The famous story of Faust was written in a restaurant located in this shopping pavilion.
The home of the Stasi headquarters,
Outside of traveling to Berlin, I have not explored any of the cities on the east side of Germany. I don't know about you, but sometimes I have a hard time separating Germany from its history of WWII, but Germany has so much more to it than that history. Leipzig is the home of the composer Johann Bach who served as the cantor at St. Thomas church for many years. His works are phenomenal. Leipzig is also the home of the beginning of the end of the Berlin Wall where peaceful protestors gathered in St. Nicholas church. First, it was 100 people then quickly more people joined the protests eventually leading to the fall of the wall. It is the home of Leipzig University. The university was founded in 1409 and is the alma mater of the current chancellor Angela Merkel and writer Johann Goethe. Other notable alumni include Felix Bloch, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Richard Wagner. While we spent a day in the city, there really is enough to do that one could spend a couple of days in this lovely city. I would have loved to have had time to see the Stasi museum. Our friend Marc Shultz was a great tour guide. At the end of our tour, Frank took the children to find kid-friendly food, and I ate with a friend of my sons who he met while serving as a missionary here last year -Marita Karl. It was a lovely day.
Comments
Never had the pleasure of visiting Leipzig... My first cousin has a wife from Leipzig and I'm friend with her on FB. One of our German sons' wife has a brother who lives there. So there were connections with stories and images but that's all.
I've done consulting work in the Bremen area and we of course went frequently to the Eifel region. My late husband's Mom came from there. His Dad was a prisoner of war, forced labor at farms in that region and that was how he met his future wife. She came with him to The Netherlands and was received with throwing of eggs, tomatoes...
That is a stupid reaction for taking things out on the people after any war. A war started by a dictator that was not representative of the hearts of all people!
Oh, how I had to plead with my Dad, sitting on his lap and begging him for letting my Eifel friend Marlene with her fiancée stay with us in our home. NO GERMAN under my roof was Dad's reply but of course I won and later I took Mom & Dad many times to the Eifel and they met the WWII veteran, Marlene's Dad who got crippled while fighting in Russia... Dad cried and said, yes, I now see that there was involuntary suffering on both sides. That is the truth! So glad for having been a young teen diplomat for achieving that and still keep many fond memories of those trips taking them back. Even shortly before immigrating to the USA. Bad Münstereifel on the River Erft was a favorite and only sad knowing that the recent flood has destroyed lots of that gem...
History is to be learned from but we ought to separate the humans and their beautiful architecture, poetry, music like Johann Sebastian Bach! THAT is far stronger than any negative war memories.
It was always very touching when Pieter and I took our American colleagues from Campbell Soup or friends, to the German WWII cemetery near my hometown. In Ysselstein there are grave markers from German 'kids' 16 years of age that perished the day before the end of the war. Look at your sons and swallow that.
No, for you too it is far better to distance yourself from that connection and indulge in the many great things that can be admired there.
Am I speaking loudly here about my genetic background...?! YES I am and funny but to this day in our home, I always search for the German perfection of things to buy. All our appliance is Miele, the Rolls Royce of Appliance and not only the technical part but the energy efficient way! German perfection...
Big hugs and soak it up and share some of it with others.
Mariette