Eating Thai Food Where Nazis Drank Beer

During my last few trips to Erlangen I had thought about having lunch or dinner at a restaurant located on Weisses Herzstrasse 8 (located on the Neustaedter Kirchenplatz) . Up until a few years ago, it was an Italian restaurant, whose name escapes me. Today it is a Thai restaurant, and last September, I finally entered the place for lurch. It was more out of historical curiosity than anything else. While researching my book on the history of Erlangen ("Erlangen-An American's History of a German Town"), I had learned that before and during the years of the Third Reich, this location had been  been a prime meeting place for Nazis. (p 153).

In the years leading up to Hitler's ascension to power in 1933, number 8 Weisses Herzstrasse had been known as the Goldenes Herz. It was, in effect, the Nazis' main meeting place. The local Nazi leader was Alfred Gross, who became the city's Oberbuergermeister under Hitler from 1934-44. Prior to 1933, it was at the Goldenes Herz that he would hold court and greet visitors.

After the war, Gross was arrested by the Americans and imprisoned for a few years. He died in 1949.

Today, the restaurant is called simply, "Thai Food 2".

Great Collectors Items-Blechschilder

While visiting a Passau flea market in September, I cam across a great item for German beer aficionados. I purchased a brightly colored tin beer sign for my son. Later in Nuremberg, I found a great little shop across the street from the train station specializing in these metal beer signs made of tin. They feature various breweries and are quite attractive. I picked up two and brought them home to add to the Berliner Kindl sign I had purchased in Berlin way back in 1987. Below you can see all three hanging on the wall of my den.

Of course, you might want to hang them sparingly. Overdoing it will make your wall look like some kind of bar and your wife may not like it.

Franconian Breweries

While in Germany last months, I discovered a great website on Franconian breweries. Franconia (Franken) is a region of northern Bavaria that is rich in breweries and good beer even if the folks there don't really consider themselves Bavarians. The below site has lots of information (in German) with lots of pictures of beer coasters and plaques.


http://www.braufranken.de/html/braumittelfranken.html

Drinking Beer Where Nazis Drank Beer



Santorini Greek Restaurant, Erlangen






Undated photo of Huburtus-Note Berg Brau sign



Last month, when I arrived in Erlangen, I decided to have dinner the first night in a Greek restaurant named Santorini. It is located at 55 Friederichstrasse. I was the first customer in and while ordering and eating, I had a chance to chat with the owner, a Greek lady.  I told her that I was very familiar with the place since during my time as an MP in Erlangen in the 1960s, I had spent considerable time there. At that time, it was known as one of Erlangen's rowdiest GI bars. She told me that she had heard stories about her restaurant's past.

The original name of the establishment was Huburtus, a name that survived up to the time I was there in the late 1960s. It was established in 1928 and quickly became in drinking place for Nazis. In 1931, the local Nazi paper, Kampf, had ads for Huburtus as a place for SA folks to drink. Coincidentally, the beer being served there was Bergbrau, a local brewery from nearby Fuerth. It was still the beer being served when I was there. (The current establishment now serves Kitzmann beer, Erlangen's biggest brewery.) To my knowledge, Bergbrau is no longer in business.



After the war, Huburtus became a GI bar. In my era, the Americans referred to it as "George's" after the then-current owner. He either died or was divorced, and his wife Renate became the owner. She later married an American officer named Tom. (They have both since passed on.)

Huburtus (George's) during Fasching 1968. That's me in the red sweater. As you can see, I am deeply contemplating sitting and drinking beer where Storm Troopers once sat and drank beer.

Above: This is Gertie, our German waitress. She knew every four-letter word in English, and we loved her.

Since then in the 70s and beyond, the bar went through a succession of names, Cheers, Sports Bar, Schlothex and Mucho Loco before becoming Santorini.

If you happen to be in Erlangen, stop in. The food is good and you may even see my ghost trying to break up a fight.

Drinking Beer Where Dietrich Eckart Read Poetry

Dietrich Eckart (1868-1923) was one of the original members of the Nazi party in Germany. A playwright of some renown, he actually produced a German version of Peer Gynt. Later, drifting to Munich he became a mentor to Adolf Hitler as the Nazi party was founded. Eckart was the editor of an anti-Semitic journal called Auf gut Deutsch and came up with  the funds to start up the Voelkisher Beobachter, the Nazi Party newspaper, of which he became editor-in-chief. He died before Hitler came to power in 1933 and is buried in Berchesgaden.

As a student, Eckart studied medicine (none too seriously) at Erlangen University, was a member of the Corps Onoldia, a burschenschaft (fraternity), and frequented a tavern called the Goldener Mond, where he entertained his friends by reading poetry. A mysterious illness incurred in Erlangen led to morphine dependence, which ended his student days. During the Third Reich, Erlangen's Bohlenplatz was re-named Dietrich- Eckart- Platz.

So it was during my last sojourn in Erlangen in September that I was having dinner with an American friend who lives in Erlangen. He was telling me about an Irish pub in town and described its location near the train station. I was not familiar with the place and asked him to show me. As we came up to the place, I immediately recognized it as the Goldener Mond. As we settled in and I ordered a (German) beer, I recounted the history of the place to my friend. Today, it is what could be charitably described as a student hangout or maybe just a dive bar, but with an Irish flair. It has likely not seen any serious renovation since the days when Eckart hung out there. It is located at 18 Innere Bruckerstarsse at the corner of Goethestrasse.

Last Visit to Germany

Avoid the Major Brews

I just returned from my latest trip to Germany. I visited Munich, Passau, Erlangen and Nuremberg and sampled many brews. Here is what I observed.

My first stop was a two-day stopover in Munich since my Lufthansa flight was from Chicago to Munich. I stayed in the western suburb of Pasing. My first meal was at a nearby inn and they were serving two brands, Becks, the major brewery from Bremen in northern Germany, and Munich's Spaten. I tried the Becks Pils first, and it was highly disappointing. I then switched to Spaten, which I had never been fond of anyway. Again, disappointing but better than the Becks.

The following day, I walked around Munich. I had lunch at a pizza place, and their brew was Thurn and Taxis, the major brewery of Regensburg. It was alright-better than the two from the previous evening. I also stopped in for a liter at the Augustiner Beer hall. Pretty good.

I had wanted to go to the Hirschgarten, reputed to be Europe's largest beer garden, but the weather was not favorable. Beer gardens and rain don't mix. They also feature Augustiner, so what I had at the Augustiner hall must have been just as good.


Augustiner Hall Munich

One thing I noticed in Munich and also in Passau was that many restaurants are not featuring just one brand, but a couple of brands with a variety of styles such as pils, helles, hefe or dunkles. I stuck with the pils and helles. I also noticed that the traditional custom of a draft beer taking 7 minutes in the process seems to have gone by the boards.

I then took the train to Passau (not waiting for the Oktoberfest to begin). My first night in Passau I took the bus to the Herbstdult, the Autumn Fest, which is mostly a luna park type affair with kids' rides, booths for brats and beer plus two large spaces for the beer fest scene.

Passau has a few breweries, and the fest was featuring Innstadt and Hacklberg, two breweries which have merged. I wound up going two nights and I can say that their fest beer was the best of my trip. Drinking them in restaurants was a different story. Other breweries in Passau are Loewenbrau (no relation to the one in Munich) and Aldersbacher, both of which were alright. By the way, Passau's historiography says that Adolf Hitler, before coming to power, would visit the owner of the Loewenbrau brewery, Franz Stockbauer, when he visited the city. The brewery is located on Franz Stockbauerweg.


After three days in Passau, I was on the train to Erlangen, my prime destination since here is where I spent my Army years.

Erlangen has basically two breweries, Kitzmann, the oldest and the best) and Steinbach, which was re-instituted several years ago. Both have  eating and drinking facilities at their breweries. Kitzmann has a nice stube and beer garden while Steinbach has a cellar restaurant and bar above which seems to be a favorite with the happy hour crowd.


Above Kitzmann beer garden


Steinbach's beer is not to my taste because it has a hefe quality to it. That's why I prefer Kitzmann and drinking it at their brewery was one of the best of my sojourn. One evening, however, I stopped into the Steinbach bar just to check it out and ran into a friend from the city archives. I joined him and his friends for a beer, and through him managed to get a free Steinbach polo shirt.



Another beer that has managed to get into the Erlangen restaurant and kneipe market is Kulmbacher Moenchof. I didn't think it was that great, but I did have a Kulmbacher pils from the bottle and it was pretty good.

Other beers I tried in Erlangen:

Jever in a bottle- a northern brew not bad
Greif of nearby Forcheim- OK
Held from the Fraenkische Schweiz area near Erlangen- OK
Aufsesser from Rothenbach in Franconia-pretty good.



I also had an Efes Plzen (Turkish) while in a Turkish food place. This is a quality beer which I loved when in Turkey.

In addition, while dining in a Bohemian-German restaurant in Erlangen, they were featuring Bernhard, a Czech beer, which was also nice.

I also spent a day in Nuremberg. I try to avoid Tucher, the main Nuremberg,brewery and a smaller one, Lederer. In addition, the nearby Zirndorfer beer from the nearby village of Zirndorf, is one of the worst beers in Germany, to my taste anyway. At lunch I had a Veldensteiner, from an old Bavarian brewery that imports to the US. Not bad. For dinner I was a guest at my friend, Tony Gentile and his Italian restaurant, Osteria Da Toni in nearby Stein. Since he served Tucher and Zirndorfer, I went with the wine.

You may be getting the impression I am not as crazy about German beer as this blog suggests. Not true, but I think I have brought home an important lesson. In recent years, many of the largest German brewing companies have bought up many smaller breweries and become mass produced to the point that that they have compromised on quality-just trying to appeal to the largest taste market.  This has resulted in what some Germans call, "industrial beer." Thus, it is a good idea to:

1 Stick to local brews wherever you are

2 Go for the smaller and less-known breweries. Avoid the large, well-known brands.

Heading to Germany

German beer, here I come! I will be flying from California to Munich September 10. Two nights in Munich, specifically in the Pasing area, where I plan to check out the Hirschgarten, the world's largest beer garden, or something like that. They serve Augustiner and a couple of other Bavarian brews. Yes, I will miss the Oktoberfest. I really don't care. Too big. Too rowdy and too commercialized.



On the 13th, I will take the train to Passau on the Austrian border, where the Danube and the Inn rivers meet.. They are holding the Autumn Festival, and that should mean more good beer.



On the 16th, I take the train to Erlangen, where I will stay until the 25th when I return home. I will have lots of friends to meet with, so my schedule will be pretty full.

Kitzmann is the largest brewery in Erlangen. They have a nice stube and garden at their brewery, which I will definitely hit. Another must is the Entlas Keller, located on the beer fest grounds and open during the warm months. You can sit on the benches, drink a liter (or two) and eat roast duck and such.

Entlas Keller