In Quedlinburg's main square, tourists and locals brave the pale winter sunshine, clinging to beams of light that provide meagre warmth on the al fresco lunchtime tables. The town is blessed with a rich history, as attested by the UNESCO-approved half-timbered houses dating from the 10th and 11th centuries. King Henry the Fowler was crowned here by Franconian nobles in 919, earning the trading centre the honorary and resonant title of Cradle of the German Reich. Not far from the Quedlinburg castle is a former prison today used as a food bank by AWO, a nonprofit agency that plays an...