Last Friday, just before I dropped Jo Ann and Jeff at their train, we'd had a hurried lunch in what looked like a charming little town just southeast of Offenburg called Gengenbach. I had hoped to get back there this trip and, yesterday, after I dropped the rental car off, Sue and I went back. It felt slightly familiar (deja vu) as I knew where the parking and the restaurants were but there was so much more to discover. First off, the shopping was fun - classy gift shops and clothing stores plus a very nice Metzgerei (butcher); then there was the historic walk around the town, the small memorial to the 12 Jews taken from the town by the Nazis (right next to the restaurant where the Dubneys and I had eaten), the Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) commemorating victims removed from their homes by the Nazis, the charming Engelgasse (Angel Alley), the somewhat weird statue of spring Carnival characters, the many historic buildings, and the town's old towers and ramparts.
A short note about the Stolpersteine. I had read about them in a Rick Steves guidebook but never noticed them before. They are small brass cobblestone-shaped plaques embedded in the street or pavements outside homes from where victims of the Nazis (Jews, homosexuals, intellectuals) were removed. Their message is terse: name, date of birth and fate. Moving in their simplicity.
While we had two hours there this time, there is still a lot more in this town to explore. Then it will be déjà vue all over again!
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