Berlin, Leipzig, Weimar,
Dresden and Prague

DAY 1 / TUESDAY / MAY 11 DEPART USA Fly to Berlin. DAY 2 / WEDNESDAY / MAY 12 LEIPZIG OVERNIGHT IN WEIMAR Arrive at Berlin’s Tegel Airport. Drive south to Leipzig, the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, with a population of over 500,000.   The Battle of Leipzig (German: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig) or Battle of the Nations, fought on October 16-19, 1813, was one of the most decisive defeats suffered by Napoleon Bonaparte.   The battle was fought on German soil and involved German troops on both sides, as a large proportion of Napoleon's troops actually came from the German Confederation of the Rhine. The battle involved over 500,000 troops, making it the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I.   The Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Battle of the Nations Monument) is the largest monument in Europe.   Leipzig was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during World War II. American troops of the 69th Infantry Division captured the city on April 20, 1945, Adolf Hitler's 56th and last birthday.   The U.S. turned over the city to the Red Army as it pulled back from the line of contact with Soviet forces in July 1945 to the pre-designated occupation zone boundaries.   Leipzig became one of the major cities of the German Democratic Republic and the fall of the Berlin Wall began with an uprising there twenty years ago.   The fall of Communist Germany began early in October 1989 when 70,000 people gathered at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig to protest the repression of the regime. By October 16, the number had increased to 120,000 and a week later 320,000. On November 9, the Berlin Wall came down.   Continue south to the historic city of Weimar in the Free State of Thuringia (German: Freistaat Thüringen), the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen Bundesländer (federal states). DAY 3 / THURSDAY / MAY 13 WEIMAR CITY TOUR AND TOWN CASTLE OVERNIGHT IN WEIMAR Weimar's National Theater with the Statue of Goethe and Schiller Virtually every street and lane in Weimar exudes a sense of history. In 1999, Weimar was designated "European Capital of Cultural", the smallest city ever to be awarded this prestigious title. It is a vibrant and youthful university town.   The town is one of the great cultural sites of Europe, having been home to Germany's two most esteemed men of letters, the rock stars of their day, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, both leading luminaries of the cultural and literary movement known as Weimar Classicism.   Goethe was one of the greatest German writers, thinkers, and scientific theorists of all time. He was famous for such works as Faust, The Sorrows of Young Werther (first novel) and Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (second novel.) In addition, he was a playwright and director of the theater in Weimar.   Friedrich Schiller was a highly successful dramatist, achieving fame with plays such as Mary Stuart (1800) and Wilhelm Tell (1804.) Schiller also wrote essays and poetry, including Ode to Joy, which was later used by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Ninth Symphony, now the national anthem of the European Union.   Weimar has been a pilgrimage site for the German intelligentsia since Goethe first moved there in the late 18th century, when it was a poor country village of 6,000 inhabitants. Duchess Anna Amalia Library   Goethe and Schiller were lured to Weimar by the Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar and Eisenach, a highly cultured woman and patron of the arts.   A niece of Frederick the Great, Anna Amalia was born at Wolfenbüttel in 1739. Like her uncle Frederick and his two sisters, she showed musical talent early. She studied the keyboard and musical composition and pursued her passions for art, writing and languages, particularly Greek and Latin.   In 1766, the Duchess arranged for the courtly (hoefische) book collection to be moved into her library. This became the foundation for what would later become the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, located just across the Platz der Demokratie from the Hotel Elephant   The library today boasts one million books, 2,000 medieval and early modern manuscripts, 600 ancestral registers, 10,000 maps and 4,000 musical scripts.   What also brought Weimar early prestige was the fact that Europe's first pictorial periodical and probably the world's first fashion magazine originated there: Das Journal des Luxus und der Moden (The Magazine of Luxury and Fashion). It was published starting in 1786 by the entrepreneur and patron of the arts Friedrich Justin Bertuch.   His magazine was the Architectural Digest of its time, keeping the educated and cultivated bourgeoisie up-to-date on what was happening in Paris and London: clothing, cosmetics, household objects and other instruments of daily life. It was also a form of mail-order catalog.   The Modejournal enjoyed success and influence in Europe and Bertuch became the richest man in Weimar, sometimes employing 400-500 people (ten percent of the population). He underwrote Goethe's first publication.   Bertuch also helped establish the Weimar Princely Free Zeichenschule, a school for the study and cultivation of art, literature and aesthetics.   The Duchess Anna Amalia's son, Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, became Goethe's close friend and he worked to cultivate literature, art and science in Weimar.   The duke was a heavy drinker but also a good sportsman, and the revels of the court were alternated with break-neck rides across country, ending in nights spent round the camp fire under the stars. Karl August developed the Weimaraner, a breed of gun dog, for hunting. Lucas Cranach House in Weimar   Weimar had had its famous residents even before Goethe. Lucas Cranach (1472-1553) was one of the most significant painters of the German Renaissance. A true Renaissance man, he possessed a rare combination of talent and wealth. Not only did he become one of the most significant painters of the German Renaissance and a printmaker in woodcut and engraving, he also enjoyed success as a merchant, politician and even a pharmacist.   He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is best known for his portraits, both of German princes and those of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, whose cause he embraced with enthusiasm, becoming a close friend of Martin Luther.   He lived the last years of his life in a house on the Markt in Weimar.   In 1703, at the age of 17, the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach, a native of Thuringia, accepted the post of violinist in the small chamber orchestra at Weimar, but soon left.   He return to Weimar in 1708 to become the court organist for Duke Wilhelm Ernst and lived there until 1717.   Bach composed many of his great organ works at this time. He became very famous as an organist and was invited to play in other large churches and to give advice on organ building.   In 1714 Bach was promoted to Konzertmeister and one of his duties as was to provide a monthly cantata for the court chapel.   The sumptuous rooms of Town Castle, also called The Residential Palace, are just as impressive as its collection of first-class European art spanning the period from the Middle Ages and the Reformation to the beginning of the 20th century.   This important building was once the seat of government and residence of dukes and grand dukes. Grand staircases, classical galleries, and festive halls make this one of the most beautiful museums in Germany.   Weimar’s enormously rich historical landscape offers visitors a true sense of a bygone era. Our morning tour highlights not only the Classical period of the town, but also the darker Nazi era.   Our home for two nights is the historic and culturally important Hotel Elephant, Weimar's most famous hotel, whose guest list has included Bach, the composer Richard Wagner and the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.   Adolf Hitler stayed at The Elephant 26 times (according to a plaque that was once next to the fireplace but was removed at the end of World War II) and greeted jubilant masses from the hotel balcony. “What Hitler liked about Weimar was the theater, the snug artists' cafes, the comfort of the Hotel Elephant, Belvedere Park — in short, the delightful but homely atmosphere of a world remote from the hectic bustle of everyday life.” The Hidden Hitler by Lothar Machtan   The Elephant became best known in Germany through Thomas Mann's novel Lotte in Weimar (published in English as The Beloved Returns).   The period in German history from 1919 to 1933 is commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic, as the Republic's constitution was drafted here because the capital, Berlin, with its street rioting after the 1918 German Revolution, was considered too dangerous for the National Assembly to use it as a meeting place. Weimar ~ Click This Website and Then Click "Watch the Film" for an informative five-minute videotour of Weimar Weimar~ A Classic Amongst World Heritage Sites J. S. Bach in Weimar (German) Weimar: Between Cultural Splendor and Political Gloom Bach Podcast ~ Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for Organ   Weimar is not all high culture. Thuringia is famed for its Thüringer Rostbratwurst, a unique sausage that has been produced for hundreds of years, its first written record dating back to 1404.   The preferred preparation method for Thuringian sausage is roasted over charcoal or on a grill rubbed with bacon. The fire shouldn't be so hot that the skin breaks. However, some charring is desired. Usually, a Thuringian sausage is presented in a cut-open roll and brushed with mustard.   Also recommended are Thuringian potato dumplings and the Thuringian Köstritzer Schwarzbier, a dark beer that is said to have been endorsed by no less an authority than Goethe himself. DAY 4 / FRIDAY / MAY 14 BUCHENWALD MEMORIAL OR MORNING FREE OVERNIGHT IN MARIANSKE LAZNE In 1937, the Nazis constructed the Buchenwald concentration camp, only eight kilometers from Weimar's city center. In October 1950, it was decreed that the camp would be demolished, however, the main gate, the crematorium, the hospital block, and two guard towers escaped demolition. All prisoner barracks and other buildings were razed. Foundations of some still exist and many others have been rebuilt.   Buchenwald's main gate displays the camp slogan: Jedem das Seine (literally, "to each his own", but figuratively "everyone gets what he deserves").   Covering 1,600 square metres, the exhibition on two floors of the former depot is the largest on the memorial grounds. It was opened in 1995. Its design alludes to the building's original function as a storage house. Cabinet-like steel shelves open to become showcases in which evidence of the Nazi crimes is displayed and insight is provided into the realities of a camp which existed in the midst of the German people.   The exhibition comprises objects, pictures and documents as well as biographies of the victims and the perpetrators. Accompanying texts and a visitors' guide to the exhibition are available in English. Buchenwald Concentration Camp You May Stay in Weimar Instead of Visiting Buchenwald   Those who would prefer not to visit Buchenwald may elect instead to enjoy the morning in Weimar, where there is much to see.   Goethehaus is where the famous writer lived from 1782 until his death in 1832. The inside of Goethehaus, Goethe's home in Weimar   Built in 1777, Schiller's House is the oldest building and the only one of its type in Weimar's Schillerstrasse. Schiller (1759-1805) bought it in 1802 as a residence for himself and his family. By moving there he was near to his friend and collaborator Goethe and close to the theater where his successful plays were feted.   Visitors can tour the whole house, including the kitchen, servants' room, living quarters, parlour, Charlotte's room, the small reception room and the parlour-cum-study in which he died in 1805.   Franz Liszt, perhaps the greatest pianist of all time, retired from performing at the age of 35 and settled in Weimar in 1848 so that he could devote himself to composition. He remained in Weimar until 1861.   The Liszt Museum pays tribute to the multifaceted artist, who was appointed Weimar’s court musical director in 1848.   Not only did he re-invent piano-playing technique, but he also strove to get works by contemporary composers performed in Weimar, often bringing in the composers themselves, such as Hector Berlioz.   Supported by the Grand Duke Carl Friedrich and the Grand Duke’s wife Maria Pavlovna, Liszt was successful in getting works by Richard Wagner performed, who, at that time, was considered an insurrectionist for his participation in the Dresden barricade fights. In 1850, the court, under Liszt’s direction, brought the first performance of Wagner’s Lohengrin to the Weimar stage. Das Hauptgebäude der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar   Weimar was the center of the Bauhaus movement, one of the most important Design Movements of the 20th century.   The world-famous Bauhaus School of Architecture and Applied Arts was originally founded in Weimar. The museum contains about 500 exhibits made by teachers and students of this avant-garde college.   Henry van de Velde established an arts-and-crafts school in Weimar in 1907 as the forerunner of the Bauhaus, and the museum also features several works by this Jugendstil artist and his pupils.   In addition, the museum displays pioneering works by Walter Gropius (the Bauhaus’s first director).   The Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, considered the founder of abstract art, was invited to Weimar by Walter Gropius and lived there from 1922 until 1925. This was a period of intense production for Kandinsky. Yellow-Red-Blue by Wassily Kandinsky, 1925   The Swiss-born artist Paul Klee moved to Weimar in 1921 and taught at the Bauhaus. He became a close friend of Wassily Kandinsky, who inspired him in his work. The National Socialists (Nazis) denounced the Bauhaus for its "degenerate art" and Klee was forced to flee Germany. Historic Tour of Weimar in 49 pictures Bauhaus ~ Schätze der Welt ~ Interaktives Bilderbuch Video in German with text of the video, also in German

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