23T02:59:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning it’s off to Berlin. In 2 hours we’re at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof and find a taxi to Heerstrasse 17. Frau Rolle, mother of the owner is waiting for us at the curb and shows us around the flat, basically one room plus kitchen and bath! We spend the rest of the day exploring the neighborhood, most of the shops are closed and have dinner at a lovely little restaurant run by two women, where Eliane has Spargel Kalbschnitzel (white asparagus with a veal schnitzel) and I eat Konigsberger Klopse (meatballs in a caper cream sauce) which is delicious and reminds me of my Mother. We also buy two 7-day tickets for the Underground and buses. The buses are on strike and we manage only one ride; however the U-Bahn (underground) works very well and we use it daily. After the opera the trains still run at about 10 or 12-minute intervals. (BART are you listening?)

Monday morning we start with breakfast in our new home then figure out the U- Bahn and take the U2 line from Theodor-Heuss-Platz, about two blocks from the apartment to Potsdamer-Platz to see the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This is a very moving memorial of about 2,700 concrete slabs, each 95 centimeters wide and 238 centimeters long (about 3 feet by 8 feet) in tight rows; their heights range from ground level to 4.5 meters (about 15 feet) high. Each slab sits on its own foundation. The memorial was designed by Peter Eisenman of New York and in its own way is just as moving as the Viet Nam war memorial in Washington DC. We spent a long time at the memorial although the Information Center, underground and beneath the memorial is closed (it being Monday) From the memorial we take the U-Bahn to Halesches Tor to see the Daniel Libeskind designed Jewish Museum. We spent several hours in the museum; the exterior is quite amazing and thought provoking; however the inside is very confusing and the gallery tour very difficult to follow. On the way home we buy sausages, potato salad and fresh rolls for dinner and visit the supermarket downstairs for supplies for breakfast.

On Tuesday morning we decide to check out Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg castle) which we find by U-Bahn and bus and are delighted to see young people in costume selling tickets for the dinner/concert in the castle’s Orangery; we buy tickets for Thursday evening. After looking at the outside of the castle we do the Bergruen Museum directly across the street. This is a delight; it is one of Berlin’s newest, a collection of works by Picasso, Matisse and Paul Klee formerly owned by Heinze Bergruen, the Paris and Berlin art dealer. The audio guide, in English, has many explanations of the pictures by Bergruen and details of his acquisition. Outside the museum we pick up the Severin & Kuhn double deck bus tour and start our Berlin city tour. We decide to hop off outside the KaDeWe (Kafhaus des Westens – Department Store of the West) the largest store in Europe. We have a lot of fun starting out on the 6th floor, the food hall! We look around and find a Paul Bocuse café and La Notre patisserie from Paris; however we have Wurst und Sauerkraut (sausages) for lunch. Then continue the city tour back to our starting point and bus and U-Bahn back home.

Today (Wednesday) we take a look at the Gemalde Gallerie, the national gallery of old masters, which is huge and full of paintings by all the old masters. We look at beautiful Durers, Rembrands, and Rubens then take a break. In the evening we have opera tickets, bought on-line months ago. We take the U-Bahn to Under-den-Linden (Under the Lime Trees) and pick up our tickets. The Don Giovanni at the Staatsoper under den Linden is totally amazing; in modern dress with absolutely minimal scenery and costumes; the entire emphasis is on the singing and the music!

On Thursday morning Eliane goes to the Gemaldegallerie (Gallery of New Masters) while I stay home and take it easy. In the evening we go to the dinner and
concert (Berliner Residenz Schloss & Konzerte) at the Schloss Charlottenburg
It’s very grand and we get all dressed up! First there is a sit-down dinner by
candlelight served in a very grand room. Then we move into another part of the
Palace for a concert of Baroque music including Mozart, Bach and Handel played
by candlelight with the orchestra in costume. It is totally delightful and a lot of fun.

On Friday morning we visit the Neue Synagoge – Centrum Judaicum, museum and community center on Oranienburger Strasse, which we have no trouble finding. Jews have lived in Berlin since 1295 and when the Nazis came to power in 1933 about 172,000 Jews lived there, about one-third of all German Jews. In 1939 there were more than 100 synagogues. It is estimated that 55,000 Berlin Jews suffered deportation and death at the hands of the Nazis. About 6,000 survived in Berlin, most of them because of their marriage to Gentile partners and some in hiding. Today Berlin has the largest Jewish community in Germany. The huge Rykestrasse synagogue in the former East Berlin was recently completely restored however is rarely open to the public. The very grand Neue Synagoge, which we visited was built in 1866 and was heavily damaged by the “Reichskristallnacht Progrom” (Night of Broken Glass) in 1938. The security at the synagogue is a bit crazy-making; there are 3 policemen outside and metal detectors inside. However the people are very pleasant and helpful. The building has been only partially restored including the magnificent dome, which we reach by way of elevator and very steep circular staircase. There is also a very interesting exhibition of Jewish life in Berlin before the war.

Then we take a look at Checkpoint Charley, the most visited spot in Berlin. It’s wall-to-wall people and in one of the many souvenir shops I found the kaki bag that I saw on many people and buy one for Lysa. In the evening we go to the dinner and show at the Winter Garten Cabaret at the suggestion of my teacher, Manuela. Dinner is served in an upstairs dining room, all red plush and then we go downstairs to the theater, where we have a tiny table for two to watch the show; of course we order a glass of champagne, actually German sparkling wine! The theater is full, all tourists I think, and the show consists of song and dance numbers plus a high-wire act, amazing jugglers and a guy who jumps and does multiple somersaults from a narrow board held on the shoulders of two other guys.

On Saturday we decide to do some major shopping. We start out at Wilmersdorfer Strasse, a pedestrian zone with several big department stores, small shops, cafés and restaurants. At the Karstadt department store I buy a bright red knit shirt for €20. In the middle of the pedestrian area there’s a Biergarten with live music, which is doing a land-office business. I sit and enjoy the music while Eliane shops. I love this street; it feels genuine with very few tourists. After lunch we take the U-Bahn to Ka de We and continue shopping. Next door at Peek & Cloppenburg I buy a beautiful blue tie to go with the new blue shirt. The tie is only twice the price of the shirt!
Later we take the U-Bahn to Deutche-Oper station, about 3 stops; have dinner at a small Italian restaurant across the street, and see Marriage of Figaro at Berlin Opera. This is done in traditional style with traditional scenery and costumes. Susanna is a bit weak, however all of the other singers are top class!

Sunday is our last day, we order a taxi for 8AM by phone and of course he’s already there when we come downstairs. The train trip to Frankfurt is a bit of a disaster. First of all the elevator and escalator up to the platform are both out of order (very un-German!) I speak to a railway guy and he says “don’t worry, have patience and come back in 20 minutes” Twenty minutes later two women guards push our heavily laden luggage cart to another elevator take us up to another platform and across to our train for Frankfurt. Did I tell you that there are no direct trains from Berlin to Frankfurt Airport? We have to change trains either at Frankfurt Main or Hannover and decide on Hannover. So we get off the train in Hannover and I cannot find a luggage cart; we drag our many suitcases to the elevator and go down to the main level where I find a luggage cart and we take the elevator up to the correct platform to see our train to Frankfurt Airport leave. The next direct train is in two hours (we do not want to deal with another change) so we got downstairs find a café and have a second breakfast; a Deutsches Fruhstuck fur zwei (German breakfast for two), which consists of, are you ready: two glasses of Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine) two boiled eggs, a plate of sliced meats and cheeses plus fresh rolls with butter and jam and coffee. It almost makes it worthwhile to miss the train! We catch the next train to Frankfurt Airport, pick up our rental car and drive to Heidelberg with only one minor getting-lost.

Photos:
Our Berlin Apartment 2#100
Theodor-Heuss-Platz 2#34
Memorial to the Murdered Jews 2#037
Memorial to the Murdered Jews 2#042

Dresden and Berlin...Dresden 2

2008-05-23T02:54:00.000-07:00

More pictures from Dresden

Photos:
River Elbe, Dresden 2#014
Dresden 2#032
Frauenkirche 2#033
Lilli, Dresden 2#022

Dresden and Berlin...Dresden

2008-05-23T02:48:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday morning I leave for Frankfurt. The weather is warm and sunny and the traffic on the Autobahn terrible. I drop off the car at the airport, take a train to the Hauptbahnhoff and catch a tram to old town for a ham and egg crêpe and cafe au lait at an outdoor café and watch the people go by. Later I walk into the central shopping district and look for a haircut. My only option is on the top floor of the Gallerie department store. I get my hair washed, cut and beard trimmed by a lovely youngish Turkish woman who does an excellent job and takes all of 15 minutes for the entire operation; total cost €34 plus a €3 tip or about $60. Some things here are not cheap! Eliane arrives in the evening and so starts the next part of the adventure.

Next morning we take the shuttle to the airport and walk across to the train station. The train ride to Dresden is very relaxing and passes through Fulda, a place that my Mother used to talk about; Bad Hersfeld, where my Great-grandfather was a kosher butcher; Erfurt - birth place of Johan Sebastian Bach and Leipzig. I start a conversation with the German couple sitting next to us and they give us some interesting insights into growing up in East Germany. They speak very little English because when they were in school they learnt Russian! In about 5 hours we reach Dresden main station and take a taxi to Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe, a lovely brand-new hotel on the Neumarkt (New Market Square) and right across from the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) A fabulous location that we really appreciate in the following days because everything is within walking distance. We look at the schedule of events and ask the Concierge to get us tickets for two concerts. The weather is lovely and we spend the rest of the day walking around getting our bearings. Later we walk along the terrace facing the river and enjoy a very German dinner at an outdoor café on the block-long restaurant row leading from the Frauenkirche to the river.

In the morning the hotel’s breakfast buffet is a delight; even more extensive than at the airport hotel. We want to see Die Grunes Gewolbe (Green Vault) one of the main tourist attractions. However this becomes very confusing; first there are two of them, the Neues (New) and the Historisches (Old) and separate tickets with a specific time are required. I pick the Historisches, because we can go right in! It’s fascinating; six or eight rooms filled with jewelry, jewel encrusted swords, paintings and many other treasures. There is an entire room crammed with objects made of amber including an entire desk! Needless to say we were so satiated that we never make it to the Neues. Nor to the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister (Gallery of Old Masters) which contains one of the most famous of all paintings – the Sixtine Madonna by Raphael, which has the two cherubs at the bottom. The security at the Grunes Gewolbe is amazing, at the entrance and exit there are double doors and the first has to be closed before the other opens!
At noon we meet Lilli in the lobby and walk to Cosel Palais, a lovely and very elegant café for Kaffe und Kuchen. I order one slice of chocolate truffle cake with three forks and the three of us can hardly finish it. It’s lovely seeing Lilli again and we talk about bringing her “Book of Memory” - Dresden and the Holocaust exhibition to San Francisco. Afterwards, Lilli gets her bike and walks us to the start of the City Bus Tour. The weather is still sunny and warm. The city tour on a London-type double-deck bus is great and gives us a good feel for the city. By the way, there are also tours by an antique horse drawn double-deck bus, as well as horse drawn carriages. Dresden is very much a tourist town with many visitors from all across Germany, and I’m told, quite a few Brits and Americans, although we meet very few.
Later we go to a concert by the Dresden Philharmonic in their new concert hall located across the square from the hotel. The orchestra plays the Beethoven First and Fifth piano concertos with Rudolf Buchbinder as soloist and conductor. The very modern hall is huge and almost completely full. We have very good seats and think the concert marvelous.

Saturday morning we go to the Stadtmuseum Dresden (the City museum) and are the only visitors. We only look at two floors of the recent history of the city, which includes very extensive coverage of Jewish life before the Nazis, a 12-minute film about Hellerberg, the Nazi work camp where my Father was held before being transported to Auschwitz. There is also extensive coverage of the Allied bombing of February 1945. Although painful to look at, I feel that the museum covers these subjects in excellent detail; however on the evidence of us being the only visitors on a Saturday morning, who is listening? I will certainly consider leaving my few pieces of memorabilia to this museum. We then walk over to the shopping area on Pragerstrasse and I buy a beautiful blue striped long-sleeved dress shirt. In the evening we have dinner in a Tapas restaurant near the Frauenkirche and attend a concert by the Dresdener Staatscapelle (State Orchestra) in the Frauenkirche. A fabulous concert of the Mozart Vesperae solemnes and the Schubert Mass No. 6 with soloists and full choir lead by Sir Charles Mackerras.

Photos:
Train to Dresden 2#011
Lunch on the train 2#010
Hotel de Saxe 2#018
Eliane, Lilli and pastries 2#021

Another week in Heidelberg...plus Wiesbaden 2

2008-05-20T01:53:00.000-07:00

More pictures

Photos
The Rheingau 1#082
Winkel 1#084
Schloss Johannisberg in Winkel 1#088
Thomas Hampson Masterclass 2#002

Another week in Heidelberg...plus Wiesbaden

2008-05-20T01:16:00.000-07:00

I pay another months rent for the apartment, €560 or $780 and will leave most of my things here when I go Dresden and Berlin. On Thursday I take the bus into town for my class; Manuela is in a good mood, (I’ve never seen her in a bad mood) we talk about what a good time I had in Ladenburg, Wiesloch and Weinheim. She tells me about a TV show that is shown on every channel, every New Years Eve in Germany for the past 30 years called “Der 90th Geburtstag Miss Sophie” (The 90th Birthday of Miss Sophie) and involves a very English woman, Miss Sophie celebrating her 90th birthday, with four guests. However since all her friends are now dead, her butler James plays all the guests. It is now an old black and white film, I guess in English, and very much loved. The two original players were well known actors. I believe this is totally unknown in England. Later I drive back into town, find Alten Synagogenplatz, site of the original Heidelberg synagogue, close to the river and the cathedral. There is a memorial tablet to the old synagogue destroyed on Kristallnacht and a memorial to the Heidelberg Jews murdered in the Holocaust. At the beginning of the Nazi years there were 1,100 Jews in Heidelberg, of which almost half were murdered. Later I have a lovely asparagus dinner at Zum Goldenen Schaf (Golden Sheep) I have Weisse Spagel mit Kartoffeln und Schinken (white asparagus served in a bundle tied with a green onion, Hollandaise sauce on the side, potatoes and a plate of cooked and cured ham) with a beer ($26) and absolutely delicious. Then to Die Aule in der alten Universitat (the auditorium of the old university) a beautiful old wood-paneled room with excellent acoustics for a concert by David Geringas, cello and Keiko Tamura, piano. The concert is also part of the ‘Heidelberger Fruhling.’ The duo plays four cello concertos by Beethoven, Schostakovitsch, Grieg and Alfred Schnittke. The last two, written for Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt” are particularly lovely. I talk to the man sitting next to me with his 17 year-old son, who is to play the cello with the Heidelberg Symphony in Lufwigshaven in a few days. After the concert, I find my car in the garage and pay at the machine, two not-so-easy tasks and drive home.

On Friday I drive to Wiesbaden on the Rhein (in German spelt with an H). There is an inauspicious start to the trip; I miss the Autobahn on-ramp towards Frankfurt and find myself at the entrance gate to Patrick Henry Village, the US Army base with no place to turn around. Two local security guards speaking very little English pull me over, tell me to get out of the car and ask for my passport! I show them my California driver’s license and they search the car including the trunk and look underneath with a mirror. Eventually a uniformed MP drives up, I tell him I’m from Oakland and just want to turn around and get the hell out of there. He laughs and says that he’s from OC (Orange County) “Don’t worry I’ll get you out in a minute.” There is another car in front of me in the same predicament and in a couple of minutes the MP comes back, tells us to follow him to the Commissary Gate. The two security guys lower the bullet proof, steel gate in front of the car ahead of me and we follow the MP all through the huge camp to the other gate where he waves us onto the Autobahn. Now that’s an experience I hope not to repeat!

I follow the Autobahn towards Frankfurt and soon find another highway signposted to Wiesbaden and end up at the Tourist Office in the middle of town, where I pick up maps and brochures. They suggest two hotels close to the town center and I pick the 3-star Best Western Hansa Hotel (€74 including breakfast), which is close by. I park in their free lot, check in and the desk clerk suggests that I take the #1 bus from across the street to the Nerobergbahn (Nero Mountain railway) funicular cable car, built in 1888 and powered by water ballast. Unfortunately during Winter, which includes April, the funicular only runs weekends! However the bus ride through town is worth the trip. As I walk back to the hotel I see my first ‘Stolperstein’ (Stumble stone) a small brass plate in the sidewalk giving the names of Jews that formerly lived there and the place and date of their murder! Wiesbaden is a lovely old town with gorgeous old buildings, beautiful squares, parks and gardens and a pedestrian old town dominated by the Lutheran Marktkirche (Market Church) a spectacular, huge building of red sandstone. There is also the Kurhaus, where one “takes the waters” both by drinking and bathing plus a very fancy Spielbank (Casino), which I do not get to check out! It’s a beautiful sunny afternoon so, at the desk clerk’s other suggestion I catch a #23 bus to Schierstein (pro Sheer-stein) The bus ride takes about 45 minutes and drops me at a charming little river resort on the Rhein, with a main street lined with cafés, restaurants and ice-cream shops facing the water. There are lots of people around and sailboats, rowboats and canoes on the river. I have a drink on the deck of a small café and spend an hour soaking up the sun and enjoying the scene. The Rhein river valley has a more Mediterranean climate than Frankfurt and Heidelberg. I take the bus back and ask the desk clerk for a suggestion for dinner. She tells me to walk a few blocks straight down Bahnhoffstrasse, to the old Market Square, where there are many restaurants. Since I want German cooking, she mentions three restaurants; the first is full of smoke, the second completely full and the third Uhrturm (Clock tower) looks delightful and I’m shown to a table by the window. There is an extensive menu with two specials; roast beef served cold and Rindergoulasch mit Spaetzel und ein gruen Salat (Beef Goulash) that has my name on it! The goulash is delicious with a deep, rich sauce that you can’t find outside of Germany. The menu includes many beers on tap both 3.1 and 4.1 (percentage alcohol) I pick the Furstenberg 4.1 and that goes down very well. Total bill is €13.50 about $20 and not surprisingly every table is full when I leave. Afterwards I walk through the old town and parts of the new pedestrian zone, which are filled with upscale shops and attractive squares with fountains.

Next morning I’m ready for the breakfast buffet, typically German and very extensive. I really like the look of Wiesbaden and last night figured that the good weather would continue and I would drive along the Rhein. So I plot a route along the right bank going downstream. First stop is Walluf, then Eltville and Winkel, pretty little riverside towns with ancient half-timbered houses and narrow streets; this is the Rheingau, one of the most famous wine growing regions of Germany. The hillsides along the river are covered with vineyards and on top of the hill outside the village of Winkel is Schloss Johannisberg, a huge castle built in 1718 and the original home of Johannesburg Riesling. Unfortunately the sunny weather does not hold and it starts to rain. I continue along the river till Rudesheim, where it’s raining very hard and I decide to turn back to Wiesbaden and on to Frankfurt and Heidelberg.

The history of Wiesbaden goes back to 40AD, when the Romans erected a border fort as a military stronghold. The natural hot springs, which give the town its name; Wiesbaden - the spring in the meadow were well known to the Romans. By the 1200s the city had become a royal court and by the early 1800s it became the capital of the principality. According to the tourist bureau “the city enjoys a pleasantly mild climate due to its location in the warm-air corridor of the Rhine Valley.” Present day Wiesbaden has a population of approx 300,500 including about 14,000 US military personnel and is an administrative and service center. Mainz across the river is larger and looks to be more industrial.

At home I watch on TV “Bis Zum Letzten Stunde” (“Till the Last Hour” and called something else in the States) the German film about Hitler’s last days in his bunker in Berlin. I remember seeing the film a few years ago. As I discuss with my teacher Manuela, not a day goes by that there is not a newspaper story or TV program about the Holocaust. About a week ago I was watching TV and saw the Israeli movie “Walk on Water”, which I have also seen previously and had forgotten that it’s the German grandson that murders his Nazi Grandfather and not the Israeli assassin!

On Sunday the weather clears up and it’s a lovely sunny Sunday. I drive into Heidelberg, park in the university garage, have a Martini Bianco at my favorite bar on the Marktplatz and decide to go to the afternoon lecture/concert at die Alte Aule in the old university. The lecture/concert, also part of ‘Heidelberger Fruhling’ is a very interesting experience. The lecture is “Heinrich Heines zwichentone (Heine, one of the most important German poets) and about Lieder (songs) written by major composers based on his poems. There are two university professors, one who specializes in German literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, the other a professor in Salzburg and a concert pianist. The professors expound and then a tenor accompanied by a pianist gives the concert. I love the Lieder and the tenor has a gorgeous and expressive voice but the two professors are so esoteric and highly technical that I understand about 10% or less. The hall is less than half full and the enthusiastic audience laughs at humor that goes right over my head!

I thought that Spring had come to Boxberg over the weekend; Sunday was warm and sunny and now all the trees have new green leaves. This morning is nice and sunny and in the afternoon it clouds over.

Next day is class; we talk about “The 90th Birthday of Miss Sophie” also known as “Party for One” which Manuela has looked up on Google DE. I tell her about my drive through the Rhinegau near Wiesbaden and she suggests I go look at the wine region between Spyer and Wurms. Just west of Heidelberg. Later I take a bus to Pedagogische Hochschule located in “Im Neuenheimer Feld” across the river. Of course I go to the wrong, get this, Pedagogische Hochschule. I go to the new one and the Thomas Hampson master class is at the Alte (old) Pedagogische Hochschule. The Masterclass is a blast. Hampson speaks mostly German breaking into English when he has difficulty expressing himself. I listen to three male singers, all in their early 20s and all senior students that have already sung opera or Lieder. Hampson is terrific coaching them, so that even I can hear the difference. The students are generally very stiff and formal and Hampson tries teaching them to relax. He tells one student, “Singing is a state of being, not of singing” I leave after two-and-a-half hours and there are still three students to go. It’s a very wonderful experience; then it’s two buses back to Boxberg.

Photos:
Alten Synagogenplatz, Heidelberg 1#069
Stolperstein, Wiesbaden 1#073
Marktkirche, Wiesbaden 1#080
Schierstein near Wiesbaden 1#079

When Henry came to Heidelberg

2008-05-17T03:33:00.000-07:00

My buddy Henry from Berkeley and Sausalito arrives on Saturday, April 12. It has been a lovely sunny day; Henry arrives in the late afternoon and we go to the Binding Fass for a beer and decide on a program. Henry has never been to Ladenburg so we go there for dinner. I drive and the little town looks spectacular in the late afternoon sun. We walk around, taking pictures and looking at menus. This little town has at least four or five very attractive restaurants with interesting menus. We pick Zur Sackfeife (The Bagpipe) Weinstube Restaurant a lovely old half-timbered building with the date 1598 over the door. We have a delightful dinner in a small room looking out onto the market square, where we get into an immediate conversation with the German couple finishing dinner; the only other people in the little room. We ask what they had ordered and they help us through the very extensive menu. I order a regional dish of three different meats with fried potatoes and an egg served in a very hot casserole right out of the oven. Henry has goulash mit spaetzel (free form noodles) and we each start with a wonderful onion soup and order a beer. The waitress tells us there was no beer aus den Fass (on tap) because it’s a Weinstube (wine bar). The restaurant has many dining rooms on several floors.

Next morning we set out for Wiesloch with Henry driving. There is no market today; however we see the First Communion parade leaving the church, with all the kids in white, carrying candles and that makes our visit special. From there we drive to Karlsruh to look around then back to Heidelberg for dinner. We walk along the pedestrian Hauptstrasse (Main Street) to the Marktplatz (Market Square) and sit down for a beer and some serious people-watching. This is the spot where, in 1937 someone spat on Henry’s Mother, which led the family to leave Germany for the US after living in the area for approximately 200 years. Later we decide on dinner at Hackteufel, a lovely old-style German restaurant on Steingasse, between the Church and the old bridge; with a Gemutlisch (friendly, cozy) atmosphere. I try to order asparagus as an appetizer but without success. Henry orders roast pork in a light cream pepper sauce mit spaezel and I order Sauerbraten mit Rotekraut und Kloese (pot-roast with red-cabbage and dumpling) that of course we both scarf up in no time! On the way home Henry tries to find the US Officers Club near the US Army Hospital, where he worked about 40 years ago! Unfortunately we have no success.
On Monday we drive to Buchen, where his Mother was born. It’s about a 2-hour drive partly along the River Necker and partly through the Odenwald (Oden-wood); through farmland and sleepy villages. We arrive at the Rathaus (City Hall) and go to the office of the official for real property. Henry has been in touch with her before and she provides us with maps and drawings to find a small piece of property that Henry owns, after having it transferred from his Father’s estate. We are able to locate its approximated position as part of an orchard out in the country about a mile-and-a-half outside of town, in the middle of nowhere! Henry has set his stomach for Zwiebelrostbraten (a grilled steak covered in onions) at a certain restaurant in the middle of Buchen. Unfortunately, being Monday it’s closed and to Henry’s stomach’s great disappointment we end up at a perfectly nice café/restaurant called Metzgerei Vogt (Butcher-shop Vogt) where we are the only patrons. Henry has Goulash und Spaetzel and I a cup of soup and two hamburger patties with boiled potatoes and steamed carrots. The elderly owner, 74 the former butcher comes over and talks to us; Henry tells him that his Grandfather had a leather-goods store right in the middle of town and shows him an old picture. The butcher tells us that in the early days his father, also a butcher would kill the cattle with a special knife and in a special way for the Jews of the town.

Later we meet Lothar for dinner in Wiesloch in the oldest part of Wiesloch in Weinkeller Freihof, a cellar restaurant where we have a delicious dinner accompanied with an excellent French house wine.

On Tuesday Henry leaves to re-explore Mannheim, where he was stationed 40 years ago and I go to school. Next day we take off for Weinheim; it’s raining on and off and quite cold. It is a spectacular little old town, tucked between the hills and has two old castles. The town square is very pretty, faced with old half-timbered buildings. It reminds me very much of Uzes in Provence, except the houses are half-timbered and red brick rather than stone. There are many cafés and restaurants all with tables outside but it is much too cold and rainy for that. We wait until the restaurant next door opens and started with onion soup, which is good and hot to stave off the cold weather. Henry orders Wurstchen mit Bratkartofflen (little sausages with fried potatoes) and I have Weiner Schnitzel mit Spagel. The waitress tells us she is a student and recently spent 6 months working in a lab in Pleasanton! After lunch Henry takes off for Munich.

Photos:
F & U Academy, Heidelberg 1#008
First Communion, Wiesloch 1#035
Henry in Buchen 1#056
Dinner with Lothar 1#061

Introduction and Heidelberg, the first week

2008-05-17T03:26:00.001-07:00

I spent 3 months living in Provence in Spring of 2006 and 2007, working on my French; which went quite well, so I thought of trying three months somewhere else. Since my only other foreign language is German and because of the success of the trip to Dresden in October ‘07, I thought of doing two or three months in Germany; not in Dresden, which would be too emotional; but probably in Heidelberg.

I wrote to Lothar, my buddy in Heidelberg, who I met last year through my long-time friend Henry Baer and Lothar arranged for me to rent an apartment at the EMBL Guesthouse in Boxberg about half-an-hour outside Heidelberg.

PLEASE NOTE
The two previous sections (On the Way to Heidelberg: Eisenach, Halle, Bayreuth and Würzburg and On the Way to Heidelberg, Continued: Würzburg to Heidelberg) and the conclusions were written months after my return from Dresden; I found the Conclusions very difficult to write and only completed them with my daughter Suzanne’s help and encouragement!

Heidelberg, the First Week
My return to Germany in 2008 starts on April 13, when Eliane and I arrive at Frankfurt Airport and take a shuttle to the Steigenberger Airport Hotel and after a rest go downstairs to the Unterschweinstiege restaurant for a delicious traditional German dinner. The restaurant is an old building next to the hotel and was probably moved and restored; it is the main reason that I love this hotel. Eliane chooses the buffet and I order Hasen (Hare) goulash with a pastry top served with Spaetzel (small free-form dumplings).

Next day I take Eliane to the airport and see her off on her flight to Tel Aviv then pick up my rental car at Sixt. I have trouble finding the rental car and finally get someone to walk me there, it’s about a one-mile hike in the basement of the huge airport parking garage. Finally we get to my grey VW Golf and he helps me load. After a minor getting lost I find Autobahn 5 to Darmstadt and Heidelberg. I have no trouble finding Boxberg and the Hotel ISG (International Seminars Guesthouse) where I follow the room clerk to the EMBL Guesthouse. I meet Herr Kuehne, the manager, who shows me to # 67 on the third (and top) floor; luckily there is an elevator! It is a modern concrete building and the apartment has a living room with small Pullman kitchen, bathroom and an upstairs sleeping loft plus two balconies. In the afternoon I take a drive in the surrounding countryside then come back to Binding Fass, (Binding is a brand of beer and Fass is a barrel) a real old-time German beer bar and restaurant; all old wood and booths made out of huge old barrels. The front room is full of people and thick with cigarette smoke. I sit in the next room, which is non-smoking and have a draft beer and large plate of Sauerbraten (German pot roast) with noodles and a green salad.

Next day, Saturday, I drive over to ISG for their buffet breakfast. Although the apartment has a small kitchen with a few utensils and no coffee maker; I decide not to bother with groceries, etc., at this time. The bus stop is across the street from the Guesthouse and I catch the #29 bus into Heidelberg, €2.10 each way, and it takes about 35 minutes to Bismarck Platz, the main bus and tram terminal. I walk along Hauptstrasse, the pedestrian-only main street through the old town as far as the Cathedral to pick up maps and a calendar of events at the Tourist Office. After lunch at Café Schafheutle of Maultaschle (a form of small ravioli) soup I pick up some goodies at the bakery counter and take the bus back to Boxberg.

Today’s local newspaper (Rhein – Neckar Zeitung) has a front-page story and picture of the dedication, yesterday, of the cornerstone for a new building for the Hochschule fur Judische Studien (High-school for Jewish Studies) “the only such institution in all of Europe” after almost 30 years in temporary quarters.

Boxberg is a modern suburb of about 5000 inhabitants located on a steep, wooded hillside overlooking the industrial area south of Heidelberg. It was developed about 30 years ago and by its appearance I thought it was built under the DDR (German Democratic Republic) but of course this whole area was part of the West and never part of the DDR. It consists of entire neighborhoods of high-rise apartment buildings, many in the familiar Soviet concrete block style and others quite luxurious, there is also senior housing and some single family homes; all linked with walkways through the woods, the streets are narrow, hardly wide enough for two cars. I was told that this entire area was an experiment in Sozialer Wohnungsbau (socialist living- building) built by the City of Heidelberg and local building societies (similar to our Building and Loan Associations) There are also a large Hotelfach Schule (hotel school) and many new laboratories and research buildings including the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL pronounce ‘embel’); in whose guesthouse I’m staying and five Max Plank Institutes. Max Plank (1858 – 1947) was a German physicist considered to be the founder of the quantum theory; and one of the most important physicists of the twentieth century. Plank was one of the few who immediately recognized the significance of Albert Einstein special theory of relativity.

In the evening I watched German TV and a rebroadcast of Der Rosenkavalier with the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic lead by Herbert von Karajan from the 1984 Salzburg Festival; all without commercials!

On Sunday afternoon I take a drive to Wiesloch, (pro Wees-lock) a very picturesque small town where a market is in full swing. The market stalls fill the entire town center and the place is mobbed with families. My only purchase is a small paper bag of Gebrannte Mandeln (fresh roasted sugar almonds) It is very cold and after a while it starts raining so I head back home. For dinner I go back to the Binding Fass, which is almost empty and have Bratwurst mit Pommes Frites (sausage and chips) and a beer.

Bright and early on Monday morning I catch the bus to Heidelberg and look for language lessons. First stop is the Volkshochschule (Peoples High School) on Bergheimer Strasse, a long walk from Bismarck Platz. Classes are five days a week from 9 to 11:30 certainly more than I had planned for; plus a required written test, which I could no more pass than fly. I have better luck at the F & U Academy of Languages located on the 3rd floor of a large modern commercial building right on the corner of Hauptstrasse and Bismarck Platz and make an appointment for two trial private lessons starting tomorrow at 12:30 I celebrate with kaffee und kuchen at Schafheutle, my favorite café. I learn afterwards that F & U Academy is a well- respected organization with language schools in many towns in Germany and worldwide, teaching foreign languages as well as German to foreigners.

Later I drive to the Soviet style shopping center, all concrete construction, eight stories of offices and apartments on top and NO PARKING! I had planned on eating dinner at Raffaello, the Italian Restaurant and on finding it closed Mondays did some minor shopping at the little supermarket and for about €15 bought enough for dinner and a couple of day’s breakfasts. I make soup from a mix and a couple of sandwiches and it feels good to eat in my own house. In the evening I watch a TV program about Germans returning to live in parts of Poland, which were formally Prussia and a part of Germany before World War II.

On Tuesday I fix breakfast in my own kitchen, another first. Then take the bus to Heidelberg and get ready for my first class. I pay for the first two trial lessons and the school is mobbed with mostly young people speaking all sorts of languages; I hear a lot of French, some Russian and some English. My class starts at 12:30 and the teacher is Manuela, late thirties, married with three kids under 8. She is originally from around Heidelberg and studied in France, England and Russia, her English is good and her German seems very correct. We spend 45 minutes talking and I feel that this is the way to go. I find the 45 minutes intense and very draining. We talk about many things; about Boxberg and it not being Soviet built in spite of its appearance; since Heidelberg and Frankfurt were always part of West Germany and never in the DDR (German Democratic Republic). We also have a discussion about the US Army presence in Heidelberg. There used to be far more Americans stationed here; however after 9/11 the numbers have declined. Every year there is an announcement or rumor that the US will leave. Evidently the local economy gets very little from the US base and the City would love to get its hands on the barracks and the thousands of dwellings. The soldiers are rarely seen in the town since the base is completely self-sufficient. In the old days the base used to host a German/American Day at Patrick Henry Village (the main base) where there were speeches, music and a BBQ with American ice-cream, very popular with the locals.

Today was the first sunny day; it was quite Spring like and the temperature even climbed to 11 and tonight it will be 3! That is, of course, Centigrade and corresponds to about 50 and 37F. I go to ‘Raffaello’ for dinner. I guess the owner really is Italian and when I ask, “Was gibts gute fur abendessen? (What’s good for dinner)” He says, “fresh fish” and promptly brings out the whole raw fish and tells me it will be “a filet cooked in a white wine sauce.” The fish is delicious and is accompanied with boiled potatoes and a plate of steamed vegetables; carrots, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts finished with olive oil. Dinner is very tasty and I start a conversation with the young man at the next table. Denis as a molecular biologist, just finishing his studies at the EMBL and lives in the same guesthouse. Denis is Russian and studied at the Louis Pasteur Institute in Paris and in London. He is looking forward to working in Paris and living with his Mexican girlfriend, who is from Zacatacas and studying “international communications marketing.” Oh, one of the best parts of dinner was at the end, when the waiter/owner placed a bottle and small shot glass on the table saying “Grappa!”

On Wednesday it is back to Winter, after yesterday’s Spring; by the weekend it is expected to warm up. In the evening I go to a concert that is part of the ‘Heidelberger Fruhling’ (Heidelberg’s Spring) an international music festival of classical and jazz concerts including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Murray Perahia and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and two concerts by Thomas Hampson including a master class. The concert is a delight; a violin recital by Arabella Steinbacher playing four sonatas, by mostly French composers. Arabella is 27, her mother is Japanese and father German; she started playing at age 3 and studied with Anne-Sophie Mutter and has appeared with the London Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic and the City of Birmingham Symphony. She played beautifully and with great intensity. The concert was held in the EMBL lecture hall at the laboratory, located in the middle of nowhere about a mile-and-a-half from my guesthouse. I arrive early and was surprised that in spite of the location and that it had been raining all day the concert was about 90% full. By the way, Arabella played the first half on an Antonio Stradivari, Cremona of 1716 provided by the Nippon Music Foundation and the second half on her own Guarneri!

Thursday I again caught the bus to Heidelberg and had a very good lesson; Manuela told me that she had already had her first child and was very pregnant with the second when they got married; it was a combined wedding and christening! I told her that would probably not be done in the US and we agreed that the US is much more conservative. Her husband, who is also local, does elder care and works nights, one week on and one week off and generally looks after the three kids. He comes from a family of six, 5 boys and one girl and likes to cook and she has only one sister. We also agree to continue to meet twice a week on Tuesday and Thursdays at 12:30

Friday and it looks as if it will be another rainy, foggy day; no wonder Germans love to retire to Spain and the South of France. At Manuelas’s suggestion I spend the morning exploring Ladenburg, just off Autobahn 5. I park in the lot next to the old Roman wall and followed the signs. The town center is delightful with many old half-timbered houses from the mid-1600s and a lovely market square. It has stopped raining so I walk around looking in the shops and taking pictures. I drive down to the river and find an old ferry that takes traffic across to the road to Mannheim. The old town has many interesting old restaurants, hotels and cafés. I drive back to Boxberg and stop at the Aral gas station to fill up; are you ready for this? It takes €62 or $93 to fill the tank of my little VW Golf with diesel!

Photos:
Boxberg 2A#034
EMBL Guesthaus 1#026
My apartment 1#001
The shopping center 1#024

Conclusions

2008-05-16T01:53:00.000-07:00

The return to Dresden was certainly a surprising and emotional experience. I was pleased to learn parts of my history that filled gaps in my memory, for instance Regensburger Strasse, where I lived before we moved to Hensestrasse; and the fact that I attended the Jewish school at the old synagogue. I am still interested in knowing if in 1939 I left from the airport in Dresden or Berlin. I would still like to find an insignia from the "Wach- und Schliessgesellschaft."

I was most surprised by the openness of the people. The number of "Germans of good will" that I met, who openly acknowledge what happened and what their Grand-parents and Great-grandparents did, without apologizing, which would of course be impossible, and who spend time and effort that people remember and that it "never happen again". The people in Dresden, both City staff and volunteers went out of their way to be helpful. The mayor of Niederaula, his secretary and the two historians couldn't have been nicer. I was also surprised by the friendliness of the people. On several occasions both in Dresden and my previous visit to Tubingen and Heidelberg, ordinary Germans shared my café or restaurant table and we had a meaningful conversation. I was surprised at how honest and straightforward the two shopkeepers in Heidelberg shared their thoughts on Germany today.

That is not to say that all is heavenly in today’s Germany. Suzanne was disturbed by the way Dresden has been rebuilt to eradicate all signs of the February 1945 firebombing; and, of course the war. The brand-spanking new Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) the gold couldn’t be shinier, the pastels couldn’t be brighter, and it’s not often that you see an enormous church of brand-new stone. There are no pictures or notices of what the buildings looked like in, say, October 1990, the reunification of the two Germanys (known as Die Wende – the Turning or Change) The last time we were in Dresden in June 1992 the Frauenkirche had been left in ruins as a symbol of the terror of the war, with a plaque prominently explaining such. Reminding people not to forget.

Both Lilli and Frau Burgermeister Kogge are disturbed by the National Democratic Party, considered far-right and anti-Semitic, which holds seats in the City of Dresden and Saxony (State) governments. The Museum of the City of Dresden, which I did not see, has I’m told, almost nothing about the period 1933 to 1945!
(This is not true; see later entries from Dresden)

I am also troubled by the integration of the old East and West Germanys; or rather the lack thereof. After almost eight years there are still great differences. Wages and pensions in the former East are lower than in the former West. There are fewer cell-phones in the East than the West because they are too expensive for many people. And there are still 40,000 vacant dwellings in Dresden.

The German Countryside delighted me. On this trip I drove about 850 miles after leaving Dresden and marveled at beautiful vistas of vineyards, fields and forests ablaze with autumn colors. On the Autobahn I passed small red-roofed towns and villages that looked straight out of a storybook.It must also be said that all of my recent experiences in Germany have been in Southern and Southeastern Germany. None of this may apply to Berlin or Northern Germany! I feel sufficiently intrigued that I'm planning on spending two or three months in Germany next year! Not in Dresden, which I think would be too emotional; probably in Heidelberg. I'll also take the opportunity to look at Berlin and other parts of Germany. Is it a possibility that today's Germany is the safest place for a Jew to live? And can this Jew live comfortably in the Germany of today? At least for a couple of months!

On the Way to Heidelber No.2 Continued

2008-05-16T01:47:00.000-07:00

Würzburg, Heidelberg and Frankfurt
I slept well in Würzburg and after breakfast (Thursday) checked out of the hotel and walked to an Internet Café where a very pleasant young man helped connect my computer and corrected my German email to Suzanne. I found my car in the huge underground garage under the main market square; found the Autobahn easily and was off to Heidelberg. I don’t think there are toll roads in Germany; I wonder if they have toll bridges.

Driving on the Autobahn is also an experience; there really is no speed limit and while I was doing about 70 miles per hour others were passing me as if I was standing still! However that will eventually change, the daily paper carried stories indicating that, for the sake of the environment, speed limits would eventually be imposed and automobile advertisements would carry warning statements, like cigarette ads, about speed leading to death and the damage caused to the environment by auto emissions.

I stopped for a bite on the road and arrived at the Heidelberg Main Railway Station and Tourist Office around 4 o’clock. Once again Google Maps estimated Würzburg to Heidelberg at about 165kms and 3½ hours and it actually took more than twice as long. The lady in the Tourist Office was very nice and told me that there were several conferences in town and hotel rooms were in very short supply. Nevertheless she found me a hotel room for 3 nights, right in the Alt Stadt (old town) The Hotel Zum Pfalzgrafen (The Hotel of the Duchess of Pfalz) is something else; it’s a bit rundown with small pokey rooms but there is an elevator. I was greeted by Frau Schneider, the owner, a very spry little old lady, who helped me unload my luggage then jumped in the car to direct me to the hotel garage a couple of blocks away. Room #5 on the second floor is definitely small with two twin beds that I can hardly walk around. I strolled down to the Hauptstrass (Main Street) and had dinner at ‘Das Gasthaus zum Weissen Schwanen’ (The White Swans) a lovely old, old restaurant and had Jaeger-Schnitzel (breaded pork cutlet with a mushroom sauce) that was ‘lecker’ the German word for tasty or maybe yummy! I remember this was one of Marita’s favorite words.

In spite of the pokey room I slept like a log and spent the morning in Heidelberg looking for an Internet connection. I walked all over town; tried two different Internet Cafés, where their cable would not fit my laptop. Eventually I found a café with Wifi and managed to pick up and send a few emails. I also did some major shopping. I bought a very cute Crocodile backpack for my Granddaughter, Araceli, socks for Suzanne and Lysa and a few other odds and ends. I had dinner at ‘Schafheutle Conditorei und Café’, served by a lovely grandmotherly type. I had potato soup and ‘Rinderroulade’ (a rolled beef filled with mustard and pickles) I remember my Mother making these as a great treat. She used to tie them with string, which had to be carefully removed before serving. Here they were kept closed with a large toothpick, also carefully removed before serving. This time I ordered dessert from the bakery, an apple cake, not strudel, that was delicious. I was told that the original Herr Schafheutle was pastry chef to Queen Victoria in London and sometimes Buckingham Palace still orders special cakes from here!

Next day, Saturday I tried to take it easy. I walked around Alt Stadt and found a gift for Eliane. I had a very nice conversation with the shop owner; I asked her if people in Germany, the former Western part, are basically happy, She said, “Yes but underneath there is unhappiness. Unemployment is manageable, there is very little crime and there will not be another war in Europe, however prices keep going up and retirement benefits are going down” I asked her how many times her shop had been broken into and she said “twice in the last fifteen years”. I also went back to the watch-seller, where I had seen a very nice gold dress watch last Spring. He said that he no longer carried that model and showed me a few others that I did not particularly like. I did have him replace the strap on my old ‘Timex’. I also asked him the same question that I had asked the woman in the jewelry store and he said very much the same thing.

Later in the afternoon, Lothar and his girlfriend Nelly picked me up at the hotel. We piled into his little Fiat and drove up to the castle ruins that overlook the town and walked round a bit. The place was crowded being a Saturday afternoon. The weather was chilly and there was no sun. We drove round some more and Lothar showed me the location of the old Jewish cemetery and the new Heidelberg synagogue after which we went out for dinner. Lothar picked a nice quiet Italian restaurant where we each had a pizza, which was delicious. Lothar speaks very good English, however we spoke mostly in German for Nelly’s benefit. Afterwards they dropped me back at the hotel. In the evening I walked down to the Hauptstrasse for an after-dinner drink and so to bed. Tonight the clocks go back in most of Europe and we get an extra hour’s sleep.

Next morning, Sunday I packed and said ‘aufwedersehen’ to Frau Schneider after she walked me to the garage and hopped into the car to drive back for my luggage. The drive to Frankfurt was a snap; I dropped the luggage at the Steigenberger Airport Hotel and returned the car. I had driven 1,372kms (about 850 miles) and there was no problem with the slight scrape to the front bumper where I had a minor argument with a concrete post in the Eisenach hotel garage. From the airport I took a train to the Hauptbahnhof and walked around downtown Frankfurt for a while. The weather was quite cold, so after a bit I took train and shuttle back to the hotel. Dinner that night in the “Unterschweinstiege Restaurant” was great. The restaurant is named for a nearby forest where the locals allowed their pigs to forage for acorns and such. I had roast leg of veal covered with about half-a-pound of wild mushrooms plus more potato dumplings. Since it was my last night I also had dessert ‘palachinken’ (butter crepes) with sugar, cinnamon and applesauce. I talked to the two couples at the next table, retired schoolteachers from Colorado Springs. They said that their parents were German born and they had been back to see their roots.

Next day, Monday I took the shuttle to the airport and caught Lufthansa flight 454 back home to San Francisco.

Lothar Aunmueller is self-employed as a consultant having to do with management practices, team training and registration of trademarks. He is probably in his middle forties and is a volunteer in the Jewish community and works with the City program for inviting former residents; Nelly is very pretty, middle to late thirties and from the Crimea region of the former Soviet Union. She is in hotel-management, speaks very little German or English and has visa problems. She has to return to the Crimea to apply for a new visa and that may take 3 to 6 months.
I met Lothar through Henry Baer; Lothar was his guide when Henry and his sister recently came here at the invitation of the Burgermeister.

Photos
Heidelberg #039
Nelly and Lothar #062
Heidelberg #044
New Heidelberg Synagogue #047

On the Way to Heidelberg No.1.

2008-05-16T01:34:00.000-07:00

Eisenach, Halle, Bayreuth and Würzburg
Tuesday at about noon I left Eisenach and decided to drive to Halle, where my Mother and her sister Hilde were born. Both of their birth certificates indicate that their parents (my Grandparents) lived in Halle. It was an easy 3 hours including a stop for lunch. Halle-an-der-Saale (now called Halle-Salle) Salle is the name of the river on which the town stands. Halle is a very old town tracing its history back to 806AD and the salt (called Halle) was extracted from underground brine springs starting around the year 1000. The Market Church is a huge cathedral with four spires; the two eastern spires are conical in shape and the two western ones, called the Blue Spires are connected with a bridge giving the cathedral a most distinctive appearance. The composer George Frederick Handel was born in the town in 1685 and is the favorite son. The city was obviously a part of East Germany with many huge, ugly block-buildings in the center. The rebuilt Rath Haus (City Hall) is also a memento of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) Halle Neu Stadt (New Town) consists of 33,000 prefabricated concrete block apartment dwellings situated across the river. The town “was supposed to be a classic example of socialist house building” and home to 120,000 people. Later with help from the Tourist Bureau I found a nice little Pension close to the Rath Haus and Main Square (51 Euro including breakfast)

My Mother was born here in 1901 and her sister Hilde in 1904. I guess my Grandfather the eldest of the four sons wanted nothing to do with the butcher shop in Hersfeld and moved to Halle, about three or four hours to the east, towards Dresden. I’m sure that if I went back I would find records of where they lived and what kind of business they had.

I had dinner at a nearby restaurant; a marvelous wild-mushroom soup and a ‘wild’ Goulash (stew) made from venison with red-cabbage and potato dumplings. For dessert I ordered “warm Apfelstrudel mit vanilla sauce” big mistake. Everything else had been so delicious and the Apfelstrudel tasted like a Trader Joe’s reject! So much for desserts.

Next day, Wednesday, I decided to drive to Bayreuth and then on towards Heidelberg. I left Halle before 9AM and was in Bayreuth in time for lunch. I found the ‘Zentrum’ and the tourist office and was told what to see. First stop was the “Markgraefliches Opera House” a gorgeous Baroque building where I watched a very nice light and sound presentation about its history. Bayreuth is a lovely old town best known for its association with Richard Wagner, who lived here from 1872 until he died in 1883. The premiers of the final two works of the Ring Cycle, the Cycle as a whole and Parsifal took place here. Every summer Wagner’s operas are performed at the month-long Bayreuth Festival; currently waiting lists for tickets can stretch for up to 10 years!

I had lunch at a “Konditori” (pastry shop) then back on the Autobahn towards Heidelberg. It was getting late so I decided to stop for the night in Würzburg. Once again I found the Zentrum and Tourist Office and finding a hotel for the night was a bit of a disaster. The Tourist Office sent me to lovely old hotel, quite plush and round the corner from the Market Square; however they were full. The clerk was most apologetic and phoned another hotel, the Hotel Strauss, a few blocks further away. They had a room available so I walked over and checked in. Dinner that night was at an Italian restaurant called “Trattoria Lugana” it had 16 tables and the first restaurant I’ve found in Germany that was completely full by 7PM! I had Pumpkin soup; at home I dislike the taste of pumpkin and can’t stand pumpkin pie; however here I’ve had pumpkin soup a couple of times and found it very tasty; it’s probably squash and not pumpkin. Main course was house-made tagliatelle with meat sauce that was delicious and a glass of Italian good red wine. I decided not to push my luck and did not order dessert! The staff was very friendly and efficient and obviously doing something right; total cost of dinner including an aperitif and bottle of water was about $25.

Distances
Frankfurt to Niederaula about 140kms and 1½ hours; took about 3 hours
Niederaula to Eisenach about 75kms and 1 hour; took 2
Eisenach to Halle about 200kms and 2 plus hours; took 3
Halle to Bayreuth about 200kms and 2½ hours; took 3½

These distances and times come from Google Maps and are based on German drivers going 140kms per hour or more (85mph) in their supercharged Mercedes. They do not apply to an American Senior driving a Nissan Jeep rental car!

Photos
Eisenach #015
Halle #017
Bayreuth #026, 029
Würzburg #033

More Pictures From Niederaula

2007-11-13T10:08:00.000-08:00

Photos
Niederaula #011, 09, 012

Here are more pictures from Niederaula.

Looking for Great-grandfather Joel

2007-11-13T09:58:00.000-08:00

Photos
The Burgermeister and Heidi Roessing #07
Niederaula # 013, 05
Synagogue 190-?
Niederaula # 08

On Sunday morning I went down for my last breakfast at the buffet and started packing. I phoned Lilli to thank her for everything and checked out of the hotel. The City had taken care of all of my and Suzanne’s expenses during the program and the day before. Then I took a taxi to the airport where we got mixed up with the Dresden Marathon. We drove beside some of the 7,500 runners who did not seem to mind the very cold wet weather. Lufthansa #1057 left on time and arrived at Frankfurt on time. I picked up a rental car soon after 3 o’clock and headed for Wurtzberg; from there it went from bad to worse! First I got lost, then I waited over half-an-hour in a huge traffic jam so decided that I did not want to continue driving in the rain and took the first exit for Frankfurt airport and easily found my way to the Steigenberger Airport Hotel, where I had stayed on my first night in Germany just 10 days ago. I checked in and again had dinner in their regional German restaurant “Unterschweinstiege”. Dinner was delicious; I had Weiner Schnitzel and a beer and talked to the Australians at the next table that had come to Germany to watch the world rugby finals.

Monday started out much better; after breakfast it was cold and sunny so I decided to go look for my Great-grandfather Joel Nussbaum. I know that he was born in Niederaula and later had the only Kosher butcher shop in Hersfeld at 26 Kraus Strasse, which Lysa and I visited about 15 years ago. My Mother used to tell me that, when she “got fed up with her parents, she would go back to her Grandparent’s house in Hersfeld”. My cousin Helmut told me that he well remembered “staying with his Uncle Joel and Aunt Betty and on Friday afternoon before Shabbat, Betty would make a Challah and hand it over the fence to the baker next door, who had an oven big enough. The baker then called over when the Challah was ready. Joel and Betty lived over the store and had a “Shabos Goy”, who looked after the store on Shabbat.

I figured out directions to Hersfeld and set off. First I got lost in downtown Frankfurt (don’t ask) and eventually found the Autobahn and then it was clear sailing. Before reaching Hersfeld I saw a sign for Niederaula (pro. Needer-owl-a) where Great-grandfather Joel Nussbaum was born. It is a very pretty small farm town set in rolling hills and forests. I saw the Rathaus (City Hall or in this case Town Hall) and walked up to the Burgermeister’s office where I told the secretary that my Great-grandfather was born here and I was looking for his birth certificate or anything else. She told me that they had lots of information. The Burgermeister came out of his office and suggested that the secretary call someone else. I had my laptop with me and we moved into a conference room with a speakerphone. I told them that I had just left Dresden as an invited former resident and everybody was fascinated with my story. The Burgermeister and the secretary brought out an armload of books and papers and loose leaf binders. They were well informed on the Jewish community that thrived in the village in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds. I was shown a lovely picture of the old synagogue, school and guesthouse and given a copy. The Burgermeister also presented me with a copy of a beautiful, recently published book on the history of the town “1225 Jahre Niederaula” (1225 years in Niederaula) We talked on the speakerphone with Frau Heidi Roessing, who had written the book’s chapter on the Jews of Niederaula. She asked me to come to her house where she had all sorts of records including data on my Great-grandfather, his parents, siblings, etc. These people could not have been nicer! I followed the Burgermeister’s car and the first stop was to show me a small monument recently erected indicating the site of the former synagogue and memorializing the Jews of the town. Then it was to the Burgermeister’s house, where another local historian wanted to show me pictures of former Jewish residents from all over the world, that she was in touch with and some of who had been back to visit. The Frau Burgermeister was very kind and offered coffee. I then followed the Burgermeister to Heidi Roessing’s house, high on a hillside overlooking the countryside. We spent more than an hour poring over records that she had of many member of the Nussbaum family. She had day, month and year of birth, death and marriage for many and asked me to send her what details that I had of their descendants.

Niederaula had a strong Jewish community, which at end of the 1800’s numbered 27 families with 50 students, Jews and non-Jews, in the Jewish School. I asked the Burgermeister how come there is so much interest in the history of the Jews and he said, “They were an important part of our history. There were Jews named on the monuments to the soldiers that died in the First World War and Jewish schools educated Jews and non-Jews”
I took a few pictures of the town, and then took off for Hersfeld. Unfortunately some sort of festival was taking place and most of the streets to the old town were closed, so after looking at the map I decided to continue and around 4 o’clock I had had enough and drove into Eisenach. It’s a lovely medieval town where Martin Luther lived for a while and Johannes Sebastian Bach was born. I inquired at the tourist office and checked into Schlosshotel (Castle hotel) Eisenach, a lovely old building across from the church and close to the town square. It was reasonably priced, very comfortable and had free Internet access! Later I walked around the delightful little town, had a marvelous dinner in the hotel dining room in the cellar and worked on my notes.

Return to Porschendorf

2007-11-13T09:44:00.000-08:00

Photos
Porschendorf #159, 146 150
Flea market #162 163

The past six days have been very exhausting both emotionally and physically. On Friday morning Suzanne and I parted company; she off to Berlin and me for two more days in Dresden and then on to Heidelberg. It was lovely having Suzanne here; I would have been very lonely without her and I very much appreciate her support and the way she interacted with the other group members. During this week my German improved immeasurably and so did Suzanne’s.

Lilli came to the hotel and we piled into Jan Kohlberg’s little car and set off for Porschendorf and in about 45 minutes arrived at the Bachl building material company. Three or four company members including Raimund Pelzer, development engineer who has been with the company for 35 years, welcomed us. We looked at the picture album I had brought and they recognized some of the buildings and confirmed that Porschendorf was on the Weissiger Bahn, the railroad that ran from Dresden to Porschendorf via Weissiger. Lilli recognized one of the girls in the album and thinks it is a member of the Sonnenschein family. After coffee we walked around the plant looking at the buildings and taking pictures. The company staff, all non-Jews, were absolutely fascinated by the picture album and asked many questions. In 1938 the Scooler family, Jews and owner/operators of a cardboard manufacturing plant, owned this property. Other nearby buildings were used as a holiday camp for the children of the Dresden Jewish community. Bachl the present owners of the land manufacture building materials including concrete fiber roof tiles that look just like natural slate. After about an hour Raimund showed us where the railroad station probably stood and took us to the local church where Lilli looked for graves of the Scooler family, without success. On the way back to Dresden we stopped at “Zur Alten Brauerei” (At the Old Brewery) at Schonfeld where we had a great “wild-game lunch”. Lilli had chicken (not wild) Jan had a huge plate of wild venison goulash and I had a “senior plate’ of wild venison with Brussel sprouts, German ‘tater tots’ (much better than the US version) and a beer. We shared a table with an elderly local woman and her son and once again had a lovely conversation. We dropped off Lilli at her next appointment in Dresden and Jan took me back to the hotel.

Next I phoned Karl-Heinz Loetzsch, a friend of Henry Landsberger, (also on the Kindertransports from Dresden) We went into the hotel dining room and had “Kaffee und Kuchen” I had a slice of Dresdener Eirschecke, a specialty cake (made with eggs and Quark, similar to Farmers cheese), which will probably do me for the day! Karl-Heinz is a delightful man and brought me a CD of Jewish music produced as a fundraiser for the new Dresden Synagogue. We chatted very amicably and Karl-Heinz will look into whether I flew to England from a Dresden or Berlin airport. He will also make inquiries about finding an insignia from the Wach- und Schliessgesellschaft.

On Saturday I had a quiet breakfast in the hotel buffet and Lilli met me at 9:30. We took two trams and found the flea-market beside the river. It was quite crowded and very, very cold. We were looking for an insignia from the “Wach- und Schliessgesellschaft”, which my Grandfather started. It was the first security company in Dresden (and maybe Germany) which employed uniformed guards to keep an eye on member’s properties. Lilli asked many of the sellers and several had heard of it. I remember this insignia of two crossed keys, which was affixed to the exterior wall of the house to indicate that the owners were members. I was beginning to come down with a bit of a cold so we cut our trip short. I did buy a little carved wooden sled for one Euro. Lilli and I agreed to go to the theater this evening and to dinner before hand. Lilli phoned later to suggest that it would be better to cancel the theater and we agreed to meet for dinner in the hotel so that we could say a quiet goodbye. Lilli came to the hotel and we had a nice quiet dinner with a glass of good French wine. We talked amicably and Lilli gave me some more information about Dresden and the program of invitations from the Burgermeister to former residents.

Karl-Heinz Loetzsch is an independent designer, artist and photographer and did some of the photography and artistic layout for the new Synagogue and Community Center.

More Pictures from Dresden

2007-11-09T14:51:00.000-08:00

Photos
The Fine Art Museum
The New Synagogue
Restaurant “Carolaschlossen”
Reception with the Deputy Mayor
Brewery-restaurant “Zum Geisser” in Pirna

Here are some more pictures from Dresden.

The retun to Dresden, Conclusion

2007-11-09T14:10:00.000-08:00

Photos
The ship and view from the ship
Bastei
View from the Bastei

On Wednesday morning we had an early start. Up to now the weather has been wonderful, sunny and cold, typical southern Germany and Eastern US fall weather. We were on the bus by 8:30 and were taken to the River Elbe and boarded a steamer for a 5-hour trip upstream to Pillnitz, Pirna and Konigstein. This is the “Sachsische Schweiz” (Saxony Switzerland) an area of steep sandstone cliffs, gorges and small canyons rising from the banks of the river. Schweiz/Switzerland is a bit of a misnomer since the cliffs rise a mere 182 feet! The boat ride was very relaxing and as the group had a private section of the boat we talked among ourselves and got to know each other. Lilli was on the trip and we talked a lot. I took many pictures from the boat and eventually we disembarked at Konigstein. While on the boat we were served lunch, the very worst meal of our entire trip; chicken with a horrible cream sauce and rice so salty nobody ate it. From Konigstein our bus took us through the countryside to Bastei, a large hotel and restaurant on the top of a cliff overlooking the river. At Konigstein we were very close to the border of the Czech Republic and one of the city staff caught the train back to Dresden. She said the train ride would take half-an-hour! At Bastei, which was quite crowded, we walked around, admired the spectacular views and had ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ in the restaurant. Then it was back on the bus to Schloss Pilnitz, a lovely baroque castle on the river. From Pilnitz we went to a brewery-restaurant called “Zum Geisser” in Pirna where we had a marvelous dinner. I had “ein grosses Schwein Schnitzel” (a large pork cutlet) that covered the plate and fried potatoes and red cabbage hiding underneath. We also had fresh, homemade pretzels to go with the house-brewed beer. By now the group had really bonded and I was pleased to see Suzanne spend time with the other second-generation people.

During the boat ride I was interviewed by Andrea Ponisch from MDR 1 Radio Sachsen. She promised to send me a CD. Eventually it was back to the hotel and I staggered to my bed.

Thursday was the last day of our official program. After an early breakfast… Did I tell you about the Breakfast Buffet in this hotel? Magnificent do-it-yourself fresh orange juice, eggs and waffles cooked to order, many different cereals and yogurts, a huge selection of cold meats, sausages, salamis and many different cheeses plus at least 6 different types of breads, rolls and such plus pizza and cream cakes. The bus left at 9 o’clock for Meissen to visit the famous porcelain factory. I decided to skip the factory visit and walked into town to see the church with a carillon of porcelain bells! Then the bus took us to Moritzburg for lunch in the castle dining room where we had a private room and an excellent lunch. This time I had venison goulash with dumplings and red cabbage. Dessert was “rotte greutze” a fruit compote of red berries, a local specialty. If I take nothing else back from Dresden, it will be a few extra pounds! We were back at the hotel early enough that I could exchange some money ($300 got me 203 Euros) and buy a 10 Euro phone-card.

At 7 o’clock the bus took us to the Westin Bellevue Hotel for a farewell dinner hosted by Deputy Mayor Koggel and his wife. Dinner was in a private room on the “Elbterrasse”. This time it was much more of an American dinner in an American operated hotel. That is to say dinner was normal size portions and not the huge portions that German restaurants usually serve. There were speeches and many farewells before we got back to the hotel at about midnight.

Return to Dresden, Continued (Revised)

2007-11-09T14:02:00.000-08:00

Photos
The Zwinger & Fine Art Museum
Semper Opera House
The cemetery
The New Synagogue
Speaking at Hatikva

Monday was the first real day of the tour and a very hectic one. I met Suzanne at breakfast in the hotel buffet and at 9 o’clock we were on a bus for a city tour. Our guide was Mr. Matthias Lerm, City of Dresden officer of sustainable development and member of the UNESCO World Heritage Foundation for the Dresden Elbe Valley. It was a great tour; first to the Semperoper (the opera house originally designed by Otto Semper, a famous Saxon architect, who also designed the original Dresden synagogue) and the adjacent Zwinger, the fine arts museum. Then it was across the Elbe and through Neu Stadt to the Weissen Hirsh (White Deer) a hillside area overlooking the Elbe valley. I remember that it was at the Weissen Hirsh, that my Mother took me skiing at age 5 or 6 and I cried a lot, hating the cold and the wet and the snow. The guide told us that due to climate change there was no longer enough snow to ski on the Weisse Hirsch – good! We were told that Dresden has 40,000 vacant dwellings.

Next was a visit to the Fiedlerstrasse Jewish Cemetery. The cemetery staff was very well organized and I was taken to my Grandfather Leopold’s large double grave (row 4, grave 7) Obviously he had expected his wife Selma to join him! Suzanne and I each placed a stone on his grave; a Jewish custom to indicate that we had been there. By the way, there was a concrete urn full of stones near the entrance so that one did not have to look for a stone! I also found the grave of Felix and Francesca Berlowitz (new section, left 26, grave 26) the parents of Roy Calder of Marin County and formerly of Dresden. Then it was lunch at “Carolaschlossen” (Carola, little castle) a rather fancy place beside a lake in the Grosse Garten. Lunch was delicious and a bit of a disaster since the restaurant was not really prepared for our group of about 34.

We arrived at the New Synagogue about an hour late. First we visited the synagogue where Nora Goldenbogen, President of the Dresden Jewish Congregation welcomed us, gave us a tour and explained the building. Then it was to the Community Center where Heinz-Joachim Aris, of the Jewish Community Center, welcomed us. Over coffee and cookies Mr. Aris showed us the “Gedenkbuch”, the book of memories, which lists about 7,000 names of former Jewish residents of Dresden and what became of them. The book is in 17 volumes plus a summary. My Mother, Father, Grandmother and I are listed and there is a picture of me in the summary. We were told that 5000 school children visit the new synagogue and community center each year. From the new synagogue it was back to the hotel for a rest. Later Suzanne and I walked down to “A Ha” the organic restaurant where Lilli took us on our first day. The restaurant was crowded with only one large empty table upstairs. As a German couple walked in Suzanne asked them to share the table with us. I asked them if they were from Dresden or were visitors and so started a most delightful conversation. The couple were in their 50s; she was Susanna and I don’t think he gave his name. They were from Frankfurt, had come by train to Dresden and then rented a car. He was an investment advisor and worked with some non-profit groups including the Catholic Diocese. We spoke mostly German with some English. I told them that I was born in Dresden and went to England on the Kindertransports. I was surprised at my openness and the easy conversation that we had. Dinner was very good; I had a noodle and vegetable “Auflauf” (casserole), very organic and delicious plus an organic beer. Then back to the hotel and to bed.

On Tuesday morning I spoke at “Hatikva” (10 Polsnitzer Strasse in Neu Stadt) a Jewish educational organization and a partner with Friedman Bringt’s group arranged by Friedman and Nora Goldenbogen. I was welcomed and introduced by Friedman and Nora and Alex Lorenz, a volunteer. There were 14 students aged from 18 to about 22; some were connected with ‘Rotenbaum’ (Red Tree) a communist organization. None of the students were Jews. I spoke in English and they listened politely. I felt that they were engaged however when it came to Q and A they were very reluctant. I checked frequently if they understood me. Two or three of them asked all of the questions. Their interest was mainly political. Did I think that Germany should have remained divided? I said, that I was not in a position to answer that. I should have asked them what they thought! Was I aware of the difference between the East and the West today? Yes, I had some idea and they filled me in. Today unemployment is much higher in the East and the wages are only about 60%. Retirement benefits are also lower in the East than the West. I felt the meeting was very productive and I was presented with a small book about the Dresden Jewish Community.

From Hatikva I went by taxi to “Gansedieb” (Goose Thief) to meet the group for lunch. This was one of the better meals in Dresden. I had Sauerbraten (a very fancy pot-roast) with red-cabbage and dumplings; dessert was a kind of latkes (potato pancakes) served with applesauce. After lunch there was another reception, this time in Der Rathaus (City Hall) with Herr Lehman, another deputy mayor. The original Dresdeners from our group sat round a very large table and this time it was our turn to speak. The meeting became very emotional as we each told our story of being forced out of Dresden and being scattered around the world. The deputy mayor hoped that we could, one day be able to return to the city as ordinary visitors. I told him, for me ‘no’; Dresden would forever remain the city that forced me out. Andreas Rentsch a freelance reporter for the Sachsische Zeitung interviewed me and the following day there was a nice article about the group with a picture. In it I was correctly quoted as saying, “one of the main reasons for accepting the City’s invitation was to show them that I was still alive.” I asked Suzanne to address the meeting and she spoke very well saying that I had neglected to say that my Father died in Auschwitz and my Grandmother in Theresienstadt. After the reception many people congratulated Suzanne and me on our presentation.

From the reception it was back to the hotel for a short rest and then the bus took us to the Semperoper for “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart. The opera house is a small, gold leaf and red plush jewel box with no balconies and 4 tiers of boxes lining the walls. Some of Wagner’s operas and many by Richard Strauss had their first performance here! The production was very modern with abstract scenery and singers in modern dress. But what singers? Of the 10 main characters all had magnificent voices and the ensemble singing was breathtaking. The Dresden Staats Oper (State Opera) is a repertory company so they are much used to singing together. When my Mother used to go to the opera in San Francisco, her highest accolade would be, “In Dresden it could not have been better” and now for the first time I understood exactly what she meant!

Friedman Bringt is with the Kulturbuero Sachsen, an organization supported by the State of Saxony whose main purpose is information on right-wing extremism and daily racism in Saxony. Hatikva is an organization for Jewish Culture and History, which works with a group for Christian – Jewish cooperation and is funded by the City of Dresden.

The Return to Dresden (revised)

2007-11-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

Photos
Henzestrasse #015 and 017
Regensburger Strasse
Herr Samuel und seine Tochter at the opera

My return to Dresden started on Saturday, 13 October when I met Suzanne at Frankfurt airport for our flight to Dresden. We arrived at Dresden airport and were disappointed that no one was there to meet us as we had been told. No matter we took the train, which goes right into the airport and were soon at Dresden Hauptbahnhof (main station) and saw the hotel about two blocks away. We checked in and as soon as we were in our rooms Frau Jadwiga Schoene (the City’s representative and our tour leader) phoned from the lobby very apologetic that we had missed each other at the airport. She welcomed us and gave us a tour packet. Suzanne and I had adjacent room on the 12th floor with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the old city. Later Suzanne and I met and at the front desk’s suggestion took the tram to Neu Stadt (New Town), which is actually older than Alt Stadt (Old Town) and was not destroyed in the February 1945 bombing. Neu Stadt has crowded narrow streets with many, many restaurants. At the hotel staff’s suggestion we picked ‘Planwirtschaft” on Louisenstrasse, a sort of beer cellar and had a great dinner of three appetizers, which we were not able to finish. Then it was back on the tram to the hotel and so ended our first day in Dresden.

Next day, Sunday; after a huge breakfast at the enormous hotel buffet Lilli met us in the lobby and we started our rediscovery of Dresden. First we took two trams to Grossen Garten (Dresden’s Central Park) and walked to Henzestrasse (Lilli bought us a Family Day Pass, which became very useful) We found where #15 used to stand. This is the house that my Grandfather had built and where my Mother, Father and I lived as well as my mother’s sister (my Aunt Hilde) and her family, and my Grandmother. We took pictures including some of the neighboring buildings. This is still a very desirable area to live. Then two more trams to Munchener Platz and walked to Regensburger Strasse #15. This is where I lived before moving to Hensestrasse and is the site of the picture “8 children in Dresden, November 1935”. Lilli checked with a friend and found that the apartment buildings on this street were destroyed and replaced with buildings of a very similar size and style. Lilli also confirmed that behind the buildings there used to be a fountain or small pond because I remember playing with toy boats.

In the evening there was a reception and dinner in the hotel hosted by Deputy Mayor Tobias Kogge. He told us that he was born near Danzig and had relatives that died in Theresianstadt. He also told us that we were the 14th group of former residents invited back to Dresden; that the Dresden Jewish community now numbers about 750 of which 650 are from the former Soviet Union and the Leipzig Jewish community numbers about 1,200. On Kristalnacht (the night of broken glass) the Dresden synagogue was torched by members of the police and, at that time the City vowed to rebuild it. In 2001 a new synagogue was built with 40% of the cost from the City and almost 60% from the Province of Saxony. Many contributions came from non-Jewish members of the community. I spoke with other members of the group, mostly the same age as myself and was told that in September 1936 at the age of 5, I would have gone straight to the Jewish school located next to the old synagogue. I have a vague memory of going to a Jewish school.
Frau Schoene introduced all of the group members and the rest of the evening was spent on dinner and socializing. Suzanne was a big hit and got to know almost everyone by name. There were several young people, sons and daughters of former residents that Suzanne spent time with.

Lilli Ulbrich is a long-time member of the ‘Arbeitskreis Gedenkbuch’ an organization of Christians and Jews that produced the Dresden Gedenkbuch’ (Book of Memories) which contains 6000 names and some of the details of former Jewish residents of Dresden. The book consists of 17 volumes plus a Summary. My Mother, Father, Grandmother and I are listed in the Gedenkbuch and I’m in the Summary with a picture. The Summary is available from Amazon Books and other Internet booksellers.

Jadwiga Schoene is Landeshauptstadt Dresden, Amt für Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (City of Dresden Press and Public Relations Department) She has been tour guide for all 14 of the annual groups of former residents. This group of 35 is the largest ever because one family – the Reizes who brought brothers, sisters, cousins and their children from Israel, the US and Argentina. This family made up about half of our group.The City of Dresden has 11 elected deputy mayors presently running the city; the Lord Mayor is at home having been suspended for financial improprieties in connection with city funds received for disaster relief after the devastating floods of 2002.

Life After the War (Conclusion)

2007-11-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

Photos
KTA 1991 newspaper
KTA 1991 picture
Suzanne & Lysa in France
and in Israel

In November 1990 I went to my first Kindertransport reunion in Ellenville, New York, which is in the Catskills. It was a wonderful reunion giving me the first opportunity to talk about my experience as a young child coming alone to England to escape the Holocaust. We the Kinder, as we call ourselves, were no longer the ones to whom “nothing had happened”. We had lost our childhood and were Holocaust survivors. The following year in April 1991 my buddy Alfred Cotton, who was also on the Kindertransports and I decided to hold the first Northern California Reunion. On a Sunday afternoon almost 100 people met in Emeryville (next to Oakland and Berkeley) of which about 45 were on the Kindertransports and we formed the NorCal chapter of the Kindertransport Association (KTA) During these years before my retirement I also started traveling extensively. In 1992, I took my daughters to London and Dresden and the following year we went to Israel. In October 1994 I visited New York and Washington DC to see the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. In October 1995 I went to England and France and in 1996 to Cuba with Berkeley Congregation Netivot Shalom to set up sisterhood relations with the Jewish congregation in Santiago de Cuba.

In August 1997 I retired from BART and from then on spent my time traveling, organizing events for the NorCal Chapter of KTA and speaking to local schools about the Holocaust and my experience.

NOTE

For more information on the Kindertransport Association

go to their website:

www.kindertransport.org

Life After the War (Continued)

2007-11-07T15:18:00.000-08:00

Photos
Appraiser 1963
Wedding 1966
With Denise Epstein 1993

Through my professor at CCNY I had an interview with Larry Smith a real estate consultant with offices in Seattle and Washington DC. He hired me for the Washington office and I moved to the District of Columbia. Once there I loved it; I loved the work and made many friends. Many of who are still close friends.

Larry Smith did economic studies for proposed shopping centers and estimated the gross sales for the centers after they were open 5 years. I traveled throughout the eastern half of the country doing the original field research on which the estimates were based. I got to know the country and had a wonderful time. Larry Smith also did reuse studies for redevelopment agencies and I did the original fieldwork for those too.

After the job came to an end, I could not find another job in Washington for love or money. I decided to head west and seek my fortune. I had answered ads in the San Francisco and Los Angeles newspapers and was headed for LA. I had bought my buddy Irwin’s car and was driving Route 66 from Chicago to LA. In the middle of the Mojave Desert in Barstow I said to myself, “Why am I going to LA, when everybody tells me that San Francisco is so beautiful?” So when Route 66 met Highway 101 instead of turning left, I turned right and north to San Francisco.

Once is San Francisco I went to the Jewish Community Center on California Street and was advised to find a residence club. It was November and the weather was sunny and gorgeous. I moved into ‘Baker Acres’ on Washington Street in Pacific Heights and when I first saw the Palace of the Legion of Honor and the Golden Gate Bridge I thought that I had died and woken up in heaven. After about two weeks I met David Simmons, a real estate appraiser and became his assistant. Later Big Dave helped me become a US citizen and I never looked back! I was Dave’s assistant for about 3 or 4 years and then decided to take a job with the Richmond Redevelopment Agency. I went back to see my Mother several times and it was during this period that I convinced her that she should give up her house in Guildford and move to Oakland. My Mother had been right about “the land of savages” because the day that she arrived in America was the day that President Kennedy was assassinated! After Richmond I worked for several local public agencies doing appraisals and sometimes land acquisition and also married Jean in 1966 and we had two daughters; Suzanne was born in 1968 and Lysa in 1971. Eventually I worked for the Real Estate Services Division of BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit District) After 25 years in public agency real estate including 7 years with BART, I retired. By this time I was also divorced.

Life After the War

2007-11-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

Photos
The manor house at Newlands Corner
Valley View, Kent - a camp where we went on weekends

As the war slowly came to an end the other children moved back to London and my Mother and I decided to stay in Guildford. There was a close-knit group of Jewish refugees living in Guildford, mostly German and Austrian and also some from Poland and Czechoslovakia. And Mother had many close friends including the Goldsmith’s, whose son Philip I see when I’m in France and the family Dukasz, whose daughter Sue lives in Canberra, Australia. I visited Sue in March 2000.

My Mother had started a ‘well baby clinic’ for the Borough of Guildford using exercise equipment originally developed for the treatment of polio. My Mother learnt these exercise techniques to help me overcome the effects of my polio, which I contracted at age 5 or 6.

At first we lived in other people’s houses where my Mother kept house and cooked in return for two rooms. Eventually my Mother bought a house on Lincoln Road in the Stoughton area of Guildford and took in boarders. I attended Woking Grammar School for Boys and eventually matriculated. My Mother wanted me to be a scientist and I went for one year to Guildford Technical College studying Chemistry and Physics and hating it. I was a terrible student and eventually my Mother took me to a career councilor who suggested that law or real estate would be a more suitable field for me. I enrolled in the College of Estate Management of the London School of Economics taking a mix of day and night classes. My first job was as an apprentice with Charles Osenton, Estate Agents in Guildford. It was here that Mr. Smith, one of the owners would come downstairs from his office and say, “Samuel, get your hat and coat on and come with me”. And we would go inspect and measure a house that Mr. Smith had been instructed to sell. I soon decided that I needed more opportunities and moved to London, where I became a property bookkeeper for Goddard & Smith a very large (real) estate management company. While continuing with my studies I became assistant property manager at Swears & Wells, a chain store company with retail shops in London and many other English towns.

Around 1956 my Mother came to America to visit her sister and attend my cousin’s wedding in New Jersey. This is the first time the two sisters had seen each other in 17 years! While there my Aunt asked my Mother if, “Ralph would like to come to America” because my Aunt was willing to provide my affidavit. My Mother answered, “Of course not, who wants to live in a land of savages”.
When Mother came home and told me the story I said, “Wait a minute”. Somehow I knew that if I did not go I would regret it for the rest of my life. So at age 27 I came to New Jersey and hated it! I got a job as a bookkeeper in Manhattan and did some post-graduate work at City College of New York in the field of Land Economics.

Porschendorf

2007-11-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

Photos
Porschendorf photos 1 thru 4

In Summer 1938 a group of about 20 Jewish children were sent from Dresden to Porschendorf for a summer holiday. Porschendorf is in the Sachsische Schweiz (Saxon Switzerland) about half an hour from Dresden. Frau Lesser and my Mother cared for the children; I was the youngest. These pictures are from a photo album made by Hildegard Burgheim, a professional photographer in Dresden and later in Guildford, England and New York.

The Descendents of the Four Sons of Joel and Betty Nussbaum

2007-11-07T08:59:00.000-08:00

Photos
Aunt Hilde & family Shanghai 1945
My mother and her granddaughters Oakland 1973
Steffi and Larry Block, Hilde, Harry and Kay 1984
Steve, Helen, Helmut & Alice, 50th wedding anniversary London 1991.

LEOPOLD, the eldest son and SELMA had two daughters Ella and Hilde.
Ella had one son Ralph - me, who married in 1966 and had two daughters both born in Walnut Creek, California: Suzanne 1968 and Lysa 1971. Lysa has a daughter, Araceli born 2003. Both daughters live in the San Francisco Bay area.

Hilde had one son Hanns (now Hank) born 1930 in Dresden. Hank married in 1956 and has two daughters both born in New Jersey: Ilene 1957 and Audrey 1961.
Ilene married in 1984 in Miami, Florida and has three children all born in Miami:
Michael 1987, Lauren 1990 and Rebekah 1994. Audrey married in 1989 in Miami and has two daughters Hillary 1990 and Rachel 1992.

SIGMUND never married.

JULIUS married Sophie Meinrath in 1904 and had two children:
Hede born 1905 in Berlin; married Jack Goldsmith in 1930 in Berlin and lived to a ripe old age in New York. They had one daughter Steffi, born 1933 in Berlin. Steffi married in 1953 in New York and had three daughters:
Lisa 1957 married with two sons: David 1983 and Benjamin 1987.
Susan 19__ married with two sons Aaron 1989 and Jesse 1992.
Andrea 1962. I met Steffi once in London and a few times in New York.
Helmut born 1908 became a physician left Berlin when Jewish doctors could only treat Jewish patients, settled in London and in 1941 in London married Alice; they had one daughter Helen b. 1945 d.1995. I often visited Helmut in London; he was the family historian and produced a Nussbaum family tree. He lived to be 95. Helen died quite young of cancer; she had two children Julia 1970 and Philip 1971. Philip married in 2000 and has one daughter.

EMIL married Alfreda in Berlin in 1920 and had one son Harry born 1921 in Berlin, died 2000 in Philadelphia. Harry married Kay Gorlitz in 1943 in New York and had three children:
Steven 1948 a physician with three children; Mathew 1973, Brian 1977 and Stacy 1981.
Linda 1952 has two children Daniel 1986 and Sarah 1992
Diana 1957
Harry was in the waste paper and packaging business in New Jersey. I met him and Kay several times in New Jersey and when they came to California.

Geography

2007-11-02T10:59:00.000-07:00

Dresden (pop 505,000) is the capital city of the German Federal Free State of Saxony. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe in eastern Germany close to the Czech border and only 2 hours from Prague. It was formerly in East Germany. During the War it was almost annihilated in the 13 and 14 February 1945 bombing by the British and American air forces. The city has been much rebuilt and is now considered the “Silicon Valley” of Germany.

Halle-an-der-Saale population 233,500 is a very old town, the composer Frederick Handle was born here in 1685. It is 1½ hours northwest of Dresden.

Hersfeld now known as Bad Hersfeld (pop 30,500)
3 hours west of Dresden and 1½ hours northeast of Frankfurt, is a thriving spa and resort city with a famous annual festival and “classic therapies like drinking or bathing cures with the mineral and salt water springs”.

Niederaula (German only) population 5,500 is half-an-hour from Hersfeld.

Stolp-in-Pommern (now Slupsk) is near Gdansk (formerly Danzig) in Poland. At the time my Father was born, Pommern (Pomerania) was a part of Germany.

NOTE
Most of the above websites have English translations available.

Nussbaum/Samuel family in Germany (Revised)

2007-11-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

PHOTOS

The four sons 0f Joel and Betty Nussbaum

This photo was taken between 1902 and 1904 in Halle-an-der-Saale.

from the left, Emil, Sigmund and Julius; Leopold is seated in front.

26 Klaus Strasse in Hersfeld, 1903?

My Great-grandmother Betty Nussbaum (left) and one of the two spinster ladies that lived upstairs; they were non-Jews and seamstresses.

The Nussbaum family has been in Saxony and neighboring Provinces since the mid 1700’s.

My Mother Ella Nussbaum was born 1901 in Halle-an-der-Saale and died 1979 in Oakland, California. Her sister Hilde, my Aunt was born 1905 also in Halle-an-der- Saale and died 1989 in Florida.

In 1925 in Dresden, Ella, later know as Ellen married my Father, Herbert Samuel (b. 1894 in Stolp-in-Pommern) and had only one child …me.

My Aunt Hilde married Arthur Braun (b. 1900 in Gniewkowitz, d. 1950 in New Jersey) in 1928 in Dresden and they had only one son, Hanns, my cousin (b. 1930 in Dresden) now known as Hank and living in Florida with his wife Enid (American born) and their two daughters and five grandchildren.

My Grandfather, Leopold (Levi) Nussbaum, father of Ella and Hilde was born in 1869 in Niederaula near Hersfeld and died 1926 in Dresden. He married Selma Braun (1876 – 1942) in Niederaula. Leopold was the eldest of the four sons of Joel Nussbaum, my Great-grandfather and Betty Blumenthal. The four brothers later moved to Halle-an-der-Saale, where the picture was taken and where Leopold’s daughters, Ella and Hilde, were born. Leopold went into business (maybe in Halle and later in Dresden, where he started the Wach- und Schliess Gesellschaft) Leopold died falling off the roof of his house in Dresden where he was supervising some repair work. My Grandmother was born 1876 in Dortmund and died 1942 in Theresienstadt.

Great-grandfather Joel Nussbaum, was a Kosher butcher at 26 Klaus Strasse in Hersfeld. He and Betty had four sons all born in Niederaula:

Leopold (Levi) the oldest, my Grandfather

Sigmund (1871 to 1917) never married and died in Belzec(?)

Julius (1879 – 1965) father of Hede Goldsmith (born 1905) and Helmut Nussbaum (born 1908). Julius was also a Kosher butcher in Berlin and New York.

Emil, the youngest (1882 – 1953) was the father of Harry Nussbaum.

Great-grandfather Joel (b. 1838 in Niederaula, d.1925 in Hersfeld) married Betty Blumenthal in Niederaula. Betty (b. 1842 in Rosenthal nr. Kassel, d. 1929, in Hersfeld) Joel was the fifth of nine children of Joseph Nussbaum and Elle Oppenheim (1807 - )

Great-great grandfather Joseph (1792 – 1826) was born and died in Niederaula. He was one of the two sons of Sussman Nussbaum (1756 – 1852) His brother Maier (1805 –) married Sarah Goldschmidt.

Great-great-great-grandfather Sussman Nussbaum born 1756 near Hausen(?), died 1852 in Niederaula. He married Sara Joseph (____ - ____)

Life During the War

2007-10-10T17:39:00.000-07:00

Photos left to right and top to bottom

The Children at Newlands 1939
Mr. Epstein with his daughter Denise and me 1942

My Father, Herbert Samuel
My Grandmother Selma Nussbaum

I lived with the Epstein family from January until September 1939, the outbreak of war. During this time Mr. Epstein hired my Mother as a general maid, allowing her to leave Germany and escape the Holocaust. I clearly remember eating dinner with the family in the dining room while my Mother ate in the kitchen.

July 1939 my aunt Hilde, her husband Arthur and son Hanns left Dresden for Shanghai, China where they spent the war years. After the war they immigrated to the U.S. and settled in New Jersey. My Uncle Arthur died in 1950, his death hastened by the terrible conditions in Shanghai.

On 1 September 1939 I was evacuated from London to Guildford in Surrey. Approximately 3½ million British children were evacuated from London and other large cities to the countryside to escape the expected bombing by the German airforce. Mrs. St. Loe Strachey, who lived alone in a large manor house at Newlands Corner on the outskirts of Guildford, took me in with seven other children. We four boys and four girls spent the rest of the war with Mrs. Strachey. Very early on she hired my mother as a sort of governess to help look after the children.

In Dresden my father was moved to several “Jew Houses” including
48 Schumanstrasse and eventually to the Judenlager Hellerberg (camp) and in 1943 was sent to Auschwitz, where, at age 49 he died.

On 25 August 1942, my Grandmother, Selma Nussbaum was #232 on the 5th Dresden transport to Theresienstadt where she died 29 December 1942.

Life in Dresden before the War

2007-09-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Original photo is marked “November 1935”. I’m front row, second from right. My cousin Hanns is behind second boy from left. My Mother always said, “Of the eight children, you, Hanns and one other boy are the only ones that survived.”

I remember first living with my Mother and Father in a large block of flats in Dresden. I remember there were other Jewish children there and we all played together. Some time later my parents and I moved to Henzestrasse 15, a three-story villa that my grandfather had built. I remember that my parents and I lived on one floor, my mother’s sister Hilde, her husband Arthur and their son Hanns (my cousin) lived on another floor and my Grandmother Selma Nussbaum, by then a widow, on another floor.

On 6 January 1939 I was sent alone to England by airplane (Q. from where; Berlin, Dresden?) under the auspices of the Kindertransports. My sponsor in England was Mr. Samuel Epstein (his memory is a blessing) of Albert Drive, Southfields, London SW. He picked my name from a list because his first name was the same as my family name and his son Peter’s middle name was Ralph.

I arrived at Croydon Airport with a sign round my neck “Ralph Samuel to be picked up by Mr. Epstein”.

INTRODUCTION

2007-09-03T15:47:00.000-07:00

I was born in Dresden, Germany in 1931 and in 1939 was sent alone on a Kindertransport to England to escape the Holocaust. I was educated in England including the University of London, School of Economics and at age 27 immigrated to the United States. I completed some postgraduate studies at City College of New York and worked as a Land Economist in Washington, D.C. I was responsible for original field research for economic studies for shopping centers and feasibility studies for urban renewal projects throughout the US. In 1961 I moved to California and settled in Oakland where I became a real estate appraiser and land acquisition specialist working for several cities and redevelopment agencies. After 25 years in public agency real estate including 7 years in the Real Estate Services Department of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) I retired.

Since retirement I have been speaking about the Holocaust at Bay Area schools. I regularly speak to public and parochial schools, to single classes and general assemblies of 250 kids plus teacher training groups as well as adult groups. Since 1997 I have spoken to more than about 2500 children, more than 500 adults and have introduced the documentary movie ”Into the Arms of Strangers; stories of the Kindertransports” several times including Q & A sessions.