A full on day of Volkswagen information and visits… Noel’s
happy place!!
Day started with a mock up breakfast in our barrel mini-hotel… due to
not really being set up for camping. Our intention had been to possibly utilise
campgrounds a little for our trip, but to brutally honest we are finding that
accommodation via Booking.com, HomeAway.com or AirBnB seems to work out almost as
economic when convenience it taken into account.
First visit, after gaining our hot cuppa at the nearby
McDonald's (no hot water boiling facilities at camp for the ill prepared) it was
across the road to the VW Foundation Museum.
Although the city of Wolfsburg has multiple VW
attractions, the most well known being the glossy ‘Autostadt’ complex, we chose
this smaller hidden away museum. Although the Autostadt apparently is more
focused on new vehicles and multiple brands it was obvious the museum would
cater to Noel’s unusual tastes!!!

This facility has a large number of vehicles, all VW, and ranging from 1944 through to the present day. A couple of hours wandering through, and even Caro took more photo’s than Noel!
After walking through the town a little more including a brief glimpse in the foyer of the huge Autostadt complex, grabbing
some lunch en-route, we arrived at our pre-booked VW factory tour. Although an
English speaking tour, with some 35 people, I think we were the only 2 not
multi-lingual. A sign of New Zealand’s isolation I guess and no requirement to
know more.
A fascinating hour long tour in which we were taken over 5
km’s through the factory on open bus/trolley. Wolfsburg is the largest car plant in the world (for
any brand) and the original part of the factory was constructed from 1935 onward's for the production of Hitler’s ‘peoples car’ (the first beetle’s). It soon
changed to full on war production, then post war at the insistence of the
British Army it was converted back to car manufacturing. This was to provide employment
to the German population and boost the struggling post-war economy.
Some facts and figures gleaned…
- 3500 cars per day produced
- 16 hours production from flat sheet steel to finished car!
- Proposed that this will drop to 10 hours when full electric car assembly implemented (which opens new debate given the emerging discussion re advantages/disadvantages of electric, ie is it about the effect on the environment or is it about increasing profit?)
- 60500 employees over 3 shifts, 5 days a week
Sadly photo’s were not allowed inside the factory so its all
on Noel’s internal memory (which is showing signs of crashing more regularly so don't expect too much by the time the trip is over!).
Back to the campground, and a wander around the adjoining scenic lake
to dinner at a ‘bay side’ restaurant. The signs of how the city exists are very evident, the lake constructed by VW, the huge stadium next door the VW stadium etc. A jovial non-English speaking waiter
trying to teach us some German rounded off the evening.
Up and organised reasonably early and plugged ‘Dresden’ into
our GPS and off we went, a 4 hour drive expected. Our next period of travel is through the old Eastern Bloc areas that although we may have wanted to visit 31 years ago, it was impossible to do so.
Lots of cereal country, reasonably flat, with a large number
of wind turbines dotted over the horizon. We are really not sure where the
animals are, for such a large meat eating country they must have them hidden
somewhere!!! We have only seen a dozen livestock in Germany, and half were
Llama’s!!! We did actually see one small mob of dairy but presuming everything
is housed.
Busy motorways, huge number of trucks… really a solid line
of them in the inside lane with the outside 2 lanes a juggle of cars
passing, trucks passing other trucks etc. A constant watch on the rear view
mirror required as although our cruise control is set at 122 km/hr any cars
taking advantage of the no speed limit caught up pretty damn quick!!
For a while we travelled on the main highway to Berlin, this section was the same road we took
31 years ago on ‘Horse’, our Honda CX500 road bike. At that time, Berlin city was split in the 2 sectors of West and East. You had to drive out of West Germany, to travel through East Germany on one of about 2 or 3 designated routes, to reach West Berlin.. an enclave of western civilisation at the time.
In 1988 the road had been heavily patrolled by Trabant security cars to ensure you did not stop. No sign of a single Trabant today! We can still remember the bike being mobbed that day at an official rest stop by East German men wanting to view some Western technology… how times have changed.
In 1988 the road had been heavily patrolled by Trabant security cars to ensure you did not stop. No sign of a single Trabant today! We can still remember the bike being mobbed that day at an official rest stop by East German men wanting to view some Western technology… how times have changed.
The castle history dates back to pre 1200 when it was decided by the Romans of the time to build a significant castle. After this, in the early 1400's the "Lords of Colditz" dynasty ended when the then ruler sold the town and castle to the ruler of Saxony. Shortly after the Hussite's (religious order) attacked Colditz and the town and castle were burnt to the ground.
It didn't fare much better after being rebuilt as a servant baker accidentally burnt it, along with the town again!! Can't imagine he kept his job, or if he did it would have been the toast department!!
So the present castle took shape from the early 1500's, when it was also the site of the largest zoo in Europe. The rebuilding moved into Renaissance style as it progressed and subsequent rulers expanded it further to its total 700 rooms. Interestingly, during the 1800's it was used as respectively a house to feed the poor, ill and arrested people. Then a mental hospital for the "incurably insane"??, then a sanatorium for the wealthy and nobility, then TB and psychiatric patients... talk about a chequered history!
It's most famous period, as far as hitting the international stage, was obviously WWII when after initially being used by the Nazi's as a political prison it was used from 1939 onward's as a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp for officers who had become security or escape risks. The German's believed it to be the ideal site as it is situated on a rocky outcrop above the River Mulde.
And hence why it became infamous to people of our age (ie those of us who watched too much TV in the 1970's) familiar with the "Colditz" factual drama.
Checked and yes, an English speaking guided tour available. We soon worked out that it is mainly an English speaking destination, a combination of the TV series from the 70’s and the fact many German’s possibly downplay WW2.
View of Colditz Castle from the main square of Colditz township
The 2 hour tour was fascinating, and led by a very enthusiastic local who enjoyed telling the stories of not only the escape attempts by the prisoners held there but also some descriptions of the 'other side'. We covered much of the castle, and included a lot of stairs!
Although a high security prison, it had one of the greatest records of successful escape attempts (around 35 who made it to neutral territory after getting out of the castle), probably due to the fact many of the prisoners had escape attempt history. The methods were many and varied, and an excellent museum supplemented the information and area's shown in the tour. Some of the methods were mind-boggling, and one wonders at how the men could continue.... a tunneling attempt which almost succeeded, but failed, after a number of years digging just because a floor collapsed.
The most outrageous, which never got attempted but was very close to doing so before liberation occurred, was construction of a glider inside a small space in the attic and a couple of prisoners were to launch it off the castle roof.
A sign of the good relationship between the prisoners and guards was that only one attempted escapee was shot dead and that was by accident. Also the prisoners upon liberation by US troops could not believe how harshly the liberators treated the guards with beatings etc... but the Colditz prisoners had no knowledge of the atrocities committed by other arms of the German forces.
Highly recommended visit should anyone be travelling in the area.
The view down into one of the escape tunnels
Replica of the attic glider based on an actual photo. In the early 2000's a recreation of build occurred which they launched off the castle roof.... successfully!
Following the end of the war the castle reverted to a mental hospital under the communist regime. Since the amalgamation of Germany the castle is now a popular youth hostel, as well as the museum and preservation efforts.
So... back in the car and on to Dresden....