10.4.15 Bamberg

It's raining this morning and chilly. According to the map we went through 6 locks during our overnight trip. I think I was awoken by each one.

Unlike Nernberg which was 80% destroyed by allied bombing Bamberg was left alone. Legend has it that's because there are 9 breweries in this town of 70 K and nobody... I mean nobody wanted to destroy beer.

The city has some of the oldest intact medieval structures in Europe.

It's reported that during its early days the sewage system was the river. There is a slaughter house (medieval) built over the river and of course that's where the offal ended up. Where did they get their water then? They made beer and everyone drank it even the kids. Of course a much lower alcohol level - just high enough to make the water disease free through the brewing process.

 

The Reformation occurred here as well however the ruler at the time wanted to keep the town Catholic so had a huge cathedral built and discouraged the reformist as much as possible.

The other story was of course the Jewish story. I imagine not unlike the Jewish story everywhere in Europe. The Jews came and went throughout the history. Our tour guide explained that there were 3 reasons why the Jewish people were removed from communities. The first was because of religious intolerance. Secondly, they as outsiders would inevitably became the scapegoats for everything that went wrong - bad crops, poisoned wells, murders. The third was that they were generally wealthier because of better business sense and where as the Christians couldn't loan money the Jews could. It was a form of reverse bankruptcy. Just kick the creditors out of town.

There were approximately 800 Jews living in Bamberg during the Nazi regime. After Kristallnacht approximately half escaped to the United States and the other half were exterminated. Now Bamberg has a progressive Jewish community with a modern synagogue and a female rabbi.

There will be a quiz tomorrow.

Once again I have to credit my husband for most of these outstanding photos - great eye and editing skills.

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