Potpourri

The Knoblauch family dealt in cloth. Their house was built in the 1700’s and is preserved today as a museum. Clavier.

Humboldt died in this bed, but not in the Knoblauch house. Don’t ask.

Mural art is popular in Berlin.

In Prenzlauer Berg, our Kiez.

A good friend at home.

Where did you see this before?

Traute Lafrenz, M.D., now one hundred years old and living in South Carolina, was a member of the White Rose, which sought to combat the Nazi regimen. She was to be tried and executed but on April 16, 1945 she was liberated by the Americans.

Berlin Bunker Museum

The museum provides a detailed account of Hitler’s rise to power and fall. This is one of the most researched periods in history. Leaving the museum after five hours, Ingrid was demoralized because so little has seemed to have changed in the world and ruthless dictators are still coming to power.

In 1940, Hitler ordered the construction of bunkers when the allies began bombing German cities. The museum contains facsimiles of some of the rooms of his own bunker, which has been completely demolished, though pictures of its rooms, taken both by American and Russian soldiers, are displayed here. The evidence of his suicide is indisputable, but some people still believe he escaped.

Replica of Hitler’s bunker.

Facsimile of the room in which he and Eva Braun committed suicide.

The museum itself is a bunker. During one of the air raids 12,000 people were crammed in to escape the bombing. When, to hinder the advance of Russian troops, the SS blew up the bulkheads to the Landwehr Canal to flood subway tunnels, this bunker was also flooded. Many died trying to escape.

A bomb shell before an enlarged photograph.

Brother and Sister, Hans and Sophie Scholl (1921-1943) created the White Rose resistance movement. They were discovered and executed.

Claus von Stauffenberg attempted to kill Hitler with a bomb brought into a meeting. He was arrested and execute.

The Scholls and von Stauffenberg are among the very few who put up resistance against the NAZI regime,

Berggruen Museum

Charlottenburg Palace. Built at end of 17th century. Commissioned by Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Friedrich the 1st. (Not Friedrich the Great.) The palace was across the street from the Berggruen Museum.

Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954) Blue Nude Skipping 1952

Matisse. A study for a poster.

Matisse. Room with Blue Portfolio

Alberto Giacometti 1901-1966 (Swiss sculptor and painter)

Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976) Little Mobile (with reflection of the photographer by design)

Paul Klee 1899 - 1940. Over Under

Klee 1927 Party from G.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Glass and Dice

Picasso. 1916 Cards, Glass, and Bottle on a Table

Picasso. Dora Maar with Green Fingernails. 1936

Picasso Harlequin with Red Background 1905

Picasso. Nude. 1922

Picasso. Woman in Yellow Sweater 1936

Picasso. Matador and Nude 1970

Altes National Museum Berlin

Carl Schuch. Still Life with Apples. 1876

Carl Spitzweg . circa 1860

Flax Barn at Laren. Max Lieberman. 1887

Max Klinger. Aphrodite 1885

Max Lieberman. Kleinkinderschule in Amsterdam. 1880

Edouard Manet. In the Greenhouse. 1879

Renoir. Children’s Afternoon. 1884

Adolph Menzel. (1815 -1905) Circus

Claude Monet. Houses at Argenteuil. 1875

Rodin. The Thinker. There are 28 full-sized figures. This one is less than life size.

Six kilometer (3.7 mile) walk along the Spree, from Jannowitz Bridge to the Hauptbahnhof

Berlin TV tower. the long Lulatsch

Nikolai Church with twin peaks.

Mississippi has no monopoly on paddle boats.

Three Girls and a Boy by Wilfried Fitzenreiter

Reichstag

Site of the following exhibit.

Micha Ullman, artist. A section of the wall. At the top is the year. Below the number of people who died that year trying to escape East Germany. Not all those listed died at the wall. The other side continues. The wall was up between 1961 and 1989.

Berlin Light festival celebrating 30th anniversary of Germany's unification

Hackescher Markt

Prenzlauer Berg

Langer Lulatsch. Berlin TV tower

Sans Souci. (without worry) Frederich the Great's Summer Palace. (2nd visit)

During the construction of Sans Souci palace, Frederich wanted this windmill removed, but the farmer who owned it petitioned the king, citing the king’s own laws of fairness. Frederich agreed to leave the windmill.

A painting by Menzel of a concert at Sans Souci with King Frederich himself playing the flute. His favorite sister sits on the pink sofa in the back ground. (I & P saw this room, but neither had a flute with them.)

Glienicke Bridge. Bridge of Spies

The white line on the map was the iron curtain. Until November 10, 1989, at 6 pm, Europe and Germany were divided. The Glienicke Bridge connected Potsdam in East Germany with West Berlin.

From Potsdam facing Berlin. The bridge served as the location where spies were exchanged, as in the famous case of the downed U2 spy plane pilot, Gary Powers, and the Russian spy William Fischer, aka Rudolf Abel.

Notice the spy in the back ground.

“Glienicke Bridge. To those who named it the Bridge of Unity but also built the wall, topped it with barbed wire, created deadly boundaries, and thus prevented unity.”

Lake Havel.

Friends from Amsterdam Day One visit to Berlin

Former East German side of Check Point Charlie.

In front of Brandenburg Gate. (No selfie stick was needed.)

Among the stele at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

A view of the Berliner Dom and of Museum Island

The Reichstag and the Bundestag

The Reichstag.

The Reichtag with the new dome visible. (cupola)

In 1995 Christo draped the Reichtag.

Base of the cupola.

The dome is 80 feet high, 130 feet across, and weighs a quarter of a million pounds.

Note that the dome is an open air structure.

The Brandenburg gate.

Die Spree

Looking down at the base.

Ingrid and Peter sat in for an hour of debate on lowering speed limits to reduce greenhouse gases. Representative of the following parties spoke for five minutes each: the SPD, the FDP, the LINKE, B90/Greens, CDU/CSU, and AfD.

One day trip to Hannover

King Ernst August of Hannover, popular meeting spot “unter dem Schwanz”. Stature in front of the train station.

At the Leine river.

The old city hall. (Rathaus)

Downtown Hannover with former college roommate.

Such timbered houses (Fachwerkhaeser) were moved out of the city shortly before Hannover was bombed.

The Maschsee (Masch lake), a man-made lake to catch the overflow when the Leine flooded. The lake bottom is covered with clay, limestone, and an 8 cm layer of gravel.

Digging of the Maschsee (1934-1936) , primarily by the unemployed who had to bring their own shovels. Since the goal was to employ as many as possible, no machines were allowed. The pay was minimum. One thousand six hundred worked on the project.

This plaque commemorates the digging of the Maschsee. The swastika has been removed.

“The Göttingen Seven were a group of seven liberal professors from Göttingen. In 1837, they protested against the abolition or alteration of the constitution of the Kingdom of Hanover by its new ruler, King Ernest Augustus, and refused to swear an oath to the king. The company of seven was led by historian Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann, who himself was one of the key advocates of the unadulterated constitution.” Wikipedia

The World famous Semper Opera House. Oct 11, 2019. Beethoven's Fidelio

Not one of the singers but note the earrings.

Ingrid obtained the last two tickets to Fidelio. Seats in the fourth balcony.

One advantage is a better view of the chandelier.

Before the opera began, former Bundespresident Joachin Gauck spoke on the 30 year anniversary of the fall of the wall between East and West Germany, warning about modern day demagogues and the threat to Democracy.

Der Zwinger. Paintings. Mathematical Instruments

The Roman goddess Vesta by the Swiss artist Angelika Kauffmann, 18th century

Bernhard von Reesen by Albrecht Dürer (around 1500)

Planetenlaufuhr, , 1563-68, Silver, Brass, Gold Gilded, Height 118 cm (46.5 inches)

Shows the orbits of the Sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

An old clock mechanism showing the escapement (not visible here). The mechanism is attached to a modern clock face.

Der Zwinger, a building complex in Dresden housing museums specializing in porecelain, paintings, and mathematical instruments.

In the porcelain museum. August the Strong, king of Poland (early 18th Century), passionately collected porcelain, paintings, and mathematical instruments.

Japanese porcelain..

Chinese porcelain.

Japanese porcelain

Piece by Johann Joachim Kaendler. Along with Johann Christian Kirchner he was a master of porcelain creations.

A small part of the porcelain collection.

Kirchner’s porcelain animal figures are known for their human facial expressions. Kaendler, on the other hand, was a complete realist.

Do you find this funny? It was supposed to be.

Theaterplatz Dresden

Theaterplatz in Dresden. Figure on horse is King Johann by Johannes Schilling 1889. (white-haired man is not Peter)

The famous Semper Opera, designed by architect Gottfried Semper. More than a quarter million opera goers a year.

The Frauenkirsche in Dresden, one of the largest sandstone buildings in the world, built between 1726 and 1743, heavily bombed during WWII and destroyed. Rebuilding began in 1993, financed in part by U. S. Friends of Dresden. Recall Dresden in the site of the novel Slaughter House Five.

Ingrid at the Elbe.

Berliner Schoss

An old building, the Berliner Schloss (Berlin Castle) is having its facade rebuild at an 600,000 million euros, a sixth of which is being given by private donors, large and small. Peter, Ingrid and friends were given a tour.

The finished building will house the Humboldt Forum a quasi-university and research center.

This is a model.

This is a cloth facade on a building which will undergo renovation.

Cold War

Bottom: Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima. 9,700 pounds. Blast yield 15 kilotons of TNT. Top: Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki. 10,300 pounds. Blast yield 21 kilotons of TNT.

ICBMs now carry thermonuclear weapons (hydrogen bombs. ) Warheads yield blasts tens of times more powerful and can weigh as little as 800 pounds.

May 1945, the division of Germany by the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.The wall was not built until 1961.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Check Point Charlie.

President Kennedy; Willy Brandt, mayor of Berlin at that time, later chancellor; Chancellor Adenauer.

Yadegar Assisi’s panorama of the wall.

A walk in what once was the German Democratic Republic (DDR), the eastern part of Berlin.

Marx, Engels, and friend. Notice the polished hands and knees—of the statues— where many have sat for their portrait.

Martin Luther. Marien Church in the background, dating to 1270.

Neptune fountain at Alexanderplatz.

Beer garden. Galeria Kaufhof in the background. “In Communist times the Kaufhof Department Store was the ultimate shopping Mecca . . . “

Potato pancakes, almost as good as Ingrid’s.

Once futuristic world time clock (built 1969)

Tourist on the Spree.

McDonald’s in the subway.

Die Deutschstunde

The movie, only three stops away on the street car.

Die Hackeschen Höfe. One of the commercial courtyards at the Hackescher Markt.

Waiting for the film to start.

Lenz’s world-wide best-seller now as a film. Young Siggi Jepsen must recall the conflict between his authoritarian father and the artist whose paintings have been banned by the Nazi’s. Top notch in every way: the filming, the acting, the story.

The artist Heinrich Zilla (1858-1929)

He portrayed street life in Berlin, the largest manufacturing city on the continent, including the misery of the poor.. His art was a critical of the government. He supported social causes and was against war.

He used this motif several times.

“Father will be happy to see that are already so many of us when he gets out of prison.”

“You got to blow!”

“Stand on your head again.”

Street circus.

Zilla at work.