Wittenberge

Our first stop on the trip around lackluster sites in former East Germany was Wittenberge. It’s not to be confused with Wittenberg, home of Martin Luther. Wittenberge, located just barely east of the former East/West German border, may have instead been the home of Marvin Lüther, canola oil magnate.

Wittenberge is most remarkable for its lack of people. Located on the Elbe River, it survived on shipping, the oil mill and the Singer sewing machine factory. But since reunification, these industries are gone and so are the people .  In 1990, there were 30,000 residents in Wittenberge. Now there are just 18,000 people and the number continues to drop.

“If anyone asked why we came here,” Brian advised me, “just say it’s because we wanted to see the real Germany.”

That meant I shouldn’t say, “we were searching for dying cities and yours showed up on a top ten list,” which is actually the truth.

Entrance to the Oberstufenzentrum, with some socialist workers on the gate

The old Singer factory

Every fourth or fifth building in Wittenberge is boarded up and we were among the youngest people around. I imagine there are no jobs here, but the people remaining still try to have fun. Wittenberge on a summer Saturday night pulled out all the stops. The restaurant with biergarten where we ate was packed with a 50^th birthday and a 75^th birthday, and the plaza across from our hotel featured a band playing John Denver covers and a performance from the local belly dancing class.

What are East Germans like? There’s a stereotype that they are backward, less cultured than other Germans, a little bit redneck. All I can tell you from the first night in Wittenberge is that they wear a lot of sandals with socks. If you thought Minnesotans were frequent offenders on the sandals with socks front, you are wrong. Wittenbergers take the cake. And they prefer black socks with outdoorsy velcro sandals. I think it's because Marvin Lüther wore them too.

Along the Elbe