The Forgotten Coat

This was a lecture in the series "Freiburg en détail: Eine Kulturgeschichte in Objekten" of the Studium Generale at Freiburg University in the Winter Semester 2025/2026. Dr. Julia Wohlrab, Director of the Dokumentationszentrum Nationalsozialismus, had chosen as the object "The Forgotten Coat."

The bronze coat left behind lies on the railing leading up to the Wiwili Bridge, which spans the tracks at Freiburg main station. A bronze plaque with the following text explaining the monument is affixed to the wall below.

On October 22, 1940, more than 450 Jewish citizens from Freiburg and the surrounding area were deported from the freight depot of the former train station to the Gurs camp in southern France on the orders of the Nazi regional leadership. Many of them perished in Gurs from starvation and disease; most were murdered in the Auschwitz extermination camp.

City of Freiburg, October 2003

The express freight handling facility on a siding at the Freiburg Central Station

An eyewitness recalls the events in her youth, "From our school, the Hindenburg School [now the Goethe Gymnasium], we saw people being loaded onto trucks. Somehow, everyone knew they were Jews. And one of my classmates said, 'This is the best day of my life - the Jews are finally leaving.' Another classmate also saw people being loaded onto trucks at the Martinstor. Of course, it was the same in other streets as well. People saw this and were indifferent. The Jews were considered less than animals - vermin, parasites, as they were always called. Many were delighted. People were mostly even more malicious than the laws."

Only a few photos - none in Freiburg - captured the moment when Jews were arrested prior to their deportation to Gurs.

Children watch as Jews are loaded onto military trucks in Kippenheim.

There is a charcoal drawing of Freiburg by Fritz Löw, which he created in Gurs.
On the police truck are prisoners, including a boy

Gauleiters Wagner and Bürckel had planned this deportation so ...

Hitler receives visitors at his headquarters in Hornisgrinde in the Black Forest during the French Campaign.
In the photo, from left to right: Josef Bürckel, (?), Martin Bormann (?), Robert Wagner, Adolf Hitler,
and Hitler's valet Heinz Linge.

... that they could proudly report to their Führer on October 23, 1940: Der Oberrhein ist als erster Gau des Reiches judenrein (The Upper Rhine is the first Gau in the Reich to be free of Jews).

Public auctions in Freiburg ...

... and Lörrach

No sooner had the Jews been deported than their former property was sold off.

Among those deported were the Leifmann siblings from Goethestraße 33: Robert, Else, and Martha. While Robert died in Gurs, his sisters survived and lived in Zurich until their deaths.

As early as June 7, 1954, Else Liefmann urged the promotion of a culture of remembrance in Freiburg in a letter sent from Zurich to Mayor Wolfgang Hoffmann, "The fact that Freiburg has not - or not yet - decided to erect such a memorial is, for Jews or Christians living abroad - to the latter group of whom I also belong - a sad testament to how indifferent, how forgetful so many Germans are toward that memory which they would prefer to erase, as if nothing had happened. Yes, we who come from abroad ask ourselves whether such an attitude does not express a fear of those many who still - or once again today - adhere to the spirit of the Thousand-Year Reich in Germany, and against whom the authorities themselves are perhaps divided in their sentiments and apparently too weak?"

Aleksandra Assmann writes about forgetting in her book Forms of Forgetting: "Not remembering, but forgetting, is the foundation of human and social life. Remembering is the negation of forgetting and generally entails an effort, a rebellion, a veto against time and the course of events. Just as cells are replaced in the body of an organism, so too are objects, ideas, and individuals periodically replaced in society. Forgetting happens silently, unspectacularly, and everywhere. Remembering, by contrast, is the probable exception, based on certain conditions." 

Here stood the synagogue of Freiburg's Israelite community, built in 1870 
and destroyed on November 10, 1938, under a regime of violence and injustice.

It was not until 1961 that the city of Freiburg erected a memorial stone at the site where the old synagogue had stood until Kristallnacht.

With all the troubled water, the text on the memorial plaque is difficult to read.

The memorial stone is set into a water surface on the Square of the Old Synagogue. The outline of the surface represents the floor plan of the synagogue building that was burned down on November 10, 1938.

On the 60th anniversary of the deportation, October 2, 2000, the citizens of Freiburg donated
 this commemorative plaque, which provides extensive information about the Wagner-Bürckel Action.

On October 22, 1940, within a few hours, 6,504 Jewish men, women, and children from Baden and the Palatinate were taken to central assembly camps and deported by transport trains to the Gurs camp in southern France. The oldest of the deportees was 97 years old. Among them were also about 300 Jewish citizens from Freiburg.

Only a few of those imprisoned in the camp were saved. Starting in August 1942, most of them—provided they had not already died of starvation and disease in Gurs itself—were deported to the extermination camps in the East, primarily to Auschwitz and Majdanek. Over 5,200 of those deported to Gurs died as victims of violence.

Too many looked the other way back then; too few resisted. This must not and will not be repeated.

Freiburg's new synagogue on Engelstraße

The commemorative plaque at the new synagogue cites Job 16:18 "O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place." and reads: Under the Nazi dictatorship, on October 22, 1940, the Jewish citizens of the city of Freiburg were deported to Gurs in southern France. The city remembers with shame and sorrow, Freiburg, October 22, 1990.

The city of Bad Nauheim incorporated the symbol of the forgotten coat into its memorial bearing the names of the city's Holocaust victims.

 
In the ensuing discussion, someone asked how one could explain that a deportee who was wearing his coat in the autumn month of October could have so easily forgotten it?

The name "Forgotten Coat" for the memorial has caught on among the people of Freiburg. That is why Red Baron suggested trying "The Left-Behind Coat."

The coat was left behind by a deportee, intentionally or unintentionally, as a memento.

**

Kenzingen

Last Saturday, Red Baron took part in an excursion organized by the Alemannisches Institut to Kenzingen, Kirnhalden, and Muckental.

   

Rudolf II von Üsenberg

Kenzingen was built like a Zähringen city at a crossroads, but it was founded in 1249 by Rudolf II von Üsenberg. The Lords of Üsenberg were an important noble family in Breisgau and Markgräflerland. Today, a 1824 fountain with a statue of the town's founder marks the intersection.

The medieval town of 1249 developed around the long market street and the parish Church, dedicated to St. Laurentius (Lawrence), first mentioned in 1275.

In the crypt: 13th-century frescoes

A sensational find

I had to ask ChatGPT: The icon depicts Jesus Christ together with Saint Menas (ΑΠΑ ΜΗΝΑ), an Egyptian martyr saint. Iēsous Christos (IC XC) holds the Gospel book in his left hand and places his arm around the saint's shoulder in a gesture of friendship. This motif symbolizes Christ's spiritual friendship and protection for the saint.

This Coptic icon dates from the 6th–7th century, was found in the Egyptian monastery of Bawit, and is now in the Louvre in Paris. It is one of the oldest surviving icons and was discovered only at the beginning of the 20th century, so it is not among the works Napoleon looted during his Egyptian campaign.

Kenzingen was first mentioned in a document in 712.
Rudolf II von Üsenberg founded the town of Kenzingen in 1249.

Kenzigen's history is carved into the four sides of two stacked sandstone cubes in the churchyard.

In 1352, Heinrich IV, margrave of Hachberg, bought the lordship of Üsenberg, which included Kenzingen and the Kirnburg castle. However, the Üsenberg territories were technically held as fiefs from the House of Austria. So, the Habsburgs claimed that the sale violated their feudal rights.

In 1358, Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, obtained an imperial judgment recognizing Austrian rights over the territories that Heinrich IV refused to comply with. He continued to rule Kenzingen as his possession. So an imperial ban (Reichsacht) was declared in 1366 against Heinrich IV and the town of Kenzingen. 

In 1369, the ban was lifted, and Kenzingen came under the rule of the House of Habsburg, being part of Further Austria.

Through an alliance with several Upper Rhine cities, Kenzingen obtained the status of an imperial city in 1415, though in practice, the Habsburg influence remained strong.

On the left is the Kenzingen town hall, built around 1520 in the Renaissance style; on the right, a stately home of a wealthy citizen.

In 1522, Kenzingen's city council appointed the Lutheran preacher Jakob Otter, who held services in German, administered communion in both forms, and enjoyed great popularity.

The Lutherans were a thorn in the side of the Catholic town of Freiburg, which sent troops to Kenzingen in 1524. To avoid punishment, Otter went to Strasbourg, accompanied by around 200 citizens. But it was to no avail. The Old Believers held a strict court. The mayor was arrested, the citizens who had left were refused re-entry to the town, and the town clerk was beheaded.

In 1814, 88 houses burned down.

In the Peace of Pressburg, Napoleon reorganized the German territories on the upper Rhine. Kenzingen became part of the Grand Duchy of Baden in December 1805.

In 1971 and 1974, Bombach, Nordweil, and Hecklingen were incorporated into the town of Kenzingen.

Inside St. Laurentius church, I searched for a picture of the patron saint of barbecuers. Nope, but here are some photos of my favorite saint.

One of the buildings surrounding the Kirchplatz is known as the Epstein House.

In 1574, Jews were expelled from Further Austria for nearly 300 years. They returned to Kenzingen only after the Grand Duchy of Baden granted Jews full civil rights in 1862, allowing them to settle freely. Their number in town oscillated between 20 and 30 persons.

The Epstein family in Kenzingen was well known. It included Alfred Epstein, a merchant with a shop at Kirchplatz; Leo Epstein, an accountant/bookkeeper; and Michael Epstein, a cattle trader and respected member of the town's civic committee. The three Epsteins were well integrated into local society, exercising typical Jewish occupations. The cattle trade, in particular, connected Jewish merchants with farmers throughout the region.

Under the Nazis, some members of the Epstein family were able to emigrate to South America. Others were deported to Gurs as part of the Wagner-Bürckel Aktion. Alfred joined the French Resistance, was captured, and executed as a partisan.

Our group moved on and passed the townhouse of the Benedictine monastery of Andlau in Alsace, which was built in the 13th century. Large monasteries owned houses in towns that served as lodgings for their abbot and his envoys.

The inscription above the door reads, "Porta patens esto nulli claudaris amico (Let the door stand open; be closed to no friend). This saying reminds us of the important social tasks performed by religious orders in the Middle Ages. Anyone in need who knocked on a monastery door was given warm soup. The sick were cared for in hospitals. The monks ran Latin schools, thus maintaining a certain level of education.

Kenzingen had a whole series of monasteries. As our group approached the former Franciscan monastery, Saint Lawrence suddenly stood on a high pillar in front of the church, holding his grill. The Franciscans, who had been documented in Kenzingen since the late Middle Ages, rebuilt their monastery after the Thirty Years' War between 1659 and 1662. 

Inside the monastery church, a painting of Saint Francis with a well-fed baby Jesus.

The church, also built in the 17th century and featuring a 16th-century crucifix, has served as a place of worship for the Protestant parish since 1891.

©Stadt Kenzingen

The Johanniter monastery existed from the beginning of the 15th century until secularisation in 1806, when the municipal prison was built on the site.

Kirnhalden in 1872

After lunch, the group went by car to Kirnhalden, where the Pauline monastery "Zum Heiligen Kreuz" (Holy Cross) has been documented since 1360. It was secularized in 1806. 

Spa in 1910

After that, "Kirnhalden moved from the Paulines to a sanatorium to a sustainable residential and cultural project." 

When the facility ceased to be used as a nursing and retirement home in 2017, the buildings stood empty. A group of young people took over the site and, in 2022, founded the Kirnhalden residential and cultural project as a cooperative. The plan is to renovate the buildings for experiencing, living, learning, and working. 

Experiencing Kirnhalden means running a café, learning comprises a seminar facility with rooms and overnight accommodations for 40 guests, and working includes various workshops and studios. The gradually renovated rooms in the buildings designated as historic monuments are available as living spaces and will be expanded to meet residents' needs.

The current facility from a bird's eye view.

Mostly young people are working hard to get their projects off the ground.

Our last stop was the water-powered forge in Muckental.

The agricultural and horticultural tools forged and on display were in big demand, especially at the beginning of the 20th century.

The master explained the art of blacksmithing to us laymen.

Thank you, organizers, for an informative and inspiring excursion.

**

Augustinermuseum

German wordplay: Everyone wants to come vs Everyone [is] welcome

Last Friday, the "new" Augustinermuseum was opened.

In a document dated December 16, 1278, Count Egino II transferred ownership of a site in the narrow old town between Salzstraße and the southern city wall to the mendicant order Ordo Sancti Augustini (OSA), the Augustinian hermits.  

At the bottom of the excerpt from the Sickinger Plan, the Augustinian monastery along Salzstraße. At the top, in the middle, is Oberlinden; along the northern city wall is Konviktstraße; and on the right is the heavily elevated Schwabentor. Note the Bächle that run down the middle of the street.

Until 1912, the nave of the former monastery served as the municipal theater.

The renovation began in 2004 and was expected to take eight years. The initial cost for the Augustinremuseum was estimated at 23 million euros. Due to many structural surprises and mishaps, the renovation ultimately lasted until 2026 and cost 95 million euros.

       

It was worth it. Take a look at the renovated cloister.

Yesterday morning, I paid a quick visit and went to, where else?, the newly designed section on Freiburg's history.

The eye-catcher when entering the historical exhibition is the model of the Minster Church construction.

Here are more first impressions.

August von Bayer: The Master Builder (Erwin von Steinbach?) Contemplating His Work on the Steeple.

Freiburg as a fortress in 1693. South side

Sebastian Vauban had transformed the Medeval city, which at that time belonged to the French crown, into a Baroque fortress with mighty walls and bastions as part of the belt of fortifications protecting France's borders.

This house is in God's hands. It is named after the image of Mary.

House sign "To the Virgin Mary." Before house numbers were introduced in Freiburg in 1760, signs like these helped people find their way around.

Soldiers of the Freiburg militia

When French revolutionary troops pushed across the Rhine after 1789, citizen militias formed in Baden to defend the country. From left to right: members of the artillery, Freiburg citizen infantry, and cavalry corps.

In evil times. Advertising enamel panel for “Der Alemanne,” the Nazi newspaper that, toward the end of the war, remained, due to paper shortages, the only daily in Freiburg.

Pharmacy bottles from the Löwenapotheke at Bertoldsbrunnen. They melted and deformed in the fire after the RAF bombed Freiburg on November 27, 1944.

After the war ended, the US organization CARE sent food parcels to Europe. This parcel contained, among other things, cans of coffee and powdered milk.

The playground at the Augustiner Museum in early March sunshine, where Red Baraön spent many hours with his grandchildren

Men at work

Not everything is finished yet. Here, stonemasons are paving one of the museum's inner courtyards.

 
Red Baron is looking forward to his next visit to the Augustinermuseum

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