A favorite village in the Siegen area was Oberfischbach oberfischbach.html"> (See Oberfischbach Photos) , where Pastor Häger was Pfarrer. Jacob Holzklau taught in the school, and the Kuntz, Grimm, and Weißgerber families lived there. The reason that it was a favorite was that the church was open. And few churches could rival Oberfischbach for interest to Germanna people.
Protestant churches in the north are much plainer and simpler than those in the south, and Oberfischbach is no exception. Being plain does not make a church unattractive; on the contrary, the directness of the structure and the furnishings are refreshing. This church is not large, but its capacity of the main floor is augmented by a balcony in the back and on the sides. The altar table is centered in front and directly above this is the pulpit of natural wood. In a reversal of the usual church architecture, the organ is above the pulpit making a rather grand sight.
The staff gave us a small book, " 200 Jahre, Evangelische Johanneskirche Oberfischbach, 1796 1996 ". They were happy to give us the book as they said they had far too many printed in 1996. I was sorry that the book did not go back more in time than this, but, still, they had lists of the Pfarrer back to 1342, but incomplete. At the earliest dates, the church would have been Catholic. The first Protestant Pfarrer was in 1538. At this time, it was Lutheran. The first Reformed Pfarrer was 1590, and so it has remained except for a six-year period during The Thirty Years’ War, when it was Catholic again. In the years 1703 to 1711, the Pfarrer was Johann Hermann Häger. [Note that B. C. Holtzclaw gave the name as Johann Henrich Häger. I do not know which is correct.]
Oberfischbach is a small village. With one glance, one takes it in. At this time of year, with the lush greenery, the white houses make a beautiful picture. The church is also white, and the village has a clean appearance (as most villages in Germany do).
Niederfischbach is a larger place. It has a big Catholic church (in the nineteenth century Gothic style), which serves an extended region. The Protestant church was much simpler and smaller. In this village we got an answer to the question of the significance of the tall poles with a "Christmas" tree on top. Often there was a circular wreath of evergreens in a horizontal plane suspended from and around the pole about half way up. Some poles had the emblems of the guilds or trades. These were May Poles erected for May Day (the first day of the month). There seemed to be a competition among the villages to see who could erect the tallest pole. Some of them must have been close to thirty meters in height. This was a custom throughout the Germanic lands. We saw them around Siegen, on the border close to Innsbruck, and in Austria.
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For more on the history of May Poles (Maibaums, or Maibäume) and how they are raised, and to see some great pictures of them, go
here
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A quick look in at Niederdorf indicated, to us, that the church building started out with another purpose in mind. And the building today may have many purposes. The churches often have kindergartens in a space adjacent to the church. The kindergartens are a story in themselves.
(07 Jun 00)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.