Germany: Roots & Remembrance

The sun shone on Aschaffenburg today.

Iris led us from the Schweinheim—“Pig-Home”—neighborhood, into the hills, to the old regional Jewish cemetery.

Jews who lived in Aschaffenburg were buried in the city cemetery we visited yesterday. For the regional cemetery, the Jewish community chose this larger site, atop a steep hill well outside the city, so it would not be taken for development as the city grew.

This cemetery was established in 1735. The last burials here were in 1942, days before the final destruction of the local Jewish community. Time passes and these people are forgotten even before the sandstone erodes. It is sad but that’s the way of the world.

Our family members who are buried here could not imagine what was to come. Iris showed us the graves of Caroline Freund and Karoline Freund, graves we have never seen.

Iris told us that most Jews in this region were as poor as their neighbors. Until German society became more egalitarian in the late 1800s, many Jews could make a living only as peddlers or cattle dealers.

This path is part of the route Jews took to sell their wares and herd cattle from place to place.

The intensity of today’s walk where my ancestors and their cattle walked, was softened by the beauty of nature.

We had a lovely trek through the trees with birds singing. I heard cuckoos call. They sounded just like the clocks!

After dining with Iris—she is a wonderful cook and the perfect host—I need a rest and time to reflect.

I wish everyone peace.

To read prior essays, click HERE.