Across Europe

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Münster

April 2002, continued

My first memory of Jewish activities and traditions is of being in our Münster synagogue alongside Opa, my maternal grandfather. We'd be standing at one of the pews you see here, while Omi would be in the upper level with the other women. (Rose is downstairs in this picture because the services haven't yet started.) I didn't know much about the Holocaust as a child, and didn't have any strange feeling a Jew in, and going to a synagogue in, Germany.

Rose took the digital camera to the second level and took a snapshot of us just before things got rolling. It was great being back, even with a fidgety boy on my hands. Now I know what my grandparents went through when I came to visit.

The head of the synagogue - when I was a boy - was a very friendly man named Herr Gerstel. He always made me feel comfortable, even if I was being a bit disruptive or inquisitive. I saw this portrait of him in the hallway and had to take a quick photo as a memento.

Next, we leave the city for a castle in the countryside.

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