AN AMERICAN IN GERMANY
Attending the Annual Doll Festival
in Neustadt
H
Cuno Dressel's villa pe
rche
a hill overlooking Sonneb s on
erg.
doll factory is
An old Sonneberg tile siding.
d
losing its decorate
78
SUMMER 2014
By Kate Reed
ave you ever wondered
what doll collecting
is like in other countries? We are
afforded many ways to study and
purchase dolls in the United States.
My travels through Scandinavia
have led me to a few doll collectors
and doll collections there but I
had never seen the enthusiasm and
level of interest among collectors
which I experience in the United
States, until I went to Germany.
A casual conversation almost
a year earlier inspired an idea to
attend the International Puppen
Festival in Neustadt, Thuringia,
Germany. Plans were made to spend
two weeks in the country with the
middle part of the trip focused on
attending doll festival activities. The
remainder of the trip would include
exploring old doll factory sites and
studying museum collections. With
the arrival of spring, our group of
three was in Frankfurt picking up
a rental car as I prepared to drive
three hours east into the land that
has given the world such a vast
array of dolls and toys.
On the overnight flight to
Germany I had reflected on what
the black forest and homeland of
my favorite German dolls was
going to be like. Dense forests
and images of Hansel and Gretel
came to mind as did thoughts of
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Summer 2014