Erfurt and The Spread Of Ideas

10.06.2018

Back in Berlin and before I’ve even left Schönefeld Airport Station, I’ve helped 3 Chinese tourists and directed them on the best route to visit the Reichstag Building. I seem to be able to slide into the environment quite easily here now. My intention this time is to visit Erfurt for a few days as of tomorrow. As it turns out I could probably have gone directly from Hauptbahnhof today, but I didn’t. It is such a warm sunny day that I might just take a leisurely stroll in the Tiergarten instead, once I have checked in.

As I arrive at Tiergarten on the S-bahn, the heavens avalanche with rain. I’ll do this another time. What on earth has this to do with my family history? Nothing whatsoever but what it does do is set me in context – the air they breathed, the languages they spoke and with luck, the cuisine they experienced. The latter is rather difficult in Germany, as the cuisine has largely been subsumed by an international one, especially here in Berlin. I’d need to be back in Poland for central European cuisine. Anyway, to repeat myself yet again, Berlin is a great city in which to relax with it’s laid back attitude. That it possesses this attitude is astonishing given it’s not to distant history or maybe it’s more likely to be because of it. You can re-invent yourself here. It’s just a pity I didn’t practice more German before coming here, but there was the bonus or more likely the phenomenon of warm sunny weather back home. A useful phrase until I re-acclimatise myself culturally is ‘entschuldigung, können Sie das noch einmal auf Deutsch zusagen’? Or – ‘Ich lerne gerade Deutsch’. Go on, figure it out for yourself!

11.06.2018

Erfurt; capital of the state of Thuringen, situated 300km south west of Berlin and 1h 50min by train; has to be one of the most attractive cities I have ever visited. While on the train which began it’s journey in Hamburg bound for Munich, I wonder if my fellow passengers are wondering why I’m disembarking in Erfurt. Is it an unprepossessing place? Is it a place people pass through quickly? I needn’t have bothered as many other people are getting off here. I take a short walk from the hotel to find the tourist information centre and cannot help but snap on the camera like mad. What a colourful city! Packed with history of course, and especially famous for one of it’s most noted students – Martin Luther. I’ve two whole days to explore what this city is about. I know many of these buildings postdate Luther’s time here, but if the city was as picturesque then in the early 16^th century as it is now, then it must have been an inspiration to him.

The first such building is the Krämerbrücke Bridge (Merchants Bridge) over the River Gera in the 14^th century, its timber framed buildings sit over the bridge. The Wikipedia entry informs us that ‘The bridge was part of the Via Regia, a medieval trade and pilgrims’ road network, which linked Rome with the Baltic Sea, and Moscow with Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. The Krämerbrücke is on the route from the river Rhine to Silesia. It is also on one of the main routes of the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James pilgrimage. Erfurt was at a major crossroads of the Via Regia and it became an important trading centre in the Middle Ages. It was a member of the Hanseatic League‘

I have yet to encounter any non-German visitors here which is perhaps a good thing. I may not need a city travel pass after all as most of the historical interest is located in the Altstadt. I have the impression that this would be an ideal retreat for artists, musicians, writers, in fact anyone looking for an uplifting new experience. Whether they were known then as Bach, Pachelbel, Bächer, the Pachs could well have passed this way on the Via Regia on their trade routes. Meanwhile ‘ein kleines bier bitte.’

12.06.2018.

Erfurt is of sufficient size to walk round at a leisurely pace. There is so much to see and photograph that at least two full days are to be recommended. Not only was it an important city on the trade routes and because of it, the ideas of the Reformation spread so rapidly. With Luther and a printing press located there, the taverns and coffee houses of the day would be abuzz with Luther’s propositions and the merchants would carry this new thinking with them to their own cities, towns and countries.

As elsewhere in Germany, they knew how to build churches on a grand scale and Erfurt is no different. One of the most intriguing is the Scottish-Irish missionary church built in the Romanesque style in the 12^th century. This with a Baroque style addition is still a place of worship. Above all of these, the most interesting place of worship is the Alt Synagogue, dating from the 11^th century. Jews have been connected with Erfurt for over 1,000 years. Real German citizens in other words and after surviving pogroms and the unfathomable horrors of The Shoah, this testimony to Germans of the Jewish faith stands firmly. This synagogue has survived many manifestations; as a place of worship, a store, a dance hall, and now a museum dedicated to original use and the history of the Jews of Erfurt. Copies of the Torah, fragments of the original birmah which housed the Torah are exhibited. The original wooden columns and beams have been preserved. It is a fine testament to the Germans’ efforts to go some way to atone for the past, although the events of 1933-1945 will never go away. In this all the world should learn the lesson of what extreme unjustifiable, inexplicable hatred can do. Humanity will always have that dark side no matter how civilised it considers itself to be. It embarrasses me rather, as a Polish citizen, that the current Polish regime is trying to exculpate Polish wrongs to its citizens of the Jewish faith. Whatever the Law and Justice Party may say the Holocaust is primarily a Jewish catastrophe. If they want to include all victims, then make sure the greatest part is dedicated to the European Jews who lost their lives.

The cathedral complex dedicated to St.Mary is the oldest church in Erfurt, situated on a higher part of the city alongside the citadel.

It’s probably the wrong time of the year to be eating this, but I’m going to attempt a Thuringian speciality and hope it’s not something evocative of winter – but so what if it is! I also think I can understand my father’s liking for asparagus (‘spargel’ in German) and sauerkraut. I also understand why the cuisine of the countries of central Europe is so similar once you study the trade routes. Ah, here it comes – and this Thuringian speciality is certainly tasty even though it turns out to be the English equivalent of sausage and mash; although without a pool of gravy and sauerkraut in place of onions. A coincidence – the restaurant owner is originally from Ferrara in Emiglio-Romagna in Italy is a timely encounter as I will be attending Italian language classes again in autumn. It’s gratifying to learn that I remember much vocabulary and can have a conversation in Italian, despite the fact that the owner speaks fluent German and English too.

A visit to Erfurt is incomplete without a tour of the Augustinian Abbey Church, located on the site of the original abbey where Martin Luther spent his time as an Augustinian monk.

13.06.2018

Erfurt has undergone, and is still at the stage of extensive renovation since the DDR was incorporated into the Bundesrepublik Deutschland and many of the original buildings have been renovated to their former splendour and then some more. One building on Johannestraße has two figure heads with gaping mouths located on either side of the entrance gate. These were beer holes where hoses led from the beer wagons on the street directly into the beer cellar of the building.

Moving on to the church on Schottenstraße, which as the name suggests, is located the Irish-Scottish missionary church mentioned in yesterday’s entry. This is another example of the wide, long forgotten Scottish connection to continental Europe. One thing that is striking about the churches is that they were originally Roman Catholic and were simply taken over by the Lutheran reformers without any of the features being destroyed unlike the vandalism wreaked in Scotland by the Christian Taliban called Calvinists. A terrible shame. Irish Calvinists still do this, not to churches but to ideas they don’t agree with. Back to Scotland and what an unforgivable waste of our heritage.

I read about and extensive garden complex on the outskirts of Erfurt known as Egapark. It is a 50 minute walk and so, naturally, I take the tram. What a place it is! It has everything and more you might expect from a garden complex, including a tower from which you can get a 360°view of the surroundings of the city. The DDR had the Stasi, the Berlin Wall but it also provided this; one of Communism’s contradictions. Some things from that era were worthwhile and here is one. Enjoy this collection of photographs.

A final walk around this fine old city which has captured my imagination beyond anything I had anticipated. So here are a few more fun photos of Erfurt.

14.06.2018

I would have needed an extra day here as there is an area on the other side of the main railway line which I have not had the chance to explore. There is always another time. Bis bald Erfurt!

Was it by chance that I brought ‘The Book Thief’, by Marcus Zusak, to read. Set in Nazi Germany near Munich it portrays the tragedy, seen through the eyes of ‘Death’ of Liesel and her adoptive parents Hans and Rosa and Liesel’s friend Rudy, of life during World War 2. As with ‘Alone in Berlin’ Hans Fallada’s novel, it’s the extraordinary acts of heroism performed by ordinary people against the pervasive force of a totalitarian state that will in the end destroy itself with its own savagery. I managed to make my way through 75 pages just sitting in the sunshine back in Berlin on the banks of the River Spree. A productive way to laze through a couple of hours.

15.06.2018

I cannot put the ‘Book Thief’ down; it’s compulsive. All the time I think of the treatment of Germans of the Jewish faith and of all Europeans of the Jewish faith in the 1930’s, I compare it to what is unfolding today in the world. Populism is on the rise, right wing papers scream invective of the other and preach patriotism when in fact it is an ugly nationalism. We could descend into the same abyss again and to think it is less than 100 years since the rise of Nazism. Could we really repeat that? Intellectuals and experts branded an elite working against ordinary people. If this is to be averted perhaps Berlin would serve as a warning of the aftermath of populist excess.

As a break from the book I visit the hall of mirrors. Not only do you have to find the exit, but you have to find the missing code which opens the four digit code to enter. One thing I notice from the multi-directional mirrored walls is that my bald bit is a bit bigger than I imagined. All this has absolutely zilch to do with me tracing my ancestral connection – just a bit of light-hearted nonsense.

16.06.2018

A change today – a trip to the citadel of Spandau. I hope there will be different things to see. This is not the Spandau prison where Hess, Speer and the others served their prison sentences. I hope there might be places to sit and read more of the ‘Book Thief’ – places by the Havel and Spree rivers.

First impressions of Spandau itself…well, it’s certainly not going to surpass Erfurt. In fact if you excuse the pun, not much ‘effort’ has been expended in sprucing the place up. The citadel is well worth a visit with a detailed historic display and museum. All well worth the modest entry fee. There archaeological exhibition shows the stages of Spandau’s development from the fort built by the Slavic tribes in medieval times to the citadel built the Electors of Brandenburg on top of the original fort. Included are a number of Jewish tombstones, inscribed in Hebrew and the earliest dated back to the late 14^th century. A beautiful acknowledgement of the Jewish heritage of this area. I have never seen such a collection of statues such as are housed in…. and as you walk through the historic decades of Spandau you arrive at a dark space with only an audio display of the uniform, thud of jackboots and the voice of Hitler… no pictures only sound. Very eerie. the photograph below is by courtesy of wikipedia as I cannot locate my own photographs.

This visit to Germany has further placed me in context of where my ancestors moved. If you stop for a moment and meditate, you can really imagine them here. 

Ends.