The Order of the Black Eagle Breast Star was an award granted by the Kings of Prussia and its design contains a tantalizing clue as to how the small Kingdom came to grow so powerful. The motto that is engraved upon the Breast Star was taken seriously and one that the Prussian kings lived by… Continue reading The motto engraved upon the Breast Star encapsulates how Prussia was ruled
See my short and concise articles in a Blog format...a menu format with links to each topic plus a keyword search option...try it out by clicking on the menu bar at top... I have published a wide range of topics...here are just a few examples but there are many more for you to browse and… Continue reading Interesting German historical and cultural facts
The image here is of a 1915 poster from Königsberg, the capital city of East Prussia. The poster shows a large dark knight against a colorful German Imperial Eagle banner with text announcing the dedication of an Iron Warrior, known as Der Eiserne Wehrmann. The text explains that the event will be held to collect… Continue reading Large wooden Nail Man statues were set up in cities all over Germany and Austria in WWI.
The summer Olympics of 1936 were held in Berlin, Germany. Berlin had previously been chosen to host the 1916 Summer Olympics, but they were cancelled due to the First World War. I have seen documentaries over the years, but I always was left with the impression that the United States was the winner over an… Continue reading Olympic Games 1936…a lot of things are discussed but the fact that Germany won the most medals of every color is never mentioned
The Teutonic Knights were warrior monks who fought to convert pagans to Christianity and also built and governed their Monastic State of the Teutonic Order all along the Baltic coast in northern Europe. At the core of their organization was a group of 3000 highly trained and well equipped warrior monks...men who also gave up… Continue reading For 300 years two men were included in the daily prayers of the Teutonic Knights
This image features Eppelein von Gailingen (1310 to 1381), who was a famous German robber baron in the Middle Ages. Gailingen belonged to the class of original robber barons, who supplemented their income with unauthorized tolls and, sometimes, flat-out theft. The term "robber barons" is derived from a medieval term, in German “Raubritter”, describing men… Continue reading Eppelein von Gailingen was a robber baron in the Middle Ages, immortalized by folk song
A time warp image exemplifying how time flies faster than we can comprehend....From a Lufthansa poster celebrating 25 years of airmail service in 1944. "Tempus Fugit"... already in ancient times the Romans felt that time flies. Today it seems that time flies even faster. Think about our own lives flitting along with incredible changes in… Continue reading An 1844 German postal coach encounters its evolution just 100 years later
The inauguration of the Berlin Siegessäule (Victory Column) is depicted here in an 1873 artist's rendering of the ceremony conducted by Kaiser Wilhelm I...the image in gold is a close up of the Victoria statue atop the column, as it appears today. Originally, the Victory Column was designed by Heinrich Strack in 1864 to commemorate… Continue reading Inauguration of the 1873 Berlin Siegessäule (Victory Column)
This is an interesting and charming little painting by Adolph von Menzel and a somewhat unusual subject matter for Menzel. It caught my attention for those reasons but even more so when I saw its title, Blinde Kuh (Blind Cow). Blinde Kuh is a game, like Blind Man's Bluff, but it’s also a common German… Continue reading A girl smitten with the regal armored knight
From the early 1930’s until 1945, the German movie industry rivaled Hollywood in terms of quality, distribution and popularity. It was the golden era of Europe's film industry…with the high point in 1942 when 1.067 billion people were in paid attendance throughout Europe. The movie poster shown here features Zarah Leander and Viktor Staal in… Continue reading Once upon a time the German movie industry rivaled Hollywood
