Entering Germany and Visiting Sites From Carol's Ancestral Past

On our ride today, we left Strasbourg and cycled northeast along the Rhine for 30 miles. At that point, we crossed the river into Germany and ended the day in Karlsruhe, the first stop of the Orient Express in Germany.

Karlsruhe is the birthplace of Carol’s grandmother (mother of her father Martin Beer) nee Lucy Homburger. The Homburger family settled in Karlsruhe in the 1700s during a time when the city was welcoming to Jewish settlers. Years later, Carol’s great-grandparents Ferdinand and Rosa Homburger lived on Karl Friedrich Strasse, a main street near the center of the city. In 1938, they were displaced from their home and subsequently deported by the Nazis to the Gurs internment camp in France. Ferdinand died at Gurs. Rosa was released from Gurs through the efforts of Lucy and Otto Beer (Carol’s grandparents) with the help of American Quakers. She came to the United States in 1941 and lived until 1954.

After arriving at our hotel, the Kaiserhof, near the center of town, we went wandering to see if we could find sites where Carol’s ancestors had lived and worked. We soon discovered that the home of Ferdinand and Rosa Homburger was two doors down the street from our hotel. Furthermore, we found a brass plaque on the sidewalk in front of their residence commemorating Ferdinand Homburger as a victim of the Holocaust. Over 100 such plaques (called stolpersteins, meaning stumbling blocks) are scattered around the city commemorating other Holocaust victims.

We next walked to Bankhaus Veit L. Homburger, an elaborate bank building housing what had been the successful bank founded and run by a line of the Homberger family related to Carol. The bank was established in 1854, and subsequently moved to this building in 1901. A plaque on the building commemorates the Homburger family, who were forced by the Nazis to give up the bank.  The building is now a Italian restaurant, where we had dinner.

Leaving Strasbourg

It will take a long time to get to Istanbul at this rate

Entering Germany

Our first meal in Germany: eating lunch while sitting on a concrete wall

At the address where Carol's great-grandparents lived

Plaque on the sidewalk of the building pictured above, saying: "Here lived Ferdinand Homberger, born 1860, deported 1940 to Gurs, died January 28, 1941"

The building where the Homberger bank was located, now an Italian restaurant

Plaque on the bank building, saying: "The banking house of Veit L. Homberger was founded in 1854 and became a well-known company. In 1901 it moved into this building, designed by Robert Curjel and Karl Moser. In 1939 the Nazi boycott led to the liquidation of this Jewish private bank."