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September 2004
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Fist (Faust) Collection

I must apologize for having neglected my blog for the past few days-After getting back from Stuttgart I have been, well.. tired. I’ve gone home from work and either taken a nap (and ignored the doorbell), or in the case of yesterday, went to the Rez and hung out reading for a couple hours.

I’ve been building, mentally, a blog entry about what my typical day is like, and in fact this morning I had been planning to start writing it-perhaps I will, but other events have taken slight precedence.

So I start this with a brief aside: yesterday on my way home from the Rez, I saw my first fire truck in Weimar since arriving in Weimar, and it occurred to me that I had not yet seen one and, in fact, do not know where any fire station is located-something I know quite well in Bloomington having lived a block from the main station and driven past three others that I can think of off the top of my head.

It was just a random thought-and one I didn’t really think about much afterward. I went home, made a quick phone call, did some reading, and then some web surfing-and while surfing I perceived that there were an awful lot of sirens in the background-so I guessed that something was going on. I knew it had to be big-any previous siren encounters were brief and forgettable.

Anyhow, I went to bed at 10:30 and didn’t give it another thought until I stepped off the short train (more about this in a future entry) at Weimar’s main train station and the heavy smell of fire hung in the hair – it was thick. I went into the news stand and grabbed a copy of one of the local rags, the Thüringer Allgemeine, which had a photo of a building on fire, along with a headline and subheadline. For some reason I didn’t bother to try and translate, even though in retrospect some of the words are plainly obvious:

Weltgräte Faust-Sammlung in Flammen Verheerendes Feuer in der Weimarer Herzogin-Ann-Amalia-Bibliothek / Schlimmste Bufrchtungen

AltaVista Translation:

World largest fist collection in flames Devastating fire in that Weimar duchess Ann Amalia library/worst Bufuerchtungen

In short, the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, a library housing many valuable books, has gone up in flames-the collection is extensive including handwritten medieval texts, historic maps, and 3,900 “fist” books, or rather Faust.

You can see photos by going to the Thüringer Allgemeine home page and clicking on the phrase “Feuer in Anna-Amalia-Bibliothek” at the top of the page-I assume this will be posted until the next issue of the paper comes out – so I wouldn’t wait until late evening in America to look (Remember, 9pm in Bloomington is 4am in Weimar-the only way you might get lucky is if there are no editions published on the weekend).

3 comments to Fist (Faust) Collection

  • I once was accused of ‘flaming’ (in a nasty fit of self-projection by a friend at Texas Tech), but this takes the cake- a whole collection of items related to my last name has gone up in smoke!

    I promise, though, that I’ve brokered nothing with Lucifer, and I’ve got just as much soul as James Brown :).

    Jerry

  • Chris C

    My Boyfriend, who happens to be black, tells me that I have about as much soul as a shoe.

  • Jerry Fist… your new name Jerry…