Why a grave in Narva? To answer this question, we must return to an unhappy time 65 years earlier, when my mother’s eldest brother, Heinrich, was serving in the German army on the Eastern Front. His army group was engaged in the siege of Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, and although wounded once, he returned to his unit after a short respite in Hamburg, where he visited family and friends. My mother would never see him again, as he fell in battle on 19 May 1944, one day after his twentieth birthday, during the Battle of Narva.
Over the years, my mother related many stories about her life in Germany, often featuring her brother whom she cherished dearly. I eventually formed my own perception of him: tall, dark hair with piercing blue eyes, slim but strong, brave, kind, intelligent, thoughtful...I began to realize that I too admired this person, contemplating a life that could have been...lamenting a man whom I would never meet.
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It was some time in 2004 or 2005, while internet surfing, that I stumbled upon a site that was essentially a German war graves commission, an organization that cares for German soldiers' cemeteries throughout the world. I urged my mother to provide them with her brother's particulars to determine if they had information about his final resting place, as her family had no idea. We were surprised and pleased to receive a reply several months later, which provided many details including the location of his grave in Estonia.
Upon acquiring this significant information, my mother began to think more and more about visiting Heinrich's grave, and eventually decided to make the trek in May 2009. To my delight, she asked me to accompany her. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous about her traveling such a distance, but she certainly is a hardy north German woman! We agreed to spend a few days in Hamburg first, before traveling to Estonia.
We departed from San Francisco International Airport on a nonstop United Airlines flight to Frankfurt am Main, one of the busiest airports in the world and a major crossroad for air travel to and from Europe, Asia, and Africa. My mother had comfortable business class accommodations, including a lie flat seat, while I sat in the back with the unwashed masses. Thankfully, I had an aisle seat that allowed me to get up and walk about without having to climb over sleeping bodies.
After an uneventful flight, we arrived in Frankfurt on time, where we collected our luggage and then transited to the airport Hauptbahnhof, or main train station. We had decided to travel by rail rather than by air for the last leg of our trip to Hamburg, my mother's hometown and residence for the bulk of my German relations. Because we had some time before our train was to depart, we decided to get some coffee at the station cafe. For an 81 year old lady, my mother seemed to be in very good form!
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| Here Comes our Train |
Our rail journey was direct service to Hamburg, without any transfers, and so we settled into the first class compartment and enjoyed coffee and refreshments in our seats. The trip was very comfortable, and I enjoyed watching Germany as it passed before my eyes.
Five hours later, we arrived in Hamburg, disembarking at the station after the main train station, where Jörg-Dieter, my cousin, was waiting for us along with his son, Maximillian. After a heartwarming reunion, we headed to our hotel where we met Jörg-Dieter's wife, Antje, and his mother (who is also my aunt and my mother's sister), Ingrid. We wasted little time in deciding to take a stroll to a Gasthaus for a cold beer...or two. Despite the jet lag and the beverages, I did a splendid job in remaining awake for several more hours, and my mother and I slept fairly well that first night.
The following morning, after a wonderful breakfast, we walked to the city center to shop and explore. Our first stop was the Nikolaikirche, or St. Nicholas Church, which was heavily damaged from allied bombing raids during the Second World War. Built in 1874 in a Gothic-revival manner, at one time it was the tallest building in the world and was such a prominent landmark that allied pilots used it as a navigation point for the bombing runs. It is now a preserved ruin and memorial, and a reminder of the terrible and inevitable consequences of modern war.
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| A once grand interior; now a contemplative courtyard |
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| An overcast sky provides a somber context |
After spending some time perusing the grounds, we walked towards the Rathaus, Hamburg's state house. Hamburg is both a city and one of the several states that comprises the Federal Republic of Germany. Except for a brief period between 1810 - 1814 when Hamburg was annexed by the First French Empire, the city has been independent since 1189, when Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I granted its status as an Imperial Free City. We spent about an hour wandering about the Rathaus and the adjacent market plaza, the Rathausmarkt.
We eventually returned to the hotel on a somewhat circuitous route to go through some of my mother's old stomping grounds. My poor mother must have been exhausted!
Unfortunately, I was not permitted to photograph the interior, but what a fabulous museum for a person with my kind of interests. As we walked through the building, I explained to my companions what the various artifacts represented, and made remarks about various personages and important dates. They quickly realized that I knew more about Prussian history than they! I found the highlight of the museum to be one of the original paintings of Die Proklamation des Deutschen Kaiserreiches (Proclamation of the German Empire) by Anton von Werner. I had no idea that it was located there!
After finishing our tour of the museum, we took a short walk to the impressive mausoleum to pay our respects to the Iron Chancellor.
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| The Mausoleum |
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| The tombs of Prince Otto von Bismarck and his wife, Johanna |
When we returned to Hamburg, we met my mother and my Tante Ingrid at the flat where Jörg-Dieter, Antje, and Maxmillian reside. To my dismay, I had learned that my mother had fallen on the street and had badly bruised her knee cap. Regardless, she continued to amaze me with her ability to recover so quickly, even at her advanced age.
On the following day, we spent an entire morning and afternoon with another cousin, Michael, who picked us up from the hotel and brought us to his home in Itzehoe, which is north of Hamburg in Schleswig-Holtstein. Before arriving at his home, we stopped at the city centre and strolled about the town, eventually arriving at his house sometime in the early afternoon. There we were greeted by his wife Britte, and their two children, Thore and Leif. Britte prepared a wonderful meal for us that was finished with one of my favorites, Butterküchen, a yeast cake with lots of sugar and butter! Es hat gut geschmeckt!
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| Phillip, my mother, Michael, Thore, Britte, and Leif |
The next day was our final day in Hamburg before departing for Estonia. This time, my mother's younger brother Üwe and his wife Christa came to collect us. They took us once again to Schleswig-Holstein, but this time to Wedel, a small town down river from Hamburg on the north bank of the Elbe River. The town is famous for a wonderful restaurant that plays the national anthems of the flags of the many ships that go up and down the river. As the weather was quite warm, we settled ourselves on the outdoor patio, where we had a splendid view of the river. When a German ship passed by, many people arose to sing Das Lied der Deutschen. It was very touching.
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| On of the larger vessels heading to the port of Hamburg |
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My lager and Uncle Üwe |
After enjoying a wonderful meal in Wedel, we headed back to Hamburg, passing through some very beautiful and exclusive areas of the city, including Blankenese, which is situated on steep cliffs along the Elbe. It was great to spend two consecutive days with family and get reacquainted. My mother had not seen this brother for some years, and she was very pleased with the visit.
When we got back to our hotel, we prepared ourselves for travel the next day. In the morning, Jörg-Dieter picked us up quite early and brought us to the Hamburg airport, where we caught our Estonian Air flight, a nonstop to Tallinn, the capital city. The flight was a mere two hours, and when we arrived we discovered that many airport signs were in English and most of the staff also spoke English. We did not expect this, but it made us feel comfortable, as were very far from home.
My mother realized that she needed some Estonian currency, as the country had not yet adopted the Euro, and so we stopped at an ATM before catching a taxi to our hotel, which was located just outside of the Old City. Along the way, I was amused by the dance of architecture between modern European flair and bygone Soviet drab.
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| Soviet era architecture |
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| Something more modern! |
Upon arriving at our hotel, we easily checked in and then walked to our room. We were situated in a two story room with a sitting area downstairs, and sleeping area upstairs. I immediately thought about my mother going up and down the stairs, remembering her bruised knee. It was of no consequence as she easily ascended and descended as necessary.
What was "of consequence" was our stop at the ATM. My mother suddenly realized that she had not retrieved her card from the machine when we were at the airport. She was clearly upset, but I was able to get a hold of Bank of America on my cell phone and they quickly suspended her card. Unfortunately, I needed to be the source all cash while in Estonia!
After taking care of the ATM card business, we walked over to the well preserved Old City. In the center was lovely open square, surrounded by outdoor restaurants, vendors, and singers. Old Tallinn rivals any of the Old Cities that I have visited, including Salzburg.
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| Texas Honky-tonk in Old Tallinn! |
We did not eat at the honky-tonk, but instead had a nice meal in a very quiet restaurant that was away from the main square. After our late lunch, we returned to our Hotel for a rest and then had a simple dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was rather odd, as it was a large restaurant and I think that we were the only ones in there.
The next morning was a travel day, this time by motor car. We had breakfast and I had a good amount of coffee to make certain that I would remain awake. We took a taxi to the airport where I rented a small sedan. After a very simple transaction, we picked up the vehicle, and went on our way.
The route from Tallinn to Narva was very simple. We only needed to get on to the transnational roadway, and that was to occupy the majority of our travel. Of course, I made a right turn too early on to the wrong roadway. I knew that things couldn't be so easy! After correcting my mistake, we were on the correct road and we headed east...towards the Russian border!
The drive was uneventful as I maintained speed withing legal limits...good thing too as we observed many police cars stopping motorists. The drive was generally boring, I have to say. The Estonian countryside is not the most dramatic nor does it display great examples of architecture or ancient castles. After approximately three hours, we arrived at the outskirts of Narva, and we became very excited. I had to continually remind myself to make certain that we make a left at the first roundabout. Going straight would send us to the Russian border, and I really did not desire to get stuck at a border post trying to explain that I took a wrong turn!
We finally came to the roundabout and made the proper turn....Whew! I seemed to be heading in the correct direction, according to my printed directions. I turned right, then left, and I was fairly certain that I was on the correct road. After awhile, I said to my mum, "I think I made a wrong turn. We should have been there by now." I turned around and as I was trying to get back to the main road, I saw it! On our left was the cemetery! We stopped the car in a very tiny parking lot, and although the place was clearly marked, my mother said, "I don't think this is the place. This is too small." I brought the sign to her attention, but she insisted that we drive around and look elsewhere. Doing my best to avoid exasperation while maintaining respect for my mother, I agreed to drive around a bit.
We went a few hundred yards down the road and then turned on to a side street. I really didn't have any idea of what my mother was thinking, but then she told me to stop the car as she was going to ask two girls for directions. I, of course, was thinking that there were would be no way to communicate with these young ladies. This was not Tallinn, where most people spoke English or German. Instead, most residents of Narva are ethnic Russians. My mother rolled down her window and asked "Do you speak English?" They smiled but shook their heads. My mother then asked, "Sprechen sie Deutsch?" One indicated that she spoke a little. My mother asked her, in German, if she knew the location of the German Soldiers' Cemetery. She pointed in the direction from which we had come, so we smiled at them and thanked them, and then headed back.
I parked once again at the small lot and then we walked towards the entrance.
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| My Mother at the Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof entrance |
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| Heinrich Sommer lies with his brother soldiers |
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| Heinrich's original grave, in another part of Estonia |
We remained for some time at his grave in silent thought. I could tell that my mother was deeply moved, as was I. It had been more than six decades since she saw him last, and yet her thoughts of him had never diminished.
We then walked around the cemetery, a quiet place of reflection, well maintained so far from the German fatherland.
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| On the other side of the Narva River is Ivangorod, Russian Federation |
Our return to Tallinn was as easy as the outbound trip and we stopped only once to view the Gulf of Finland from afar. After returning the car to the car rental lot we went back to the hotel where we had a nice early dinner, which was somewhat of a celebration as we had accomplished the primary task of our trip. Clearly, my mother was very pleased and grateful to me for my efforts and for taking her to Narva. We had hoped that one of her other siblings might be interested in coming with us, but only Tante Ingrid expressed a desire. Unfortunately, she did not feel well enough to take such a trip
We decided to explore the Old Town once more and we spent quite some time there, wandering around the streets and buying souvenirs. I took many photos, but I shall not bore the reader with the numerous images, some of which are quite good!
The next day: Travel day once more! We arrived at the airport quite early, allowing us to pick up a few more souvenirs. Our trip back to Hamburg included a stopover in Copenhagen with a rather lengthy connection which caused us to arrive in Hamburg rather late in the afternoon. Our dutiful Jörg-Dieter was there waiting for us to take us to our hotel!
We arrived at the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten (Four Seasons), located on the west side of the Binnenalster, one of the small lakes that comprises The Alster body of water. This is one of the top hotels in the entire world and as a wee lass, my mother had always dreamed of staying there some time. Her dream became a reality as we checked into this stunning and superior accommodation.
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| Is she having fun? |
My mother and I were rather fatigued from our travel and we retired early. Jörg-Dieter and his son Maximillian collected me the following morning, while my mother stayed to spend more time with her sister, Ingrid, and with Antje. We three boys went to Brandenburg, as I insisted that we see Sansoucci Park in Potsdam.
Sansoucci ist wunderbar!!!
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| Grave of Frederick II (The Great), King of Prussia |
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| The New Palace - birthplace of Frederick III, German Emperor and King of Prussia |
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| Interior of the Friedenskirche (Church of Peace) |
We decided to drive to suburban Berlin and catch the U-Bahn into the city center, which worked out very well as there was a major celebration occurring. In fact, it was quite fortunate that we were in the German capital for the 60th birthday of the Federal Republic of Germany, that state that rose from the devastation of the Second World War. And it was quite a celebration that included celebrity appearances, lots of music, food, and speeches from important German politicians.
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| Brandenburg Gate from Pariser Platz |
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| Happy Birthday! |
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| The Reichstag |
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| "To the German People" |
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| Phillip vor Dem Reichstag |
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| The modern Federal Building |
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| The Spree River winding through the city center |
On our way back to Hamburg, Jörg-Dieter thrilled me with an exciting drive on the Autobahn: 100 plus mph rate of speed, one hand deftly handling a cigarette and the steering wheel, the other hand holding a cell phone, and he occasionally turning around to speak to Maximillian. That was the most pulse pounding ride that I have experienced!
Our last night in Hamburg was very quiet, and I believe that we had dinner in our room. The next morning, again our faithful Jörg-Dieter was there with Antje and Maximillian to take us to the train station, where they saw us off on our trip to Cologne.
The trip to Cologne was approximately four hours, giving us some time for a nice breakfast in the dining car. Although there were many stops, the trip was very pleasant.
I became excited as we approached the crossed the Rhine via the Hohenzollern Bridge, and then stopped at the main station just a few hundred yards later. We walked a short distance to our hotel, which sat in the shadow of the great Cologne Cathedral, or more formally the High Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Mary.
After our check in, we wasted no time in exploring the cathedral, including walking about the interior of this magnificent edifice that was constructed over six centuries, finally completed in 1880 and celebrated with a grand party in the presence of William I, German Emperor and King of Prussia.
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| The North Tower |
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| Do the walls appear a bit crooked? They are! |
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| One of the many beautiful shrines |
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| The interior of light |
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| Light and stained glass windows bathe the floors in lovely colors |
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| One of the many chapels |
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| Altar piece of the Three Kings |
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| The South Tower and Transept |
For this day, we remained close to our hotel and had dinner at a typical German restaurant not far from our lodgings. I believe I had a bratwurst with french fries and beer. I cannot recall what my mother had but we both decided to have some really splendid gelato at an Italian style dessert cafe. After so much food, beer, and ice cream, I was ready to retire.
After a very good rest and another great breakfast, we started our day with the intention to explore more of Cologne's Innenstadt, the city's center of culture, art, and historical landmarks. Because we realized that we would be walking for much of the day, my mother used a walker that she borrowed from the hotel. We headed south towards the Rhine and on the way we marveled at the the beauty of Great St. Martin Church, one of the 12 wonderful Romanesque churches that adorn Cologne. Great St. Martin was completed in the 13th Century and was heavily damaged during the Second World War, but has recently been restored in a splendid manner.
We continued our slow walk towards the river and then turned back north as we walked along the lovely quay that brought us to the Hohenzollern Bridge. While my mother made a slow ascent up the hill towards the higher ground, I explored the north side of the bridge and climbed the steps to visit a lonely statue of a great man, long gone.
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| Frederick III, German Emperor and King of Prussia, died 15 June 1888 |
Our full day in Cologne could not have been more perfect, but before going back to the hotel, we decided to partake in a bit of souvenir shopping. Well, perhaps more than a bit!
After a full day my mother was very tired, and we called it an early night as we needed to rise early for a railway journey back to Frankfurt.
In the morning, we walked to the train station and found the correct platform. As in all of our previous travels, everything seemed to be going according to plan. This day would be different.
As our train approached, we heard an announcement that a portion of the train would be taken out of service. Unfortunately, that was the part that contained our reserved seats. We hurried (my poor mother!) to the end of the inservice portion of the train where she boarded while I pushed our bags on and stuffed myself in the carriage along with all of the other poor souls in a similar predicament. There were no available seats, which was acceptable for me, but not for my mother. Gallant European chivalry was to be found, however, as a gentleman offered his seat to my grateful mother.
This was to be the only "glitch" in the trip as all went well at Frankfurt's airport. Once again, my mother enjoyed her business class seat while I was comfortable enough in Economy.
My mother speaks of this trip often as she was touched by the sojourn to Narva. All else could have been removed from the trip, but the visit to her brother's grave was the trip.
