Leipzig

Frühstück

This morning started with the breakfast buffet at my sleeping place. Unlike the last place, it's included in the price of my room. The breakfast room is also the only place where I can access the internet. (I'm at the same table right now.) I spent an hour or so contentedly sipping away at coffee and tea, nibbling on healthy things instead of pastries, catching up on the Internet, and getting ready for the rest of the day. Not bad!

Heading in

Today was Leipzig history day. I visited the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum, which has been located in the Altes Rathaus since 1905 (when the government moved to the Neues Rathaus). Its exhibits cover the history of Leipzig from the beginnings in the 13th century (if I recall correctly) and up through the 19th century. Leipzig was long a judicial seat, which I found interesting. It also fared reasonably well through the Middle Ages and such because it developed itself as a trade center. The city was populated by craftspeople and merchants, who did fairly well despite widespread pestilence and such. I also learned that the nifty passages I mentioned yesterday were developed to facilitate trade and markets, which is pretty neat. There is also a room devoted to J. S. Bach, who signed his employment contract in one of the Altes Rathaus's main rooms. In good news, I'm getting better at understanding spoken word. However, that's mostly only when it's something slower and controlled, like an announcer or someone reading an info sheet about a famous composer.

Oddly modern building,
considering its surroundings

Perfectly complimenting that museum is the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum (Contemporary History Forum), which takes on history from directly after World War II. It charts the division of Germany into the hands of the four major powers -- United States, Great Britain, France, and Soviet Union -- and how that developed into the East-West division. The story of the development of the DDR was also included, as was the raising of the Berlin (and other) Wall. There was also an area related to life in the DDR, with information on work, obtaining goods, DDR-specific products, and the like. A small area is devoted to the destruction of Leipzig's Universitätkirche (University Church), which was apparently quite the unpopular move, and a larger area to the protests of autumn 1989, which resulted in the opening of the Berlin Wall and, eventually, reunification. The advent of the European Union and the Euro currency were also covered. Interesting place. I might go to the third of these museums, in Berlin, depending on how my schedule ends up.

Back to anthropological mumbojumbo for a bit... The individuality of this city's memory, in contrast with Dresden, seems blurred. Before the (first) formation of Germany as a country, it was a certain place. That history is pushed into the background and more modern history is discussed as a passive occurrence, something that happened to...well, someone. I get the impression from other things I read that Leipzig was an industrial town before Reuinification, though that has not been discussed in the official histories I've seen. (To be fair, those at the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum were aimed at the entire country/ies, not at the city itself. I think I will have to look elsewhere for that more detailed information.)

Instead of seeming to live in memory, though, this city has a sense of youth -- largely, I'm sure, relating to the university -- and timelessness. The old buildings exist, new buildings go up, and Leipzig goes on. I wonder, then, what effect this sort of lack of history has on the inhabitants. I spent some time today at the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum half-watching a teenager and his father in the DDR section. (The college-aged kids I'd seen get excited about toys earlier likely came from the former West.) The kid was born after Reunification, but I was, unfortunately, not able to determine if the father was showing what life in the DDR was like or what his life was like. (I didn't want to listen too closely, too much cultural training against eavesdropping.) It would have been an interesting conversation, had it been the latter. What I really wish I had is time (and ability) to talk with people. So many questions!

I had a ridiculous ice cream concoction -- "spaghetti" (it didn't look like that, but the photo did) ice cream, chocolate, nuts, and liquor -- for dinner. So big I couldn't finish it!