Bautzen, Germany Part 3

 

                    

                                              

 

Bautzen had many very destructive fires.  Most medieval towns lost most of their buildings to fires multiple times.  In Bautzen, there was one building that survived all of the fires.  It was assumed that it was a “witches house”.  It is known by that name to this day.

                                                  

 From the top of the water tower you can see the old wall and it’s towers as it looked in old

                                                        

 Bautzen is a very open and friendly and accepting town.  It seems it has always been this way.  There are Germans living here, as you would expect, and Sorbians.  Sorbians are the smallest sect of something  (sorry without internet to research and our bad memories, we can’t remember what sect they are, Duane thinks they are the original settlers of the area) and they are given equal importance to the German people.  All signage is required by law to be in both languages

                                                                      That is pretty progressive, and has been the case for centuries.

Here there is the only church in Europe, and maybe anywhere, where both Catholic and Protestant religions worship in the same building.

          

In the rear of the church is a memorial celebrating their Jewish citizens.  Sorry, but memorial is wrong and I can’t think of what to call it.  There are boards showing where each Jewish family lived, what they had contributed to the town and what became of each and every one.  Some didn’t make it out of world war II alive and some emigrated to other countries.  There are pictures of the families before and after the war.  I felt as if the Jewish families were held as family to this church.  They loved and miss them.  It was very moving. 

I found this family and I wonder….my grandmother on my mother’s side’s maiden name was Geltman.   We, of course, don’t know how that name was changed at Ellis Island.  So, the family named Gelmann might be relatives.  They didn’t have any emigration information on that family, so I’m afraid they didn’t make it.

 Today we woke to an uncooperative computer. No internet all day. We were able to use the owner’s computer and decided and made reservations. No, you will have to wait to find out where.

The people here don’t speak English but they sure do their best to help. We have found translate.google.com   It may save our lives in the months to come. We went out in the afternoon and saw the water tower and 2 interesting churches. These really are interesting (just like the others). Then we came back and ate at a nearby hotel with a wonderful restaurant. While we were eating outside under an overhang, someone was playing a harmonica. How romantic and what a wonderful sendoff.

Last picture, Duane posing with the devil again.