"This Saturday we joined a group of Ukrainian students and visited a former gun powder fabrication nearby. 'We' - this is Owlina, my family and a group of American university students with their German teacher, who came for their spring break to Nienburg (sister city of Las Cruces in New Mexico). There were two contemporary witnesses from the Ukraine (82 and 84 years old) with the group. That allowed them to visited large parts of the otherwise locked up area. We drove through the large production areal of 12 sq kilometers. Starting in 1939 the production plant was erected (by 3 to 4.000 workers) which was planned by Hitler to produce a large amount of powder for military use. From 1941 to 1945 more than 41.000 tons of gun-powder were produced there. Owlina was very impressed to see some of the old buildings." 
"We learned that there were not many German workers at that time. The majority were prisoner's of war from the Soviet Union and forced labourers from many other nations. They lived under very poor conditions. Most of them already arrived in Liebenau under-nourished and sick. About 2.500 people died of mal-nutrition, illnesses, beatings or killings by the German Nazi regime. A group of young people nowadays research the history of the powder production plant, the "Pulverfabrik" http://www.japl.de/ . They found about 11.000 registration cards of the former work force."
"The man who initiated all this, Martin Guse, talked about the tragical fate of some individuals. See here (in German only) his website: http://www.martinguse.de/pulverfabrik/bio.htm There was this young man from the Netherlands, Pieter Koop. He was arrested for conterfeiting coupons for food rations. In February 1943 he was deported to Liebenau. It was hard for him to produced the gun powder and he flew. He was arrested and brought to the KZ Neuengamme. There he died in January 1944 of "tuberculosis" (as the papers said)." 
"Owlina was very sad when she heared about all this. She could imagine the hard working conditions because she felt the cold and wet climate in the buildings.After the war the area was used by the British, the machines went to Czechowslovakia and France. In 1959 production of rockets and explosives started in Liebenau. In the early 1960s atomic weapons were stationed there (until 1992), guarded by German, Dutch and American troups. Military and chemical production continued until 1994 when the last company, the Dutch "Eurometaal" left the area. It was only until 1998 when one of the former forcest labourer came to Liebenau that the public began to take an interest in the history of the "Pulverfabrik". One goal of the non-profit group "Documentationsstelle Pulverfabrik" is to install a permament memorial. Owlina (and me) believes it is a very good idea!"
'Owlina liked the sail ship and wanted to go on a cruise.' 
'Instead we went on a ferry (the cheaper way to see part of the harbour). She was quite impressed by all the docks and container ships.'
"Owlina took the train to Bremen. She loved to look out of the window and watched everything flying by.
"She had to pose with the Bremer Stadtmusikanten and was happy to sit on the donkey's head." 
"Then she visited the "Schuhtick" exhibition at the Überseemuseum. Owlina helped to design her own shoe. You can see her pose in it - on the poster of the exhibition (no pictures allowed in the museum)."
'There we wanted to visit the "Niki-de-Saint-Phalle-Grotte" but it was closed. We persuaded the security guy to let us in.
'Then we continued to the "Berggarten" where we visited the warm houses with it's beautiful orchids. I had to pose there because I love the flowers so much!'
'During her break she played a bit in the waiting area. Now she looks forward to the weekend and wishes all readers of her blog: "Have a nice weekend with lots of sunshine!"'
'Owlina felt a bit homesick. So I showed her the postcard I had received from her home. She remembered the card and was happy again.'
'Then we relaxed on the couch, had some coffee and pastry (similar to the one on the postcard :-) ). And we enjoyed reading today's paper.' 
'Today we went to the farmer's market where Owlina noticed some eggs. All of a sudden she got very excited and wanted to get closer. Simone, the nice lady of the vegetable stall 
'Then Owlina wanted to fly a little and enjoyed the sight of Nienburg from her owl's perspective when she surronded the church of St. Martin. With her sharp eyes she had spotted some beautiful spring flowers. She told me about it and we went there.'
'We took a rest in the beautiful sunshine and enjoyed the tiny blue crocuses around us. As you can see, we had a very nice day.'
'To make sure she is alright I had her checked by a doctor. Her heart is fine, eyes are fine as well. But he recommended to let her rest during day time and start taking her out at night.'
'So I took her to bed and decided to give it another try tonight. There will be the annual meeting of a group called "Arivu" 
At the Vrijthof. The red tower is the St. Jan church, the church on the right is the St. Servaas.
