Zone der Entscheidung zwischen Ost und West – Studienreise in die baltischen Staaten Litauen, Lettland und Estland. 800 Jahre Kultur und Geschichte im Ostseeraum.

In the organizer's words:

Historical and art historical preparation and support:
Dr. Katja Schlenker/Prof. Dr. Winfrid Halder

When we cross the Baltic Sea from Kiel in September to go ashore again in Klaipėda, Lithuania, it will certainly be a very special experience - perhaps a unique one. Albert von Buxthoeven (around 1165-1229) sailed a similar route more than a dozen times (there and back, mind you), but not from Kiel, which did not even exist as a port city at the time, but from Lübeck. However, our crossing experience will hardly be comparable to that of the clergyman from near Bremen: Albert must have been traveling on a type of ship that was still relatively new at the time, i.e. modern. The cogs common at the time, which originated in the 12th century, were around 20 meters long and 5 to 6 meters wide. In favorable wind conditions, they could reach a speed of around 6 knots. That is just over 11 kilometers per hour. As the wind was not always favorable and the cogs, although seaworthy, usually stayed close to the coast, one of Albert's Baltic Sea crossings certainly took more than a full week (if it went smoothly). And the cogs, which were designed for maximum loading capacity but not for passenger transport, were certainly not comfortable - on the contrary. Our crossing of the Baltic Sea on a modern ferry about 200 meters long and 30 meters wide, which can reach a speed of around 23 knots (more than 42 kilometers per hour), will therefore only bear a very distant resemblance to Albert's crossings.

And yet it is a deliberately chosen form of approach to the historical, cultural and economic space of the Baltic Sea. Albert, who at the beginning of the 13th century took on the hardships, and occasionally the horrors, of so many crossings, was one of the founders of a very special relationship that links the history of Germany with the history of today's Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Coming from a noble family in the Bremen region, Albert had embarked on an ecclesiastical career and had already been promoted to the Bremen cathedral chapter at a young age. In 1199, when Albert was in his mid-thirties, the incumbent Archbishop of Bremen, Hartwig II, commissioned him to go on a missionary journey to Livonia, the historical region that today largely belongs to Estonia. In the middle of 1200, Albert entered the area around the mouth of the River Düna (Daugava in Latvian) for the first time and in the following year founded the port, trading and episcopal city of Riga, a short distance upstream, of which he became the spiritual leader.

From the outset, he was supported not only by battle-hardened knights, but also by Hanseatic merchants. In the following years, he also brought German settlers to Livonia, often from the Rhineland and Westphalia. His many crossings in the following years served not least to recruit them. Riga's trade links with the Hanseatic cities on the western Baltic coast and deep into the territory of the empire were also expanded (for example to Dortmund, which was an imperial and Hanseatic city and still displays an allegorical cog on its old town hall).

In 1225 - 800 years ago - Albert was enfeoffed with Livonia and elevated to the status of Imperial Prince by the then Emperor Frederick II (1194-1250), the last member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty as head of the Empire. Albert's domain as Bishop of Riga was thus - at least in theory - incorporated into the imperial union. In reality, Albert was embroiled in a multitude of power struggles until his death in January 1229 - with the inhabitants, who by no means simply accepted the rule of a stranger to the land, with the King of Denmark, with the Order of the Brothers of the Sword, which he himself had summoned and which was soon merged into the even more powerful Teutonic Order. Livonia and the entire region, which represented its link to Western Europe via the Baltic Sea through trade with the Russian dominions, remained closely linked to Germany well into the 20th century, despite the rapidly changing political balance of power, in which the Russian, Polish and Swedish rulers also gained great importance at times later on.

This also applied to ecclesiastical conditions, for example: The early arrival of the Lutheran Reformation in large parts of the Baltic region, which began in the first half of the 16th century, was largely influenced by Wittenberg. It was not until the totalitarian regimes in Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union that the presence of a numerically large German population group in the three Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia came to an end. These states had only achieved their independence as a result of the First World War. Due to the nefarious collaboration of the dictators Hitler and Stalin, they soon lost this independence again, were dragged into war and mass crimes and only regained independence and democracy with the fall of the communist dictatorship and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

In 2024, the free states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia had already been admitted to NATO and the European Union for 20 years. For more than two decades, they have been among Germany's most important economic and security policy partners in Europe. No other nation in Western Europe has such large historical and cultural overlaps with the Baltic states, going back some eight centuries, as Germany. The importance of bilateral and multilateral cooperation with them will continue to grow in view of global political developments - it is certainly not prophetic to predict this.

It is therefore exactly the right time to learn more about our Baltic partners. For they are and will remain a "zone of decision between East and West", as the German writer Edzard Schaper (1908-1984), who lived in Reval/Tallinn for a long time, noted back in 1952. Nothing has changed - on the contrary.

In addition to the travel program, the Gerhart Hauptmann House Foundation will once again provide a whole range of additional information about which the travelers will be specially informed.

Itinerary

(as of 21.01.2025)

Day 1: 13.09.2025 (Saturday)

09:00-17:00: Bus transfer from Düsseldorf to Kiel. On the way, introduction to the history of the Baltic Sea, stopover in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, short city tour, introduction to the brick Gothic style of the Baltic Sea region.

approx. 21:00: Check-in on the DFDS ferry in Kiel
Dinner on board the ferry

23:59: Departure of the ferry from Kiel to Klaipėda (formerly Memel)
Overnight stay on the ferry

Day 2: 14.09.2025 (Sunday)

Breakfast on board the ferry
Recreation at sea

17:00-19:00: Dinner on board the ferry

22:00: Arrival of the ferry in Klaipėda
Bus transfer to the Hotel Aurora
Overnight stay at the Hotel Aurora in Klaipėda

Day 3: 15.09.2025 (Monday)

09:00-17:00: Day trip to the Curonian Spit and to Nida (formerly Nidden) to the Thomas Mann House. The Curonian Spit is one of the most beautiful coastal landscapes in the Baltic Sea and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2000.

Dinner individually
Overnight stay at the Hotel Aurora in Klaipėda

Day 4: 16.09.2025 (Tuesday)

09:00-15:00: Drive from Klaipėda to Riga, crossing the internal EU border between Lithuania and Latvia.

On the way visit Rundāle Castle, a magnificent baroque building from the 18th century.

15:00: Check in at the Hotel Ibis Riga Centre

16:00-18:00: First excursion through Riga

Dinner individually
Overnight stay at the Hotel Ibis Riga Centre

Day 5: 17.09.2025 (Wednesday)

09:00-18:00: Full-day excursion through Riga

Morning: walking tour of the old town

12:00: Organ concert in Riga Cathedral (approx. 20 min.)

Afternoon: Visit to the former Riga ghetto and the Bikernieki memorial site

Dinner individually
Overnight stay at the Hotel Ibis Riga Center

Day 6: 18.09.2025 (Thursday)

09:00-14:00: Drive from Riga to Tartu (formerly Dorpat), crossing the internal EU border between Latvia and Estonia.

En route visit to the Gauja National Park and Turaida Bishop's Castle.

15:00: Check-in at the Hotel Dorpat

15:00-18:00: Excursion through Tartu

Individual dinner
Overnight stay at Hotel Dorpat in Tartu

Day 7: 19.09.2025 (Friday)

09:00-12:00: Continuation of the excursion through Tartu, then departure to Tallinn (formerly Reval).

12:00-15:00: Drive from Tartu to Tallinn

15:00: Check-in at the Hotel Hestia Ilmarine

16:00-18:00: Excursion through Tallinn

Dinner individually
Overnight stay at the Hotel Hestia Ilmarine in Tallinn

Day 8: 20.09.2025 (Saturday)

09:00-18:00: Continuation of the excursion through Tallinn

Visit to St. Nicholas Church with the Dance of Death painting by Bernt Notke

Excursion to the Rocca-al-Mare open-air museum

Individual dinner
Overnight stay at the Hestia Ilmarine Hotel in Tallinn

Day 9: 21.09.2025 (Sunday)

09:00 am: Transfer to the ferry port of Tallinn

10:30-12:30: Sea voyage across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki

Transfer to Helsinki airport

16:35-18:00: Return flight from Helsinki to Düsseldorf

Included services

• Bus trip from Düsseldorf to Kiel
• 1x overnight stay/breakfast and dinner on the DFDS ferry from Kiel to Klaipėda (double inside cabin)
• Coach trip from Klaipėda to Tallinn airport
• 2x overnight stay/breakfast at the Hotel Aurora in Klaipėda
• 1x dinner at Hotel Aurora on the day of arrival
• 2x overnight stay/breakfast at Hotel Ibis Riga Centre
• 1x overnight stay/breakfast at Hotel Dorpat in Tartu
• 2x overnight stay/breakfast at the Hotel Hestia Ilmarine in Tallinn
• City tax in Klaipėda and Riga
• German-speaking tour guide incl. guided tours:
  • Curonian Spit
  • Riga with ghetto and Bikernieki memorial
  • Gauja National Park (Sigulda)
  • Tartu
  • Tallinn
• Entrance fees for:
  • Thomas Mann House in Nida
  • Rundāle Castle
  • Turaida Bishop's Castle
  • Estonian National Museum in Tartu
• Ecological fee and ferry crossing to the Curonian Spit Nature Reserve
• Ferry crossing from Tallinn to Helsinki
• Bus transfer from Helsinki ferry port to Helsinki airport
• Travel insurance certificate
• Return flight from Helsinki to Düsseldorf incl. all taxes, 20 kg luggage

Tour price

• € 1.859,- per person in a double room
• Single supplement (inside cabin): € 458,-

Optional services

• Accommodation in outside cabin (ferry Kiel-Klaipėda):
  • € 20,- per person in the double cabin
  • € 38,- per person in the single cabin

Not included

• Additional dinners
• Additional entrance fees

Minimum number of participants: 21 paying persons

Status: 01.03.2025

Please register directly with the keyword "Study trip Baltic States" at:

KLUGESREISEN - Reisebüro am Kölner Tor GmbH
Gräulinger Street 2
40625 Düsseldorf

Phone: 0211/2295080
E-mail: infokluges-reisende
www.kluges-reisen.de

Price information:

Travel price: € 1,859 per person in a double room, single supplement (inside cabin): € 458 Optional services Accommodation in an outside cabin (ferry Kiel-Klaipėda): € 20 per person in a double cabin € 38 per person in a single cabin