For twenty years Kenneth and I have visited München knowing full well that a possibly distant relative of Hector did rise to fame in this city. In is only in the last ten years that tours to this effect have been on offer. And it came to pass that Hector took Marg, Kirsty and Eleanor, our young History teacher on a replica, as near as, of what Kenneth and I did some time back.
The Hofbrauhaus was the starting point of the tour, a place where Hitler did speak, but not the bier hall that became more famous by reputation .The Bierhalle Putsch is historically famous, but this bier hall was demolished to make way for the Hilton. Odeonsplatz is where Hitler (what was Hitler’s second name?) nearly came a cropper in these early days of his rise to power. The east side wall has bullet holes which allegedly are from this time.
The adjacent Hopfgarten contains the memorial to the fallen in WW1 and at the north east corner of this park lies a black marble block. This is the memorial in the city to those who perished camps.
It is not a long walk, but on this day it was, to the current music college, Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (Königsplatz). This was the highlight of our official tour first time around. Our guide took us in and up the stairs...’this room is where the 1938 Munich Peace Accord was signed, and here endeth our tour.’
A few short years ago Kenneth was straight down the stairs and on finding the janitor, demanded that he open the room. There was compliance and we had our photograph taken in the room, at the mantelpiece where all the activity had taken place.
When Howard was taken there on a previous trip, Hector assured him that the room was now just a store cupboard. Howard found the door unlocked and marched straight in to find a music recital underway...entschuldigung... This time there were signs at the entrance to the building, in clear English, that no unauthorized people should enter. And so Hector spoke in loud, clear English that he wished to take his party into the building and upstairs. There was compliance, but the door remained locked. Still, everyone gets a chance to wave a piece of paper.
Eleanor has now expanded this story. Apparently the Checks were not allowed in whilst Mussolini, Hitler and Chamberlain, and probably a cheese eating surrender monkey discussed the fate of the Sudetenland. The Checks sat on the stairs outside.
In the afternoon the bier-avoiders took the S Bahn out to Dachau. The middle of the afternoon on December 31 and still there was a sizeable gathering. Hector still asks why after all that happened there one finds separate memorials to the dead along religious, even sectarian grounds. Have we learned nothing?
There is another trip, Berchtesgaden.
If one finds oneself in the Sud Bayern area on a fine summer’s day then this trip is a must. It is easier to go on an organised tour, but the economical way is to get a Bayern Ticket. This is a whole day trip. At Berchtesgaden one has to get a bus to the base of the Eagle’s Nest, or Kehlstein as it is more correctly known. One is then taken on an official bus up the snake path to a parapet/car park at the base of the summit. From there one walks into a tunnel to the most impressive brass walled elevator which takes one straight into the heart of the Kehlstein building. This is clearly the original. From the top the views are magnificent, right across the Austrian and German border regions.
Oh, there is a Hofbrauhaus in Berchtesgaden, a reason for Hector to return...an undiscovered country...
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