Still having the room to myself at Heimathafen Hostel, Lorrach, I had been able to spend the evening prior to the final day of my holiday reading White Rose, Black Forest (Dempsey E, 2018). From early on in the book you get to know the protagonist, Franka Kerber, as a young person of extraordinary braveness and courage, who has in previous years endured an immense amount of suffering. At the start, I experienced the novel like a war time romance, much as I, secretly, read Far Stood the Wind for France (Bates H E, 1944) during my third year exams. It wasn’t until I got home and was further into Dempsey’s book that I found its topics both disturbing and thought provoking, to the extent that I spent a lot of time afterwards trying to find answers to the questions that it left me with.
Being on holiday, I wasn’t thinking of war, but keen to see the Southern Black Forest, the setting of the story, and enjoy its surroundings. Helpful for me reading and visiting, Dempsey has included a simplified map of the area in the prologue. I was going to the Todtanau suspension bridge – Blackforestline. I estimated that this is about 10 miles from Burchua which, being Franka’s uncle’s home village, is on the map. Burchua and Todtnau share views of the Belchen mountain, so I think this will bring me close enough to the book’s setting.
The journey from Lorrach to the Blackforestline looks, on paper, like a bit of a faff: train and 2 buses; but it is actually a pleasant and easy journey, with good connections. Heimathafen Hostel being almost on top of the station helps, as do the views from the bus taking you from Zell Im Wiesental up high into the beautiful forest.
On the bus there was an English couple backpacking with their toddler; the first and only English I came across on my trip. Strange, I know! On swapping buses they took a different route; possibly going to Freiburg. I wish I had had time to go there, not only because it is Franka’s home town, but as my dad went there on a school trip in the mid 1950’s. He says that it was really fun and worth the money his aunt gave him for it, but all he seems to remember are the bachles, otherwise known as street streams. Having investigated, I see how these got embedded in my dad’s memory.
When Franka goes to Freiburg for supplies, it is a medieval city still intact with the residents grateful that it hadn’t been carpet bombed like other German cities. However, in the period of the last few pages, Freiburg would have been unrecognisable as by then it had been flattened when in November 1944, in the space off just 20 minutes, thousands of bombs were dropped on it.
Much credit has been given, and definitely well deserved, to Freiburg’s reconstruction which kept to its original style. A lot of this work must have been done within 10 years, as my dad doesn’t refer to it as ‘a lump’ which it is described as by Alfred Doblin In 1946. I will visit it one day, and see the gothic minster which amazingly remained just as it always had been, and to see the bachles that my dad loved.
“Was three days in Freiburg; three-quarters of the beautiful city, the whole city center, is a lump, the streets already (but not yet all) uncovered. – Churches, theaters, university, everything or almost everything lost. Gruesome sight of dead; among the ruins are often wreaths or more often crosses with inscriptions – people who are buried there. ” – (Doblin A , 1946)
Back to the Blackforestline, don’t worry if you miss the Hangloch stop, like I did: I just had to walk down hill for 5 minutes before getting to the visitors centre where I purchased my ticket. Before starting off over the bridge, where you can imagine you are a contestant on I’m a Celebrity; Get me Out of Here, a selfie seems obligatory. As we know, in modern times it is something we need to do to prove that we were there, and this causes a backlog of tourists. At this point, I offered to take a German couple’s photo. They declined, but kindly took mine for me, which made me feel guilty at the thought of them thinking this was the only reason I offered to take theirs. Although, I was pleased to have one of myself at a distance more than 5 cm from my face.
The suspension bridge’s initiator and investor, Gunter Eberhardt, says that, for those like myself experiencing it, the bridge represents trust and courage. Ironically, Dempsey’s book explores the theme of trust between people during WWII in Germany, with, basically, trust between others at that time being so dangerous that it had almost been lost. For me, I suppose, the trust I had before making my way to the other side related to my faith in European health and safety regulations, and, modern civil engineering. It is 120 metres above the ground and the floor is grated, so for any one with acrophobia courage is a must have.
Not having a fear of heights, I go over the bridge with ease, apart from a few wobbles in the middle. It is later on in my walk that my courage is tested. On my way across I stop to enjoy the hills below covered in tall trees, with clearings here and there between them, a road winding through it all, and the stand out feature of two branches of water appearing from the dense woodland to topple together down the steep incline of rocks.
Having seen the Todtnau waterfall from the suspension bridge,I am keen to go and have a look. The route at first appears easy and I enjoy plodding along by a meadow. Then the descent gets greater and I slip slightly on the gravel. Others pass me with good walking boots on and go down without any care even around the bit where it bends. I have always been wary of slippy downward terrain; often taking my shoes off to get a better grip. This is not the place for this. I want to follow the hikers but I’m scared. I told myself that I could do it as per a friend’s advice who once said to me as soon as you say to yourself ‘I can’t do this,’ it becomes impossible. I followed in the tracks of the confident hikers down and around the sharp bend where the way got easy once again. This wasn’t by any scale like the bravery of Traute Lafrenz, whom I think Franka is based upon, nor is it my bravest act which happened when I was young. Do we give up as we get old? Though, I did it and I’m glad I did.
The waterfall is bliss for all your senses: the crisp whiteness of the water contrasting with the black rock, little tufts of white valerian and greenery looking over; the refreshing spray of the water’s mist on your face; and it’s gushing sound as it plunges down, stopping in a pool, for just a bit, before continuing on its journey. I stop and sit on a bench, and imagine, although maybe odd, white rose leaflets coming down.
I could have returned via Aftersteg where there is a refreshment kiosk, but I decided to repeat the bridge and stay on familiar terrain. I went to Backerei Heitzmann next to the station in Zell Im Wiesental, which I would recommend, and had a coffee, filled roll and Belgian bun. Unfortunately, not Black Forest Gateaux as I am intolerant to cream.
After a quick pit stop at the hostel, I started walking to Riehen to do the Rehberger Weg ‘24 stops’ which links the Foundation Beyler gallery, Switzerland, and the Vitra Design museum, Germany. The way markers created by Tobias Rehberger didn’t help me find my way; I went slightly off route, and missed a lot of the artist’s installations. Do download the map and go before October 2025 when the exhibit comes to an end. When walking from Lorrach to the Vitra and then back on the bus via Basel to Riehen, I had gone through numerous deserted check points. This was poignant for me visiting and reading White Rose; Black Forest, and I couldn’t help but think of the refugees during WWII who had attempted to cross the border from Germany into Switzerland, some successful and some not, and what life had been like for them after.
At the Vitra, on the German side of the border, I was too exhausted from the heat and walking to do any looking around, or go down the infamous slide, but I did have a very refreshing non alcoholic spritzer at Vitra Haus Cafe.
Back in Riehen, in the early evening, I sat by a large fountain, eating lentil salad and bread with a beer listening to the Jugend Jazz Orchestra. I felt privileged to be able to listen to the talented young Swiss musicians playing contemporary jazz at this community event.
Later, at the Jolly Roger’s, linked to my hostel, the music was less refined. It was karaoke night. When I arrived there were just a few groups, with all of them very eager to perform on stage. After half an hour young people kept on coming until it was crammed. The lyrics mainly song in German by the buzzing youth were put on a screen in English; this is when I could say I had learnt some more of the language and vocabulary. Once back in England I watched Jo Jo Rabbit (Taika Waititi, 2019) which like White Rose, Black Forest features scenes about the Hitler Youth. With the rolling credits, I listened to the German version of ‘Heroes’ by David Bowie (Helden, German Remastered), and thought back to my time at the Jolly Roger’s karaoke, and how great it would have been if Helden had appeared on one of their requests.
According to my father, his dad never mentioned the war, which was common then, and, I think, a good thing at that time to help all countries rebuild and create bonds again. In this current era, I would agree with Michael Giachinno, responsible for JoJo Rabbit’s soundtrack, that it is now important for us to remember, not be blinded, and to see things as they truly are. Dempsey’s historical novel does well in asserting this idea, and makes you face parts of history you wish you could forget. It can’t have been easy to write; I would have always had in the back of my mind the feelings of all those affected by the events, and wishing not to upset anyone.
There was one other film that I watched afterwards that links in with the book: not to give too much away, I will let you read it first and then guess the film.
Alfred Döblin: Briefe (letters), Walter-Verlag, Olten and Freiburg im Breisgau 1970, ISBN 978-3-423-02444-0, quoted from: Wikipedia contributors. (2025, July 29). Operation Tigerfish. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:23, August 2, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Tigerfish&oldid=1303180361
White Rose, Black Forest eBook : Dempsey, Eoin: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle
Fair Stood the Wind for France (Penguin Modern Classics) eBook : Bates, H. E.: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle
https://blackforestline.de/en/about-the-bridge
Bäckerei Heitzmann – Bäckerei & Café
VITRAHAUS CAFÉ, Weil am Rhein – 2025 Reviews & Information
Photo by Simon Vollformat on Unsplash
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