Picture Post — Rothenburgiana

Here are some pictures which are related to things I wrote about in connection with my time in Germany last September. They are not pictures of events there, but of souvenirs of earlier contacts: things I have here in my home. Click on pictures to enlarge.

This is the replica of the Meistertrunk beaker which the Junge Schar gave me on one of my visits. Naturally, it is one of my most prized possessions. I'm not sure how easy it will be to read the writing. The central figure is the Emperor. To the left are the spiritual electors (one visible in this view) and to the right, the temporal electors (two visible). To the left of the top of the throne is the date 1616, the date of an expected visit from the Emperor Matthias, which didn't take place. It is in its normal place in my living room.

 Here we have the Meistertrunk beaker with a liter-sized mug (Maßkrug) from 1990 to the left and a normal sized (1/2 liter) tankard on the right. The beaker is about 10 1/4 inches to the rim, and about 16 1/4 inches to the top of the lid. The Maßkrug shows former mayor Nusch drinking the meistertrunk. It's 7 1/2 inches high. The tankard shows a scene of the encampment outside the walls. It shows a member of the Junge Schar preparing their meal in a large kettle. The Junge Schar banner is hanging above. The cook of the group "Hackschnack," gave it to me and said this was a picture of him because he noticed an artist drawing the scene one day when he was cooking. It does look like him. I told him I'd think of him every time I used it; and he kissed me. He died of stomach cancer about 10 years ago. And I do think of him whenever I use it.

I've turned the beaker and the tankard, Above the spiritual electors are the names of their archdioceses, "Trier Cölln (Cologne) Meintz (Mainz)," and below them the coats of arms of their bishoprics. The scene on the mug is the city herald on a horse outside the walls

The back of the beaker. The mug shows an imperial flag bearer inside the city.

The secular electors. Left to right "Böhmen (Bohemia –actually written above the emperor because of space limitations) Pfaltz (Palatinate) Sachsen (Saxony) Brandenburg" with their arms below them. I've recently learned that each elector had a titular office in the empire, and I believe the objects the electors are holding relate to those titles. On the mug, Hackschnack is to the right of the kettle. TO the left is a member of another group, the Panduren.

A couple of years ago a former Junge Scharler, Hannes, visited North America with his wife and daughters. I treated them to dinner in Boston and gave them a little tour of my hometown. After leaving the Junge Schar, Hannes joined the Feldschmiede (Field Smithy) group which his father had founded. As a thank-you gift he sent me the candle holder, which was made by another member of his group. And when I was there in September, Hannes made the nail for me. The nail is 3 5/8 inches log, and the candle holder 4 1/2 inches high.

Another view.

To the left is a picture of the Junge Schar with me in uniform in the group. It was taken in 1991. To the right is Stefan in the uniform of Hans Staudt, jun., the leader of the Junge Schar

Same picture of Stefan as Staudt jun. To the right is a picture I took of the Junge Schar in 1990.

A drawing Stefan drew in his last or next to last year (+2, it says) of Gymnasium (high school), which he gave me on one of my visits in the early '90's. I keep it in my bedroom.

A painting by Stefan's dad, dated 2002. It shows the semi-abstract crucifix (showing the resurrected Christ) which hangs in St. John's church, with the gothic-style window behind it. The picture hangs in my dining room.