More Pictures From Niederaula

Photos
Niederaula #011, 09, 012


Here are more pictures from Niederaula.

Looking for Great-grandfather Joel

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

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

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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

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)

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)

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.