Before this series continues with Zilda Arns and the cardinal, a quick detour. I already mentioned in Part 1 how I was invited to a reading in Briedel. What I heard there, and later read myself, I don't want to just mention in passing. It deserves a clear recommendation of its own: if this story interests you, read the book. Put quite simply.
MoselbrasilianerInnen, the Book Behind This Series
With MoselbrasilianerInnen, Gert Eisenbürger and Gaby Küppers have pulled off something that rarely succeeds: they tell the Mosel's great emigration story not in the abstract, but through real people from villages like Reil, Pünderich, Briedel, Merl and Zell. Nikolaus Arns, our own ancestor, is just one of them. The book has since earned a permanent spot on our shelf at home, and I keep reaching for it whenever I research for this series.
Both authors bring exactly what a book like this needs: Eisenbürger was for many years an editor at the Latin America magazine ila, and Küppers writes, among others, for der Freitag. For about ten years now they've lived in the old Pünderich train station, which they converted into a small museum about the Moseltalbahn railway. This isn't a story dreamed up by an outsider. It's rooted right in the middle of the region it's about.
262 pages, Rhein-Mosel-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-89801-494-6, €19.80 as a paperback, also available as an e-book.
Find the book at Rhein-Mosel-Verlag →
Meet the Authors Live: Upcoming Reading Dates
Gaby Küppers sent me the current dates. If you'd like to not just read the story but hear it told in person, you'll have several chances this autumn:
- August 23, 2026, Sun 1 pm – Morbach, Café Heimat (presentation and podcast with Thomas Vatheuer)
- September 4, 2026, Fri 6 pm – Pünderich, as part of the "Oben Air" festival
- September 10, 2026, Thu 8 pm – Bonn, Buchladen 46
- September 27, 2026, Sun 5 pm – Zell-Kaimt, KulturKino, following a screening of the film "Die Mucker"
- October 7–11, 2026, Wed–Sun – Frankfurt, Book Fair
My Special Recommendation: Oben Air in Pünderich
One date I want to highlight in particular. On September 4, 2026, Gert and Gaby will read as part of the Oben-Air festival in Pünderich, right at the edge of the forest above the vineyards. This year marks the festival's twelfth edition, with live music, readings, art and films right in the middle of the landscape our own story comes from.
I don't recommend it just for the book. It's the combination that makes it special: beautiful scenery, good wine, good music, and in the middle of it all, a reading about a story that concerns all of us here on the Mosel. If you've been thinking about stopping by anyway, this is the evening to make it happen.
