Germany: Roots & Remembrance

Some say that we have family and friends in almost every country. It may be true. WWII sent my family around the globe.

On day #2, I mentioned that in 1933 my dear mother sailed to Haifa from Germany with her family. She was just 13. There she made many friends (often other German refugees). Tonight our dinner companions included the grandchildren of one of those friends. Like me, they have two passports, one of which is German, due to laws passed by the German government to reinstate citizenship to Jews who were stripped of their citizenship during the Nazi era. Though my German born father wanted no such citizenship, I jumped at the chance for a second passport (EU) for myself and my kids. Some Jews even moved to Germany and we had the pleasure of dining with their children and friends.

It was joyful and fun and wonderful to catch up. We could mix English, German and Hebrew into our conversation. Of course we talked about Germany’s social safety net, housing and ice cream prices, politics, Covid, the families and our adventure. I ate vegetarian Vietnamese food for the first time in my life and it was delicious.

Now to backtrack a bit to yesterday. We had a marvelous evening at the wedding in Weitra. The sun came out after a day of thunderstorms and it was a gorgeous afternoon and evening. Our hosts were welcoming and charming; the couple overjoyed and in love. We were delighted to attend and had fun, viel Spaß.

Jeffrey, our amazing long haul driver, steered us safely to Munich today. It was a four hour car ride on small roads and highways. Once in Germany, the Autobahn had no speed limit and some cars flew by at more than 100 miles per hour.

We passed lots of farms with cows and crops, and small towns with prominent church spires. Well-kept houses were painted in varying colors.

After driving for hours, we crossed into Germany. The Austria-Germany border is shown below – the sign says, ”Bundesrepublic Deutschland”. The police were not stopping cars. Where is the word “welcome” that we see when entering a new state in the USA? The Germans couldn’t give a greeting?

Munich is lovely so far. Tomorrow, we will explore a bit while our friends work and then we will reconvene.

Tschüss! Bye for tonight.