Essen (Stumbling stones)

The last blog update left us holed up in our Airbnb in Essen waiting for emails to arrive with our Covid-19 test results.  When we got up on Thursday morning, we saw my result had arrived just after midnight and was negative, but nothing had arrived for Karen.  There had been some confusion when my sample had been registered as the guy scanning the various QR codes of the sample and my personal details cocked things up a bit by using Karen's details rather than mine.  He took a while to sort things out but finally said all was OK, so we thought no more about it.  With this now in our minds, Karen got on the phone to find out why my result was in and not hers.  It took a couple more phone conversations during the morning, including during our weekly bridge session, before things were finally sorted out and another negative result ensued.

The current German lockdown means that socialising places like tourist attractions, bars and restaurants are closed but there is no restriction on how long the public can go out for walks, or even how far, as long as social distancing is maintained and no more than two households mix.  This meant we could at least explore while we’re over here.  There were very few people on the streets, so it was easy to feel safe but unlike France there was a lot of traffic; maybe that’s because Essen is Germany’s ninth largest city.

The Rhine-Herne canal and the inland port of Essen lies four miles or so from where we’re staying so it made an ideal destination for a busman’s holiday walk.  The areas we walked through were quite modern, so we were quite surprised when we stumbled across, well Karen spotted them first, a couple of stolpersteine (literally ‘stumbling stones or blocks’).  A stolperstein is a small, inscribed brass plaque inserted in the pavement to commemorate a person who once lived in the adjacent house.  

Two stolpersteine

It’s a sombre subject but as it’s an important part of world history I feel it must be mentioned.  Each person represented by a stolperstein died under Nazi rule because of their ethnicity, belief or some other ‘apparent’ social inadequacy.  As there are over 400 stolpersteine in Essen it wasn’t surprising that we came across these two.      

Gunter Demnig, a German artist, started installing these brass plaques in 1996 and worldwide there are now over 75,000.  Most of them are in Europe, mainly in Germany, and around 440 new ones are added each month.  The hand chiselled inscriptions include the name of the victim as well as how and where they died.  We feel the maxim he uses as the reason for their production rather poignant, “A person is only forgotten when his or her name is forgotten”.  For further information on Gunter Demnig and the stolpersteine click here or to read an article about them in the Guardian click here.

Before moving on I will mention the two people commemorated in the picture above, to give an idea of the history.  Aron Leib Steuer was born in 1900 and was one of the Polish Jews impacted by Polenaktion where tens of thousands were expelled from Germany in 1938.  As there were so many, the Polish Government wouldn’t allow most of them into the country, so they ended up in refugee camps on the border; Aron was in a camp in Bentschen (Zbaszyn in Polish). In October 1939 he was arrested and held in Dachau concentration camp until he was killed on 7 August 1942.

Klara Steuer was held in various psychiatric hospitals and on 11 February 1941 was moved to Hadamar where she was killed under the Aktion-T4 program of involuntary euthanasia of the mentally and physically disabled.

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When we reached the canal, we sat on the bank for a while as it was such a lovely day and we’d brought a snack with us.  Karen couldn’t resist but spot some metal bars built into the piling on the side that we could moor against if we ever came this way on the boat. 

No boats today

The Rhine–Herne Canal is 45 kilometres long and connects the harbour in Duisburg on the Rhine with the Dortmund-Ems canal near Henrichenburg.  It was opened in 1914, widened in the 1980s, and the locks take boats up to 80 metres long.  It’s a well-used canal with many commercial ports along its length but we didn’t see any boats on the move while we were sitting there.

We set one afternoon aside to go through the application process for the long-term visas required for living in France next year as non-EU citizens.  After getting a lot of the paperwork completed, we were stymied when trying to get an appointment at the French embassy in London.  The post-Brexit long-term visa procedures are still not agreed for UK nationals and therefore our application cannot be accepted yet and has to go on hold.

Most of the rest of our week was spent exploring different parts of the city.  There were plenty of parks to walk around but, as a relatively modern city, there weren’t many old buildings to see.  The city planners had done a good job as walking and cycle routes crisscrossed through green areas meaning we could keep away from the main roads and tramways.  The synagogue built in 1913 was one of the larger buildings and is now a museum and memorial centre.

The synagogue in the centre of Essen

We spent one afternoon searching out sculptures and I’m afraid the only name we recognised was Henry Moore who sculpted this piece called, ‘Knife edge’:

Henry Moore's 'Knife edge' from 1961

And here’s a selection of the others we came across:

And here’s a couple of modern housing developments right in the city centre where we had our Airbnb:

We’ve certainly had a brilliant week weather-wise and haven't had to worry about taking wet weather gear or warm clothes with us on any of our walks.  Although we haven't had any rain yet we forgot that the mornings can be dewy at this time of year.  Even though German's have their Kaffee & Kuchen during the afternoon when the English have their teatime, we stopped for morning cake and coffee on a park bench one day.  It wasn't until we got up that we realised how damp the bench had been!

On Sunday we walked to the Zollverein colliery where coal was mined from 1847 until its closure in 1993 when it was Europe’s largest coal mine.  The colliery and accompanying coke works are now a world heritage site and we felt that we couldn’t have a trip to the Ruhr without exploring some of its industrial legacy.

Although none of the indoor areas were open due to Covid we were able to walk around the extensive grounds which, as they covered such a large area, meant we could easily keep Covid safe from other visitors.  The main shaft (shaft #12) was opened in 1932 and built in the New Objectivity style, a mainly German art movement from the 1920s.

Pit head of shaft #12 in the distance

New Objectivity is a style of art we’ve never heard of before and apparently it was created as a reaction to expressionism, not being artistic we don’t really understand why it’s seen as a reaction.  Anyway, it has led to this pit head having the reputation of being the most beautiful in the world.

The beautiful pit head?

One of the nearby shafts had a similar looking pit head but we assume it's not considered to be beautiful.

The not-so-pretty pit head of shaft #1/2/8

Extracted coal was taken to the coke production plant in trucks towed by cables along aerial trackways from each shaft.  Some of these trackways have been adapted so visitors can walk along them, thus getting good views of the colliery and associated coke works.

One of the aerial trackways

We couldn’t find out what this contraption was

We did learn that even though the mine is closed, mine water is still pumped out into the River Emscher, a tributary of the Rhine.  Six pumps operate over a kilometre below ground and extract water at the rate of over 17,500 cubic metres a day.

Our walk took us back through the massive coke production plant which is also closed but the various parts of the plant are being converted inside to house a museum and exhibition centre.

Coke drying towers, lined and unlined

On Monday we went to Grugapark, the home of Essen's botanical gardens.  Although it wasn't the riot of colour that would be expected in summer we found it very peaceful and couldn't believe we were in the middle of a city.  Just outside Grugapark we came across a strange looking house called the Ronald McDonald Haus:

Many people would immediately think of the global fast-food chain, McDonald’s, but thanks to our daughter Sophie she was able to explain otherwise.  Ronald McDonald is a German charity that runs a couple of dozen houses across the country where families can stay whilst their seriously ill children are being treated in a local hospital. [Edit: I misunderstood my daughter.  It is a charity run by McDonald's and not just in Germany.  Also, she knows this because she worked for them for 10 years, not just because she studied German!] 

Before I finish this update I want to include a few more harrowing stories of some of the stolpersteine we came across.  We totally understand if you don't want to read any further but feel it important to include this section for our own thoughts about such unimaginable atrocities.

Dr Rosenberg was banned from practising in 1938 and died on 20 May 1955 after escaping to Uruguay in 1939 with his wife Anna and son Werner.

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Georg Friemann committed suicide when his wife and young children (aged 6 & 9) were deported to the Izica ghetto in Poland.

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The Bachrachs were just over 60 years old when they died in the Izica ghetto in Poland. Minna Benderski was 77 and Erich Langer 60 when they were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in the town of Terezin in Czechoslovakia.

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Doctor Heinemann and his wife Anna died during one of the pogroms in Essen during 1938 when many Jews were massacred.