Page 20 - FIS World November 2016

The Hohemark
Three generations later, the Waldlust Campus is still capturing imaginations
Long before the buildings and buzzing energy of students lled the Oberursel Campus, the property stretching between the Waldlust Hotel and the bridge
leading to the Primary School was known by the Holz family as “The Hohemark,” a beautiful summer estate that served as an enchanting wonderland for brothers Helmut and Hermann Holz from their earliest years.
Standing on the eastern edge of the property was Haus Waldeck, now known as FIS Old Main, which had been a meeting place for artists and family friends (including members of the Dutch royal family) before it became
a refuge for the Holz family during the war years when the conditions in Frankfurt proved too perilous. But it was the property surrounding Haus Waldeck that captured the imagination of the Holz boys and remains the most vivid part of their memories to this day.
The estate was the pride and joy of Helmut and Hermann Holz’s grandfather, Eugen Klimsch, who bought the idyllic property along the Ursel Stream in 1901. Mr. Klimsch lled it with botanical rarities, built three ponds stocked full of fresh trout and created lovely pasturelands for livestock.
A generation later the estate, with the addition of a substantial vegetable garden, would enable his children, grandchildren and several other displaced families to navigate safely through the war. The hardships of those years linger in the Holz brothers’ memories, but much stronger are their recollections of the leafy giants in the woods, the noises and smells of the farm animals, sled- riding down the hill next to the house, and swimming in the cool waters of the pond on long summer days.
When the family moved back to Frankfurt to rebuild after the war, visits to the Hohemark became seldom and eventually Haus Waldeck was abandoned – only to nd a di erent purpose in 1961 as the center of a new educational venture, Frankfurt International School.
The recollections of those boyhood years and the emotional attachment to the Hohemark remained with the Holz brothers, and Christian Holz, Hermann Holz’s son, remembers the wonderful stories that preceded his rst visit in the early 1980s to what was by then the campus of FIS. Even though it was hard to imagine how the park had looked, the old villa was still there as was the stunning beauty of the natural setting.
For Christian Holz, who was just a young boy at the time, there was a sense of connection, as well as a touch of fascination with the hustling, bustling international school community. Years later that still holds true as he and his American wife, Jennifer, who started her career in Germany as a volunteer at FIS, have rediscovered the charm of the “Hohemark” for their own two children, Mateo and Verena.
18 FIS World November 2016
Top right: Haus Waldeck (now Old Main) in the early years; Middle right: brothers Helmut and Hermann Holz back on the Oberursel Campus; Bottom right: three generations of the Holz family: Christian, Hermann, Verena and Mateo, with their FIS Saturday Sports t-shirts.
Through toddler play groups at the Primary School, or attending the annual FIS ea markets or American Women’s Club Halloween party, to participating in FIS Saturday Sports, their children have become the third Holz generation to be enchanted by the adventures and opportunities available to them on the school grounds.
Christian Holz made a pertinent observation that while the appearance of the grounds has changed beyond recognition since the beginning of the last century, some things remain the same as when his father and uncle were young. The “Hohemark” is still a happy place and a safe- haven for children, now luckily perpetuated through the educational philosophy of Frankfurt International School.
Vera Thiers
Manager of Marketing and Public Relations