St. Martin in Memmingen
This Protestant church is Memmingen's landmark. After the Protestant Reformation Memmingen became a Protestant town in Catholic environs, where the few Catholics had nearly no rights for a long time. Before World War II, I read in the German Wikipedia article, still about 98% of the population were Protestants. The situation changed completely after the war with the influx of people from the environs and Sudeten German refugees (among them my mother). Meanwhile only 25,6% of the population are Protestants, whereas 39,52% are Catholics.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memmingen
Under these circumstances I wonder how my Memmingen grandmother, my father's mother, could make me believe that the whole world is Catholic except those who are absolutely wrong by not being Catholic. By the way her husband, my grandfather, was also absolutely wrong by being a Protestant, and she was therefore also somewhat wrong and was only tolerated by her fellow bigots. In any case it was no fun to go to church with her, because her fellow bigots critically watched her grandson's behaviour during the service. I made unexcusable mistakes like sitting like the old bigots, when young people should kneel... It was much more fun to go to church with my young aunt, who celebrated her 80th birthday last Saturday!
Unluckily the weather was lousy on her celebration day. So this is almost the only new photo I can show you of my birthtown. Instead I'll show you some archive finds later.
By the way as a photographer I follow the principle "shoot first, ask later!". The answers to these questions often lead to very astonishing results. The reason why I up to now knew so little about my birthtown is that I hated it a long time. When I was three years old, my parents and I moved to Augsburg, and I grew up there. Augsburg is my hometown. I hated the regular visitis to Memmingen, because they spoiled the weekends. I'd have preferred to play football with my friends in Augsburg. It's only many years later I realized Memmingen isn't a disgusting town.
As to belief: I'm an utterly Catholic agnostic. Protestants are as to their belief complete strangers for me, as much as Muslims or Buddhists for example. But all of them can be friends of mine, their belief doesn't matter at all.
St. Martin in Memmingen
This Protestant church is Memmingen's landmark. After the Protestant Reformation Memmingen became a Protestant town in Catholic environs, where the few Catholics had nearly no rights for a long time. Before World War II, I read in the German Wikipedia article, still about 98% of the population were Protestants. The situation changed completely after the war with the influx of people from the environs and Sudeten German refugees (among them my mother). Meanwhile only 25,6% of the population are Protestants, whereas 39,52% are Catholics.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memmingen
Under these circumstances I wonder how my Memmingen grandmother, my father's mother, could make me believe that the whole world is Catholic except those who are absolutely wrong by not being Catholic. By the way her husband, my grandfather, was also absolutely wrong by being a Protestant, and she was therefore also somewhat wrong and was only tolerated by her fellow bigots. In any case it was no fun to go to church with her, because her fellow bigots critically watched her grandson's behaviour during the service. I made unexcusable mistakes like sitting like the old bigots, when young people should kneel... It was much more fun to go to church with my young aunt, who celebrated her 80th birthday last Saturday!
Unluckily the weather was lousy on her celebration day. So this is almost the only new photo I can show you of my birthtown. Instead I'll show you some archive finds later.
By the way as a photographer I follow the principle "shoot first, ask later!". The answers to these questions often lead to very astonishing results. The reason why I up to now knew so little about my birthtown is that I hated it a long time. When I was three years old, my parents and I moved to Augsburg, and I grew up there. Augsburg is my hometown. I hated the regular visitis to Memmingen, because they spoiled the weekends. I'd have preferred to play football with my friends in Augsburg. It's only many years later I realized Memmingen isn't a disgusting town.
As to belief: I'm an utterly Catholic agnostic. Protestants are as to their belief complete strangers for me, as much as Muslims or Buddhists for example. But all of them can be friends of mine, their belief doesn't matter at all.