So my first 'group meeting' was a few posts ago with a group of German post-WWII refugees from today's Ukraine. Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to my first BIG refugee meeting (we planned for 500, but 700 ended up coming!).
So I took the train north to a town called Anklam. I was greeted by this big huge stone that is dedicated to 'my' refugees!
Right beside the 'Refugee Rock' is the last 'old Wall' Gate of Anklam. Anklam was founded during the Middle Ages and was part of the Hanseatic League. Lots of money came through the area because of lots of trade via the Baltic Sea, etc.
This is the Central Market Square. The griffin is on Anklam City's flag.
In the background is Nikolai Church - they're going to rebuild the steeple on it....
And then here we are - my refugees! They sat at tables designating where they are originally from, i.e. Danzig, Sudetenland (Czech), Konigsberg (today's Kaliningrad), etc.
There is a collection of several of the cities' flags (where the refugees used to come from).
There was entertainment in the way of a local choir group.....
and a group of Kaschubans (they live in today's Poland, but they're not Germans and they're not Poles - they're Kaschubans). The kids looked great in their little outfits. The songs were fun and the dances were cool....
Then came the boring part - the Speeches! ;) Ugh! This guy went up there and begged for all of the refugees to accept his invitation to be interviewed by him. Hmm....
;)
(The banner in the back says 'Day of Homeland' - it's Sept 6 in Germany every year to commemorate the expulsions of ethnic Germans from their homes in Eastern/Southern Europe.)
So, that was the end of that. Slowly but surely the train made its way to Berlin and there waiting for me were flowers (I've shown pix in earlier blog posts) put in remembrance of the German refugees (about 2 million died en route to West and East Germany).
And that was my 'Tag der Heimat' 2008....
