More Castles

You'd think it would be easy to get kids to go see castles and/or castles ruins.  I mean, they're castles.  But apparently they have a limit to how many they want to see.  So sometimes you have to take kids, against their wills, to see castles and/or castles ruins.  The good news is, they usually end up enjoying themselves, despite the initial protests, and everyone comes away happy.  This may or may not have something to do with getting gelato ;)

 

Eppstein Castle - founded in the 10th century. We climbed up the tower, and Madelyn thought she was going to die. Overlooks a cute little town and beautiful valley.

 

 

Eltville Castle - Built in 1330. Right on the Rhein River, and surrounded by beautiful gardens.  There was a wedding party there when we visited, and really, it's a perfect place.  They even had part of the fence along the river designated for locks of love!  The town itself is such a cute little town, and we walked around and got ourselves some gelato.

 

Biebrich Palace and Mosburg. Joe and I had been to the palace before, but the kids hadn't, and we hadn't walked the extensive grounds/park, or seen the Mosburg, which was built in 1805 on the foundation of a medieval moated castle.  There is a great biking/walking path through the whole area.  We only had Madelyn and Alex with us (the older kids were at another activity), and you would have thought we were taking the little kids on the Pioneer Trek instead of a nice leisurely stroll through a park at a palace. Their legs hurt.  They were dying.  They couldn't go another step. (This was mostly Madelyn) Miraculously, when we found a playground at the end of our walk, they made a speedy recovery and were able to play for a while.

 

Last one, Hiedleberg Castle.  Again, Joe and I have been there without the kids, but this time we specifically went to see the annual illumination of the castle and fireworks show.  We went with some friends, and went really early so we could get good seats.  Really early.  Some got there at 4.  We got there at 6.  The show started at 10.  There were a LOT of people.  People lined both sides of the river, and people in boats filled the river. It's kind of funny because the whole thing is in commemoration of the many times that Heidelberg has been invaded, destroyed, set on fire, etc.  But the fireworks also date back to a tradition started in 1613 when the Elector-Palatine brought his new bride to Heidelberg, and arranged to have fireworks to greet her.  During the first part of the celebration the castle is lit up in red, and it looks like it's on fire.  Then there are fireworks, first coming off the top of the castle itself, and then from the old bridge of the Neckar River.  It was really fun to see, even if we did have to wait forever and brave the crowds ;) I didn't get great pictures, but here's what I got.

 

 

There will be more castles in our future, and I hope that my kids know that we're not trying to kill them.  I hope that they will look back over these times and have fond memories and realize how lucky they were.

Stolpersteine Walking Tour

I had a great opportunity to chaperone a walking field trip of Wiesbaden with Cora and the 8th graders here.  It was specifically focused on Jewish history and the Stolpersteine, or stumbling stones, around the city.  I've mentioned the stumbling stones before on here, but I learned a few things, and I will talk more about those later. 

Our first stop was Gedenkort Schlachthoframpe.

The last large deportation of Jews from Weisbaden (370 people) was September 1, 1942, from this location behind the Train Station. 

Instead of going to the actual train station, they went to the schlachthof, which is a slaughterhouse for animals, often located next to train stations.  Then they were crammed into cattle cars, and sent to the extermination camps.  At the memorial here, chestnut trees line the way to a mural, painted by graffiti spray-paint artist Yorkar7, depicting a photo-realistic look at the arrival and registration of deportees.

The trees are in sandstone holders inscribed with words from letters of the deportees.

Okay, I have to sidetrack for a second here.  This is the slaughterhouse.

As you can see, it is completely covered with graffiti.  But come to find out, this area of the city is a designated and legal place for graffiti.  You have to register, sometimes with a workshop, and you have to follow certain rules (like nothing racist, sexist, violent, etc, respect other artists/images, and things like that).  Anyway, I was blown away by some of the art there. It is really cool to see.

Okay, now back to the field trip.  Our next stop was the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma, which are gypsy groups.  Obviously, the Jewish people were not the only victims of the Nazis, and this memorial shows a group of men, women, and children being crushed under a heavy load.

Next was the Aktives Museum, which currently has a small display of anti-Semitic propaganda - stamps, matchbooks, leaflets, etc., all telling about how the greatest evil is the Jews, and it's there fault for the war, blah, blah, blah.  Also advertisements for Jewish-free hotels and the like.  Sad stuff.  (by the way, the Aktives Museum is also involved with the stumbling stones here in Wiesbaden, which I'll talk about later)

We also stopped at the sight of the former synagogue, which was burned to the ground in 1938. 

 
It was one of the most beautiful buildings in Wiesbaden, and it's a shame it's not still there. 

In its place is this memorial wall, which has the names of 1,507 Wiesbaden victims.

Inside the Rathaus (town hall), there is a small memorial room of Jewish life.  They have a really cool video that shows a virtual reconstruction of the old synagogue.  This display (below) has a mirror opposite it, and you have to look in the mirror to read what it says. 

Part of it says (rough translation), "As a Jew, they were step-by-step gradually forced out of society.  Their shops were boycotted, they were persecuted, dispossessed, and later forced to emigrate.  Their synagogues were burned, and businesses were looted and destroyed.  Those who couldn't emigrate tried to flee to save their lives.  Many did not succeed.  Parents tried desperately to save their children by sending them abroad.  Soon, those who could not save themselves had to wear the yellow star, were deported to concentration camps, forced into slave labor, tortured and murdered...and then...they were gone.

The whole time we were walking around the Wiesbaden, we were also on the lookout for the stumbling stones, and took pictures of the ones we found. 

Previously, I was under the impression that this project was started by the government, but it wasn't - the stumbling stones are a project of the artist Gunter Demnig from Cologne, to commemorate the victims of the Nazi-regime.  Demnig's motto is,

"A human being is only forgotten when his name is forgotten."

The brass-plated paving stones are put into the public sidewalk in front of the house where the person had last freely chosen residence.  The inscription says, "Here lived...", followed by the dates of birth, deportation, and death. In this way, Demnig brings the victims of the Nazi terror back into the neighborhoods where they were taken from. 

Everyone passing by who wants to read the inscription, by lowering his head, makes a little bow to the victim.  I love that!

This European art project is now the biggest non-central memorial worldwide.  At present, nearly 35,000 stumbling stones lie in over 600 locations in Europe (Germany, Austria, France, Poland, etc.)  Below is a video about this project.  The video is a little old, but it tells about their website and what they do.

I don't know how it is in other cities, but here in Wiesbaden, in 2004, the local city parliament decided to support the project, and helps place the stones (obviously the artist Demnig cannot place ALL the stones himself).  And a local museum, the Aktives Museum Spiegelgasse for German-Jewish history, is responsible for the research of each family and individual, and the organizational aspects of placing the stones. There are currently 509 stones in Wiesbaden.  Individuals and groups sponsor each stone, which costs 120 Euro.  In 2014 five stumbling stones were laid in memory of the Weiser family.  The Wiesbaden Middle School JLS (Junior Leadership Seminar) purchased one stone in memory of Adolf Wieser, the teenaged son of Hermann and Ester.

Overall, this was a wonderful fieldtrip.  It took a LOT of parent volunteers to help make this happen (for security reasons we had to stay in small groups and spread out).  Everyone learned a lot, and we were all touched by the stories of the Jewish people who made Wiesbaden their home.