This war poster uses a combination of guilt and nationalism to get citizens to go to the air raid shelter. It translates something like:
“It depends on you too!
Anyone who, out of curiosity or laziness, fails to go to the air raid shelter during an air raid alarm shows not courage, but reckless irresponsibility.
Anyone who disregards blackout regulations at home or at work endangers their fellow citizens and puts lives and property at risk.
Anyone who, during an Air Raid Alarm, lacks the required discipline, consideration, and willingness to help, shows that the fate of others means nothing to them.
Everyone must follow the command of the hour: maintain calm and order! Only in this way can the valuable assets of the German people be protected.
Every act of negligence endangers the community!
I know only one good German, and that is a disciplined German!
Every violation of air raid regulations is a betrayal of the community.
It depends on you too!”
The large black text at the top bellows “Auch auf Dich kommt es an!”, which translates to “It depends on you too!” which is a phrase that sounds almost encouraging until you realise it’s really saying “If something goes wrong, we’ll be blaming you.” The message beneath is something of a masterclass in guilt-laden discipline as if you don’t go to the air raid shelter, it’s not bravery but some sort of sub-optimal “irresponsible recklessness”. Forgetting to close your blackout curtains? That’s not carelessness, it’s practically sabotage. In the world of wartime Leipzig, leaving a lamp on made you not just a bad neighbour but a potential traitor to the Nazi regime.
I’m not suggesting that British posters were always cuddly and friendly on this matter, but this one (Image: Imperial War Museum Art.IWM PST 13891) seems typical of a rather softer style than the German shouty style.
This exhibit relates to Hedwig Burgheim, an educationalist who, in the 1930s, founded a Jewish school in Leipzig focusing on home economics and training kindergarten teachers. Her work was likely as an act of hope and purpose in a time when the future for Germany’s Jewish population was rapidly being stripped away by the Nazis. There’s a lot more information about her on the German Wikipedia page, but one tragedy is that her attempts to move to the United States were thwarted.
By 1943, Hedwig was forced to move into one of Leipzig’s so-called “Judenhäuser”, the designated houses where Jewish families were crowded together before deportation. Aware of the horrors that were coming, she entrusted a suitcase which was filled with her personal belongings to a family she had befriended, a small act of faith that some part of her life might survive this horrendous war.
She was deported to Auschwitz and murdered on 27 February 1943. Her nephew Ralf Kralowitz returned to Leipzig from Buchenwald concentration camp, but it was returned to him empty. The contents had vanished, the museum doesn’t note whether they were likely stolen, lost or simply scattered.
The Nazis took away everything that Hedwig had built, whether that be her school, the Jewish community she was a part of, her possessions and ultimately her life. It’s a powerful exhibit sitting here in the museum and at least this exists to tell her story. Her memory certainly hasn’t been forgotten, there are numerous memorials to her and there’s also the Hedwig-Burgheim-Straße road in the city which has been named after her.
Back to Leipzig and this is a badge from the Theresienstadt Ghetto (a town in the Czech Republic, now known as Terezín), where I went a couple of years ago but that’s something else I’ve just realised that I haven’t written up.
Between 1942 and 1945, seven deportation trains departed from Leipzig, carrying hundreds of Jewish residents who had been stripped of their rights, property and dignity. The final transport, which left in early 1945, reached Theresienstadt just weeks before the camp was liberated by Soviet forces in May.
Not much more is known about this little piece of cloth, but the fragment remaining deserves at least some attention for what it now commemorates.
I wasn’t going to blog this, but I think Nathan thought that I needed more exciting content and since he asked if I would be, I decided that I would…. Nathan, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday (despite his claims he’s more like 52), thought footgolf would be a marvellous idea. Although I’m a natural athlete (mostly at things that don’t involve much movement) I was a little concerned about what could possibly go wrong.
I’m not sure whether Adam and Robbie want me writing about this exciting day, but they won’t see the post, so that sorts out that concern. Here’s the football I was using for the day. Note Nathan is in shorts, he had changed nearby like some rogue PE teacher as he wanted to be in sportswear for this to allow for maximum movement. Robbie, Adam and I were in jeans as we hadn’t realised we were supposed to dress in sportswear as that wasn’t mentioned in the invite.
Here’s our young Fernando Torres who has just booted his first shot into the grass. He showed all the finesse of someone destined for ending up mid-table, but he supports Norwich City and so that’s in keeping.
Very athletic. He then promptly stood in something that a dog had left behind. This annoyed him, I don’t think that he’s used to that in the stadiums he usually plays in.
I’m not saying that Nathan is competitive, but I did wonder whether he had been out playing footgolf all week in preparation. He denied, in an annoyed voice, this suggestion. Incidentally, I thought that the pitch and putt course had separate times for footgolf and actual golf, but they just have people go around at the same time.
If I’m being honest, I took photos in the hope that Nathan fell over. I was mildly annoyed that he didn’t as that would have made for a more fun photo.
Nathan had a great idea that to help Robbie he’d put himself in harm’s way. I thought this made perfect sense, but the readers of this blog (all two of them) can probably guess from Robbie’s positioning here that it didn’t work very well. Robbie, who is nicer than me as a person, was worried about kicking Nathan. That wouldn’t have crossed my mind.
Nathan pretended not to be keeping score, promising to “just add it up at the end”, but we all knew he had a mental spreadsheet running by the second hole. I’d also add that I’m about the least competitive person ever. Unless it involves Nathan as he just makes me competitive, that’s another one of his talents.
Adam wasn’t very competitive at all, witnessed by how he spent a lot of time in the shrubbery. I didn’t say anything, I thought that was for the best.
I was partly surprised that Nathan wasn’t in full football kit rather than casual sportswear. Note that Robbie and Adam took great care of their jackets, that’s proper informal wear.
Perhaps sub-optimal for Adam. It was quite busy at the course so it took us a couple of hours to get around the 18 hours, but there was no rush and the weather was agreeable.
Nathan realised that although shorts showed off his hairy legs to the ladies, they also meant that he got stung whilst walking about in the nettles.
This was the final hole and it transpired that Robbie and Adam were playing for the third and fourth places. And there were spectators so I noticed that Nathan was prancing around like Sky Sports were filming. Once again, I didn’t say anything.
And the final results. Nathan won with 67, I was second with 70, Robbie was third with 81 and Adam was fourth with 82. Nathan pretended that he wasn’t really excited about this. But we all knew that this score card would be getting framed and put on his wall.
Anyway, a marvellous day and thank you to Nathan to the invite for his big day (although when he reads this I’m unlikely to get an invite next year) which was a lot of fun. And it was great company, with Nathan’s amusing commentary adding positively to the whole experience for everyone.
32 weeks of eating and drinking at Norwich market are over for James and I…… The most obvious comment I can make here is that there is a remarkable choice of food and drink at the market all from small scale operators with nearly all of them having this as their only trading location.
There are some great value options here, lots of different cuisines and no shortage of wonderful food and welcoming service. It has been hugely problematic to find a winner to all of this as there were so many brilliant options available. Nonetheless, we’ve managed to select five (well, six for the observant) of our favourite choices of this year.
The full list of stalls is here and I’d recommend people try somewhere new as I have often been surprised and delighted this year.
So, in reverse order to build excitement. This is the list that absolutely no-one really cares about, but James and I aren’t worried about that, we’ve had a lovely time meandering around the market. We still can’t navigate our way around with any ease though, frequently having to hunt for where stalls are.
And finally, I don’t take anything very seriously and also not this, but I’ve decided to just write about our five favourite places (well, actually six). We have had long debates about who should win, it’s all very exciting. And remember that I don’t get out much.
I’d also note that I’ve tried to be hugely positive about every stall and that was easy in just about every case. A couple of times things weren’t quite right and I’ve made reference to that, but every single location at the market deserves a visit and we know that sometimes people have an off-day or something goes wrong. We do know that these businesses are hugely important to their owners and I hope it comes across that we’ve always respected that above all else.
That is perfect bacon for me, crispy and cooked just as I requested. But, the service here was friendly and engaging, it felt welcoming. For James, he had a burger and had a side quest that he hadn’t intended of seeing which stall was the best in that regard. He decided that Deb’s was the best burger he had of the year. That’s huge praise.
Just look at that, truly beautiful! Friendly service, reasonable prices and delicious. I miss the butchers sausages that they used to use, but the quality remains high and I love the free scraps. There’s an eat-in area here, it’s somewhere that James and I have visited for years and it’s a simply wonderful stall.
There are some challenges with this stall as it’s shut more than is ideal and we had to try multiple times to order here. However, the food of battered chicken was excellent, tender meat with a crispy exterior and all at low prices. It’s excellent value for money and I hope they start opening a little more regularly.
Joint second? Yes, we just couldn’t decide. This stall offers an authentic Spanish experience and a chance to sit in and experience beer and food which is of a high quality. It’s not the cheapest, but the quality is high, the service is friendly and it feels like it’s something different.
This was our winner when we did this in 2023 and it was up there once again. Hugely friendly service, great food, a wonderful atmosphere and free stickers. Just brilliant and look at that pastrami.
I was disappointed that Cocina had left the market, but this is one hell of a replacement in their place. Wonderfully engaging service, a fun environment and food which had a depth of taste and flavour. This, we thought, was the best of the year when taking everything into account such as service, price, quality and atmosphere. Really very lovely!
There was a query why we hadn’t visited Rabbits Salad Bar at Norwich Market as part of our quest to eat at every food stall at the market. It has only just opened and so when checking on the status on another stall, we visited this today.
The interior was bright, clean and had a modern feel to it. The queueing system seemed logical and the signage was clear.
The menu board.
The counter. The service here was one of the best that we’ve had at the market, with the team member being engaging, personable and helpful.
This cost £5 as I didn’t add any protein to it, so the price feels reasonable. The salad felt freshly made and the ingredients tasted of a decent quality. I usually load food with black pepper, but there was a generous sprinkling on the salad and that’s visible in the photo. The dressing had a pleasant flavour and the jammy egg had some vibrancy to it.
Not that I should confess these things too often as it’ll destroy my reputation, but two of the things that I eat a lot when given the chance are Greek salad and Caesar salad. This was in line with what I expected, it wasn’t the taste sensation that I’ve had before (there’s more to be done with the sauce and croutons), but it was £5 and it’s not really fair to compare it to restaurants. I possibly should have had chicken to go with it, but the uplift of £5 for chicken thigh was just a little rich for me.
James forgot to take a photo of his kimchi which is sub-optimal, but he was impressed with that, although he’s not really one for the salad leaves that he found at the bottom of his bowl. But, that’s hardly the fault of a salad bar. And James is planning to draw his lunch later for me.
This is a really positive addition to the market, with the service being particularly friendly and engaging. There’s a lack of options like this at the market, so I’m sure that the stall will do well. And if I see that they’ve got a Greek salad available, then I’ll quite likely pop back and try that.
I had thought that our series of eating at Norwich Market food stalls had come to an end, but there are a couple of additions. I’ve been asked why Buka Street was missed off our visits. It wasn’t forgotten, but it was closed when we tried to visit it on multiple occasions.
As I was asked about it, we visited today just to check, but it’s still closed. They’ve also now deleted all of their Instagram posts and so I assume this stall is now permanently closed. I will though change this page if I see them open and I must admit to being disappointed not to have had a chance to try their food which did look rather lovely.
I thought that this sculpture in Vaduz looked interesting, it’s something rather different to looking at generals on horsebacks celebrating their military conquests. It sits rather quietly between the Parliament and Government buildings and it was designed to mark the 100th anniversary of Liechtenstein’s constitution in 2021.
I think that the aim is to show people listening to each other as part of the democratic process. It was designed by Heinz P. Nitzsche (1954-) and he has numerous works located around Liechtenstein. Speaking generally, he said:
“It is important to me to stimulate a critical examination of current social processes with my work, which ultimately leads to a positive impulse. I am deeply convinced that we as human beings can only overcome the challenges of today’s world together, and not in selfish isolation. Nevertheless, each individual plays a fundamental role within the group.”
When Richard demands a brewery visit, he gets a brewery visit and that’s where we went on our expedition to Liechtenstein. This was my first drink in what was a new country to me, so I was rather excited to see what the set-up would be like.
The interior was bright, modern and on-trend and it was clear that a large investment has been made here. It felt like a welcoming environment and my first impressions were very positive.
The service was though bloody dreadful (not the lady in the photo). The server was male and angry, harrumphing about the tables spreading misery and unhappiness. He was so appalling that I thought it was moderately amusing and I made a determined effort to build up a rapport with him and I think he definitely softened by the end. I think that the server had wanted us to order food, but the venue was relatively quiet and not all tables were ordering food, so just having beers didn’t seem unreasonable.
Richard had been craving a delicious fresh orange juice and he wasn’t entirely surprised and delighted to see it being poured out of a carton. I didn’t have any issues with that as I was distracted with this marvellous looking tasting board. This is one of the best presentations that I’ve seen with the little cards detailing what each of the beers were.
I thought that the selection had some slightly average beers, some decent ones and some very good ones. Particular mention to the Club Bier 05 White IPA, which was slightly decadent, smooth with a taste of fruit and honey. A white IPA isn’t a beer style that I see a lot and it had a real depth of flavour. The Pils Spezialbier was also rather agreeable, it was a Pilsner and so not my usual beer style, but it was clean, well balanced and hoppy. I very much enjoyed trying all of the beers and ensuring that they were promptly listed on Untappd.
There’s an area of the brewery which has a little shop and Richard was disappointed to see that the beer he wanted was unavailable. It was all nicely set-up and arranged, it all felt quite American in terms of the layout and design, which in craft beer bar terms is praise as far as I’m concerned.
Overall, I really liked it here and would merrily return. I’m really not sure about the service, but I wasn’t going to let anyone spoil this visit which was far better than I had anticipated. I think it’s also fair to say that it must be one of the country’s best bars…..
I don’t appear to have taken many photos of this lovely cafe, but there was a friendly welcome and the venue seemed spotlessly clean. Richard and I weren’t sure where to order, but they worked around our probably wrong decision to order at the counter. There was then table service and I was looking forwards to the cake that I hadn’t realised I needed until they upsold it.
The coffee was rich and pleasant in flavour and I’ve rather forgotten exactly what was in the cake as it’s taken me so long to write up. I do know that it was moist and seemed freshly made, with the strawberry on top showing just how healthy it was.
We didn’t really have time to visit Imst which is an Austrian town in the state of Tyrol. Imst is perhaps best known for being home to the Schemenlauf, one of Europe’s oldest and most elaborate carnival parades, dating back over 400 years. It only takes place every four years (the next one is in 2028), and features hundreds of masked participants performing traditional dances and rituals symbolising the struggle between winter and spring. It’s now listed by UNESCO on their Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
