Yes, the past has left its mark. This can be seen in Weimar’s Jacobskirchhof, the cemetery where Cranach is buried. This was also Schiller’s last resting place until he was reburied. Christiane Vulpius is here too. You will easily recognize her grave because of the constant supply of fresh flowers. So much reverence for love – is that not a source of courage? And courage is what you need to look at the other face of this city. What began with the expulsion of the Bauhaus art school, ended with Buchenwald on Ettersberg, that same spot where Goethe and Eckermann used to take their walks.

In the hell of Buchenwald Concentration Camp, the Nazis murdered 56,000 people. Another 7,000 died there after the war, when the concentration camp became the Soviets’ Special Camp 2, in which not only war criminals but also innocent people were interned. However painful it may be to accept, intellectuality and terror are both part of Weimar. And how a city and a state deal with this fact can be seen every summer during the arts festival, whose much respected director is Nike Wagner. The opening concert is always dedicated to the victims. A fact which deserves respect and is very moving.

The woman is well-liked, and the city has always had such women. The Duchess Anna Amalia, for example. It was she who decreed in 1761 that one of the royal residences be turned into a library. That same library which in autumn 2004 went up in flames and as a result formed a bond between book enthusiasts all over the world. The cost of refurbishing the library, which is part of the UNESCO world cultural heritage, is estimated at 11.4 million euros. So far, private donations alone for the restoration and replacement of the books have amounted to almost 10 million. If that’s not a sign of public spirit! Germany’s famous theatre director Peter Stein read Schiller’s play Wallenstein in Weimar, in an old electricity generating station. He aims to stage the trilogy nearby, in Frankfurt.