Hello all, I just returned from a trip to Ulm and to the Donauschwäbisches Zentralmuseum, and must recommend it highly to those of you interested in visualizing what is often talked about here. The Museum is in a huge, beautiful space near Ulm's train station and the Danube itself (where there is more artwork and signage to view about Ulm's Danube Swabian roots). It is well organized, with 26 different sections (starting with stories of migrations east as early as the 12th century, and ending with a look at Europe after 1989, the year marking 'the end of communist dictatorships for the nations of East Central Europe and Southeast Europe'). The sections I found most useful for my research, and most moving, were those on Danube Swabian everyday life ("The Village: An Orderly Community"; "Clothing: Mirror of the Society"; "Residential Life: Showpiece Bed and Summer Kitchen") and the sections on the "Escaped, Expelled, Diplaced" and "New Citizens: Arrival and Integration." There is a complete showcase on the post-WW2 camp at Gakowa which includes photographs a song book, and the homespun clothes made by the inmates (my father and grandfather among them). The exhibition that lives with me most closely contained materials from a coal mine in the Ukraine, including postcards and letters from a woman prisoner back to Yugoslavia as well as her paintings of the horror of daily life there. She had the wherewithal to take home a piece of coal. It was perhaps the smallest item on exhibit at the Museum, but it made real and vivid all of my Oma's stories about her time spent in Luhansk. How very powerful a material item can be, in confirming and enhancing flitting memories! The Museum's Director, Christian Glass, was very welcoming and is doing a fantastic job developing the public awareness of Danube Swabian history, in Germany and beyond (I first met him when he was on a lecture tour in Serbia). And the gift shop has a compelling selection of books to choose from: I brought home a photo-filled catalogue of the 2008 exhibition "Heimat im Koffer," a "Dorfkochbuch" from "Katsch-Neusatz-Kai- Novi Sad, among other treasures. http://www.dzm-museum.de/deutsch/dzm.html If you're planning a trip, I can recommend the inexpensive and clean B&B Hotel, which is very close to the Museum. And I must second Christian's recommendation of restaurant Zur Forelle, where the fresh fish is outstanding and the decor tells a colorful version of our beginnings as a people. http://www.ulmer-forelle.de/ Alles Gute! Grüße aus New York, Karen Karbiener