|
Fall in the Thuringian Forest
October 04, 2013
My dearest Old Bold, family and friends,
How excellent it was to see all you Old Bolds
(and lovely wives) in
September. I miss you all very much.
This morning I can look out the warped and slightly fogged windows
of my
hotel room, and over the cracked cement balcony walls, rotting
eaves, broken
octagonal-chicken wire glass balustrade, and dumpy clothes hanger
(for any
underwear I might want to wash in the sink?), and have a beautiful
view of
the Thuringian forest here in Friedrichroda.
Our huge hotel, with
its
crumbling 60's cement facade, calls forth pure East German nostalgia.
Perhaps because of its location, or super cheap rates, it is popular
beyond
belief with hikers of all ages and their savage children, who run
screaming
and screeching unfettered and undisciplined through the hallways and
main
feeding buffet assembly lines at all hours of day and night. The
hotel is
full to bursting with over 500 rooms completely sold out on this
holiday
weekend celebrating the reuniting of Germany.
As you know, I lived for years in East Berlin after the wall came
down, and
travelled on the cheap with my East German boyfriend throughout the
former
DDR, and so am no stranger to the landscape, architecture and style
of
accommodation. Back then, exploring the exotic Eastern Bloc culture
was
somehow cutting edge and unendingly interesting. Things here haven't
changed
much in the last twenty years, but apparently...my tastes and
expectations
have. Still, one makes the best of it for the joy of the company
involved.
And what company! Besides my trusty travel companion Charley, and of
course
our friends the Halms, who run the Knight's Cross association, we
have the
pleasure of associating with about a dozen esteemed veterans and
about 100
young people from all over the world. Most of them come to collect
autographs. Some, like me, are busy collecting stories. One Chinese
member
who is studying in Germany has an impressive collection of
interviews with
Knight's Cross holders, which he intends to write about in Chinese
when he
returns home.
Although I have made appointments to interview some veterans,
including a
second fighter pilot with the Knight's Cross, it is more difficult
to find
the untold story amongst this crowd. Still, I can't give up on
researching
more on Egon Mayer, who also, incidentally, won the Knight's Cross,
as I try
to find out whether he used a rocket to shoot down Robert Sweatt's
B-24.
Here I have run into some young people willing to help me find
Mayer's grave
and memorial, and perhaps set up an interview with a German fighter
pilot
who can still recall in perfect detail what it was like to close in
on a
four-engine American bomber in head-on attack.
In just a few minutes last night I learned about general fighter
pilot
practices that fit Mayer's attack on January 7 perfectly, and much
more.
Sadly enough, although a fair number of German fighter pilots still
are
hanging tight, most of the bomber and Stuka pilots have gone,
victims of
stomach and intestinal cancer caused from long exposure on bombing
runs of
high doses of radiation given off by the instruments in their
planes.
Perhaps the mystery of January 7th's events may yet unfold for me
before I
start writing the book this fall, perhaps not. I will not give up
trying.
Today we take a small bus tour of the ancient forest before we honor
the
fallen this afternoon. If I can keep Charley safe in the breakfast
buffet
stampede, that is.
All my love,
Heather
<Begin
Next> |