if i returned home

then we moved to a new flat. another multy-story building from the early 80s right at the edge of town. pretty much every family in these flats hat kids around my age. there were hoards of children roaming the place. during the summer, we would vanish into the woods just across the potato fields and cow pasture. we climbed trees. built little forts for our acorn puppets. we played hide and seek amongst the roots of trees toppled over in storms. there was a lake, too, where we watched the fish and frogs and held competitions about who could make their stone peble jump across the surface most often. in the winter we would go to another lake for skating.

since then, our town has emptied considerably. just before the reunification of germany there were an estimated 22,000 people living in schneeberg. since then, some 7,000 people have left. the last time i paid visit to the town of my childhoodm it felt like visiting a ghost town.

the house my grandparents lived in during my childhood was torn down ten years ago. i fear, the same thing might be in store for the first house our family lived in until i was five years old.

edit: now with pictures from the web. i didn't take them. if you are the photographer, i would kindly ask you not to sue me.

inside the church. (to view the picture, substitute the odd /u and the pointy brackets in the link with "_". autoformat is responsible for the snafoo.)

click on the images to link back to the original site.