My host mom and I went and visited the city of Augsburg, the capital of Bayern-Schwaben, on Saturday. A friend of hers from university in Innsbruck gave us a small tour of the city.
Augsburg is actually incredibly rich in history, stemming from the romans, and becoming a 'free market' city in the Middle Ages.
Augsburg's city center, as we were shopping.
One of Augsburg's largest attractions in the Fuggerei. This grouping of homes in the center of the city was (or claims to be) the first social living apartement center in the world. The Fuggerei (about 1520) was founded by John Fugger, a man who belonged to probably the richest and most powerful family (excluding the emperors) in Germany, or central europe, during and after the Middle Ages. The family wwere traders, and built up their holdings through trade to Africa, South America, Asia and throughout Europe. They were eventually the bankers for the Hapsburg family, or the emperors, lending them gold and other services. During the Reformation, Luther criticized the catholics and nobles for preaching good deeds that they never really did. John Fugger then started this apartement center, where small homes would be rented out (todays sum) of just
€0, 88. The goal was to "help the people help themselves". The center also had a church, school (for both girls and boys), and gardens for each of it's residents. When you think about the ideas during this time in history, Fugger's idea was actually pretty revolutionary. The small apartements are still able to be rented out (mostly by the elderly), for the same price they charged from the beginning. Franz Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's great-grandfather was also a carpenter here, and the Mozart family's original stems are from Augsburg.
During the World Wars, the Fuggerei also built a bomb protection bunker. In the second half of World War II, Augsburgs air protection measures actually came into use. The city was bombed in February, 1944 by American war planes, given the city's large airport with Nazi war planes just outside of it. The entire city went up in flames, including the Fuggerei, and many died. During the last stretches of World War II, the Allies ended up bombing many German cities relatively unnecessarily. US Soldiers were still in Augsburg until about 10 years ago. The still somewhat active influence of America upon Germany really surprises me. There are still about 30,000 soldiers stationed in Germany (due to the fact that the US needed European bases, but also due to the second World War), and 120,000 had been stationed until about 10 years ago (cities such as Frankfurt, Baden Baden, etc). Although most Germans from the older generations (or my host parent's age) look upon the Americans as rescuers out of the war, some younger generations have a strong dislike against the states. Here in Germany the entire Nazi ideals have never died out, and I was thoroughly shocked to see a demonstration take place on Saturday (here in Kempten at the mall) against Rassismus (racism) and the Nazis. Parties were also represented there that were for the previous Nazis ideas, perhaps in lesser extremes. The police ended up having to stop the fighting between the demonstrators, and some people were badly hurt. I thought that demonstrations like that must have 'died out' here, that it was part of history. Although I only read about it in the newspapers, the fact that supporters are still voicing their opinions shook me up a little bit.
Visiting the market in Augsburg around lunch.
Augsburg's main street is extremely wide (well for Europe anyway), coming from Rennaissance times. It was slightly chaotic and funny in my opinion, as the multiple German drivers weren't entirely sure how to handle themselves on such a wide street. A fountain with a statue of Hercules is in the middle.
Through the old streets of Augsburg.
We stopped at a really funny Café called the POW WOW in the afternoon, and this small pigs were chilling out at the front counter. I thought my sister Kari, with her strange love of pigs, might appreciate that.
Looking at the town hall, Augsburg center.
Roman ruins :)
Gothic architecture on 'the Augsburger Dome'. I find it super interesting how on most churches these small figures from the bible were engraved in the entrances and walls. The figures often told the stories of the bible, and gave people who couldnt read (at that time the majority) a chance to understand the bible as well. The stained glass windows inside were wonderful, along with the small characters a traditional sign of the gothic architecture. We also visited St. Anna, another beautiful church in Augsburg.
'the dome'
Augsburg still has a few small canals running through it, which had originally existed for the handworkers at Augsburgs beginning. The city was one of the 'industrial' capitals of Germany, and the canals were a way for the many workers to wash their hands.
Exiting the city - two towers/gates still stand from the original wall that enclosed the city.
The older section of the city, running along the lake.
