WWII week: autobahn nagelbett

The massive public works project that created the system of Autobahnen that crisscross Germany were realized shortly after Hitler seized power. Overseen by the administrator Fritz Todt, who would later supervise the defenses of the Atlantic Wall stretching from Spain to Norway, construction began in 1933.

The labour aspect of the infrastructure scheme was not directly appreciable since the jobs-market had essentially recovered before war broke out, and neither were the roads of military or strategic significance—rather the network did boast morale, allowing Germany to set the standard again in modern transportation. Several years ago, we found the ruins of a lost Autobahn hidden in the forests of the Rhön: Route (Strecke) 46 was one of the first stretches of roadway built and linked Fulda and Würzburg. Ultimately, the highway was replaced by A7, which runs parallel to old asphalt to an extent but incorporates, regionally, other important regional connections.

forever blowing bubbles

Shopping cart here has perhaps an overly simplistic view of the European financial landscape but does pose an interesting choice. I think matters are still relatively ratcheted down for a summer of tourists skimping on the souvenirs and a bit of muted enthusiasm for travel in general. I do think, however, there are some dangerous undercurrents that ripple and bellow in the belated season, like some strange mirage or fata morgana come too late. There are swirling simooms of dissonance that might prove to pull the eurozone asunder with their contradictory forces. Rather than structural weakness in underlying markets or an experiment disproven but rather because on the one hand, investors, seeking shelter, are inflating a bubble of Germany’s relatively robust economy, while simultaneously, supporting the isolation, quarantine of broader institutions by encouraging locally-funded initiatives.
Ripe for chaos, Germany as an anchor of the eurozone’s single currency fronts quite a bit of appeal, industry more sustainable than the husks of manu-facturing or market nervousness elsewhere, but that too could be oversold. Meanwhile, in order to contain potential losses should the euro be splintered into the Mark, franc, lira and peso again, activity is quietly being limited to sources in-country and involvement across borders, save berthing extra money for safe-keeping, which really benefits no one in the long term and damages the good-turn done for regional entrepreneurs and business at the same time. For example, an Italian multi-national corporation is shoring profits in Germany (perhaps buying up debt and real estate) and elsewhere while directing its affiliates in France to only solicit from French partners, as if the denomination was imminent I hope that this familiar tug-of-war does not escalate further.

WWII week: plongeur

Part of the fascination with World War II in the European theatre is the sheer inexhaustibility of the subject, the depth of material for reflection, portrayal and reissue plus the varied aspects of that horrendous and frightening time—replete with tangents, like into the occult, and technical achievements carried forward by the fight.

Other battles and campaigns, I am sure, are equally boundless and rich but living memory, fastidious documentation, and the indelible and recognizable footprint besides probably feed this interest. Places can be likewise infinite, celebrated throughout very different histories: La Rochelle’s harbour, where a fleet of German U-Boots was berthed and penned, was half a century earlier the selfsame site where the first experimental submarine, le plongeur (the diver), was tested. Before that, revolts in La Rochelle were instrumental in ending the slave trade and abolished the practice in French colonies. And before that, the city was chief among old world ports for trade with the new world. And before that, La Rochelle was witness to Cardinal Richelieu and the French Religious Wars and a stronghold of the Knights Templar. In part, because of the intensity of these submarine operations, La Rochelle was among the last cities liberated—Germany retaining pockets of control at major ports after the general surrender.



welkende under glass

Lilies are quite the retiring and undressing of flowers, coming undone once no longer fresh and tend to go in pieces when they begin to wilt. We had a bright bouquet for a few days—which all of a sudden was disarmed. A bloom intact fell from the vase into a wine glass, dusting the inside with pollen. I thought it made an interesting, accidental still life subject.

WWII week: gravity's rainbow

Though after the war, these two locations on the Baltic (Ostsee) coast remained state secrets and off-limits under DDR leadership, being repurposed, occupied and then neglected, both the Colossus at Prora at the rocket research facility at nearby Peenemünde survived and are today exemplary edifices of the aspirations and determination of the NSDAP, well curated and accessible testimonials. The intended beach resort complex consisted of eight identical monolithic buildings and would have housed twenty thousand holiday-makers, planned as an affordable vacation destination for the average family and for soldiers on leave. The scale of this place was just unreal, cavernous and unending as it repaired into the vertical horizon along the shoreline.

There is a dock for cruise ships and dancehalls and cinemas. Work on this compound, a project of the KdF (Kraft durch Freude, Strength through Joy) programme, which also brought the Volkswagen to the public, had to be halted as the work escalated and the forced labour that went into the building was diverted to other more pressing concerns before it saw a single guest, like rocketry research and development at the Peenemünde laboratories.

Werner von Braun and other physicists and engineers here tested and perfected the jet-propelled V-1 armaments that were used to bombard Allied territory. Never before had war-makers the ability to hurl terror from the skies in this way and connive such destruction from a distance. Originally, the push was for another kind of action-at-a-distance with drone-bombers operated by remote-control but the prototypes were not tenable in the battlefield, and experimentation and application eventually saw use during the Cold War and in peace time with space exploration, often at the hands of the same architects. The laboratories demanded huge resources and had a dedicated power plant and railhead, in addition to the vast testing-grounds, dormitories and workshops. Both sites host excellent museums, chronicling their existence, legacy and the Zeitgeist.

WWII week: berlin calling

We don’t pretend to be historians or true Kriegstourists, but I was noticing that we have visited and happened upon quite a few significant relics and reminders of World War II, especially Nazi Germany’s enduing monuments and dread ambitions. Here is the next installment of this series—this time from the capital. Berlin’s architecture is framed in the styles of many eras and diverse regimes, from Prussian princes to the German Democratic Republic, and has many other examples of war time buildings besides—like the old Tempelhof airport, but the Olympic stadium and park that hosted the 1936 summer games was a showcase of propaganda for all the world to see.

Live television broadcasts (among the first in the world ) of the events and invocation also went down as the Earth’s first embassy to the rest of the Universe—signals beamed transnationally and then escaping into space at the speed of light for any other civilization with a sensitive enough aerial antenna to receive. Another strange assembly gathered because of the fighting and desire to create spectacle are these heroic statues in the forecourt of the Citadel at Spandau. These historic German figures were removed from their spots along Siegsalle (Victory Alley)—along with the Siegssaule (The Victory Column, which was originally in front of the Parliament Building, the Bundestag)—because they were in the way of Albert Speer’s plans to create the World-Capital Germania, with a colossal peoples’ hall spanning this avenue. Speer’s plans were never realized and with subsequent revolutions, the statues have been in storage ever since.

WWII week: tysk (fleirtyding)

Previously, we had seen many of the coastal fortifications, still mostly intact, along the beaches of the Baltic, in the Normandy and in the harbours of the Bay of Biscay, and we were surprised to discover what an extensive network of defenses from World War II are yet to be found with some searching in Norway.

Unlike the pillbox concrete installations that defy erosion and the slippage of the decades (at least on human terms) as essential reminders spanning much of the continent and beyond, the Norwegian continuation of the Atlantic Wall, built under the orders of Nazi German to stave off an anticipated Allied invasion, are hewn into the very geology, cut into cliffs and granite boulders, like these

labyrinthine emplacements of trenches, bunkers and batteries found at Fort Nordberg and along the trek up to Fort Varnes and spread across the beach at Ny Hellesund all in the southwest part of the country, and commanded a strategic view of important berths and navigable points, bottlenecks and hiding spots, along the unfamiliar network of fjords. The title, tysk (fleirtyding) is Nowegian for German, Deutsch (disabiguation, [Begriffsanklarung]) to signify that Norwegians do not believe that the German people are unchanged or all the same.