On Friday night in Passau we had the first Shabbat dinner there in many years in the city hall. It’s an interesting place – with the ceiling painted in scenes from which the stories that Wagner gained inspiration from in his work. Hitler was a child in Passau (and indeed, almost drowned at five in the Danube and was saved at the last minute).
 
We had a short Friday night service where Ami, I and a survivor, Louis (I don’t recall his last name) read from the Torah. The mayor of Passau gave an excellent speech as well, and presented us with autographed books on Passau (in German). After dinner, we had a short slide show of pictures from after the war (taken by the US GIs). We then retired for the night.

Pictures:

• This grey house in Passau was where Hitler lived as a boy
• Some of the roof in the Passau city hall