Erfurt and Weimar
It is difficult to believe that we are nearing the end of week 5 already! Students are feeling very comfortable in and around Jena but they are also getting ready for new adventures on service!
Weimar
On
May 22, we took a field trip to Weimar: a city with "several faces," according
to our guide Bernd Zickler
- Weimar is the city of Germany's classical literary and philosophical ideals in the 18th century, where Goethe lived and wrote.
- Weimar is the city that gave its name to the first democratic government to rule Germany between 1919 and 1933, a time that some might describe as barely controlled chaos.
- Weimar was celebrated as the cultural capital of Europe in 1999 (Kulturstadt Europas) in honor of the 250th anniversary of Goethe's birth.
- Weimar is also surrounded by hills and the forests of beech trees that gave the name to the concentration camp Buchenwald, built on a windy hill 8 km outside of town in 1937 as a work camp (Arbeitslager).
Our
first stop that day was Buchenwald, where our guide gave a moving
and thought-provoking tour of the camp. In the photo, the clock at the
entrance is stopped at 3:15--the time that the camp was liberated by
the Americans.
The afternoon was spent in the city of Weimar pondering the contrasts and yet many reminders of the layers of history that constantly confront us here. Highlights:
- Intro to classical
Weimar: across from the theater is the Bauhaus museum, dedicated
to a revolutionary concept of utilitarian art in the Weimar Republic.
A
statue of Shakespeare in the castle gardens of the Weimar dukes reminds
us of the Bard's influence on 18th century German drama.
- Bernd reveals to Geoff that no Romantic garden in the English style
is complete without a
ruin, even if it has to be fake!
Erfurt
On
Wednesday, May 30, we enjoyed beautiful weather for our excursion to
the state capital of Thringen (Thuringia): Erfurt.
At the intersection of major trade routes that crossed eastern Europe
in the Middle Ages, Erfurt was founded in 742 by the Irish monk St.
Boniface (Irish and English monks were instrumental in the Christianization
of central and northern Europe in the 8th through the 10th 
centuries).
Due to restoration efforts over the last 10 years, we could admire 500-year-old
buildings that displayed the wealth and prominence that Erfurt merchants
had gained by the time of the Renaissance buildings that had foundations
that were much older.
The
layers of history confronted us again: 8th century foundations, the
spectacular Gothic cathedral (Mariendom) and church of St. Severin
from the 13th century on the Domhgel, the Augustinian cloister
where Martin Luther studied in the first decade of the 16th century...to
the first meeting of East and West German officials (East German foreign
minister Willi Sto§ and West German chancellor Willy Brandt) in 1970
in the hotel across from the main train station (Hauptbahnhof).
We can see evidence everywhere of Willy Brandt's prophetic words from 1989/90: "Jetzt wchst zusammen, was zusammengehrt." ("Now will grow together that which belongs together.") We can also see evidence that the process is not easy or simple.
- More snapshots from Erfurt.
The weekend of Pentecost is coming up (Pfingsten), which means a holiday for most Europeans on the Monday following (Pfingstmontag). On Pentecost Sunday, GC alum Todd Burkhalter has arranged for us to take an afternoon trip through part of the Saale valley-and of course no German excursion or hike is complete without appropriate cuisine to enjoy at the destination!
