Page 53 - AAA Magazine – AAA Ohio Auto Club – September 2018

area. The next stop on the Jewish Heritage program
is the Genealogy Museum of Jewish People in Arnhem, Netherlands. Your ship will then enter the Lower
Rhine River and Germany on its way to its next stop
in Cologne, Germany.
Cologne is the largest city along the Rhine and offers one of the trip’s grandest sights, the Cologne Cathedral, Germany’s most visited landmark. The Gothic-style, Catholic Cathedral had its foundation laid in 1248 but it was not fully completed until 1880, and at the time, was the tallest building in the world at 515 feet. It was badly damaged during bombings in World War II but restored, and in 1996 was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Near the Cathedral is Cologne’s Jewish Quarter, one of the oldest in Germany, and one of the first settlements north of the Alps.
Following a visit to Oberwesel, Germany, your cruise will take you to Frankfurt, Germany. Besides the city itself, the highlight here for the Jewish Heritage Program will be the Jewish Museum Frankfurt, the oldest independent Jewish museum in Germany. Scheduled
to reopen in 2019 after an extensive renovation, the museum will work in concert more with the Museum Judengasse. You also will learn about the Rothschild
family dynasty, which started in the Judengasse, the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt, with the birth of Mayer Rothschild in 1744. Rothschild, a coin dealer turned banker, laid the groundwork to what would become a family fortune today worth more than $400 billion.
Sailing up the Rhine a bit farther will take you to Speyer, Germany, and another UNESCO World Heritage Site with the Speyer Cathedral. Originally built in
1061, this monument to Romanesque architecture has changed its shape throughout the centuries but has remained pretty much the same since 1858. It was granted its UNESCO honor in 1981. From here, you can take a short trip to Worms, Germany, where the first Jewish community was established in the late 10th century and the first synagogue was built in 1034. Created in the 11th century, the Jewish Cemetery in Worms is presumed to be the oldest surviving cemetery in Europe.
As your cruise heads to the shores of France, you will stop in the city of Strasbourg where a study of Alsace’s Jewish history is on the lesson plan for the Jewish Heritage Program. Like Germany, Jews in Alsace have had issues, but have persevered throughout the centuries. Maybe because Alsace was under German
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Portugese Synagogue, Amsterdam / Photo: Ruud van Zwet
Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam / Photo: Liselore Kamping