The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Bavaria’s hidden gem
1521 German social settlement vital to this day in Augsburg
Although Augsburg is a lovely Bavarian city, founded by the Romans and one of the oldest in Bavaria, it is often discovered by those attending the recently concluded Oktoberfest in Munich.
That’s because it’s about an hour by car and half that by train from Munich, making it an ideal headquarters for events when the larger city is sold- out.
Augsburg’s Renaissance City Hall remains a landmark, as does the Mozart home, birthplace of Leopold Mozart, father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the biggest supporter of his child prodigy.
Franz Mozart, greatgrandfather of the composer, was arguably the most prominent resident of the Fuggerei, a social settlement for the needy built in 1521. His home is marked by a plaque.
Begun more than five centuries ago by Augsburg resident Jakub Fugger, a banker who rose to great prominence throughout Europe during his lifetime, the Fuggerei became a citywithin-a-city dedicated to assuring that Augsburg townsfolk would not become paupers.
Today it is considered the longest continuously operat- ing social settlement in the world.
In fact, the 4 euro admission to visit the Fuggerei is more than twice the annual rent for the 150 persons now occupying its 140 apartments in 67 buildings.
Begun with its own city gates, church, school and infirmary, Fuggerei continues to be operated under an endowment set up by Fugger in the 1500s.
The original settlement and most of the city was destroyed by bombs during World War II, a dark time when forced labor from the nearby Dachau concentration camp was used to built Messerschmitt aircraft at a factory also close to Augs- burg.
An exhibit and film in a onetime Fuggerei air raid shelter tells of the fate of the community and its residents under the Nazi regime.
But when Fuggerei was rebuilt beginning in 1950, remnants of the city’s ruined patrician homes were integrated into its reconstruction. Front doors and lintels from those previously destroyed houses now are private entryways into apartments. From its beginning, Fuggerei was intended to assure residents of privacy and independence, avoiding any earmarks of poverty.
Its unusual bell pulls, at the entry to each apartment, were designed to allow early residents to find their way home after dark. By the 1800s, gaslights lit the lanes, and Fuggerei remains the only neighborhood in Augsburg to retain them. Now the Fuggerei has a museum, explaining its history, along with a shop, cafe and beer garden residents and visitors alike can enjoy. A model apartment, furnished but unoccupied, is midway down the main street “Herrengasse” so visitors can see how residents live in the one-bedroom apartments.
Figures of saints are seen over some house entrances, indicating Fuggerei resi- dents were Roman Catholic, despite Augsburg becoming a Protestant town for a time during the Reformation. From its beginning and continuing to the present reciting three prayers a day remains part of the rent for an apartment.
Being Catholic, having no police record, being needy and having lived in Augsburg for two years or more are qualifications for an apartment at Fuggerei.
Just as they have always been, gates to the community are closed at 10 p.m. Admission may be granted by a night watchman after the payment of 1 euro.
A backyard garden, its arched entry lush with greenery, bears the sign “Paradies.” It needs no translation.