=====Visiting Helba=====

Our Ungerechts lived in the little village of Helba from the late 1600's until emigrating to the U.S. in 1864.

{{ :un:2016_de_un35_helbahistorian.jpg?direct&200|Helba Historian}}
Matthias found a local historian who described some of the history of Helba, although from what I gathered in the translation is that most of it was after our Ungerechts left.

{{ :un:2016_de_un44_helbaoldchurch.jpg?direct&200|Old church of Helba}}
The church in Helba that our Ungerechts would have attended before they emigrated to the U.S. has been since converted into a school, then into a private residence.  The local historians remembered going to school here, sometimes using boards to cross the street which would flood from a nearby creek.

-----

{{ :un:2016_de_un40_helbacemetary.jpg?direct&240|Helba Cemetary}}
{{ :un:2016_de_un40a_helbacemetary.jpg?direct&160|Helba Cemetary}}
The Helba cemetary dates to 1696, and is located on a wooded hillside overlooking the town.  There is a chapel with an enclosed room to store the casket, and a larger room with one side completely open for holding funerals.

{{ :un:2016_de_un38_helbaungerechtgrave.jpg?direct&140|Ungerecht Grave}}
The tradition in Germany is to rent a grave for a period of time (such as 20 years), and then re-use the grave.  So there are no old tombstones to look at.  There was, however, a recent tombstone for the family of Fritz Ungerecht.  Matthias was pretty certain all Ungerechts in Helba are descended from [[1697_johcasu|Johann Caspar Ungerecht]], so Fritz has to be some degree of cousin.

-----

See also my pictures of: [[110_meiningen|Meiningen]], Helba (this page), [[112_werrawalldorf|Walldorf]], and [[113_eisenach|Eisenach]].