|
|
Headlines
When I told people that we would be escorting 21 kids ranging in age
from 9 to 17 through Europe, they thought we were crazy. “Are you
nuts?” they would question. “Are you a glutton for punishment?” The
answer to both questions is no. But the three weeks we spent with these
young people will certainly go down as the trip of a lifetime.
 |
| In a tourist mode, the U.S.summer skiers and travelers posed at Mirabell Palace in Salzburg, Austria. |
We weren’t the only adults shepherding this flock of youngsters across
Europe. Nine “grown-ups” signed on to explore the European continent
with kids in tow. Most of the kids were junior ski racers, fresh from
the snow of the Austrian Alps. They came from New Mexico, Arizona and
Colorado to train at Hubert Seigmann’s “A Touch of Austria” summer ski
camp. Seigmann is a native of Anif, Austria, who makes his home in
Ruidoso and teaches young area athletes to ski race. Young Ruidoso
travelers included Nicole, Zach and Lexie Doth, Stefan Seigmann, Travis
Ingels, Tucker Davis and Tanya Haynes.
Our adventure began on the morning of June 6.
After more than 24 hours of travel, we arrived in Salzburg, Austria, on
the morning of June 7. As we got closer to Austria, we could see the
snow-capped peaks of the Alps in the background. The ground below was a
patchwork of green fields and thick forests. To rain-starved New
Mexicans, it seemed there were more shades of green here than you can
imagine.
From Salzburg, we headed to the ski camp in Piesendorf and the famous
Kitzsteinhorn glacier for the final days of training on the glacier.
Despite a major dose of jet lag, we gathered with the young skiers for
breakfast in the morning, packed a lunch and headed up to the glacier.
Two gondola rides and three t-bars later, we reached the training
grounds, where we set the course and started skiing.
Following a day on the slopes, the group headed for Kitzbuhel, home of
the Hahnenkamm, the most dangerous and difficult downhill ski race in
the world. The kids all knew that their coach hurtled down this same
course last January as a forerunner. In his trip notes, Travis Ingels
wrote, “While some people went shopping back down in Kitzbuhel, a few
of us braved the walk down the run where this race is held. As I walked
down the run, I could feel the awesome power the race had as Hubert
explained each and every turn to us. As we got to the Mousetrap
(English translation), Hubert told us at this jump you fly for almost
200 feet in the air. We were all awestruck.”
We packed three vans full of people and began the “educational” portion
of our visit. Hubert’s wife, Lisa Seigmann, is a 5th grade teacher in
Ruidoso. She enjoys sharing the drama of the history that lives on in
the European landscape. It was her idea to explore the impact of World
War II from both the American and German perspective.
Just a few minutes from Hubert’s home town of Anif is Hitler’s infamous
“Eagle’s Nest.” The Eagle’s Nest perches at the top of a granite
precipice and overlooks the mountains and valleys of both Austria and
Germany.
Prior to visiting the house, we toured a museum that explains the
beginnings of the Nazi Party and Hitler’s rise to power. There, we
began to understand how well the propaganda machine that powered the
Nazi party worked.
Tucker Davis wrote, “Even though I could not understand the language,
it was hard not to see how much people’s lives were horribly changed.”
Travis Ingels put it this way: “Some of the things that I saw,
especially the concentration camps, really touched my heart. To see
that many people destroyed just because of their religion or their
heritage is almost too much to bear."
After the museum, visiting the Eagle’s Nest itself was almost a relief.
The house was a gift to Hitler from the Nazi Party as a summer retreat.
Inside is a solid brass elevator that goes to the heart of the Eagle’s
Nest. “The top of the mountain was in the clouds, which made it feel
like we were floating,” said Tucker.
Directly down from the Eagle’s Nest is the picture-perfect farm of the
Stolz family. The view entering the farm is breathtaking. Today, the
family runs a small restaurant at the farm.
In sharp contrast was a copy of a letter that hangs on the wall of the
restaurant. The letter was sent to the family by Max Borman, one of
Hitler’s top men. At the beginning of the war, the Stolz family had
objected to the Nazi party taking over their farm. In response, Borman
informed them that the only answer to their objection was to be sent to
the concentration camp in Dachau. But, in an act of generosity, he
would take the farm and not send them to the camp. The family was
forced off the farm, and was allowed to return home only after the war.
From Eagle’s Nest, we headed for France and the beaches of Normandy. We
knew we had arrived when the small towns we passed through joyfully
displayed row after row of American, British and Canadian flags. Small
villages lined the beaches, each bearing witness to what happened 60
years ago.
 |
| Students take a break on the beaches at Normandy. |
Travis Ingels wrote, “Here we saw all the beaches of Operation
Overlord. We saw the British and Canadian beaches first. We saw a lot
of museums and lots of films, but none of these came close to seeing
the memorials and the actual beaches where these men died for the sake
of our freedom. The next day we went to the American cemetery and the
two American beaches, Omaha and Utah. ... I had always taken my
freedoms for granted, but after seeing all of those crosses and Stars
of David, I got a whole new perception on how much World War II cost
America.”
The group stayed at a lovely hotel on Juno Beach. Each evening, the
kids played in the surf, shrieking at the cold ocean water. During a
visit to one of the German bunkers, a British veteran who had been in
the second wave of the landings on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, spoke
briefly to the kids, and told them that they were just soldiers, some
of them kids, doing a job that needed doing. “We remembered the good
times,” he said of the war.
There were so many memorials and important places to see. We wondered
how the kids viewed the tanks and bunkers and guns left behind, and we
had to ask.
Nicole Doth wrote, “At the beginning of the summer, if you had asked me
about my upcoming trip to Europe, and specifically the Normandy portion
of it I would have told you I was just a lucky kid looking forward to
going over to Normandy. I was doing the exact same thing over a million
other people were going to do, and celebrate the allied invasion ... .
I was just going to celebrate something with a group of my friends. I
just happened to be going to Europe to do it.
“However, by the end of this trip, I had learned a lot more than I ever
thought possible. This trip really put things into perspective for me.
I had read about all of the more commonly known events in a history
book 20 times over, and thought I understood what took place. However,
by actually going to the beaches of the D-day landings I began to
comprehend what really went on.
“There are so many things that you miss by not seeing it first hand. I
was able to see how far away the water really was during low tide. I
was able to swim in the very same waters our troops had to wade through
to get to the beach. I felt how swiftly the water moved in, changing
the shore line by several feet per second. I felt the bone-piercing
temperature of the ice cold water in the middle of summer. I caught
myself several times simply sitting and taking in the massive scale of
events that took place. I realized that, through the collective forces
of all of the allied troops, not only ours, we truly achieved the
impossible.
“Being all of 15 years old in today’s world, I see things through
different eyes than anybody that lived through World War II. I see the
Germans not as the enemy, and was glad they could take part in the
D-Day celebrations for the first time in history. I see the French not
as arrogant snobs (like so many people think of them now), but as a
group of people who are eternally grateful for our part in their
liberation.
“And I see the Americans not as the underdog, hesitant to join the war,
but as a brave, close-knit country willing to do whatever is necessary
to protect freedom around the world. This is why my trip this summer
turned out to be worth more than I could have ever imagined. I was able
to truly realize why we are so thankful to the veterans of D-Day and
why over a million people showed up in Normandy to honor them. They
gave me the opportunity to view the world through different eyes.”
Our trip to Europe wasn’t all war museums and monuments. We did all the
“touristy” things too, like taking in the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de
Triomphe. We were serenaded by Gehrenbergspatzen in Bodensee (they’ll
be coming to Ruidoso’s Oktoberfest again this year). We had time for
soccer games and shopping, and even sipped a little champagne in
Epernay. We tried a subterranean tour of the salt mines that made the
princes of old very wealthy men.
There were a few tense times. We had our problems…who would have
thought there was absolutely NO parking for a van in Paris? But it was
an experience worth living.
Ten-year-old Lexie Doth said, “It was totally awesome, we learned so
many new things and met so many new people that we would have never
met, and it was so cool to be able to experience what went on 60 years
ago.” Was it worth the hassles of keeping track of 21 kids?
Absolutely. It was the trip of a lifetime.
Top of Page
Copyright © 2004 Ruidoso News, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper.
Use of this site signifies that you agree to our Terms of Service(updated 12/19/2002).
|
|
|
Headlines
Latest Headlines
|
|
