The night the Wall came down… 5 years on

Five years ago I wrote an article for this website called “The night the Wall came down”, at a time when Germany was commemorating 20 years since the fall of the Berlin wall.

In front of the Berlin Wall in November 1996

In front of the Berlin Wall in November 1996

Now that another five years have passed all the talk this weekend is of the 25th anniversary, and that article is as valid as ever.  Except that one thing has changed: I have now spent more time in the Eastern part of the country.

I have been to the island of Rügen located in Baltic Sea five times now, and taken different routes and seen different parts of the landscape each year.

On Rügen itself I have come face to face with some of that East German history, and visited areas that were off-limits to normal East German citizens until 1990 – some of which will appear in future articles.

I still haven’t been back to Berlin.

Click here to read the original article

The Ehrenmal – Restored at last

For the past three years, I have been following the restoration work of the memorial to those from Oberursel who died in the First World War: The Ehrenmal. The war memorial, which stands next to the Christuskirche at the crossing of the Oberhöchstadter Straße and the Füllerstraße, was badly in need of restoration when the Hessentag took place in the town, but now, thanks to the donations of not only the town itself but many private families, once again is glittering in the evening sunset. With the mosaic pieces returned to the column and the column itself now stabilised, it was a solumn ceremony that took place on Wednesday, 23rd July, 2014 to commemorate the war dead and officialy re-dedicate the memorial.

[Read more…]

Klaus Störtebeker is “God’s Friend”

In the year 1393 Denmark was at war with the north German state of “Mecklenburg”. Mecklenburg’s King had been captured and both countries were fighting for control of Sweden. Stockholm was under siege by the Danes, and Mecklenburg was more than happy to accept help from anyone willing to join them.

This part of Scandinavian history provides the backdrop to this years play at the Störtebeker Festspiele on the Island of Rügen.

The story picks up from where it left off last year, except that several figures have been removed or replaced due to their corrupt involvement in the building of the church in Wismar which remains on the right-hand side of the stage.

Goedeke Michels (Andreas Euler) and Klaus Störtebeker (Bastian Semm) arrive as the Danes are attacking Stockholm

Goedeke Michels (Andreas Euler) and Klaus Störtebeker (Bastian Semm) arrive as the Danes are attacking Stockholm

The left-hand side represents Stockholm, with the opening scene seeing one of many attacks by Queen Margrethe of Denmark against the garrison. She may not be successful, but it gives the audience a taste of the pyrotechnics and stunts to come! [Read more…]

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