Thick clouds wrapped the tree tops this morning. This didn`t change the whole day. Fro Rheinhausenclose to Göttingen I rode towards the south to the town of Friedland. Today my Werra Valley/Eichsfeld circuit tour should not only finally meet the Werra River but als gain its impression of contemporary german history. In the border triangle of Thuringia, Hessen and Lower Saxony the History of post-war Germany is evident much more than in other parts of the country. I headed towards the transit camp of Friedland. Opened September 20th 1945 more than 4 millionen war refugees, POW, displaced persons and ethnic german immigrants have been processed there since the end of World War II. I spend more than one and a half hour in there filming, recording and learning about the fates of so many of my fellow countrymen. Thereafter I piloted my BMW to the Homecomers Memorial closeby. It was erected to remember the homecoming of the last german prisoners of war held in Soviet captivity in 1955- ten years after the war had ended. The rain had not paused but increased. Yet the scenic landscape with small, curvy roads over green hills in the mist of this rather tropical humidity compensated for a wheater that I don`t mind so much but repells many of my fellow motorcyclists.
