A Day in Passau:
What is your favorite way to travel?
I love going with people I love to a beautiful place and then connect with people who live there who generously share their love of their place and its history with us.
On our most recent trip, a Viking European Grand Tour of the Danube, Main, and Rhine rivers from Budapest to Amsterdam, we met lots of local guides in 12 port cities along the way. They were uniformly excellent.
We started our tour in Budapest on Aug. 2 and ended it Aug. 16 in Amsterdam.
But none of them compared to these two for knowledge and hospitality.
Our hosts for the day, Teresia and Heinz-Walter Schmidt stand in front of the Oberhaus Castle, now a museum, in Passau, Germany, August 7, 2024.
Our journey to make new friends in Passau, Germany, began when we attended a January 2024 event at the Muddy Creek farm library a few miles from our home in Lititz, Pennsylvania. We discovered this meeting because we had read the amazing story by Elam Stoltzfus in our church magazine, Anabaptist World. Titled “Lifelong Love Song,” the article describes the author’s childhood memories of singing from the collection of hymns known as the Ausbund at his Amish father’s side as well as sharing the “love song” from the Ausbund’s Lob Lied as his father lay dying. Stoltzfus, a retired broadcast media producer, is now a writer and genealogical and historical explorer. He became fascinated by the history of the Ausbund, the oldest Christian hymnal still in use today. In 2018 his curiosity took him to search for dungeons in the Oberhaus Castle in Passau, where 53 Ausbund hymns were composed by imprisoned Anabaptists in 1535.
Stoltzfus’s visit to the Oberhaus castle in 2018 brought him into contact with Eva Sattlegger, the educational director of the Oberhaus Museum. She led him to André Rottgeri, a professor and Ausbund scholar at the University of Passau and to Heinz-Walter Schmitz, retired diocesan church music director in Passau.
The lecture that started us on the path that led to Passau.
Finding Schmitz turned out to be the key between the ancient texts and the melodies the sixteenth-century authors of the hymns would have used (the hymnbook contains only words, not notes). The number of the tune is listed under the number of the song. The singing style used by the Amish, who still use the Ausbund in worship, was carried by oral tradition over the centuries and has become quite slow and chant-like. At the meeting in Muddy Creek Farm Library in January about half of the audience were Amish who surrounded the rest of us with the dirge-like sound of suffering saints in love with God. You can listen to a YouTube version of another singing of the same song below.
Schmitz was able, after Stoltzfus’ visit in 2018, to locate the popular sixteenth-century songs the Anabaptist hymn writers specified in their texts. Not only that, he arranged for an Ausbund concert in the Oberhaus Castle St. George Chapel with a professional baritone and a narrator. The concert took place October 19, 2023, and Elam Stoltzfus traveled to be there. He described how thrilling it was to see musicians, historians, and Anabaptists reconnected.
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Stuart and I just happened to be looking for a special way to celebrate our 55th wedding anniversary this year. Not too long after we attended the two lectures at Muddy Creek Farm Library we got an email from Viking advertising their “Grand European Tour” (those algorithms are way too smart!). When we investigated the itinerary and saw Passau on the Danube part of the cruise, we signed up! We hoped we would be able to connect with someone at the museum or the town on the one day we would be in that city. We asked Elam Stoltzfus for help, and he came through with an email connecting us with the Schmitz family.
Fortunately for us, Heinz-Walter Schmitz’ wife Theresia speaks and writes excellent English. And on top of that, she’s a trained tour guide for Passau! We were able to locate each other easily while our boat was docked on the river. Theresia took the three of us on adventures.
Love the slant of light between the buildings in Aldstadt — Old Town.
Monument to King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. His back is turned on St. Stephens Church. He seized the lands and power of the Catholic Church in 1803. The Stadt, not the Kirche, has been dominant ever since.
Theresia explains details of the baroque interior of St. Steven’s Cathedral. This church houses the largest cathedral organ in the world. As diocesan church music director, Heinz-Walter Schmitz played this instrument many times.
Vine overhanging the Roman wall.
Heinz-Walter explaining his research. His copy of the Ausbund given to him by Elam Stoltzfus is open before us.
The book of Old Testament prophets published in 1528 and translated by Anabaptists Denck and Hetzer now at the archives of the city library of Passau. Heinz-Walter was kind enough to request the book so that we could see it on our one-day visit.
Stuart and I are still pondering the many layers of history and culture that we experienced on this visit. We continue to have an interest in the latest Anabaptist research Heinz-Walter is conducting: trying to locate the court records of the Anabaptists who were held in the castle so many years ago.
We would love to reciprocate the hospitality shown us by Theresia and Heinz-Walter by sharing our place, and its history, with them.
Have you made friends in your travels? Have you hosted guests from other cultures?
I so resonate with this post, Shirley! Hardy and I took a trip to Poland and Ukraine (our birth places) a number of years ago. We had a wonderful tour guide and we remained in touch with her. Last year her son and his wife came for a visit and brought us some souvenirs from Poland that his mother sent along for us. Their visit coincided with my birthday and all our kids and grandkids were here as well. Her son and his wife are planning to move to our province of Manitoba and came to check it out. They came to visit us by bus!
Wow, Elfrieda, you did make a connection. I love that you were able to reciprocate hospitality to the second generation. And that your whole family could meet your wonderful Polish friends. May their transition to a new home be blessed. I am sure you will continue to find ways to be in touch.
Shirley — Oh, my gosh. I love everything you shared in this post, text, video, and photos. Len and I are still a few years away from our 50th wedding anniversary, But we’re already plotting and planning for where we want to go and what we want to do while there. We’re having a blast in this phase of things!
Laurie, I am so glad you two are already plotting. Part of any celebration is the anticipation. I hope you find just the right adventure. You certainly have the curiosity and mindfulness required to discover the hidden gems that are just right for “this phase of things.”
This all sounds so fascinating, Shirley. And the photos are wonderful. And the link to the singing. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Glad you enjoyed, Dora. Always good to see you here!
Sept 26 is our anniversary.
are you speaking at Waterloo North MC?
Yes! 10 a.m talk Senior Connections, North Waterloo Mennonite Church “From Farm Girl to College President to Crusading Grandma: A Mennonite Life.” September 25.
hi Shirley. recently Armand and I rode the Waterloo heritage train from St Jacobs Market to Elmira and back. it was special because Armand could see the progress of 50 yrs as well as the history he and I can connect with now. The train ride is delightful and the volumes are trained in knowledge and hospitality. Since we moved to Kitchener we sometimes just take in the sights and sounds close to us. Your story is like Menno Hof where I visited once again May, 2024. Their singing on the hard benches in the plain chapel and their dungeon is just like you describe and saw firsthand. Here in Waterloo we have many Anabaptists of various heritages. For the 1 1/4 train ride from St Jacob’s we had the Heritage hop on hop off ticket purchased from the conductor.
Blessings for you and Stuart and your family.
How timely that you should mention this, Ginny. Stuart and I are planning a trip to your area Sept. 24-30. I will be speaking at Conrad Grebel and at the Village at University Gates, and at three churches in the area. I will be putting posters up on Facebook about the speaking engagements. Hope to see you? We might try that train ride too. Sounds fascinating!
I haven’t been able to find much info on where you will be and when. I saw you will be at Stirling Mennonite but that’s the only details I have seen. where can I find this info?
Hi Melissa. I will send you my schedule via email.
It was such a pleasure, Shirley, having you here with us. Unfortunately, it was only for about five hours that we could walk and talk with each other. You were so keen on learning about our town and the history of the Anabaptists. It was a great joy to both Heinz-Walter and me to be your guide and friend.
Come again and stay longer with us.
And I do enjoy reading your book ‘Blush’. It provides an insight into a very different world, otherwise completely unknown to me.
Best wishes, Theresia
Theresia! so good to see you here. Thank you for leaving this comment. And thank you again for sharing your great knowledge of your beautiful city with us.
And I am glad you are enjoying Blush. I love sharing my culture and heritage also. The invitation to visit us is quite real. Between Elam and us we would give you the Lancaster County treatment! https://www.discoverlancaster.com/planvisit/visitor-center/
Shirley, I gave my daughter the heads up that you were going to be speaking in her area. She is a pastor at Floradale Mennonite church and used to pastor Stirling Ave. Mennonite church (her first pastorate). I hope she can make it and introduce herself to you..
That would be wonderful, Elfrieda! Thanks for letting her know. It would be lovely to meet her.