Dead Funny

A GERMAN joke:

A wounded military man tells a nurse: "I am dying and would like to know for whom I am dying." She replies: "You are dying for the Führer and for the people." He asks: "Can't the Führer come to my deathbed then?" She replies: "That's not possible, but I'll bring you a picture of the Führer." The man asks that the photo be placed on his righthand side, and adds: "I am in the Luftwaffe." So the nurse brings him a photo of Göring, and places it on his left. The soldier says: "Now I shall die like Christ."

The point of the joke, for those unfamiliar with Jesus's death, is that he was crucified along with two thieves.

For telling the joke while visiting his father in 1943, Catholic priest Joseph Müller was executed by the Nazis.

Müller was born in Salmünster, where this community centre is dedicated to him  

Bad Soden WW2 Memorial

Beside the figure are the dates 1939-1945 and the wording DEN OPFERN, which translates as THE VICTIMS

Bad Soden Great War Memorial

The black plaque reads: War Memorial. Erected in 1930 to commemorate the victims of the First World War 1914-1918. The 'Dying Soldier' is a work by the Bad Soden-born sculptor Anton Grauel

What I find particularly interesting about this is that the memorial was erected 12 years after fighting ended.

Salmünster's Franco-Prussian War Memorial

Four names are listed

Timber!

MANY towns in Britain are known for having historic half-timbered buildings, but arguably the country most famous for such architecture is Germany.

It even has a Timber-Frame Road, running almost 3,000 kilometres from the Elbe river in the north to Bodensee (Lake Constance) in the south.

While not on the official route, Salmünster has several fine examples of such buildings.

Salmünster also has several houses with wooden shingles as an extra protection from weathering, including the extensively covered house below.

Knightly Amble

THERE was a footpath leading past Stolzenberg Castle, so I followed it to see where it would take me.

I soon came upon colourful coats of arms on a tree

I had a choice of trails to follow, and I picked one called Stolzenberger Ritterblick, which I later learnt means something like Views of the Knights of Stolzenberg Castle.

The route turned out to be circular, which was handy, and was not without interest

The trail is well waymarked - much better than you get in Britain.

Orange usually shows up well from a distance

There were a couple of times when I was unsure as to which path to take.

I find the best course of action in such circumstances is to choose the more promising path, give it five minutes of brisk walking, while keeping a sharp lookout, and if no more waymarks appear, double back and try the alternative route.

Both times when I was uncertain I chose the right path, but I got lucky when what I thought was a waymark - you might be able to see it on the lefthand tree - proved to be sawn-off branch (but I was on the correct route anyway)

Clear views over mainly flat terrain

Just one shrine on the seven-plus-kilometre trail, at least as far as I noticed

Some natural colour

Striking cemetery at the finish in Bad Soden

Ruined Castle

SLIGHTLY more than 275 metres above Bad Soden are the ruins of Stolzenberg Castle.

It was probably first built in the 1000s to control trade along the Via Regia (Royal Road), which connected the Rhineland with Silesia.

The castle was badly damaged in the mid-13th century by "inimicos ecclesie" (enemies of the Church), who were not specifically identified but are thought to be a group of excommunicated nobles behind a series of attacks on Church property in the area.

William of Holland, the papal candidate to be King of the Romans (ie uncrowned Holy Roman Emperor, often rendered as King of the Germans), gave the abbot of nearby Fulda Abbey permission to rebuild the castle in 1252.

It later fell into disrepair, and was rendered useless as a defensive stronghold during the Knights' Revolt of 1522-3.

Note how high the entrance is on the keep, which is more-or-less the only part of castle to have survived

View of Bad Soden old town from the top of the keep

Information board about life in the castle

How Stolzenberg Castle may have looked in its heyday

Salty Spa Town

AM just back from a 10-day trip to Bad Soden-Salmünster, about 35 miles from Frankfurt in the central German state of Hesse, 

The municipality consists of two main towns, Bad Soden and Salmünster, which were joined in 1974, and now has a population of about 13,000.

Salmünster is probably the older, believed to have been settled by the 800s, and first mentioned in a document as Salchenmunster, albeit more than a century later.

Early-morning view of Salmünster when walking from Bad Soden, the top of St Peter & St Paul Church visible through the trees

The church was built from 1737-45, replacing a building dating from the settlement's founding

Soden, or originally probably Sodin, was founded by the monks of nearby Fulda Abbey in the early 900s.

It later enjoyed a boom after highly salinated wells were discovered, making for profitable salt works.

Production ceased in the late 1500s, but a salty well rediscovered in 1837 formed the basis of a spa industry, and led to the town receiving government approval of a name change to Bad Soden in 1928.

The old rathaus (town hall) of Soden, built in 1703 and now hireable for weddings