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Jun 22

Weimar

So yesterday was a very full day. We visited the cultural centre of Thuringia: Weimar. At first we had a guided tour. They told us about the greatest poets of Germany: Goethe and Schiller. Both weren’t born in Weimar but lived there until their death. They were supported by the ruler who was fond of literature and theatre. We saw places which were connected to the poets and a lot of other famous people like Bach, van de Velde, Gropius. The last two are the founders and developers of the “Bauhaus”. This term refers to an art style especially used in architecture. One of the main ideas of Bauhaus is to focus on function first, and then on design.

After lunch (it was OKAY) we went to the darkest part of Germans’ history. The history of national socialism, Hitler and the millions of people killed by starvation, hard work, medical experiments and cruel tortures. We had 30 minutes in the concentration camp “Buchenwald”. I can’t say if luckily only that short or not. Because on one hand it is an awful place with a really depressive and sad aura. But on the other hand you need more time to see everything.

Our day in Weimar ended with a concert of pupils of the Belvedere high school. It is a grammar school specialised in music. The pupils have to pass an exam to become members of the school. There are only about 120 students studying there. A boarding school is included. They get also support from the music college “Franz Liszt”. You could hear that the pupils are pretty talented. But I’m not a fan of classical music and a lot of us were tired.

So now I wish the participants good luck for the competition tasks.