Traveling the way we are doing it is hard yakka. The kids are always in a constant battle with one another and occasionally we're drawn into it. Packing and unpacking is a chore, the uncertainty of where we might rest our heads tonight can be a challenge and language barriers make the whole thing interesting. Duties taken for granted at home becomes a top priority such as clothes washing. Whilst the shower serves as a washing machine for dirty knickers, other clothes such as jeans, shirts and jumpers are another matter. So off to the laundromat we go again.
After this was ticked off our list, we visited the Sinti and Roma Holocaust museum - the only one in the world dedicated to the 500,000 (gypsies) that were murdered in the holocaust. It wasn't until 1982 that the German government acknowledged the genocide against the Sinti and Roma as unlike the Jews, this group had no political strength. Many people of this group had lived in Germany for generations, served in the armed forces and had businesses. Upon the rise of Hitler they were persecuted, had medical experiments undertaken on them, were subjects of mass killings when groups of Nazis swept through villages, taken into slave labour and were gassed in concentration camps. Whilst I knew the fate of many Jews, I was unaware that the Sinti and Roma were systematically targeted and treated the same way. A list of 21000 names is in the museum that were murdered in Auschwitz alone. Very sad.
We then visited the Student Prison. From 1823 to 1914 students were incarcerated between 2 days to four weeks for of offenses against public order. Student prisoners immortalised themselves on the walls and ceilings by paintings and poems.
We then visited the University Museum (boring) and then given a private tour (it was meant to be closed) of the Great Hall. It is appointed in neo-Renaissance style and continues to serve as a venue for ceremonial events. The ceiling frescoes feature the four faculties - theology, law, medicine and philosophy.
This is our last day in Heidelberg as tomorrow we head for Munich.
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