Friedberg is one of the few places in Germany where there is a well-preserved Mikwe (or Mikveh), meaning a Jewish ritual bath from the Middle Ages. The Mikwe in Friedberg was built starting in the year 1260. It is like a large square well, five and a half meters wide Read More …
The area around Friedberg is known as the Wetterau, not because of the German word Wetter meaning weather, but because there is a small river named the Wetter (a tributary of the Nidda) which flows through this region not far from Friedberg. The Wetterau Museum documents the archeology and history Read More …
This is a bicycle path along the Usa, a small river to the east of Friedberg. The Usa is a tributary of the Wetter River, which in turn is a tributary of the Nidda. After flowing through Bad Vilbel and Frankfurt, the Nidda finally empties into the Main River at Read More …
This is my nomination for Germany’s second ugliest war memorial. It is located in the southern part of Friedberg just across the street from the abandoned US Army base. At first, I thought it was some sort of bunker or air raid shelter. Note the bristles sticking out of the Read More …
A retired fireman was the speaker at a small anti-atomic-energy demonstration that I happened to see in Friedberg back in 2011. He said, among other things: “I’m a fireman. I went to New York twice to help out at Ground Zero. In Chernobyl the firemen were the first ones to Read More …
This is a clever political poster that I saw back in 2011 in Bruchenbrücken, a village that now belongs to Friedberg even though it is actually six kilometers south of the city. In this poster, the guy in the car is stuck in a traffic jam and is holding a Read More …
In Friedberg Castle there is a secondary school of the type known in Germany as a “Gymnasium” — not the same as the English word! This type of school is supposed to cater to roughly the upper third of German pupils, and at the end they have final exams to Read More …
In a small square within the walls of Friedberg Castle there are three text panels, in German only, describing the events of March 1945. World War II was coming to an end. Friedberg was full of refugees and surrounded by American tanks. Hitler was still alive (he didn’t commit suicide Read More …
The Castle in Friedberg was begun in the years 1171 to 1180, presumably at the behest of the emperor Friedrich Barbarossa. Over the centuries, it developed into an unusually large castle complex (the largest in Germany, they claim), so large that it now includes a high school, a tax office, Read More …
Elvis Presley was drafted into the US army in 1958 at age 23. After basic training he was sent to Germany on a troop ship called the USS General Randall, arriving in Bremerhaven on the morning of October 1, 1958. The same day, he travelled by train to Friedberg, where Read More …