Look what popped up on my facebook feed this morning – I immediately knew what it was as Joe Stirling described to me his trip on this amazing Flying Railway in the Rhineland town of Wuppertal when he was a little lad. Here is the extract from the book. It is referring to the summers of the early 1930s, before Hitler’s Nazi government took away all freedoms from the Jewish community. This piece of film is from 1902, about 30 years before young Günter rode the railway.
“On Sundays Uncle Alex drove his wife and nephew the twenty miles to the thriving town of Wuppertal, known for cotton weaving, dye making and calico printing. Günter tingled with excitement when riding the Schwebebhan, the oldest elevated electric railway in the world, its hanging cars speeding above the River Wupper. It was here that he first visited a Zoological garden, enthralled by the lions, elephants and camels. In less favourable weather, the impressionable boy spent much of his time stood behind the counter in his uncle’s shop, watching as staff advised the Düsseldorf hausfraus, shopping for buttons, blouses and bloomers. It was a lesson in customer service, to prove invaluable for his life yet to come.”
Escaping Hitler: A Jewish Boy's Quest for Freedom and his Future 