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| Regensburg waterfront |
The following day, we visited
another beautiful German town –Regensburg – and we were treated to some
decent weather. When we signed up for
our tour, we opted to be in the expanded session that interwove the history –
generally a sad history – of Jews in Regensburg. Our tour guide, Manuela, was
extraordinary. She was a professor and researcher specializing in oppression of
ethic, gender and cultural groups. It was the best tour of the trip. And, oddly, I didn't get a picture of her. Situated at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen Rivers, Regensburg is the fourth-largest city in Bavaria.
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| Regensburg |
Regensburg actually dates back to
the Stone Age and, around AD 90, the Romans built a fort there to protect the
town from marauding Germanic troops in the north. It was replaced in 179 by a
Castra Regina ("fortress by the river Regen") built during the reign
of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. During late Roman times, the city was the seat of a
bishop; St. Boniface re-established the Bishopric of Regensburg in 739. The
fortress had exceptionally thick stone walls, which are still standing. Much
has been plastered over throughout the years to match the aesthetics of the
time. But, the construction was so sturdy, the underlying structures were never
removed – and some have had some plaster removed so you can see them.
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| Ancient Roman walls peek out of the plaster |
From about 530 to the first half
of the 13th century, Regensburg was the capital of Bavaria. Regensburg remained
an important city during the reign of Charlemagne.
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| Regensburg Cathedral |
The city played a major role
in Christianization of the Czechs, which had wide impact on the cultural
history of the Czech lands, which became part of the Roman Catholic and not the
Slavic-Orthodox world.
In 1096, on the way to the First
Crusade, Crusaders attempted to force the mass conversion of the Jews of
Regensburg and killed all those who resisted.
It wasn’t the last time Jews were
targeted in Regensburg.
Between 1135 and 1146, the Stone
Bridge across the Danube was built at Regensburg, which immediately established
the city as a major trade route between northern Europe and Venice. Most
bridges were wooden and prone to being washed away on a regular basis. The
Stone Bridge, which is currently undergoing major restoration right now,
brought great prosperity to the city.
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| Stone Bridge |
The city adopted the Protestant
Reformation in 1542 and its Town Council remained entirely Lutheran. During the
course of history, many of the Catholic churches became Protestant and vice
versa.
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| Regensburg Cathedral |
A minority of the population remained Roman Catholic, but they were
denied civil rights.
Even though the town of Regensburg was Protestant, the Bishopric
of Regensburg and several abbeys remained, creating multiple separate political
entities.
In 1803 the city lost its status
as a free city and the bishopric, monasteries and town were consolidated,
creating making the Principality of Regensburg where equal rights were accorded
to Protestants and Roman Catholics.
In 1809, Regensburg suffered severe damage during
the a battle between the Austrian Empire and Napoleon.
During World War II, Regensburg
escaped destruction because there was a Messerschmitt aircraft factory and an
oil refinery on the outskirts of town. The Allies directed their fire power there
instead of towards town.
The medieval city center is still basically intact,
partially because the buildings weren’t bombed and partially because Regensburg's
slow economic recovery after the war meant that historic buildings were
replaced by newer ones. By the late 1960s, when the economy finally turned
around, preserving old buildings was popular.
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| Regensburg alleys |
Regensburg includes the largest
medieval old town north of the Alps with nearly 1,500 listed buildings and a
picturesque cityscape.
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| Old Regensburg buildings |
We saw the German Gothic Regensburg
Cathedral, founded in 1275 and completed in 1634, with the exception of the
towers, which were finished in 1869. Adjoining the cloisters are two older chapels,
one of which, known as the old cathedral, goes back perhaps to the 8th century.
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| Regensburg Cathedral |
We got very good views of the Stone Bridge, where knights
of the 2nd and 3rd crusade crossed the Danube on their way to the Holy Land.
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| Stone Bridge |
One feature we looked at was a closed-in loggia on an ancient
tower.
You can see these towers all over town – and you can also see a fair
number of closed-in loggias.
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| Loggia |
Why?
Well, showing off wealth was very
popular in the 13th and 14th centuries and wealthy
families competed against each other to see who could build the highest tower
of the city. Often, they served no purpose whatsoever. And, sometimes, the
families lived in them.
Because many of these wealthy families also traveled,
they became enraptured with architectural details from other countries,
including the wide open-air balconies called loggias popular in sunny Italy.
So, they came back and installed them in their towers to impress others.
But,
there was a problem – it gets cold – very cold – in Regensburg. The air coming
in through the loggias made the entire tower unbearable. So, they closed them
in.
A lasting tribute to ridiculous vanity!
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| Another loggia |
Another interesting feature of some of the Regensburg buildings is giant murals on the sides of the plaster buildings. Once again, these were done by wealthy homeowners or business owners to show off just how well off they were. This one is David and Goliath and it has been restored to its medieval glory.
Throughout the tour, we heard a
lot about the systematic incorporation and then persecution of Jews in
Regensburg. It seems like part of the problem (for the Christians) was that the
Jews tended to be good at whatever they did. They became merchants and became
wealthy, so they were no longer allowed to be merchants. So, they switched to
banking. Same thing. Anyway, throughout its history, Regensburg treated Jews –
who tended to live in separate communities known as ghettos (don’t confuse with
our current definition) – badly.
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| Jewish gravestone under an eave |
Our guide showed us a "trophy" from expulsion of Jews in the 1500s. The Christians would take Jewish gravestones and place them in prominent places on their homes to demonstrate support for driving out the Jews. This one is under an eaves near the Rathaus.
By Hitler’s rise to power in
1933, less than 500 Jews were living in Regensburg, out of a total population
of more than 81,000. The community maintained a synagogue, several other
religious institutions, a school that was open until 1937 and a public library.
Antisemitism became rampant. An
economic boycott was instituted and Jewish traders and suppliers were attacked and their
wares destroyed. In 1934, the Jewish pupils were evicted from the city high
schools.
By 1938, 268 Jews had left
Regensburg, more than half of them fleeing Germany entirely. During the Kristallnacht pogrom
in November 1938, local Nazis burned the Synagogue and community, destroyed
Jewish homes and stores, arrested many and sent some to the Dachau
concentration camp. Some Jews were released after agreeing to leave Germany.
By 1939, all the traders' and businessmen's property had been transferred to
Christians as part of the "Aryanization" process.
Along the street you can see
tributes to the Jews in Regensburg (and everywhere) who died in the Holocaust
by the stolperstein (literally "stumbling stone") program. Cobblestone-size
concrete cubes each bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life
dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution are placed among the
cobblestones in the street. Where possible, they are in front of the last
residence or workplace of the victim(s).
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| Golden stumbling blocks |
The project was initiated by the German
artist Gunter Demnig in 1992 and more than 56,000 stolpersteine have been laid in 22
European countries, making the project the world's largest decentralized
memorial.
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| Golden stumbling blocks |
The name of the project is
interesting. It finds its inspiration in an antisemitic German saying that,
when accidentally stumbling over a protruding stone, "A Jew must be buried
here." The term can mean "potential problem," but, in both
English and German, "to stumble across something" can also mean
"to find out (by chance).” All these meanings come together to reflect a
memorial than is found merely by chance but has deep gravity.
The stolpersteine are placed right into the pavement because the Nazis destroyed many Jewish cemeteries and used the gravestones as sidewalk paving stones to desecrate memory of the dead. The stolpersteine “provocatively hint at this act of desecration.” It's a very touching tribute.
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| Close-up |
Research about future
stolperstein locations is usually done by local school children and their
teachers, victims' relatives or local history organizations.
The engraved
plates include names and dates of birth, deportation and/or death, if known.
We finished our tour at the
Jewish Memorial, created by Dani Karavan in 2005 at Neupfarrplatz.
The Memorial traces
the foundation of the Synagogue and is supposed to serve as an open place where
people can sit, play or talk in the open sunshine. It doesn’t strike you as a
memorial when you see it – there is no plaque, no signage, just a Hebrew word
inscribe on one of the levels. But, that was the point – to serve as a place to
bring people together rather than to pay tribute to pain.
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| Jewish Memorial |
By now, the day was sunny and
there were even a lot of House Sparrows flitting about the church that flanks
the memorial.
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| House Sparrows |
After the tour, I stopped in the Regensburg
Cathedral for some pictures ...
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| Regensburg Clock Tower |
Mathematician and Astronomer
Johannes Kepler, who calculated the path of the planets, finding that they traveled not in circles, as long expected, but in ellipses.
Author Ludwig Bemelmans, who wrote the fabulous children's book, "Madeleine" -- In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines. In two straight lines, they broke their bread and brushed their teeth and went to bed. They left the house at half past nine in two straight lines in rain or shine. The smallest one was Madeleine.
Humanitarian Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party who saved 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories, which were located in Poland, Bohemia and Moravia. He was the subject of the 1982 novel "Schindler's Ark" and its 1993 film adaptation, "Schindler's List."
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| Historic Sausage Kitchen |
Following the tour, we met up
with Scott (he had taken off on his own to take pictures) at one of
Regensburg’s other claims to fame, the Historic Sausage Kitchen right at the
foot of the Stone Bridge.
The Kitchen is in a tiny building on the site of the Bridge’s original construction headquarters.
The rear wall is part of the ancient city wall, as
well.
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| The old city wall forms the back of the Historic Sausage Kitchen |
Perhaps the oldest continuously
open public restaurant in the world, it opened in 1146 AD as "Garkueche
auf dem Kranchen" (cookshop near the crane) because it was near the then
river port. Dockers, sailors and the staff of the nearby St. Peter Cathedral
workshop were the regulars for the centuries. The present building dates from
the 17th century, but has the same dimensions as the 12th century building.
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| Can you find Scott and Craig at the Sausage Kitchen? |
Until 1800, the specialty was
'gesottenes Fleisch' (boiled meat), but when the family that currently owns the
restaurant took over in 1806, they introduced charcoal-grilled sausages. Open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00
p.m. (except holidays), the Historic Sausage Kitchen serves 6,000 sausages to
daily. They come in portions of six, eight or ten, along with sauerkraut and delicious
homemade sweet mustard. Rolls are on the table.
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