[End of June], 1978
German Travel Impressions
On a tour through the Federal Republic of Germany, one becomes clearly aware how strong the medieval heritage still is. The impression of the Romanesque and Gothic monuments are just as overwhelming as they have always been. There are the powerful Romanesque Cathedrals of Worms, Speyer and Trier, the great Gothic Cathedral of Cologne, and Charlemagne’s Chapel at Aachen. There is the line of castles and palaces along the Neckar and Rhine from Heidelberg to Coblentz. The magnificent Rathaus of the old Hanseatic City of Bremen stands proudly on the market square. Further to the south, Lessing’s Wolfenbüttel and the university town of Göttingen exude a special atmosphere. Germany has preserved much of its old cultural heritage, as there are many charming places which have maintained their traditional ambience. But in contrast to it, there is a highly developed industrial landscape, which can only be compared with America.
A Waiting Interim Solution
As capital of the Federal Republic, Bonn is still a waiting interim solution. The small city on the Rhine is more adapted to a contemplative life, less suitable for a capital of a large modern country. The Bundestag, the Lower House of Parliament, is provisionally still housed in the building of the former Technical Institute. Emergency accommodations have temporarily been changed into government buildings and diplomatic representations. The tragedy of the divided Germany has brought it about that one has adjusted to improvisations because the present political situation understandably cannot be accepted as a permanent solution.
Gegend von Schierke und Elend*
Reaching south of Göttingen a lookout point with a view over the Zonengrenze, the demarcation line between East and West Germany, one becomes aware of desolation much more cruel than Goethe describes it in the Walpurgisnacht. Along the Zonengrenze from Lübeck to Passau, a stretch of no-man’s-land has been created. Here the roads simply stop and hill slopes have been clear-cut so that the view from the observation towers is not obstructed. The otherwise so impulsive activity of the Federal Republic comes to a complete standstill. People do not talk about the Zonengrenze. But there it stands as a monstrous and frightening reality.
*[Transl: Gegend von Schierke und Elend (Region of Schierke and Elend) refers, at the beginning of the Walpurgisnacht in Goethe’s Faust Pt. I, to the location where Faust and Mephistopheles set out on their ascent of the Brocken. They try to find their way through a swampy, desolate area. The two small towns of Schierke and Elend are located east of Göttingen at the foothills of the Brocken , the highest peak of the Harz Mountains. According to legend, witches gather on the Brocken on April 30, the night before the feast day of St. Walpurgis. Faust is tempted by Mephisto to participate in the Witches’ Sabbath. The Walpurgis Night is Goethe’s vision of evil. As I looked across the Zonengrenze in June of 1978 and realized that Schierke, Elend and the Brocken were nearby, the Walpurgisnacht inevitably came to mind.]
[End of July, my wife and I together with our daughter Christine returned to South Bend, Indiana. Our son Franz was at the University of California Berkeley studying mathematics.]