December 2000
News from the Canberra Middelmanns
[This page is also available in German/auf Deutsch.]
Early December 2000
Dear family and friends,
We wish you all a joyful Christmas and a happy New Year. May you make time to appreciate life and relationships that will not go on for ever. We were reminded of this again this year with the death of Helen's father in Melbourne in October and our brother-in-law Jean Jacques in Germany in November.
We have had an interesting year, in more ways that one! In April thieves broke into our house and stole some family jewellery. Reluctantly we have had an alarm system fitted. Sadly, numbers of young people in our city are drug dependant, so break into homes looking for cash and jewellery to pay for their habit.
Travel this year has been interesting and varied (can any of you imagine Raoul not travelling?). A four-week trip to South Africa (Western Cape Province and Johannesburg) allowed us to renew friendships with the Middelmann family there, as well as to see first-hand some of the changes that have come about since the end of apartheid. It has indeed been "A Long Walk to Freedom" (the title of Mandela's autobiography). While not wanting to minimise the challenges facing South Africa, we feel hopeful for its future.
We spent Easter with Richard, Keryn, Martin and Thomas in "The Shack" at Walker Flat on the Murray River, knowing that the family was planning to move to Germany for a few years. We also made family visits to Melbourne, Geelong (where Nicola and Craig now live), Wilson's Promontory and Loxton (Robert's home).
In November a trip to the Barossa Valley, SA, for Joanna Bartsch's wedding allowed Raoul also to speak to the Friends of the Lutheran Archives in Adelaide about his book Our Own World History. We enjoyed having Miriam close by as she continues to work in Canberra.
As some of you already know, we flew to Athens on 20 August to begin a 39-day family trip. We enjoyed Athens immensely - its magnificent buildings, views, museums and rich history. Miriam's passion for this great city had inspired us! We were not disappointed. We were fortunate to be there when many Athenians were taking their summer holidays, so the traffic and air pollution that are notorious were hardly noticeable.
From there we flew to Frankfurt, where Richard and grandson Thomas met us and drove us to their new home in Wiesbaden. The following day we explored Wiesbaden together by bus and on foot, visiting the houses where Raoul's grandfather and great-aunt lived more than 50 years ago. Raoul has many memories of boyhood visits to Wiesbaden.
From there we travelled by train to Bonn to stay with friends in Meckenheim. They took us to the Benedictine monastery Maria Laach and walked with us around the beautiful lake there.
In Wuppertal-Cronenberg we were welcomed again by an old school friend of Raoul's. This was a base for exploring the surrounding area - Friedrich Engels' birthplace, Villa Huegel (the mansion built by steel magnate Krupp) and the Benedictine monastery of Werden. On 30 August we went to Bruchsal, where Raoul spent the years 1937-1950. He has many vivid memories of those years including of course the destruction of most of the town in March 1945. Helen especially enjoyed walking along the trails on the surrounding hills, eating ripe Zwetschgen (damson plums) straight from the trees.
From Bruchsal we travelled to Reichertshausen to stay overnight with Raoul's sister Astrid and her husband Jean Jacques, before travelling to Burglengenfeld to attend the 95th birthday celebration of Raoul's aunt Anneliese. This was indeed a special celebration! Family members had come not only from other parts of Germany, but also from Spain, South Africa and Australia. It was special for us to be there with Richard, Keryn, Martin and Thomas. A boat trip on the Danube, lunch at the Benedictine monastery Weltenburg, coffee and cake AND a marvellous dinner in Burglengenfeld made for a most memorable day.
From Burglengenfeld we travelled to Thuringia, visiting Altenburg, Eisenberg, Erfurt, Arnstadt and Ilmenau on the trail of Goethe and some of Raoul's forebears (Helen thinks they seem to be everywhere!) From Walkenried we climbed the Brocken, a real "German pilgrimage," joined by hundreds of others who hiked up, and thousands of others who travelled up by steam train. It is only in recent years that access to the mountain has been possible again, as it was a crucial intelligence point for the Russians and the former G.D.R.
Further travels took us to Einbeck (magnificent half-timbered houses) and Hoexter (Corvey monastery) where Helen decided to return to the grandchildren in Wiesbaden (for a rest!) while Raoul continued his energetic trip to Soest, Arnsberg, Medebach, Korbach, Frankenberg, Battenberg and Muenchhausen. We met again in Wiesbaden, from where a few days later we flew to Chicago, then drove to Dodgeville, WI, Iowa City, IA, to call on relatives, then spent a few days in Seward, NE, catching up with dear friends from Helen's study time 1996/97. It was so good to see old friends again and feel like we had never been away.
For Raoul the trip was a welcome break from his work with U3A (University of the Third Age) where he lectures and participates in courses, as well as organising 14 weeks of lunchtime forums on a wide range of interesting topics. Helen enjoyed the change from her varied activities in hospital chaplaincy, marriage education, family support, parent education and grief education.
Love to you all.
Raoul and Helen
Email: middlman@austarmetro.com.au
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