Josefa von Hohenzollern as Our Guest: A Book, a Home-Made Dance and a Kyiv Cake

LEONBERG — This time it was not an appointment at the town hall or a meeting at the LEO-Center. On the evening of 19 July 2026, Josefa von Hohenzollern-Emden, Deputy Mayor of Leonberg, simply came to our home — for dinner.

A book set in her own town

As a gift we gave her «LeoZeit: Schatten», the first volume of the series. Not a book picked at random: it is set in Leonberg. The castle, the narrow lanes on the slope, the old Pomeranzengarten behind the walls — almost every place in it really exists. Anyone who lives here recognises their own town while reading, only shifted by four hundred years.

Back in February, Anna-Mariia had already given the Deputy Mayor «Sonja und die Mondfee» to take home for her son Leopold. This time the book was for her.

A dance nobody had seen before

And then came the moment nobody had planned. Afina slipped away for a minute — and came back in a black tutu. She danced. No choreography from ballet school, nothing to copy, no video to follow: she had invented this dance herself, for this evening, for this guest.

There are performances on great stages. And there is this one — in a living room, on a parquet floor, in front of an audience of one. It is harder to forget.

A gift in return: «Mein Leonberg» and town hall honey

Josefa did not come empty-handed. She brought «Mein Leonberg» — a book about the town and its districts of Eltingen, Gebersheim, Höfingen and Warmbronn — and a jar of town hall honey: a Leonberger dog on the lid, the town’s coat of arms on the ribbon. Honey from the town itself, gathered at the town hall.

With them came a handwritten card. One sentence from it has stayed with us:

“You are the best guarantee that Leonberg is an open-minded and family-friendly community for everyone.”

A Kyiv cake

For our part, we offered a Kyiv cake. In Ukraine you bring one when a visit is meant to matter. And so it became an evening between two cities: Leonberg, which lives in our books — and Kyiv, which we brought with us.

An evening, not an appointment

Over coffee, cake and children’s laughter, an official connection turned into something personal. The Deputy Mayor took the littlest one in her arms, the older ones showed what they could do, and nobody looked at the clock.

We say thank you — for the evening, for the time, and for showing that a visit from the town’s leadership can feel like a visit from friends.