WIESBADEN, Germany - While developing his Magical History Tour Wiesbaden, Brett Howard said he wanted to put together the tour he wished he’d had when he moved to the city seven years ago.
The result is a walking tour that goes beyond the average tourist information.
On a tour Oct. 6, Howard told a group of 30 Wiesbaden teachers that the Market Church is 98 meters tall and the tallest building in Wiesbaden — facts found in almost all tourist information about the city -- but he did not stop there.
A family of falcons lives in the church’s bell tower, Howard continued, and pastor Martin Niemoller, famous for his poem that begins, “In Germany, first they came for the communists…,” was arrested by the Nazis in 1937 shortly after making a speech denouncing them in the church.
At the Kurhaus, the group learned that not only did Fyodor Dostoevsky write “The Gambler” based on his experiences in 1865 at the casino, he hastily wrote “Crime and Punishment” because he lost all his money at the casino and needed to earn more money quickly.
Anyone who has ever wondered about the small brass squares imbedded in the sidewalk in Wiesbaden can also learn their origin on the tour. They are the Stolpersteine, or Stumbling Stones, part of a project throughout Germany by artist Gunter Demnig to commemorate people the Nazis killed and persecuted.
Howard stopped at one of the stones in downtown Wiesbaden and explained the Stolpersteine. There are similar stones in cities throughout Germany, Howard said.
At many of the stops, Howard performed a magic trick, amazing the audience with card and sleight-of-hand tricks.
Howard, a civilian lawyer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe District, by day, said he began giving the tours this past summer. He offers them about three times a month. During the winter, he offers them only on Saturdays.
As a civilian, Howard said he is exempt from rotation, and that is why he has been able to stay in Wiesbaden so long. Originally from San Francisco, he moved to Germany from Washington, D.C.
Howard said he used to do magic tricks when he was younger, and started doing them again during a 2008 deployment to Iraq. He developed about a dozen tricks, and when he returned to Germany, he performed them for his children, ages 8 and 10, and then at parties and in pubs.
When he started putting together the walking tour, the magic tricks became a good way to hold people’s attention at each of the stops, Howard said.
The tour lasts about an hour and a half and includes all the major points of interest in downtown Wiesbaden. It costs €10 per person.
Although the tour does not focus on eating and drinking establishments, Howard did point out a few of his favorites. He has visited many establishments in the downtown area and can provide people with recommendations, he said.
The tour ends at Scotch ‘N’ Soda, an English-speaking pub where guests receive a complimentary drink from Gordon, the owner, Howard said.
Kellie Klaver, a Wiesbaden Middle School science teacher who attended Howard’s Oct. 6 tour, said the tour included a lot of excellent historical information, and the magic tricks added an element of entertainment.
Klaver said she and her colleagues had a lot of fun taking the tour. “I’m brand new to Wiesbaden, so a lot of this was new to me,” she said.
People can find out more about the tours by visiting https://www.facebook.com/MagicHistoryTour and www.magichistorytour.com.