You know, in a previous life I got burned alive, because I was accused of being a witch. They were probably right about me being a witch, but the way they treated me, was wrong. Despicable even.
We visited Rothenburg ob der Tauber last year on our way home and I made a post about us stopping there for an afternoon. Last weekend, we were on a road trip and we spontaneously decided to visit Rothenburg again. It was a bit crazy for me last time, but it was more or less fine, so I thought nothing special about it.
The city is a tourist magnet and it has a lot of shops. We went to the famous all-year christmas shop and a toy shop for the kids. We ate pretzels from a local bakery. Nothing special, until we wandered near the Markus tower and I realized, that the sight of that tower triggered me somehow. I felt my muscles tighten and my view get narrow. I looked around and like I knew, where I was going, I went straight to the house at the left side of the tower.
The house is labeled with “Stadtarchiv”, which means "city archives” and it also has a plaque with its history right at the front door: built around 1200, rebuilt at around 1500, it served as prison and had (and still has) prison cells in the basement. Fuck. It seems, the past is calling for some healing. With that, we went back to our van and spent the night in Rothenburg, because I was too tired to drive.
The next morning I went back into town without my family. It was around 9am and the church bells were ringing for the sunday service. The way to Markus tower was emotional for me. The tears came even before I entered the walled part of the old town and they were my companion all the way.
Once I arrived at the “Stadtarchiv”, I sat down on the stairs at the front door. I closed my eyes and I went back in time around 400 years. The woman with the baby buggy on the granite paving of the street became a horse carriage. The church bells sent me back into the damp, dark prison cell in the building behind me. I felt the rage building up within me, looking out from the basement windows onto the streets.
I don’t know, if it happened to a previous version of me. It sure felt that way and when I left town through Markus tower, I left a part of me there. The part of me, that was there, back then. I call her Julia and she got imprisoned, tortured and finally burned alive in the name of god. The church bells triggered me, because they did this in his name. In my opinion, they have no idea, what god is. They never experienced unity. They sell us this twisted version, that tortures people, as god.
They want to tell me, I slept with the devil. I say, check your own god. Does it want you to imprison, torture and kill people? Can’t be a lot better than the devil, can it?
