Author: Ann Laemmlen Lewis

From Römerberg we walked to the Dom, and then to our favorite restaurant just north of the Dom for lunch.  People are out and about today because the sun came out.  We’ve had several weeks of very cold and wet weather.  Everyone is excited to feel warmth again!

This family came to the platz with a picnic.

Behind the Dom:

We enjoyed some great traditional German food!  Mmmmm.

Today as we showed the other missionaries the Römerberg square in downtown Frankfurt, we found ourselves standing right over a marker in the pavement in front of the city hall.  The marker, installed in 2001, blended right in and we almost didn’t notice it under our feet. On May 10, 1933 student groups at universities across Germany carried out a series of book burnings of works books by renowned writers, scientists,  journalists and philosophers that the students and leading Nazi party members associated with an “un-German spirit.”  It happened here in this very place. Enthusiastic bystanders cheered as flames engulfed works by Brecht, Einstein, Freud, Mann and Remarque, and  many other well-known intellectuals, scientists and cultural figures, many of whom were Jewish. The largest of these book bonfires occurred in Berlin, where an estimated 40,000 people gathered to hear a speech by the propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, in which he pronounced that “Jewish intellectualism is dead” and endorsed the students’ “right to clean up the debris of the past.” A total of over 25,000 volumes of “un-German” books were burned,  ushering an era of uncompromising state censorship. In many other university towns, like Frankfurt, nationalist students marched in torch-lit parades against the “un-German” spirit. The scripted rituals that night called for high Nazi officials, professors, rectors, and student leaders to address the participants and spectators. At the meeting places, students threw the pillaged, banned books into the bonfires with a great joyous ceremony that included live music, singing, “fire oaths,” and incantations.

The inscription on the memorial reads:

An dieser Stelle verbrannten am 10. Mai 1933 nationalsozialistische Studenten die Bücher von Schriftstellern Wissenschaftlern Publizisten und Philosophen

Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wer man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am ende Menschen H. Heine 1820 English:  On May 10, 1933, at this location Nazi students burned books by writers, scientists, journalists and philosophers. That was merely a prologue – where they burn books, in the end they burn people, too. Heinrich Heine, 1820

In 1933, copies of Heine’s books were among the many burned on Berlin’s Opernplatz. To commemorate the event, one of the most famous lines from Heine’s 1821 play Almansor is now engraved on the memorial:  “Where they burn books, they will, in the end, burn human beings too.”  In his play, this is a reference to the burning of the Quran during the Spanish Inquisition in an effort to eradicate the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula, which had been a major center of medieval Islamic culture. His words were prophetic. I read a book once by Betsy Byars called Keeper of the Doves. There is a paragraph in that book that is emblazoned in my mind and I have often written her words in my blog posts.  She wrote: “You know, there are poems, there are stories, whole books, about people who lived hundreds, even thousands of years ago. Those people still live because of words. Words! Words are the most wonderful things in the world. As long as there are words, nobody need ever die.” Tragically, words were burned, and so were people.  Millions of them. We have always enjoyed our visits to Römerberg, taking visitors to see the beautiful buildings and architecture, celebrating there in Christmas markets and with the peeling of the bells on Christmas Eve.  Today, discovering this marker was new for me.  From now on, I will take pause there, in that spot. to give thanks for words–for their power,  and for our freedom to write and preserve them.

A few minutes down the street, along the river, our next stop was at St. Leonard’s church.  St. Leonhard is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Frankfurt, dating back to 1219, when it was erected in the center of the town close to the river Main.  It stands as a Romanesque-style basilica. From 1425, it was remodeled to a hall church in late Gothic style. Today it’s used by English-speaking Catholics.  You can read lots more about it here.

Below is a map of Frankfurt from the 1600s.  The church is on the street that runs along the river, in the middle of town.

St. Leonhard was the only endowed church to survive the Second World War with relatively less damage. Even during the heavy attacks in March 1944 that destroyed the historic old town, the church did not receive any direct hits from aerial mines or explosive bombs . The roof structure that had caught fire was extinguished by two parish sisters at the risk of their lives.

Their Christmas Creche was still up, and very beautiful.

There were interesting things to see and some nice art pieces to photograph.

This is the one piece in the church that was original and very old:

This is the view of the river when you step outside the church:

Today we invited friends to join us on an outing to downtown Frankfurt.  On the last Saturday of the month 13 museums do not charge entrance fees.  We were going today to take advantage of that offer.  And because today is Holocaust Memorial Day, we decided to begin with the 2 Jewish Museums.  

The first Jewish Museum is located near the river in the mansion home of the Rothschild family adjoining a new structure.  We spent a couple of hours here, learning the history of Jews in Frankfurt, beginning with modern times, and going back to 3 families who lived here in the early 1900s.

A collage of modern-day “Jewish Things in Everyday Life.”

Here is some beautiful artwork by Jewish artist, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (1800-1882).

“By the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept.”

This information was at the beginning of a room about a modern-day photographer.  This is current history:

The modern building is annexed to the Rothschild Mansion.  

This art installment was interesting.  It’s made from pieces of furniture, everyday items, and their relationship to each other.   The artist views objects, like this furniture, as a part of family histories, which I found very interesting.

In this part of the museum, we learned about 3 famous Jewish Families who lived in Frankfurt.  The first was the Rothschild family, famous for banking and trade throughout all of Europe.  They left from here before WWII.

This was really interesting–a sample book of fabric swatches.  They also dealt in textiles.  This looks  like something a quilter might do!

I was amazed to learn about the formidable mother of this Rothschild family.  She bore 19 children, took care of the household, and looked after her husband’s business when he was away.  Their family was lived in the Judengasse (Jewish Ghetto).  More about that later today.  Gutle Rothschild lived to be 96 years old. 

The second family featured was the Frank family.  (The 3rd was not familiar to me).  The Franks lived in Frankfurt for many generations.  Anne Frank was born in a home just down the street from where we live.  Between 1929 and 1933 the entire family left Frankfurt fearing for their safety.  Anne’s family landed in Amsterdam.

Below are some of the household items that belonged to Anne Frank and her family.  These were real people living real lives.  I could feel glimpses of them in each item we saw.

This was Anne’s little chair:

The Diary of Anne Frank has been translated into more than 70 languages. In it she said, “I want to go on living after I am dead.” I believe she has. Words never die.

I especially enjoyed listening to several interviews with her father, Otto about his life’s mission to share Anne’s words with the world.

A visit to this museum is time well spent.  Especially today as we try to “never forget.”

I hardly slept last night, knowing that today was the day for Lenna’s arrival.  After delivering 10 minutes after walking through the hospital doors last time, Heidi’s doctors wanted to stay safe and induce her this time, so we’ve known the birth date all along.

This morning the hospital called at 4:06 a.m. to let Heidi know she didn’t need to come in until they called her later in the morning.  That wasn’t what she wanted to hear at that hour.  By mid-morning they were ready for her, just about the time we were heading to bed.  I was so excited, sleeping was hard.

I woke early just as the messages started coming in on our phones:  Lenna was here!!  Born on the 26th at 9:45 p.m. St Louis time.  A perfect and healthy little girl weighing in at 5 lbs 15 oz. and a head full of hair!

What a gift she will be to our family!  What an absolutely perfect gift.  Nothing will ever be the same now that she’s come.  My heart is so full and grateful she’s safely here.

Dr Adam is already taking care of her eyes, keeping them safe from infection.  It really is a miracle, the birth of a child.  So perfect.  So new from heaven.  So wanted and loved.

It’s a sad thing when a missionary couple we’ve learned to love leaves us.  Joe and Terri Foye have been reassigned to Abu Dhabi for the last 6 months of their mission.  He’s a lawyer and that is his area, so they are heading out soon.  Today Sis Enger showed us pictures from a trip she took to Abu Dhabi several years ago with her husband and son.

This German language and culture class continues to be one of the highlights of our week.

Sis Enger loves to knit.  She makes these adorable booties for friends and for humanitarian projects.  When she learned that we’re expecting a granddaughter this coming week, she sent me home with a pair.  I was thrilled.

Meanwhile back at the office, John was THRILLED because our nut jar had chocolate pieces added.  I think he went back for more 3 times this afternoon.