City tour of Suhl - Thuringia Germany

Last night I was treated to a foot tour guided by our inimitable contact Wolfgang. Suhl was one of the regional centres set up in the old East Germany as it has 2 borders with what was the West. This resulted in a heavy military, police and stasi - secret police - presence. Of course when reunification came all this melted away like snow and nobody knows anything - they must have all been down the same laundrette or library they were all in during WW2. All the old HQ buildings are still there together with the hotel built then for foreigners. There are 9 mountains around the town which not only the Russians used as perches. The area has centuries old hunting tradition so has always made weapons. News to me was that Kalashnikovs were made here. Just recently builders dug up a cache of 38 machine guns in perfect working order. Most interesting is that Simpson motorcycles were made here which is why also perched in the hills is the Simpson brothers chalet with panoramic veranda. The Russians set up 3 main industries here all state supported so when it went bang they could not compete and everyone was out of work. The knock on effects are still happening today with Westward migration running at 2000 people, mostly young, leaving per month. The population has dropped from 65k to 30k and falling. The local black humour has it that at 1800 hours Suhl rolls up its front door steps and shuts for the day. This was evident yesterday as we were the only people out and the car park was deserted. Wages are low, rents are high and with Erfurt - now the regional capital - only 40 minutes away the town is dying. Here I sit in an industrial estate at 0730 and nothing is moving or happening whereas this is peak activity frenzy time in the West. As I noticed in Dresden and Leipzig at least the old villages were left alone by the Russians and are a beautiful step back in time. They could not help themselves from ripping out old chunks of the town though and putting in ugly blocks. But then these are interspersed with lovely but now sadly delapidated empty buildings where no one has been able to prove ownership. What a different world it was.
Oh yes Simpson has 8 staff and is again making spares for their in demand strokers and the great little 250 4 stroke single with rubber seats at stepped heights that I fancy. Wolfy still has connections there - he worked with their ISDT team in the 60s
- maybe he can get me one !
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