One of the most interesting stops on my pilgrimage was Schifferstadt, a small town in Rheinland-Pfalz, near the borders with Hesse and Baden-Württemberg. Just as the town rests on the borders between German states, so does it sit uncomfortably between the categories of Stein’s life and legacy, as Stein’s time in the city was only rumored: the town’s train station was the contested location of Stein’s final sighting en route to Auschwitz.
As legend tells us, as Stein was deported from the Netherlands to Auschwitz, while the transport train was stopped in the town of Schifferstadt, a past student of Stein’s from her time teaching in the nearby Speyer recognized the woman in habit.
The town remembers Stein’s passing moments in the city on the way to her death with a monument to the saint located at the train station. Because of road closures and poor timing, I was unable to actually see the monument, but nonetheless got this powerful shot of the Schifferstadt train station, the location of the last alleged sighting of the saint.
Europe with Edith 