On Tuesday (14th June) during the Hessentag in Oberursel there was surprise guest on the Frankfurter Neue Presse stage in the Deschauer Park: Jutta W. Thomasius.

I was not aware in advance who Frau Thomasius was, but had I known she was coming and looking in Wikipedia I would have found out about all of the high-ranking prizes she has won in her lifetime.

Jutta W. Thomasius talking to Ulrich Müller-Braun

Jutta W. Thomasius is a long-time journalist working for the newspaper group, but it was the fact that she had learnt her skills working for the “Deutsche Zeitung” – one of the first newspapers to be licensed by the American forces in 1946 – that caught my attention and caused me to listen to the rest of the interview. (more…)

One attraction during the Hessentag in Oberursel has been the model of the Eppsteiner Burg in the Adenauer Allee.

The model was made out of 80 tonnes of sand and took the sculptor and his assistants 400 hours to make.

Eppsteiner Burg in the Adenauerallee

Funding for the project came from the association Eppstein Touristik Service e.V., who wanted to promote the town artistically.

On Tuesday afternoon the local Taunus Zeitung newspaper held a discussion called “Was ist Heimat”?

Taking part were Thomas Gambichler from Dimension Data, Hansjörg Schlegel from Oberursel’s Ausländerbeirat, Gülsah Bayram from the project “Migrants help migrants” and Hilary Peacock, a South African English teacher who lived for many years in Oberursel.  The discussion was chaired by Dr. René Heinen from the newspaper’s book division.

Dr. René Heinen with Thomas Gambichler, Gülsah Bayram, Hilary Peacock and Hansjörg Schlegel

Heimat is a term used in German to mean “home”, but (more…)