After leaving Annweiler, Langenbrücken became our destination. This was where Matthias Blanckenbühler moved when he emigrated from Austria. Later, he moved to Neuenbürg, which is not far away, less than ten miles. There is a big difference between the two places, though. Langenbrücken is now a part of a larger community, and has no visible boundaries. This is in distinction to Neuenbürg, which seems to be an isolated village. Geographically, there is a difference, as Langenbrücken is on the Rhine "flood plain", while Neuenbürg is nestled in rolling hills.
(Maps are out of date in that they fail to show the extent of building in recent years. On my detailed map, Langenbrücken shows as an isolated village, but when one visits it, the impression is completely different.)
There is a trend underway in Germany to consolidate the villages into a nearby larger town, or into a collection of villages. Individual identities are being lost, and some Germans are unhappy about this. For instance, Trupbach is advertised as a part of Siegen, not as a town in its own right.
Langenbrücken offered no insights for us. We went on to Neuenbürg, even though we had been there two years ago. That trip left us with no good photos, so we tried a different strategy this time. We concentrated on taking pictures from the hills surrounding the village, hoping to convey an overall sense of the it. Whether we were successful is not yet known. Another point I wished to settle was to determine why there were Jewish grave stones in the cemetery. We were told that during World War II all citizens had to leave the village, which was then used to house a mixture of Jewish and Christian people. Several of these died there and were buried in the cemetery. (There is obviously more of a story here than I am reporting.)
To find a resting place for the night, our second night, we drove over to Schwaigern and went to the inn where we had stayed the time before. It apparently was no longer offering rooms, though the dining hall was apparently being used. Two or three miles away is Gemmingen and we drove over to it. We did not find any rooms there so we decided to ask at a restaurant where we might find a "Doppelzimmer". The response was, "Here." Outside the building there was nothing to indicate that the establishment offered rooms, just an advertisment for their dining facilities.
There are not too many advertising signs in Germany, except for a couple of notable exceptions. McDonalds puts up poles with their golden arches on them. The other highly visible advertiser was the Shell Oil Co.
The third day was an exception to the usual activity, since it was Eleanor’s birthday. We went up to Ladenberg, about ten miles northwest from Heidelberg. Ladenburg is an example of an old town which attracts even the Germans. In Ladenberg, history did not start with the Tenth Century. It started with the Romans, in the First Century. Excavations show the Roman activity at the bottom, about eight feet down, with overlays of later German building. In a genealogical sense, we are reminded that many of us have some Roman blood.
(01 Jun 02)
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.