A Culture City and the Camp on Its Door

I am going to updating this blog a bit more, unexpected, but I want to let everyone see and hear about all the trips I took while I was abroad. I took a trip with my friend from the program to Weimar, Germany during the first weekend of May. Weimar has been called the cultural capital of Germany, and it was where Goethe and Schiller lived, two famous German authors, and the famous art movement called Bauhaus was from there. The first democratic government, the Weimar Republic was founded here as well.

Goethe and Schiller Statue

This is the first of many weekend trips we took, but we did not come for the cultural aspects. We came for the camp right outside of the town. Buchenwald was a concentration camp and the closest one to the city of Marburg. We arrived on Friday afternoon and after we got into our hostel we decided to go the Bauhaus museum. It is the 100 year anniversary of the movement and they had just opened a new museum for it and it was amazing. Here are some pictures of the art work.

Saturday was spent totally at Buchenwald. I could not take pictures in respect for the site as is the guideline. Before I get into what it was like to walk the camp here is a link for the site.

There is something about entering these places that make you shudder. It did not help that they day we went it snowed on us briefly in the morning and I had forgotten my winter jacket. I walked the perimeter of the camp in the snow and cold, shivering and yet knowing I had more clothes then most of the inmates did here. The camp has a few buildings still standing, but the first building we entered was not an original. It was museum about how the camp was used by the soviet troops after the second world war. It was a nice and sombering start but it was the lightest part of the day. After that we entered the camp proper and the snow had stopped. We then headed to the former depot building where they had a museum about how the camp was used and what lead up to the events, and I can’t properly describe the awful feeling you got walking through and learning. The worst part was the actual uniforms from former prisoners donated. The last museum on the property was the bathhouse, where prisoners were stripped washed, shaved, and given their uniforms. That museum held artwork from prisoners. The depot museum was awful, but walking the bathhouse was chilling. After the museums we explored the grounds. It is very empty, but, you cannot fully describe the feeling you gain walking this place. You can tell that evil was done and it makes sick in a sense and wanting to cry and just wonder how any person do this. There was barack specially just for children. There was no one spared here. I wish that I could describe this place and how it felt to walk the ground, but it is something only to be experienced.

After the camp, we went back to the hostel and just spent a quiet evening trying to process and deal with the feelings the camp left us with. Sunday was just a trip back to Marburg. This was a trip I am glad I took, and it is very important to take, but I never want to walk a camp again.

A Quick Update

Hey there! I am sad to say that my trip here in German is almost over. I will be flying out on Sunday the 16th. I have several more blogs I plan on uploading after I get back in the States, so you will still be getting a view into all my wonderful travels I have been lucky to do. The final week has been so busy for me, but it has gone well. I will see you in the States!

Burt helping me finish things up.

The Luther City

Burt and I ready for our adventure

Surprise! I have another blog for you. I visited Lutherstadt Wittenberg, yes literally the Luther City of Wittenburg. I went on the weekend of April 26th to the 28th by myself. It was another great weekend, with lovely weather.



I arrived on Friday, but did not do much in town besides walk around a bit and go to Tourist Information center to figure out my plan for that Saturday. Sunday was just spent traveling on the German trains back to Marburg. What this blog will be about was my very long day spent exploring the old town of Wittenburg.

This map shows the route I followed I did not hit all the spots, but most of the locations. I will number all the pictures in according to this map so you can help understand where I went.

 

The first location I visited was the Luther House. I wanted to visit the museum the most out of any of the others in town so I did it first. The museum was a detailed look into Martin Luther’s life and work, including how he lived in Wittenburg. It was such a lovely museum with many original documents and objects. The best part was the a room that has been preserved since Luther’s time.

#13-Luther House

Burt is exicted

View from courthouse

A lecture stand used for debates with students

All following pictures are of this room

After this I went up the street hitting some of the buildings and stopping in front of the Old Town Hall to browse a market and get lunch. It was an amazing experience and there was a live woodwind trio playing classical music. Here are some of the stops on the trail as I made my way up to the Castle Church, where Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses.

#12-Melanchthon House

#11-Old University

Courtyard of the Old Uni

#9- Old Court House with market

#10-Cranach Hof

#7-Cranach Hof part 2 the workshop

 

 

Statue of Cranach

View down the street

#5- William-Weber-House

The original door where Martin Luther nailed his theses to was damaged in a fire in the 1800s, and it has been replaced with metal doors with the theses on it. Inside the church is the grave of Martin Luther himself.

#3-Castle Church

The door with the these

Inside the courtyard

Looking towards the altar

Melanchthon's Grave

Luther's Grave

Pulpit

Altar

After the church I continued my wandering, enjoying the nice sunny day and good weather. There were a lot of sights to see.

#18-Catholic Church

#15-Burgen House

The next stop was the Wittenburg town museum, which unfortunately only had German captions, and none in English like some museums have. It was still nice to look at though and it was enjoyable and it gave me access to another museum which was an examination of the original rulers of the Wittenburg area in an old Abbey. The museum was styled as a crypt with tombs for each of the rulers, it was the burial location of a couple of the rulers. It was very pretty and touching, and I found it interesting. I ended up not taking pictures in those museums.

The last main stop was St. Mary’s church, where Luther preached. I could not take pictures inside the church, but it had some lovely views. This was my last major stop for the day so enjoy the view from the outside.

#16- St. Mary's Church

Overall this was a good enjoyable trip through this old city. This has been my favorite trip so far but I have a few more left! Thank you for following along with me!