revisiting lost cities

My #lostcities series on this blog has influenced my thinking about various things and indeed my travel plans, as I have (re)visited a few of the cities where my ancestors used to live in the last two years and really enjoyed discovering those I didn't know. I'm only missing Königsberg now, but I'm getting the impression that this city doesn't exist any more in any meaningful way, and given the current situation, I have no plans to travel to Kaliningrad.

I have compiled a B-list however of cities that are also relevant in this context, even if the case may be less clear and/or information harder to find. For instance, some of my direct ancestors lived in Breslau (today's Wrocław) for something like 40 years in the 19th century, but I can't pin down start and end dates, nor an address where they lived or worked, so it's all a bit hazy and virtually impossible to get a sense of place to attach to their lives. Information is slightly better for Krefeld, but I don't have a start date either. In any case, I'll see what I can do about these and a few others, so watch out for #lostcities season 2 at some point.

In the meantime, let's reshuffle the 10 cities of the first series to do some rankings.

First, ranked by longest stay of direct ancestors:

1. Minden 1903 - 1952 = 49 years
2. Elberfeld / Wuppertal 1919 - 1961 = 42 years
3. Tangermünde 1888 - 1916 = 28 years
4. Bad Nauheim 1945 - 1972 = 27 years
5. Idar-Oberstein 1940 - 1962 = 22 years
6. Rheydt 1923 - 1935 = 12 years
7. Königsberg 1935 - 1945 = 10 years
8. Würzburg 1961 - 1968 = 7 years
9. Strasbourg 1901 - 1908 = 7 years
10. Aachen 1936 - 1940 = 4 years

Have a postcard from Minden, winner of the longevity ranking:

Source

Second, cities ranked by most recent stay of direct ancestors

1. Bad Nauheim 1945 - 1972
2. Würzburg 1961 - 1968
3. Idar-Oberstein 1940 - 1962
4. Elberfeld / Wuppertal 1919 - 1961
5. Minden 1903 - 1952
6. Königsberg 1935 - 1945
7. Aachen 1936 - 1940
8. Rheydt 1923 - 1935
9. Tangermünde 1888 - 1916
10. Strasbourg 1901 - 1908

third, cities ranked by my personal/emotional attachment:

1. Würzburg 1961 - 1968 - well, you only have to look at my Würzburg photos on flickr to figure that one out.
2. Minden 1903 - 1952 - railway memories, mostly, and a lovely river.
3. Bad Nauheim 1945 - 1972 - missing the art nouveau villa, mostly, but the town is ok too even though it lacks a river and a university
4. Strasbourg 1901 - 1908 - an obsession with Strasbourg has travelled down the generations ...
5. Elberfeld / Wuppertal 1919 - 1961 - whereas Wuppertal was obliterated in the collective memory, but I really like the place
6. Idar-Oberstein 1940 - 1962 - I can't forgive what they did to the river Nahe, otherwise it might be a nice place. memories of the school and the gemstone museum.
7. Aachen 1936 - 1940 -visited a few times, but it still feels slightly foreign
8. Königsberg 1935 - 1945 - as a fairytale place of times gone by, the lakeside is really lovely.
9. Tangermünde 1888 - 1916 - looks lovely but feels foreign
10. Rheydt 1923 - 1935 - some nice buildings but not much of a spark ...