Leipzig – The City Of Bach

29.09.2017

One final twist. A Scottish couple who are also guests in this hotel tell me about a newly opened exhibition dedicated to the contribution by the people of Lwów, who came here in 1945, to Wrocław. Would you believe it! Just one day too late. One of them gives me a brochure that explains the exhibition. Next time definitely.

I’m glad I came to Dresden by bus. It really would not have been worth the risk with all those train connections. The bus arrived ahead of schedule in 22ºC heat. This time I remember to withdraw money from the ATM in €20 denominations.

On to Leipzig, my first time here. The train stopped en route at a town called Riesa. From what I could see from the train window, it looks like it ought to be twinned with Częstochowa and not for The Madonna reasons. It looks like the place the world forgot. I’ve noticed that the people who live in what was East Germany seem to look poorer and less healthy than their compatriots from West Germany. Without a quantum leap forward, I doubt they will ever catch up. Yes improvements have been made, to Dresden and Leipzig for example, but even here the ghosts of the recent past still haunt. I wonder, will they ever shake off their past? Other places we passed on the train look so dull and depressing. The abandoned hulks of factories, rusting rolling stock and stations that look like they have been partly demolished and then the demolition squads lost interest. I did not see any of this from the bus because the road cuts through countryside. Another shock on this side of Germany will certainly be the numbers of incomers. Before 1989, East Germans hardly ever saw a foreigner. I can understand, without condoning, why they turned to the far-right at the last election. Nothing to do with wanting fascism back. The far-right populists, like those elsewhere cannot solve problems by blaming everyone else. It must have been a shock; sudden re-unification, so far behind West Germany’s standard of living, only to be inundated with non-Germans, who they imagine get the federal government’s attention before theirs. Both indigenous and outsiders have issues that need urgent answers before Alternative for Germany is replaced by or morphs into something nastier.

At first sight I’m much less enthusiastic about this city than the four I visited in Poland. There seems less vibrancy and as for the selection of food (bear in mind it is still my first impression) it is about the same as Britain except with more varieties of sausage. At this moment I feel that my task was done and I’m ready to go home.

A quotation, attributed to Aristotle and not Homer Simpson is inscribed on the wall in the hotel room:

‘Ziel der Kunst ist nicht die Darstellung der äuẞeren Erscheinung der Dinge, sondern ihrer inneren Bedeutung. Denn die – und nicht äuẞerer Manierismus beziehungsweise (bzw). Detailarbeit – ist die wahre Wirklichkeit’

‘The aim of art is not the representation of the external appearance of things but their inner meaning. Because this, and not exclusive mannerism or detail retrospectively, is the true reality.’

30.09.2017

Like Polish, my German has temporarily evaporated. It will return once I acclimatise my ear. TV is a  very useful medium for that, even if they are the same cringeworthy standard as in Britain.

Leipzig is clearly stuffed with history. Its old buildings in the centre exude that history, evident in the precise detail the master builders and master craftsmen nurtured their work. Unfortunately they compete with the philistine style of the Stalinists who, treating the old buildings with criminal indifference, saw fit to shove their archetypal shoddy boxes that posed as houses among these old buildings. They are no more than an invasive species. Equally so the opaque glass monuments to capitalist commerce thrown up in the dash to profit after 1989. Like the people their character is squeezed on all sides. The protesters at the Leipzig church of St. Nicholas could not have foreseen the outcome of their justifiable protests against the East German regime in 1989.

A group of singers,I think they must have come from South America because they have Indian appearances and are singing in Spanish – migrants perhaps but they are entertaining rather than begging. They deserve some money in their box. I hope they make it here.

I forgot that Johann Sebastian Bach is buried here in St.Thomas’s Church. Bach – Pach; maybe he was a relative after all and this is the reason I’ve been directed to Leipzig! Basking in that bit of make believe I’ll continue. While sitting in this beautiful Lutheran Church, I am reminded that Bach and Martin Luther share the same birthplace – Eisenach – which is situated just over 200km west of Leipzig in the neighbouring federal state of Thuringia.

I get the impression Leipzig is not quite ready for foreign tourists. There are few tours in anything other than German and I’ve yet to see any more than one or two Chinese or Koreans here which is a clear sign that outside Germany Leipzig is relatively undiscovered.

There is a choir rehearsal in St. Thomas’s at the moment. The entry fee to the church is €1, listening to the rehearsal – free. It is very relaxing. I am no classical connoisseur but I feel quite moved by the beauty of this music. Worth this short time in Leipzig.

The market place is completely different from last night; it’s swarming and you can’t help but get sucked in. How many sausages can they consume? And then a novelty, an open air wine bar – that’s it – Gewurztraminer. How my mother would have enjoyed this particular spot. If there was to be a World Cup for eating and drinking, Germany and Poland would monopolise it all the time. Ah, if only I could see the archetypal example of Germans – sitting at long tables, downing the excellent beer and guzzling sausages while on stage a group of accordion backed singers serenade.

Click the Play button and sing along

I’ll find a place to eat this evening away from the curry, the sushi, pizzas and bratwurst, McDonald’s and Burger King and old fashioned place serving German food. I know it’s heavy but I want something different. Beside St. Thomaskirche there is a small restaurant called Bachstüb’l in honour of the great man himself. I’m sitting here being looked down on by the statute of my distant relative Johann Sebastian Bach. Prost Johnny! Picture the scene; I’m about to put the first piece of schnitzel that I’ve been looking forward to into my mouth and along comes the bin lorry on the afternoon shift. An accordionist runs through his repertoire of Beethoven, Brahms but not Bach. Baroque and the accordion probably don’t sit well together. Great fun though.

A question. How do you know which tourists are which? The British are the ones walking in the cycle lanes. The German sit at long beer filled tables. The Chinese go round in large groups like a shoal of herring because they get lost when split from the group.

01.10.2017

Today I’ll explore Leipziger Messe which is Leipzig Fair as it’s advertised everywhere. It turns out to be a series of glass buildings for conferences and in the middle a massive glass dome under which parents can spend lots and lots of money on their kids. Fair rides, bouncy castles, activities and hobbies and things to buy and eat. The place is surrounded by restaurants reached by glass corridors away from the dome. The people are pouring in here off shuttle buses. It’s not quite the size of Eurodisney but getting there. It’s not for me but the tram ride was enjoyable.

My next destination seems even more inauspicious. The Panometer, housed in an old converted gasworks presents exhibitions seen from a 360° perspective. It is evacuated because of a fire alarm. Time to sit on the tram and refer to the Leipzig Guide for recommended bistros for snacks – Handbrotzeit – and there is a discount for card holders. Closed on Sundays. This bistro is in Nikolasstaße just beside St. Nikolas Church from where the anti-government protests and demonstrations in 1989 emanated. It is closed due to illness. This run of luck culminates in my taking a seat in the Bachstüb’l restaurant where I was last night only to be told the restaurant closes early on Sunday. You really couldn’t make this up. Next door is a restaurant pub selling the local Thomaskirche beer and food also. I don’t know quite what happened but a Pole, a German, an Englishman, an Irishman and myself are in the middle of some great conversation. It goes to prove that anything can happen at any time.

02.10.2017

Final day in Leipzig. The forecast of rain on the weather app keeps deferring so I’ll do as much as I can while it stays away.

Finally got to Panometer; yesterday’s fire alarm was just that. And the exhibition….the Titanic. Call it snowballs to eskimos? Would you believe it! All this way……for the Titanic! I’m done with that and I have no wish to spend €10 on something I already know. Tomorrow begins a new exhibition – the Great Barrier Reef; now that would have been worth seeing.

The people here are friendly in a quiet kind of way. On my way to the Panometer and looking confusedly at the city map, a woman asked if I needed directions and I was able to follow what she was saying. Shortly after in a cafe I dropped the lid of my pen and could not see where it had gone but someone else saw it lying in one of the joints in the cobblestones and picked it up for me. They don’t crowd you out with hospitality but are generous when they offer it.  The stereotypical image of the Germans drinking nothing but beer in large steins, swilling it all over the place, as depicted by British comedy sketch writers is about as true as the Scots all going about in kilts. From what I have seen, wine is more popular; at least in Leipzig. There are a few reminders of darker days in Leipzig and one sculpture depicts a figure with one arm raised in a Nazi salute and the other clenched left fist which used to depict Communism with the legs in a goosestep which was the parade march of both the German Army and later East German Army. This sculpture is described as Political Art and is one of many placed around the city, not all of which are political.

St.Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche) is open today. This and St.Thomaskirche are both Lutheran but you could mistake them for Roman Catholic churches. There is the image on the cross, there are candles on the altar and there are also votive candles. It’s Protestant but far removed from Presbyterianism. What would the Johns Calvin and Knox have made of all this? Ian Paisley? Don’t think he liked the Germans anyway so it wouldn’t have mattered.

Tramcars are such an efficient way to get around a city. I’ve been impressed by how well the systems seem to be planned here and in Poland. The one’s we do have in Britain seem well organised too. Why don’t they invest in something like this rather than high speed trains to run on infrastructure not fit for purpose?

Visiting Leipzig has nothing to do with family history research but everything to do with the environment my ancestors experienced. Poland and Germany’s history is so closely intertwined and because some of my family tree originally came from Germany it’s important to form a context. Intermarriage especially among the middle and genrty classes was commonplace and so you had Poles with German surnames and vice versa. The Jewish population especially the non-religious people intermarried also. Poland had a difficult history with Prussia and so did many of the German states especially Saxony which had closer ties to Poland; indeed King Augustus The Strong of Poland was also Duke of Saxony. You have to remember that Germany has existed for under 200 years and the notion of German was as a language only. Leipzig for example was in the state of Saxony before the Prussian Empire swallowed up all the German speaking states. After the reunion of Germany in 1990, the federal state of Saxony was re-created. And that’s Leipzig for now. I’ve seen it. Will I be back? Who knows?. My first impression was I admit now, incorrect.

Ends