On Death and Dying

When I was in high school I read the book On Death and Dying, written by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in 1969. I may still have my copy packed away with my old books. I used to fantasize that we were related to her since my maiden name is Kubler. But my dad said our family was from Germany and she was from Switzerland, so it was unlikely. (I have since learned that our family came from Busserach, Switzerland so I continue my quest to see if we share some branches on the family tree.) At any rate, I found Kubler-Ross' theory about the five stages of grief to be fascinating. I later wrote some papers about death and dying in college as I worked on my Family Services degree.

Someone close to me died last week. Her spouse is not telling too many people, and does not want any discussions about the death despite the fact that it was unexpected. The body was cremated and there will be no funeral. While I respect the wishes of the spouse, I think this approach is very hard on those left behind. Many of us communicate through social media avenues, letting our family and friends know of milestones, successes and yes, deaths. And funerals are for the living, not for the deceased. They are a way to share our memories of a loved one, and to share our grief as well. There will be no closure for the remaining family and friends in this case. I feel bad for all of those who knew and loved this woman who will not be made aware of her passing.

Everyone grieves in their own way - I understand that. But it doesn't make it any easier to try to come to terms with this loss. In recent years I have written poems when a loved one dies. So I will write one for the woman I loved, even though I won't be able to share it here. Heaven has another angel...

My Fairytale Trip and a Visit to the Palace

Before I get to my visit to the palace, I want to post a few photos of Speyer, where I stayed the last three nights of my trip. The rest of my tour group had arrived there on Friday, September 20th while I was in Switzerland. The only opportunity I had to look around Speyer was when I arrived from Switzerland on Sunday. There was so much to see in this city! It is one of the oldest cities in Germany with a beautiful old town area.

Speyer Cathedral

Cathedral interior

Street scene

Entrance gate

Through the gate

Entrance gates

Okay, my last full day in Germany was appropriately a visit to a palace - the Schwetzingen Palace to be exact. Located in Schwetzingen, Germany this palace was a simple summer home as the main palace in Mannheim consisted of a total floor area of six hectares (approximately 14.8 acres)! I didn't see a statistic on the size of Schwetzingen Palace, but some 40 rooms are open to the public for touring. We were not allowed to take photographs inside the palace, but truly the exterior gardens were the show stoppers anyway.

Facing palace left

Facing palace center

Facing palace right

Sculptured hedge

Pruned trees line a walkway

One of the 100 sculptures

View from the back of the palace

Fountain - one of many

Me on a bridge

Reflection in the lake

Seven of us traveled by train to Frankfurt on the 25th, and then on the same plane to Charlotte before going our separate ways back home. It seems appropriate to end my postings about this trip with this picture. Because as I reflect back on my travels the past two weeks searching for my ancestors and trying to understand the places they came from and why they left all that they knew behind, I learned something else as well. My family tree is no longer a flat piece of paper filled with names, dates and places. Those names were once people with hopes and dreams, joys and sorrows. And they are MY people. As I walked their streets, photographed their homes, cemeteries and places of worship, I could almost feel them beside me. Like the people in each of the towns I visited who were thrilled that someone from America was interested in where their ancestors came from, I sensed that my relatives, too, loved the fact that I had come to their "home". As I gazed around me I couldn't help but wonder about the last time that their eyes looked upon everything that they knew and loved. What was it like on that last day, knowing that most likely you would never see your family, friends or the land you loved again? I can only imagine, but I am so grateful for the opportunity to see their homeland through my own eyes. In sum, I went to Germany and Switzerland seeking my ancestors but I found a piece of myself as well. Until we meet again...

Traveling to Insheim, Germany

Bernhard, Roland and me

Sunday evening after arriving in Speyer and checking into my room, I had some time to try and digest my whirlwind days in Switzerland before shrugging out of my Kubler Coat of Arms and into the one for my Metz family. Monday morning I took a bus to the train station, and then three trains to Insheim. I was met at the train station by Roland, our translator, and also Herbert and Bernhard. They drove me to the Rathaus, which is like our city hall, where I met with the mayor and a couple of other people. After some champagne and fresh rolls, they showed a slide presentation of some of the information they had collected about my Metz family. They also provided the data in a printed notebook, in English, which is awesome.

Following the presentation we went upstairs to the Glocken Museum, the second largest collection of bells in Germany. This collection was donated by a resident, and the town takes care of it.

Glocken Museum Insheim, Gemany

Swiss cow bell

Next we took a walking tour of the town, where they pointed out the historic buildings. We saw the Catholic Church, but as this one was built in 1912 and completed in 1914, it is not the one my ancestors would have worshiped in.

Catholic Church exterior

Catholic church interior

In Germany, the ruling king determined what religion the people practiced. So a church may have been Catholic for one reign and then protestant for the next. When that was no longer a law, then churches would sometimes allow both religions to use their building. That was the case in Insheim until the Catholics began building their own church in 1912. Here is the old church where the Metz family would have attended services. It is now Lutheran.

Lutheran Church exterior

Lutheran Church interior

The town cemetery is located next to the Lutheran Church. I took pictures of all the Metz graves that I could find. In Germany, and the same is true in Switzerland, the family rents the grave space for a maximum of 30 years. When someone stops paying or the 30 years is up, the tombstone is removed and someone else is buried there. I asked what happens to the tombstones, and was told that the family could take the stone or it would be ground up and reused. Talk about reduce, reuse, recycle!

Metz grave

Next we drove to Burg Landeck, a nature park containing a castle. There were beautiful views especially from the tower of the castle. We also had lunch at the castle restaurant.

Burg Landeck castle

View from the castle tower

Next on the agenda was a trip to Steinweiler, a small village located near Insheim. Maria Appollonia Schwein from Steinweiler married Andreas Metz from Insheim in 1777. In Steinweiler the local historians had located the house of the Schwein family from 1717. How did they know which house was theirs? It is etched right onto the house. When I saw these markings all I could think was how happy Americans would be to find out not only when the house was built but for whom, just by looking at the outside of the house. The markings also indicate that Schwein was a blacksmith.

Front of the house

Markings on the house

Inside the courtyard

Another courtyard shot

Inside the house

While we were taking photos of the front of the house the owner came home from work. When Roland explained that I was visiting from America and that my Schwein family had lived here, he invited us inside the courtyard and the kitchen area. He and his wife are having the house renovated, and the workmen were there at the time so we couldn't see more of the house itself. To say that it was a thrill to be able to cross the same threshold that my ancestors had crossed is a vast understatement. I still have goosebumps!

On the way back to Insheim we stopped at a vineyard as Roland explained to me that this part of Germany is often referred to as Little Tuscany. I can definitely see why. It is a beautiful area.

Vineyards

Grapes

Me with the Golden Book

Once we arrived back at the Rathaus I was invited to sign the Golden Book, an honor reserved for VIPs. I was flattered to be asked, and how fun to know that I have left a permanent part of myself in the town that my ancestors once called home. Then Roland and Herbert offered to drive me back to Speyer so I could avoid the three train rides and bus transfer to get back to my hotel. Since they had given me two commemorative glasses of town celebrations as well as two historical books, I was happy to take them up on their kind offer. This was another information packed day with yet another group of people who put a lot of time into looking for my family history, and making me feel welcome in their town. I feel so blessed that my family came from this wonderful little village.

Travel to Busserach

I have been delayed in posting because I hit the ground running in Switzerland. My train trip from Boppard to Basel was uneventful except for a suicide attempt. While still in southern Germany the train came to a screeching halt, and I nervously looked around my train car. No one else seemed concerned so I thought it was a brake check or something. But then we just sat. Finally an announcement came on that there were "people on the tracks" and we had to wait for them to be moved. I wondered if a car had gotten stuck on the tracks. A little later another announcement was made that someone was trying to commit suicide by laying on the tracks, and they had to wait for the police to come. I guess the person went willingly because we were soon on our way again. All this delayed my arrival time in Basel where Rolf, as promised, was waiting at the top of the escalator with a Swiss flag. I waved my own American flag at him, and we quickly bought my ticket to Laufen. Back down the escalator we went only to see our train pulling out. Back up the escalator we headed with me dragging all my luggage once again. We went into a coffee shop for some coffee and tea. Rolf brought me up to date in the plans for the rest of that day, which was Thursday.

Gasthaus where Joseph Kubler sold his land

We caught the next train 30 minutes later and then got into his car which was parked at the Laufen train station. From there we drove directly to my hotel in Breitenbach, which I believe I have mentioned is the same hotel where my ancestor Joseph Kubler sold his house and land in February of 1854 to finance passage to America for his family. We barely made it in the door to drop my bag with the hotel owner and grab a key before Rolf whisked me off to Busserach, a short distance away. There we went to to the Catholic Church office to look at the old birth, death and marriage records. The office is only open on Thursdays so we needed to take advantage of that.

With the parish record books in Busserach

A Kubler entry

The secretary had laid out three books for us to look through. We photographed every Kubler entry that we found. We did not have too much time to dissect what we came across as there were many Kubler entries. We got short on time, so Rolf suggested we go through two additional books at a later time. From the office we went to Rolf's house where I had a chance to meet his two sons, but not his wife as she was away on holiday. Then Josef Kubler (call Sep in Switzerland for short, but never Joe) came to pick us up to take us to his sister Susanne's house for dinner. The two of them speak no English and I don't speak German so Rolf was kept busy translating the conversation. Susanne prepared raclette, a traditional Swiss dish. It was so good! I may have to see if I can find the machine in the U.S.

Joseph on the left with Rolf

Raclette

I got back to the hotel about 10:30 that evening to prepare for a big day at the Solothurn archives on Friday.

Train Travel to Trier

Train to Trier

We rode the train to Trier today. The last hour of the trip was on a double decker train, and the sites from the second level were pretty amazing. Trier may be the oldest city in Germany (around 16 BC), and the entry gate is a UNESCO world heritage site. There used to be four entry gates, but the rest were destroyed. The only reason this one survived is because it was used as a church.

Porta Nigra

Speaking of churches, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Peter is the oldest cathedral in Germany. It has held services for over 1,700 years and is also a UNESCO site. In places it is 86 feet tall!

Cathedral of St. Peter

 

Side altar

Main altar

 

View from front to back of the church

 

Entry doors

Our Roman tour guide

Elephant Parade

 

Another of the 40 elephants

Metal worker

 

Some of his wares

Street performer?

Unfortunately the day was cool, windy and rainy so we did not spend as much time exploring this historic city as we probably would have normally. Instead we found a place to grab a hot drink to warm up before getting back on the train to Boppard. On the first leg of the journey I met a couple of nice young men from Iowa, who are here on vacation. Not only do they live in Ames, but they also graduated from Iowa State. Small world, and that hour passed quite quickly while I chatted with them. Wednesday is a free day as half of our group will travel to their home towns for a visit. Depending on the weather, the rest of us will decide if we want to go to a different town. It will be nice to have a little down time.