Thanks to ian in hamburg and LuLu's Bay for playing along. The couple I met explained to me that they were Hungarians.
Hungarians with German as their primary language?
But of course! They explained--> Germans of Hungary
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Interesting exhibit in Germany
If you happen to be near one of these cities, D caught this exhibit when it was in our neck of the woods and recommends it. He mentioned that all explanatory text was pretty much in German, although there were some photos, so it could perhaps still be interesting even if your German is minimal.
http://www.zug-der-erinnerung.de/fahrplan.html
http://www.zug-der-erinnerung.de/fahrplan.html
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Friday night: Kristallnacht remembrance in Germany
On Friday night, Nov 9 (the anniversary of Kristallnacht) we went to an evening program of a local church. Neither of us have any affiliation with this church, nor do we know of anyone who attends this church as it is not near where either of us live, but rather it's near the office. However, it was also noted in the local newspaper in advance, so we went.
The evening started with an overview of the number of children in the Cologne Jewish school before Kristallnacht and then today, and then an introduction of the main speaker whose name is Henry. He started off by telling us that he was born in Cologne and about his early childhood years of playing soccer in the streets of Cologne Ehrenfeld with his friends. However, all of that changed one day when his Catholic friends told him that he could no longer play with them.
On the actual night of Kristallnacht he remembers (the SA or SS, I missed which) came to his house. They threw the family's furniture out the window. He remembers their neighbors just standing there and watching, not saying anything. At this point there was a musical break, and a pianist played something from Bach.
Fortunately, he was sent on a Kindertransport to the UK where he made many friends. At the end of the war, these friends scattered around the globe: to the US, Canada, Israel, etc. His sister was a bit older so she didn't get to go on the transport, and was killed in Auschwitz. Around this part my German started to go downhill, so I missed a bit as to what he did next, beyond stay in the UK. However, he decided to return to Germany 35 years ago, and both D and I missed his reason for coming back then.
Next the Jewish choir from D'dorf sang with piano accompaniment. There were some short readings after that by children in the local school, who went in pairs to read some historical data. Then Henry came back and had a scripted interview with two of the children who asked him such questions as 'do you hate the Germans for what they did?' (the answer was no). Finally, the choir sang again a few songs, but this time in German, with a closing song in in Hebrew or Yiddish, inviting the audience to join in the hand clapping.
The evening closed with the church leader (I think), thanking each group for their contribution to the evening while the audience continued to clap during his two minutes of thank yous. As the crowd filed out, there were two unattended baskets at the exit where people could give money. Having come from the Catholic tradition, there are plenty of baskets for money, but never unattended where I come from. I was further surprised that there were large bills in the unattended baskets, such as 50's. The choir had a bus waiting to ferry them back to D'dorf.
Overall it was an interesting Friday evening. There were perhaps 200 people in the audience, and only 2 people left during the entire evening. We lingered a few additional minutes to read some of the materials they had posted on the walls. They had some local histories of other people who were in this Cologne school and who had also gone on the Kindertransport, and what had happened to them since. Most featured were now living in Israel. They also had some historical info on the school, before/during/after Kristallnacht.
The evening started with an overview of the number of children in the Cologne Jewish school before Kristallnacht and then today, and then an introduction of the main speaker whose name is Henry. He started off by telling us that he was born in Cologne and about his early childhood years of playing soccer in the streets of Cologne Ehrenfeld with his friends. However, all of that changed one day when his Catholic friends told him that he could no longer play with them.
On the actual night of Kristallnacht he remembers (the SA or SS, I missed which) came to his house. They threw the family's furniture out the window. He remembers their neighbors just standing there and watching, not saying anything. At this point there was a musical break, and a pianist played something from Bach.
Fortunately, he was sent on a Kindertransport to the UK where he made many friends. At the end of the war, these friends scattered around the globe: to the US, Canada, Israel, etc. His sister was a bit older so she didn't get to go on the transport, and was killed in Auschwitz. Around this part my German started to go downhill, so I missed a bit as to what he did next, beyond stay in the UK. However, he decided to return to Germany 35 years ago, and both D and I missed his reason for coming back then.
Next the Jewish choir from D'dorf sang with piano accompaniment. There were some short readings after that by children in the local school, who went in pairs to read some historical data. Then Henry came back and had a scripted interview with two of the children who asked him such questions as 'do you hate the Germans for what they did?' (the answer was no). Finally, the choir sang again a few songs, but this time in German, with a closing song in in Hebrew or Yiddish, inviting the audience to join in the hand clapping.
The evening closed with the church leader (I think), thanking each group for their contribution to the evening while the audience continued to clap during his two minutes of thank yous. As the crowd filed out, there were two unattended baskets at the exit where people could give money. Having come from the Catholic tradition, there are plenty of baskets for money, but never unattended where I come from. I was further surprised that there were large bills in the unattended baskets, such as 50's. The choir had a bus waiting to ferry them back to D'dorf.
Overall it was an interesting Friday evening. There were perhaps 200 people in the audience, and only 2 people left during the entire evening. We lingered a few additional minutes to read some of the materials they had posted on the walls. They had some local histories of other people who were in this Cologne school and who had also gone on the Kindertransport, and what had happened to them since. Most featured were now living in Israel. They also had some historical info on the school, before/during/after Kristallnacht.
Monday, March 05, 2007
A visit to a German cemetery
While reading this book, it mentioned a memorial in the cemetery in the tiny town of B. Both D. and I have independently visited this cemetery, but neither of us have seen this memorial, so we decided to take advantage of the nice weather on Sunday and take a stroll over there.
Because it was Sunday around lunchtime, church had just let out so it was quite full of people taking their post-church stroll, but I took a few photos when no one was around. Here is one of the main walkways.
Here is where the watering cans are located. They work like the shopping carts at the supermarket, you put in your one euro deposit and you can release the chain and use the item. Then, when you hook the chain back in when you are finished, you get your deposit back.
Here is the WW2 graves, every cemetery here seems to have a little section like this tucked away somewhere.
Here is a big monument near the entrance. (Not the one we were seeking, but still interesting.) It mentions Wilhelm 1815 and 1866.
This is the back of the same monument. It's the same eagle you see on the one on the front, except this one's head was chopped off and the red cup next to him is a candle that looked to have been burned in the recent past.
Obviously what we are seeking is well hidden. More photos from the adventure still to come.
Because it was Sunday around lunchtime, church had just let out so it was quite full of people taking their post-church stroll, but I took a few photos when no one was around. Here is one of the main walkways.
Here is where the watering cans are located. They work like the shopping carts at the supermarket, you put in your one euro deposit and you can release the chain and use the item. Then, when you hook the chain back in when you are finished, you get your deposit back.
Here is the WW2 graves, every cemetery here seems to have a little section like this tucked away somewhere.
Here is a big monument near the entrance. (Not the one we were seeking, but still interesting.) It mentions Wilhelm 1815 and 1866.
This is the back of the same monument. It's the same eagle you see on the one on the front, except this one's head was chopped off and the red cup next to him is a candle that looked to have been burned in the recent past.
Obviously what we are seeking is well hidden. More photos from the adventure still to come.
Monday, February 26, 2007
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