Schloss Elmau
Here we are in an idyllic alpine valley in that part of Bavaria that can broadly be described as Mittenwald. Fresh air, bracing walks, hearty food and reading are on the agenda. Blogging will be light, though. If Andrew Sullivan and Nick Denton can take some time off, so can Rainy Day. We're not worried about losing market share.
By the way, Schloss Elmau, our home from home, was the scene yesterday evening of a spirited debate titled "Neue Kriege, neue Weltordnung?" (New wars, new world order?). Participants included Walter Russel Mead, Harold James, Ronald Asmus, Dan Diner and Reinhard Hesse. The castle added atmosphere to the occasion because its past contains relevant historical ghosts.
Despite his admirable ideas in so many fields, Dr. Johannes Mueller, who made Schloss Elmau a centre for cosmopolitan thinking at the beginning of the 20th century, was convinced that Hitler was Germany's destiny. He handed over the castle to the Wehrmacht in 1942 as a recreation centre for soldiers on leave from the front. After the war, the American Army confiscated Schloß Elmau and used it as a hospital and then as a TB recreation centre for "displaced persons". M?found himself in a de-Nazification trial and was declared guilty. He died disgraced in 1949, his vision of the castle as a retreat for alternative ideas, in ruins.
Today, Schloss Elmau is run by Dietmar M?Elmau, a grandson of Johannes M? and it is once again a retreat for intellectual debate and cultural dialogue. The international Chamber Music Week in January and the "Kammermusiktage" during Easter attract visitors from all over the world
History's shadow is long; its lessons painful. But there is hope. That is the message of Easter, after all.
Diarist of the day: Marie Belloc Lowndes, 18 April 1912"Lunched at the 'Thirty' [luncheon club]. There was much talk of the Titanic tragedy. Lady Dorothy Nevill said that the wreck was a judgement from God on those idle rich people who want all earthly luxuries even on the water. She observed: 'I am told they even had a garden!' "
