June 1 – Sindelfingen

I wasn’t too sure what to expect from this day, but it turned out to be another good one. Today we only drove about 50 km to Sindelfingen to visit the Haus der Donauschwaben and the AKdFF in Sindelfingen. I had only a vague idea of what we would find, but I knew we had to at least check the place out. It was time well spent.

In an opening address, Frau Henriette Mojem explained that, in 1954, the state of Baden-Wurttemberg took on the specific responsibility for Donauschwaben around the world. In 1964, the city of Sindelfingen took on the specific responsibility, with assistance from the federal and state governments. In 1970, they built the Haus der Donauschwaben as a cultural centre. It contains museum displays, a library dedicated to all aspects of Donauschwaben culture, meeting areas, offices, etc. Some of the offices house the AKdFF, which is more focused on genealogy than culture. The AKdFF has published numerous family books from many of the Donauschwaben towns and houses its own small library of the titles it has published.

Although Frau Mojem speaks some English, she was more comfortable in German, so Frank and Helmut translated for us. We had a lot of fun with it. After the opening address, we toured the main floor, including the museum and performance areas. One of the highlights, if that is the right word, is a pair of walls engraved with the names of the Yugoslavian Banat villages and the number of citizens killed in the war and its aftermath. Zichydorf is near the left edge.

The museum contains a number of village costumes on dolls and mannequins. Here is a small sample.



And Herr Kurzhals had called ahead for us and asked her to bring out of storage the banner for the 50th anniversay of the Zichydorf Men's Choir.


We broke for lunch at 11 :30 and cleaned up our leftovers from yesterday in the Haus banquet room. At 12:30 we toured the library and a room that had been configured as a typical (if somewhat large) Donauschwaben guest room. Here Frau Mojem presented me with a souvenir book for placement in our library.

Then it was time for an address by Herr Anton Neumayer of the AKdFF. Then we were turned loose on the museum and libraries for the rest of the afternoon.

We left at 4 as the place was closing and found our hotel only a few blocks away. Some of us went out for another great German meal, while the four unattached ladies chose to eat more lightly and went to a nearby store. We finished off our meal with apple strudel, ice cream, whipped cream, and a custardy cream sauce. Carol would have killed for it. We all keep saying that we have to eat more lightly, but most of us aren’t doing anything about it yet.

Today was another cool, cloudy, windy day, with some steady rain. It didn’t bother us, however, as we were inside all day.