{"id":3293,"date":"2026-07-28T19:21:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/kurt-vorwachs-and-his-spreewald-in-a-nutshell\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T14:43:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T12:43:37","slug":"kurt-vorwachs-and-his-spreewald-in-a-nutshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/kurt-vorwachs-and-his-spreewald-in-a-nutshell\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurt Vorwachs and His Spreewald in a Nutshell"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Time and again, 91-year-old Kurt Vorwachs, who lives on Schillerstra\u00dfe in L\u00fcbbenau, finds himself drawn to the\u201cTouristenstation\u201d<\/a>in the Old Town on Dammstra\u00dfe\u2014and has been doing so for decades. The \u201cStation,\u201d as it is known among the residents of L\u00fcbbenau, remains in parts almost exactly as it was when it was built over 60 years ago as the \u201cStation for Young Scientists and Technicians.\u201d It is now operated by AWO Integrations- und Service GmbH, under the name \u201cAWO Tours.\u201d The walls and ceilings of the workshops still feature the GDR-style Sprelacart design. Here, Kurt Vorwachs and \u201chis guys\u201d build wooden models of Spreewald houses, bridges, boats, and whatever else his hobbyists come up with and ask for. The groups have gotten smaller in the meantime, but Kurt Vorwachs can\u2019t\u2014and won\u2019t\u2014give it up; he\u2019s driven by the desire to pass on his extensive knowledge of woodworking. Sebastian Liedtke, the AWO facility director: \u201cWe like to talk about the old days\u2014how he used to experience everything here. I\u2019m amazed at how fit he is, and I\u2019m happy that I can continue to offer him meaningful activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between his appointments on Dammstra\u00dfe, Kurt Vorwachs handles his daily tasks with his usual ease. He drives to the Spreewald to go shopping or sometimes just for fun. He often goes to the station, too, where he checks to make sure everything is in order and sits on a bench watching the many sightseeing boats glide by. His wife then asks him to bring some water from the Spree in a pitcher, because her houseplants don’t tolerate the hard tap water very well.<\/p>\n

Since the appointments on the ward are sometimes far apart, he often gets bored. One night, he had the idea to give miniatures a try. His basement workshop on Schillerstra\u00dfe has everything he needs\u2014there’s even room for a small wood lathe. Using walnut halves, he carves Spreewald scenes\u2014featuring self-made haystacks and log cabins\u2014with a hand that remains as steady as ever. He’s already given dozens of them away to friends and acquaintances, and people keep asking for more\u2014and Kurt is happy when he can bring joy to others.<\/p>\n

Born on the other side of the Neisse River, where his parents ran a tailor shop, he was fascinated from an early age by anything made of wood. His early works were still a bit rough around the edges, but very practical. Ultimately, his rabbit hutches also helped provide for his family of five. In L\u00fcbbenau\u2014the family\u2019s place of refuge after 1945\u2014Kurt was able to finish school and complete a carpentry apprenticeship at what was then known as LOWA in Vetschau (formerly Waggonausr\u00fcstungen). Woodworking was his thing; he soaked up every tip and trick his mentors taught him. To this day, he still owns his apprentice\u2019s toolbox, which contains the rarest woods for his marquetry work\u2014another specialty of his craft. At LOWA, he led a model aircraft building group at that time. He built scale models of the MIG 15\u2014the GDR Air Force’s jet fighter at the time\u2014that were true to scale and highly detailed. He would have liked to become a pilot himself, but \u201cbecause of his eyes,\u201d that wasn\u2019t possible. After completing his basic military service, he worked as a carpenter at the Calau furniture factory and the L\u00fcbbenau power plant. Through the \u201csponsor brigade\u201d\u2014which was mandatory at the time\u2014he came into contact with schools. When a position was posted at \u201cStation,\u201d he applied for it. He was granted this as well, though on the condition that he qualify as a vocational arts teacher.<\/p>\n

In addition to providing after-school childcare through model-building activities, he took special care of the station\u2019s new schoolboat<\/a> at that time. It was intended to replace the now-obsolete boat, which was still supposed to take the children from Leip to school in L\u00fcbbenau. However, it was no longer needed starting in 1969, since Leipe gained a road connection to Burg. The boat was converted into a station boat and was used for expeditions. \u201cWe even turned it into a \u2018cruise ship\u2019 sometimes. The kids could sleep in it, which they really enjoyed,\u201d recalls Kurt Vorwachs, a smile flitting across his face. “That was a wonderful and eventful time!” With the 6-PS outboard motor, we\u2019d head out across the Spreewald to watch the deer rut or to camp somewhere\u2014back then, you didn\u2019t need a permit for that yet. Everything we needed\u2014from the sausage to the grill\u2014was on board.<\/p>\n

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Kurt Vorwachs is looking forward to the start of the school year in the summer of 2026, when he\u2019ll be able to return to the ward and his children will be waiting for him there. He brings the wood from his workshop in the basement. \u201cThe kids keep me on my toes; they challenge me and don\u2019t give my age a second thought\u2014and that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d says Kurt Vorwachs, who has mentored generations of L\u00fcbbenau hobbyists\u2014now long since grown adults. (see the 2019 post)<\/a><\/p>\n

AWO Center in L\u00fcbbenau<\/a><\/p>\n

Peter Becker, July 28, 26<\/em><\/p>\n

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Time and again, 91-year-old Kurt Vorwachs, who lives on Schillerstra\u00dfe in L\u00fcbbenau, finds himself drawn to the\u201cTouristenstation\u201din the Old Town on Dammstra\u00dfe\u2014and has been doing so for decades. The \u201cStation,\u201d as it is known among the residents of L\u00fcbbenau, remains in parts almost exactly as it was when it was built over 60 years ago…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kb_optimizer_status":0,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","slim_seo":{"title":"Kurt Vorwachs and His Spreewald in a Nutshell - Spreewald\u00addorf Lehde","description":"Time and again, 91-year-old Kurt Vorwachs, who lives on Schillerstra\u00dfe in L\u00fcbbenau, finds himself drawn to the \u201cTouristenstation\u201d in the Old Town on Dammstra\u00dfe\u2014"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nicht-kategorisiert"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1,"label":"Nicht kategorisiert"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4950-170726C2A9PeterBecker-1024x683-EbmbW3.jpg",1024,683,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"sven-hofmann","author_link":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/author\/881ce4191d54ed84\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":1,"name":"Nicht kategorisiert","slug":"nicht-kategorisiert","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":261,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1,"category_count":261,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Nicht kategorisiert","category_nicename":"nicht-kategorisiert","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3295,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3293\/revisions\/3295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spreewald-dorf-lehde.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}