Rita and I had traveled to this area before. In 1977 when we were camping around Europe for three months, we drove from Nurnberg to West Berlin, passing within a short distance of Altenburg and Leipzig. But at that time we didn’t have the information about where the Franke family originated. The East Germans didn’t give us freedom of movement and we had only four hours to make the crossing from the border to West Berlin. In August 1983 we had learned much more about my family background and we visited Altenburg for the first time. We met the genealogist Gerhard Porzig who was our guide around the city. Then again we visited in summer of 1999 when Rita met me in Amsterdam (I was on a business trip) and we rented a car. Altenburg was improving from the Soviet era when a large Russian air force base was located on its outskirts.
This time even more improvements can be seen in this part of what was East Germany. Mainly the old buildings are being restored to life and the stores have all the food and products of the West which they did not have before. With this progress come the many Burger Kings and McDonalds along with tattoos, body piercing, and loud rap music blaring from car radios. But it is progress nevertheless.
On Thursday morning, August 15, Rita and I woke early to get in line for tickets at Brussels’ Hotel de Ville in order to see the flower carpet put down in the Grand Place every two years. It was beautiful this year and as we left the crowds were starting to descend on the Grand Place.
We were away by 10:00 am and headed east past Aachen and Koln, Germany. We thought we were making good time when we ran into major construction on Autobahn
A-45 near Siegen. It took an hour to move about ten miles. From there we drove past Giessen, Alsfeld, Bad Hersfeld and Eisenach only stopping for gasoline and the occasional bathroom break. The drive was a tension creator as traffic was heavy and there was construction every few miles, which slowed traffic down considerably. The scenery was great but the drive was not. We zoomed on past Erfurt, Weimar and Jena then turned north on A-9 to Leipzig. We arrived later than expected at about 8:00 pm and found our way into the city center just fine. We checked into our nice Marriott Hotel then quickly walked into the old Markt or Market square. From our guidebook we chose the historical 16th century wine cellar called Auerbachs Keller.
It was a good choice and I kept wondering if my great-great-grandfather had stopped in for a beer or glass of wine in the past. We started with glasses of local Ur-Krostitzer beer (since 1534) – I ordered dark while Rita had pilsner. We chose “Saxon specialties” for our meals. I had a peppered pork cutlet baked in a dish of sauerkraut and mashed potatoes covered with cheese. Rita had beef roulade with red cabbage and potato dumplings (kartofel knudel). Rita had a local red wine and I had a local white wine from Freyburg, a short distance east of Leipzig. For dessert we shared a local dish of grilled quark cheese served with a vanilla custard sauce and cinnamon ice cream. The meal was delicious and we had to walk around the busy town center for a while afterwards.
Since Leipzig is a university town, it has plenty of restaurants and nightlife. We found most of our hotel and restaurant staff spoke good English, which wasn’t true in Altenburg. But I would recommend you wait another two to three years before visiting Leipzig, even though it is a beautiful city. It will get better. Much of the downtown area is under construction with new buildings for museums and markets. The streets are blockaded and torn up in many areas. But the old buildings are getting nicely restored and it is a beautiful city to visit even now.
We had intended to drive to Dresden the next day but watching the TV news it sounded as if the flooding there would not get better but only worse. So we called the hotel in Dresden to cancel and then booked ourselves for another night in Leipzig.
Friday morning we ate breakfast in our hotel and then drove to Altenburg. Taking what documentation I had on my ancestors, we walked streets where ancestors lived hundreds of years ago. We parked on Wall Strasse where there are a few remains of the old city walls. We walked up Kesselgasse where my ancestor, Johann Christian Rothe, master butcher of the Ducal Court, resided. We walked down Hillgasse (next street over) where my ancestors Michael Mahn, rope maker, and Valtin (butcher) and Anna Maria Rothe lived.
We walked to the market square and then to St. Bartholomew church where most of my early ancestors were baptized, married and buried. This is the oldest church in Altenburg. St. Bartholomew was built in 1459 and a Roman crypt was discovered under the late Romanesque building. Martin Luther visited Altenburg several times and performed at least one marriage in St. Bartholomew.
We went to the church offices and rang the bell. A lady came out to greet us but didn’t speak English. Or so she said. It turned out her English was better than she admitted and between our German and my genealogy family tree, she understood what we wanted – copies of the old church records. The cost per page was about $3 and I had all the page numbers and book numbers so I knew what I wanted. The only problem was that their copy machine was broken. But we did look at one of the books and saw the baptism of my great-great-grandfather Ernst August Franke in 1806. It was quite a thrill and she let me photograph the page. We left our address and money with her and she agreed to make some further copies of other records when their machine is repaired.
Next we went into St. Bartholomew and toured the crypt and interior. The caretaker let me take a few photos. I hiked up the stairs to the bell tower for a great view of Altenburg. Rita declined to make the hike on 300-year-old stairs. Next we walked to the Ratskeller in the Rathouse (court house) and had lunch. We had eaten there twice before and find it the best place in town. I had a Thuringer bratwurst with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Rita had a salad and dish of baked spatzle noodles with cheese and mushrooms. We had a local Altenburger beer with our good meal.
We left Altenburg and drove on a little further south to Ronneburg where the Frankes originated before Altenburg. The oldest records I have of the Frankes is a Martin Franke born in Ronneburg in 1666. So we found St. Marien church and knocked on the door of the church office. A young man in his late 30s or early 40s came down and greeted us. We were quite surprised when we asked if he spoke English that he said yes he did. He was Pastor Tiedemann who had lived a year in Milwaukee. He was very friendly and gave us a tour of St. Marien. But he did not have the old records as they were kept elsewhere and the office was not open. But we exchanged addresses and he promised to get copies of the records I need and mail them to us.
We walked around Ronneburg but couldn’t find much of historical or cultural note. Ronneburg was a mining town that suffered neglect under the Russians. The Russians mined the local uranium in a way that may have caused problems with future drinking water. When we visited Ronneburg in 1983 it was a town of about 14,000 people and today, with the mining stopped, it has dropped to about 5,800. Pastor Tiedemann told us stories of dropping church attendance, joblessness, and bickering between church members who used to belong to the Communist Party and those who didn’t. Ronneburg is in sad shape today.
We drove back to Leipzig via Altenburg and Kotteritz where we met Gerhard Porzig in 1983 but we couldn’t find his house. He was old then and we suspect he has died. We sent him Christmas cards several years in a row and they were unanswered. He was always good about writing to us.
We walked more around Leipzig and had a great meal outdoors at the Coffe Baum (coffee tree) restaurant, a historical guesthouse dating back to 1645. It was a warm night and there were hundreds of people dining outdoors at sidewalk cafes. It was fun and exciting. As much as I hate to admit it, we both ordered the seniors meal of a small portion of pork tenderloin with lots of vegetables. It was good and not as huge as previous meals. Again we had local beer with the meal. We shared a nice apple strudel for dessert.
Sunday we woke early and walked into the city center of Leipzig once more. We found a good bagel place and had a light breakfast there. This was unheard of just 20 years ago. We walked to the beautiful St. Nikolai church with columns that looked like palm trees. Next we went to St. Thomas church where Johann S. Bach is buried. We walked around town taking more photos of the pretty Alte Borse (old stock exchange) and Altes Rathaus (old court house). We walked to the Neues Rathaus (yep, newer one but built around 1900). Then back to the hotel to check out and get on the road.
We decided to take back roads instead of fighting the traffic on the autobahns. We drove to the pretty town of Naumburg and parked. We visited the cathedral called Dom St. Peter and St. Paul, a very old (13th century), historical cathedral. We also walked to the Markt or Market center with a town hall built in 1517 and a cluster of 16th and 17th century houses.
Then we drove west on highway 87 in pretty wine making country. We went over an old bridge in Bad Kosen and saw signs indicating Napoleonic battles of 1806 and 1813. It got me thinking about Ernst August Franke’s diary in which he says he was orphaned in 1813. I wonder if his father was killed in the famous battle of Leipzig in 1813? I will have to research this further. We drove through Eckartsberga, Sommerda, Straussfurt, Bad Tennstedt, and Bad Langensalza to Muhlhausen where we parked again and walked this pretty walled city. This old town has its walls still intact and many old half-timbered houses. We had delicious ice cream dishes at a sidewalk café in the market square. We visited the Marienkirche (church) and the Blasiuskirche where J. S. Bach played the organ in 1707-08. Then back into the car and on the road again. We crossed the border from Thuringen into Hesse where the old East/West Germany border used to be located. We drove through beautiful towns full of half-timbered houses in Wanfried and Frieda. At Eschwege we drove along the Weser River to Witzenhausen then into the hills through Hundelshausen, Trubenhaussen, Spangenberg and Homberg. A beautiful area we must revisit.
We stopped in Marburg and visited the old pilgrim church of St. Elizabeth where she is buried. This church dates back to 1235 and Marburg was one of the great pilgrimage centers of the West where pilgrims came to view the relics of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. We hiked up to the old town and had a good dinner at Zur Sonne (the Sun), a 17th century guesthouse. We had pork schnitzel with mushrooms and melted cheese on egg spatzles. It was very good and I had a local Frankish white wine while Rita had a Baden white wine. No dessert tonight, just coffee.
As many times before, over dinner we looked at the map and decided we could make it home by driving late into the night. Rather than spend another night out we did that. We drove through pretty countryside on back roads through Biedenkopf to Dillenburg as the sun was setting. At Dillenburg we got back on autobahn A-45 and retraced our steps back home. The traffic was much lighter at night and no major construction to slow us down. We arrived home about midnight and collapsed into bed.
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