A Change of Location
I leave for Germany tomorrow on a two week vacation. It's not my first trip there. Actually, it will be my fifth or sixth visit. My grandfather emigrated from Germany in 1924, and left a lot of family behind. I'll be traveling to Freiburg, Eisenach, Berlin, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, and some little farming villages you never heard of. Most of my relatives live in the Hohenlöhe Region on the border of Baden-Württemburg and Bavaria. It is very rural and pastoral, a land of rolling hills and forests and vineyards. There is a house with my mother's family name above the door in the village of Elpersheim. My grandfather was born there in 1901.
I'm also excited about going to Berlin. I was last there in 1990, a year after the Wall fell. Much has changed, especially in the former East Berlin, where I'll be staying. The Berlin Biennale, a major art exhibition, is going on, and I'll be taking the Third Reich walking tour, where they show you the surviving places associated with Hitler's terror. My plan is to blog from the road when I can, perhaps even with a photo or two added to the site. And guess what? In Stuttgart, the beer gardens have just opened for the season. What could be better?
Comments
I read with a great deal of interest you comments on visiting Lindlein, Germany. My family imigrated form Niederweiler (about 1Km away)in the 1850's and I recently visited to get a feel for the area. During my visit I learned that there are several Hanselmann families in Lindlein....and my guess is, probably in the late 1700's this may have been the family home. No record so hard to be definitive.
Would your relatives living there know if there is a written history of Lindlein?? I did find a two page history of Niederweiler in the Blaufelden city hall
Hope to here from you...
Warren Hanselman
Posted by: Warren Hanselman | September 27, 2009 01:33 PM