Leipzig

Leipzig is celebrating their 1000 year anniversary this year.  This city is important to me because it was previously part of the DDR, East Germany, and when I first visited Germany to see the Berlin Wall falling in early 1990 I was full of Cold War angst and fear... For good reason... I had to bribe my way back into the West after visiting Sans Souci in Potsdam, and at that time you could drive into a West Berlin one only one road and didn't dare exit this road for fear of disappearing...  Plus I grew up in an era of Communism vs. the West.  Well, Leipzig is the new Berlin.  We didn't bomb this city as badly as we did Dresden, but we did destroy 45% of the city.  Now it's a boom town.  Mark and I commented last night walking back from the most amazing dinner how we felt so safe and the city was so vibrant.

We did the English speaking tour yesterday - everything is in bloody German here!!!... and I cannot imagine how people lived in the DDR housing blocks built in the 60s and 70s.  The communists did not restore or care for any of the older buildings for decades, and now the city is full of renovation and life, 25 years after the fall of communist Germany.  People were living without heat, hot water, toilets in stairwells, etc... So when the communists built their ugly housing blocks, the waiting lists were long to get a flat which provided basic human needs.  Now the 18th and 19th century buildings are being lovingly restored and no one wants to live in a commie flat!!

Most important, is the fact that the fall of Communist Germany started on October 9, 1989, when 70,000 people peacefully marched from St Nikolai church to the Stasi headquarters.  The Stasi were much feared of course, because they could steal everything and kill your family for any reason.  This movement began with ONE pastor, creating peaceful prayer meetings every Monday night 5pm.  People leaving the church were often arrested for attending such a peaceful prayer meeting, and it took guts to stand up for your rights.  I remember seeing the movie made secretly from a church tower of the demonstration (which was successfully snuck out to the West the next day) and we got to trace the footsteps yesterday of this revolution's beginnings.  One month later, on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.

The population of Leipzig once reached 700k people; after the creation of East Germany, the population was only 200+k during the 20th century.  Now the city is at 550k people with 10k new residents moving here each year.  There are 6 applicants per open position at the University now.

The home of Wagner, Bach, Goethe, and Mendelson, music and art are regarded highly here.  There is still a famous boys choir that performs around the world, and present motets in the St Thomas church on Fridays.  Tonight we hope to get a ticket for the motet; in classical music, a motet is a highly varied choral musical composition. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music.  Our flat is smack dab in the center of the original city, so again, we can walk everywhere.

Last night we had the best meal of our trip at a small neighborhood restaurant specializing in Slow food; the menu is crafted each day based on what is fresh and available. ALL products have to come from within 100 km distance.  The young chef and his wife spent time with us sharing about food and life in Leipzig.

This picture sums up the feeling of the people.  It's Honecker (leader of the Easy Germany), and Brezhnev (leader of Russia) kissing in a Trabant (those tiny automobiles that people were allowed to drive during communism)... Nasty bedfellows...