Dresden Visit

April 26, 2008 A lazy Saturday in Dresden. We awoke to find a line of tourists opposite our hotel where one can see the “Green Vault” of the Royal Palace with its jewels. It is obvious that many Germans from both east and west are coming to Dresden to admire its beauty and to appreciate all the buildings which are being renovated. To think that the Frauenkirchen, one of the most important churches of Europe was allowed to remain a burnt out hulk throughout the entire period of the GDR seems such a shame. Now it has been restored, and since 2005 it is open again. Where possible the renovation placed the old stones back where they had been before the fire and bombs of 1945. So while the whole church looks light and clean, one sees blackened portions where the old stones were reset. It is a powerful magnet so that surrounding the church are all manner of vendors, buskers, hotels and restaurants. It is the heart of the old and rebuilt Dresden. We strolled through an open market where white asparagus was in profusion along with herbal teas, cheap leather purses and any manner of food stuffs. It was a perfectly beautiful sunny warm day and it seemed that we were the only people speaking English. There are tons of tourists, but mostly German with their dogs and/or their children. Older couples with their married children and grandchildren; young ‘hip’ kids with blue or pink or punk hair; elegant women in heels (god knows how they walked on the cobblestones without breaking their ankles); it was so festive and in many corners were street musicians – violinists, trumpet trios, a hurdy-gurdy organ; a saxophone; an accordion. We just ambled through it all, taking pictures, absorbing the atmosphere and loathe to go inside any building because the day was too beautiful to leave the sunshine. I had my daily ‘fix’ of a bratwurst which is available at any corner similar to the way we offer Sabrett’s in New York city. An eight inch, grilled sausage slathered in good german mustard with a hard roll, does it get any better than this? Especially if one is drinking a fine pilsner and staring out at the Elbe as the steamboats go up and down tooting their whistles as they leave the docks. Just as the boys kept comparing what they were seeing in different countries to that which was familiar in Germany, so I too am comparing things. Bob put it exactly right when he said that it reminded him of Boston Mass.: sitting by the Charles River looking over to MIT with boat shells being sculled down the river, people walking leisurely arm in arm, sitting on the grass, relaxing in the early days of warm spring. We listened to the Angelus at six p.m. as all the bells rang out, we listened to those at the Frauenkirche where the large dome on top acts as a ‘bell’ with its resonant deep tones, and surrounding it are four smaller cupula with bells as well. A nice ending to our touring day. April 27, 2008 Sunday morning and again the crowds are lined up across the street as the bells remind everyone that it is Sunday. We were up and out early wanting to spend the day doing a more detailed tour of the city. At the main information center, located in an old guard’s quarters, we picked up an MP3 walking tour in English – 12 euro for the day - with two headsets connected to the machine we headed out. It was a perfect way to leisurely enjoy the sites without being driven by a person who we may or may not understand and who may or may not give the right information. The voices of the guides on the machine are those of two historical men: Herr Pöppelman and Herr Semper two architects from the 1600’s who are responsible for many of the old buildings. At each stop we would get the history of the building, its purpose, how it survived the war, and what its current purpose is. Sometimes the history was more than we needed but it was certainly a wonderful way to walk in the sunshine, stop, listen and learn. The city was jammed with every manner of tourist and there was a running race along the Elbe where we noted many men, but very few women sweating their way along the route. We stopped for the proverbial bratwurst and beer (for me) while Bob tried a Dresden speciality – potato soup with sausage which he quite enjoyed. This time it was in a lovely little restaurant in the shadow of the Frauenkirche on a cobblestone street that leads down to the Elbe. We sat watching people, as people watched us – a mutual examination. One can definitely tell that we are not German, simply by our dress and our shoes….we don’t even have to open our mouths. They may not sense we are American, but they know we’re not German. None of the tour took us inside buildings though, which we wouldn’t have wanted to do, but one could always turn off the machine and go inside if one wanted…which we did just once …. At the Semper Opera house. For seven euro a piece we joined a group of about 20 people. Since the tour was in German only, we were provided a written guide in English which we could use to follow along, so to speak. What a magnificent restoration they have done. I could imagine Walter, who loved opera, coming with his family to hear opera here. Unfortunately the tickets were sold out while we were here, or we would have gone to a performance as well. I could discern from the bit of German I caught that the acoustics are considered to be excellent with every piece of wood or decoration designed to make the sound so perfect that if someone crinkled a piece of paper in the orchestra, one could hear it to the highest tier. There was one beautiful ceiling painting of Persephone in one of the outer lobbies and I wanted to get a postcard for Jessica, but unfortunately there were none. It is also the first time that a building was designed to reflect its purpose inside. Prior to this the exterior of the buildings would mask the real purpose for the goal of aesthetics. We walked out of this elegant, baroque, ornately painted structure with its 2 ton chandelier and sat in the sunshine to have a coffee and to get the beginnings of a sunburn. Then Herr Pöppelman and Herr Semper led us over to the Zwinger ‘complex’. The entire structure is built around an enormous courtyard with fountains and walk ways. Various wings contain painted art, porcelain, scientific instruments, armor and sculpture. Were it not such a gorgeous day we would have gone in, but we’ll just have to come back to give the Zwinger its due. We rather followed our walking tour outside, learning about each separate structure – its history and its purpose. Since it was literally right across the street from our hotel, we listened to the story of our hotel – once a baroque castle built for the favorite mistress of the elector of Saxony in the early 18th century – and then we turned in our headsets before ambling back to the courtyard of the Royal Palace for a coffee (where we sat next to a quartet of people speaking Greek), and a little rest, before considering dinner. We ate in one of the wonderful restaurants within the hotel – I had to have asparagus soup – after all it was the season, and then grilled chicken livers on a bed of salad; Bob had fish soup and a rump steak with pepper sauce, which was good as the first time he tried it. And so to bed. April 28, 2008 Our last day of official meetings. We took a taxi out to the State archives of Saxony in the Neustadt. It was our first chance to see the drearier, stolid buildings of the GDR. Our meetings were semi-successful in that neither of our hosts, Frau Fleckna and George ? spoke much English. We did learn that the purpose of the archives is to gather materials about the whole of Saxony from its earliest days to the current. They have over 40 meters of documents stored and they serve as a research organization. We learned that both our hosts had been working at the archives for over 20 years (he for 37), thus living through the GDR to the present. We asked delicately about changes and they were quite clear that the changes weren’t always positive. Things seemed to have been ‘easier’ in the days of the GDR, and young people were having difficulty finding good jobs. Both spoke of their own children who were mostly going into ‘automatisch’ – technology and computers – an obvious career choice. Frau Fleckna noted that she still goes to the west for shopping, and that many had left for jobs. So while the reunification may be 17 years in progress, there is still much to be done. They both spoke of their love of Dresden and noted that people from Dresden are terribly proud to come from this city. It is, according to them, amongst German cities, one of the true gems along with Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich. While we learned a bit about their institution, we both understood that this wasn’t exactly a match for the book, but we left it and after 30 minutes we parted ways politely in a mixed German/English way. As at all the institutions we’ve visited, we were given a lovely book on the diaries of an early Saxon king. It would appear to be the custom that if receiving a gift, there is one given in exchange. (All of which will be sent back as a package to the US since the weight alone would be a pain to carry for the next month). Back in the cab with time to relax, and have lunch, before our next appointment in the afternoon. We were able to take a brief stop to see the inside of the Frauenkirche. Whereas during the week-end the lines were endlessly long, today we just walked in. It is an amazing reconstruction – all the gold, the pastel, the bright light, the splendor have been returned and one can understand why this stood as a important landmark of the city. And what an afternoon we then had!!! Whereas the morning had been awkward and unrewarding, the afternoon was absolutely splendid. We met with Herr Friedrich Reichert, a historian with the City Museum and we had as translator Herr Richard Stratenschulte who is responsible for public relations/marketing and education for the museum. We were offered a wonderful plate of cookies to go with our coffee and while the museum was closed for the day, we met in the cafeteria where we chatted intensely for over two hours. While it started haltingly as we each found our voice, once we got going it was a lively and very informative time. Herr Reichert were very interested in the entire Maron/Bondi family and told us that through Herr Brennan, the lawyer for the Marons, that they had received quite a lot of materials and information related to the Waldschosschen Brewery which was owned by the Bondi/Maron family. He disappeared for awhile and came back filled with information about the addresses and occupants of various houses owned by the Marons. He showed me on an old map where the streets would have been, but told us that all of it is gone as a result of the firebombs of 1945. They were very delighted to receive the book, definitely want the photographs associated with the book and any other photographs or memorabilia I might have related to the Marons and Dresden. They told us about various books which we will want to locate which illustrate Dresden in the 1920’s and 30’s and of other books that show Dresden after the firebombing. We learned so many small pieces of information that I think it’s worth putting in bullet form: · that Klemperer, a Dresden resident, who had written the two volumes of his diaries, has had the diaries republished in a more complete format on a CD with a cross-reference to all people and places he may mention. · That before the war, according to census data there were approx. 630,000 total citizens with declared 5,000 Jews (if one chose to call oneself a protestant, one wasn’t counted….like my family). · The museum has been open for only 1.5 years and before that time, there was mostly GDR propaganda provided in the museum. Now they have to work to make the collection a true reflection of the city. · We learned of Pieter Reichenbach, a Jew who was born in Dresden in 1920. They left in 1936 for Sweden and he in turn moved to London where he became a numismatist. He changed his name to Peter Rickenback and a few years ago returned to Dresden with his children and grandchildren to present them with a collection of over 2,500 German advertising stamps. These are stamps which were used not as postage but which represent advertising of restaurants, foods, beer etc. as well as propaganda. · We learned that the street on which the Bondi/Maron Bank existed, Struvestrasse #5 no longer exists. It would have been off Pragerstrasse at the intersection of Struvestrasse and Victoria Strasse. · We asked why so many of the buildings and statues were black. We had assumed it was dirt or the residue of fire, but we learned that it is simply the effect of age on sandstone. To clean the sandstone would be an act of futility because within 10-20 years it would be black again. As Herr Reichert said – come back in 20 years and the shiny Frauenkirchen will look exactly as black. · As at every other meeting we’ve had, we were given in a token of exchange a lovely book published by the museum as well as a map of Dresden from 1928. There was a rich and constant dialogue, interrupted with books brought down from the collection and at the end of two hours we felt drained and exhilarated at the same time. We will definitely want to come back to visit, to see the museum, and possibly to present materials associated with Dresden that belong in the museum rather than in our file cabinets, basements, and closets. We ended our day at an Irish pub around the corner for a simple dinner before collapsing into bed.