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WAISers: Eric Boehm Visits Germany (Eugen Solf, Germany) (John Eipper, USA, 08/06/10 7:07 am)

Eugen Solf writes:

WAISer Eric Boehm (of Santa Barbara, California) arrived Tuesday in Frankfurt from Los Angeles.

On Wednesday I showed Eric around in Frankfurt a bit and we had lunch in the old opera house ('Alte Oper'), and of course discussed all the problems of the world (well, almost all). In the evening I had invited an old friend and his wife--he is not only my oldest friend but also interested in the research I was doing into the resistance activities of my family. This research was the reason why I met Eric in the first place--and Prof. Hilton--and my eventual connection to WAIS. Eric was particularly moved by a letter of condolence I showed him that was written by Leo Baeck to my family upon the death of my grandmother. Eric had written a chapter about Leo Baeck in his 1947 We Survived, had known him well and had travelled with him in the US. He was not sure if his (Baeck's) widow is still alive (in Brooklyn?); his daughter has married a Rabbi and most certainly is still alive.

Yesterday (Thursday 5 August) I brought him to the house of a friend in Frankfurt who took him to Wiesbaden to continue his onward travels south. He will visit Hof in Bavaria where he was born and grew up, he will go to Southern Germany to see friends and a cousin, Adolph Boehm, a musician and composer among other things I believe. Towards the end of his 4 weeks in Germany he will travel north to Dresden and Berlin and then return to the US.

You know Eric well, JE, so no need to describe what it was like to have him here--I think we only broke up the dinner party well after midnight because he reluctantly admitted that the jet lag was biting. And he signed my copy of We Survived, a first edition which I inherited from my father.

The conclusion of my friend and myself was: if only we will be as witty and sharp in our minds when we are 72 as Eric is now at 92.

I think the last days were a nice start for his visit to Germany.

JE comments: Eric Boehm is a WAIS (and world) treasure. When Aldona and I imposed ourselves as guests at Eric's Santa Barbara home in June, he was very excited about his upcoming trip to Germany, especially his plans to see Eugen Solf and the Passion Play of Oberammergau: a once-a-decade marathon Eric will be seeing for (I believe) the third time. It's nearly impossible to get tickets, they say, but as a distinguished and beloved nonagenarian, Eric's got pull. Happy travels, Eric!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberammergau

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