Religion has ever been a dividing element (contrary to popular belief), not least in Europe. In the 16th and 17th century the emergence of various protestant denominations resulted in massive persecution. The Huguenots and Waldensians fled from mainly the south of France. They tried to find safe places in other parts of Europe. To commemorate these refugees one can follow the European cultural long distance hiking trail. It leads from the south of France via Grenoble to Switzerland and combines with a route from the Piemont in the north of Italy to various destinations in Germany. Even today there are pockets in Germany where the names of families remind of their orgins even though they are no longer pronounced French. Many towns have twinned with towns in Italy and France where many ancestors have been traced.

The trail aims to remember these refugees in particular but also to highlight the fates of other refugees throughout the ages.

In Mörfelden, south of Frankfurt, a small section of the trail features signposts documenting the fate of Waldensians who settled here. And then there are information panels with interviews that tell of others that have come to this part of Germany.

I find it highly ironic that in a section about the refugees from the East after the second world war women tell of the discrimination they experienced because they were wearing head scarves. Very similar to the discrimination that Turkish and other Muslim women experience today when wearing a scarf to cover their hair. I know that my mother-in-law who as a young girl was a refugee from the area around Königsberg/Kaliningrad was discriminated against in the Palatium because she knitted differently – she was a stranger doing strange things.

The Ragtag Daily Prompt: Xenophobia