Berlin Now and Then: The Altes Museum
The Altes Museum sits on Berlin’s Museum Island. As the name suggests it is an island on the Spree River which is home to some of Berlin’s, if not the world’s, most impressive museums. The Altes Museum, altes being a German word for old, and Museum Island were built in the 1800s by renown German architect and city planner Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841). Designated a UNESCO … Continue reading Berlin Now and Then: The Altes Museum
Gumusekrieg 2011
When folks visit Berlin, they probably just see one big big city
….and with 3.5 million people, it is a big city. Regardless, it doesn’t take long to discern two entirely different orbits in Berlin-the East and the West. Still separated along the path of the old Berlin wall, the two boroughs of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain are the epitome of this duality; The Berlin Wall and the Spree river both ran between these two boroughs. Kreuzberg was, and still is the West and Friedrichshain was and will always be the East.
The importance of looking down-Sewer Covers
I don’t know when exactly, but I got the idea a long time ago to take photos of the different manhole / sewer covers that I encountered on my travels. One led to two and then I had a bunch. I think they are pretty damn cool, but I’ll let you judge for yourself. If you have any cool manhole / sewer covers or goolies (DE) from your town, think about sending them my way and I’ll make sure they show up here, and I’ll be sure to give credit where it is due.
Enjoy , and remember to look where you step.
Martin Continue reading “The importance of looking down-Sewer Covers”
Japan
For nearly half a year in 2005, I fulfilled a dream and lived in Japan. People always ask me what my time there was like. If there was ever on spot in all of my travels which defies description it just might be this distant island. I have tried to portray it as a trip into the future, where solutions existed to problems that you never knew you even had, such as toilets with speakers that concealed the coarse sounds of their human users or street-corner vending machines selling entire bottles of Suntory Black Jack whiskey.
Limes Germanicus
For years I had been trying to get to Rome. I wanted to see all the temples, ruins, the roads and the walls. Man, the big walls where the Romans fought their enemies to protect their glorious city. Rome is a long way away, even from Germany. I was frustrated. I was also wrong. Continue reading “Limes Germanicus”
Stolperstein-Part One: The Beginning
When I arrived in Germany in 2006, I took note of these small bronze plaques which were set into the pavement. I believe the first one was directly outside the front door to my work. If you take the time to stop and look, you’ll find that each tile has words on it. A name followed by some information; birth date, death date, location of death and perhaps the circumstances. These are Stolperstein (Stumblestones), they show the last known residence of the victims of the Holocaust. They are the work of German artist Gunter Demning. Started in 1993, this project seeks to observe the victims of the Nazi regime and hundreds, perhaps thousands of Stolperstein can be found all cross former Nazi Occupied Europe.
Berlin Now and Then-Part One: Unter den Linden
Around the middle of the 16th century the Elector/Prince of Brandenburg, Berlin at the time, had a horse path connecting his residence to his royal hunting grounds in what is today the Tiergarten (Animal Garden). Unter den Linden (Under the Limes) got its name in 1647 when Elector Frederick William lined the avenue with lime trees. Since then Unter den Linden has become one of Berlin’s greatest attractions. In the past it was home to a royal residence, military buildings and arsenals. Later large churches, opera houses, national libraries and a university were added. In more modern times, Unter den Linden was a government district, where you could find all of the most important embassies in the world. Today, the avenue, which runs on an east-west axis through the middle of the city starts at Alexanderplatz and goes all the way through to the Brandenburg Gate. Here you can find some of Germany’s most recognizable landmarks as well as enough History to fill many pages. Not surprisingly, during the Second World War, Unter der Linden was the spot for parades, demonstrations as well as the target of bombs and some of the fiercest fighting of the Battle for Berlin. Continue reading “Berlin Now and Then-Part One: Unter den Linden”
Stolperstein-Part Two: Arrested
Stolperstein Part-Two: Arrested
Coming from the US, we tend to think of the Holocaust primarily in terms of concentration camps. I know I did. These Stolperstein show another side. I’ve found these Stolpestein where the the victims died at the hands of those who were meant to protect them. They could have been targeted for any number of reasons.
Verhaftet is ‘arrested’. Poleziegefangnis means, ‘police prison’ or perhaps better ‘police custody’. Flossenburg was a work camp in Bavaria. During its years of operation, it was home to about 90,000, mostly ‘undesirables’ or Russian Prisoners of War. They worked in an ancient quarry, mining granite and breaking it into gravel. Flossenburg was liberated in 1945, but trains were still being sent there as late as December of 1944. Borgemoor was a prison near the Dutch border opened in the 1930s, early in the Nazi regime. Originally it was a military prison for soldiers who had committed offenses, yet political prisoners were also placed there for ’protective custody’. As the Allies approached, the prison was closed and the 1000 inmates sent on a death march, of which about 100 survived.
German Russian Museum Karlshorst, Berlin
On May 8, 1945 the Nazis surrendered to the Allies in Reims. However, at the time the Soviet Union’s Supreme Command was not included in the proceedings.This outraged Stalin, he believed the official surrender should occur in Berlin, the lair of the Fascist Beast, not in newly liberated France under the Western Allies’ authority.
How Rome conquered using a small knife: Part One
How Rome conquered with a small knife
Part One-The Barbarians
Few things are as cool as the Roman Empire. I mean you just can’t beat it and if you don’t like it, I think it’s because you simply do not know enough about it. I promise you. What gets me is, how did the Romans do it? I mean how did this little farming village, located on some stretch of swampy, malaria-infested backwater rise into an empire that spanned from the British Isles to Baghdad? Continue reading “How Rome conquered using a small knife: Part One”
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