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April/May 2009
Gallery: The Sound of Art is in the Air – Tinguely Museum
by Ruth Rovner
Situated in a park on the right bank of the Rhine River, Museum Jean Tinguely in Basel is devoted to the works of the Swiss sculptor who is considered a master of kinetic art. He created his
ingenious moving sculptures from all sorts of everyday materials: pieces of scrap metal, plastic, discarded wheels, and more.
Most of these kinetic sculptures not only move – they also create sounds. Museums are usually rather silent places. Here, however, visitors can hear squeaking, clanking, clattering,
rattling, thumping, and other sounds created by the moving metal parts of these machine sculptures. For instance, the work titled “Klamauk “ is mounted on a moving tractor with banging bells and
cymbals.
Some might question whether this is truly “art, “ but the prominent Swiss architect, Mario Botta, who designed the museum specifically to house Tinguely’s works, certainly
did not.
“Works of art usually make their statements silently, “ he said. “These works are the exception, for they communicate through sound engendered by their movements.
“
Tinguely’s works communicate to young and old alike. Often, youngsters are especially intrigued by these moving sculptures with their variety of sights and sounds.
And this museum is especially friendly to young visitors, with free admission for those sixteen years old and younger. “A great majority of our visitors are children and young people,
“ says Ms. Laurentia Leon, the Public Relations/Press and Exhibitions Coordinator for the Tinguely Museum. “And this being a museum that is welcoming and inviting, without the normal hushed
atmosphere, one can hear laughter and shrieks of delight. “
Indeed, the Tinguely Museum prides itself on its atmosphere of discovery and pleasure. “It’s a place full of vitality, laughter, amazement, and discovery, “ reads its
website. “A museum that arouses in children and adults alike a need to experiment, to play and to think about art. “
Besides being able to watch sculptures move and create sound, visitors can interact directly with many of Jean Tinguely’s works. They can touch the works or push the buttons to active them.
With the huge sculpture titled “Utopia, “ they can even walk into it. It is the largest sculpture in the museum’s collection. On display in the first large exhibit hall, it is an arresting
sight which visitors see soon after they enter the museum.
One element of “Utopia “ is a horse from a merry-go-round, with many connecting wheels and cogs attached to it. (Wheels are a signature feature of many Tinguely sculptures.)
Visitors can climb up on parts of this sculpture to see it from different vantage points. “Utopia “ also has large, colorful ladders and walkways, which also beckon the visitor to explore…
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The Allure of Amber: Das Bernsteinzimmer
by James E. Held
The task and cost of creating the fabled Amber Room was monumental – its fate, a mystery.
By 1997, the temptation of riches from concealed treasure became overwhelming for Hans Achtermann. During World War II, his father – a Wehrmacht soldier – had pilfered an exquisite
Florentine mosaic depicting a woman sniffing a rose, but instead of cold cash, both Achtermann and his Bremen lawyer acting as agent were arrested. When Russian and German curators examined the allegorical
artifact depicting the senses of touch and smell, both were astounded that it did indeed belong to the Amber Room – the first confirmation that something of this masterpiece, valued at over $175 million
survived the War! Then, a Berlin woman intrigued by the publicity discovered her amber cabinet was also part of this illustrious chamber.
Neither painting nor sculpture, the Amber Room's artistry was the embellishing of the furnishings, furniture, and wall-panels with six tons of this honey-hued gem, so revered in the Baltic
region. "I want to tell you about the amber room," nineteenth century French novelist Theophile Gautier wrote. "Only in the thousand and one nights and in magic fairy tales, where the architecture
of palaces is trusted to magicians, spirits and genies can one read about rooms made of diamonds, rubies, jacinth and other jewels. The eye is amazed and blinded by the wealth and warmth. “ (1) "I can
honestly say," another observer claimed, "it is the most magnificent thing I have ever seen. “ (2) Situated in the Catherine Palace outside St. Petersburg, the Amber Room's intricately carved
panels were illuminated by "565 candles whose light was reflected in the warm golden amber and sparkled in the mirrors, gilt and mosaics. “ (3) Visitors called it the Eighth Wonder of the World and
felt this poem in amber radiated a glowing, even mystical energy.
The medium of this masterpiece is a forty million year-old gift from the Oligocene era when resins from prehistoric conifers were interned under the Baltic Sea's Blue Earth sediments to
petrify. Storms periodically washed the rough gems ashore where they were gathered since time immemorial. Archaeological sites such as Juodkrante, Lithuania (German Schwartzort), yielded ancient artifacts carved
with stone tools, and Baltic caches of Roman coins establish the gold of the north's stature in the Mediterranean world. As early as 3,000 BC, amber was entombed within Egyptian pyramids, and Greek mythology
believed it formed from the tears of the Heliade, shed for Phaethon's demise. Folklore considered amber a powerful panacea, thwarting witchcraft, sore throats, or impotence, and prized pieces harbor
prehistoric flora and insects whose struggle and demise are a drama eternally preserved for admiration and scientific study.
In medieval times, however, amber became an art form among guilds of German artisans. Beautiful works of rosaries, tabernacles, and crucifixes gave way after the Reformation to secular clocks,
cabinets, and snuff boxes, but nothing approached the grandeur or complexity of this work, commissioned in 1699 by Prussian King Frederick I. Constructing the Amber Room became a challenge unparalleled in amber
artistry, but by 1711, Danzig masters Gottfried Turau and Ernest Schacht completed the heating, cutting, carving, and assembling of over one hundred thousand pieces! Frederick, however, lived to enjoy the
magnificent floral designs, heralds, allegorical scenes, and profiles for only two years; in 1717, his son and successor, Frederick William I, the Soldier King, who disdained such opulence, presented the chamber
to Russia's Peter the Great to cement an alliance…
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The Essence of Essen
by Leah Larkin
Almost totally destroyed in the bombings of World War II, this city of coal and industry is today a centerpiece in the rebirth of the Ruhr Valley.
Essen and industry. That is the image most have of this city of six hundred thousand, the hub of the Ruhr district in North Rhine-Westphalia. Its fame and fortune are linked to the Krupp family, a
German dynasty noted for steel production and the manufacture of ammunition and armaments. (see related article)*. These days, however, the focus is shifting from industry to culture. The Ruhr district has been
named European Capital of Culture 2010 by the European Commission with Essen as the standard bearer.
You will not find Old World charm in the city, which was ninety percent destroyed in World War II and rebuilt in the bland 1950s architectural mode. You will find a wonderful pedestrian shopping
area, notable museums, sites of industrial tourism, and the magnificent Villa Hügel, the Krupp family residence.
A chief attraction is the Zollverein, a former coal mine and coking plant, the only World Heritage Site in the Ruhr. Fifty years ago, Essen was the largest coal-mining city in Europe with the
largest sub-surface coal mine in the world and more than twenty mines employing some eighty thousand miners. The last mine closed in 1986.
The Zollverein, an imposing industrial complex, was built in the Bauhaus style – a double-legged shaft head frame flanked by symmetrically aligned square buildings. When it began operation
in 1932, it was considered the most modern and most beautiful colliery in the world. At the site where twelve thousand tons of coal per day were once converted into coke, visitors can now enjoy a guided tour of
the former plant which houses a cultural and design center as well as a museum.
A visit begins with a ride up a fifty-eight-eight meter long free-standing escalator to the Kohlenwäsche (coal wash) which houses the visitors’ center. Wander around and marvel at the
gigantic machinery in the vast plant – awesome. Enjoy the view from an outdoor platform and visit artists’ studios in the former boiler house or check out the museum for exhibits on the history of
the region.
Essen’s downtown area is a delight. The city was the first in Germany to introduce a pedestrian area in the 1950s. Along the streets lined with all types of shops, boutiques, and department
stores are pleasant squares with outdoor cafes for lingering and stands selling fruits, vegetables, and flowers. The slogan, Essen – die Einkaufsstadt (Essen – the shopping city), stands out in big,
bold letters atop the Handelshof trade building across from the train station. Retail trade is a tradition in the city where the Karstadt department stores, the Aldi supermarket chain, and Deichmann shoes have
their headquarters.
While the city may not have numerous ancient monuments, it has a church and a synagogue of note. The latter, with an impressive copper dome, dates to 1913. With space for fourteen hundred, it was
the largest free-standing synagogue north of the Alps. In 1938, during Crystal Night, the Nazis set it ablaze, extensively damaging the Jugendstil interior. Renovation began in 1959, when the city acquired the
structure. It has been a place of remembrance, but will be closed until the spring of 2010 when it will reopen as a house of Jewish culture…
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Wunderbar Lodgings at Unglaubliche Prices
by Patricia M. Bloebaum
If the cost of traveling has you curtailing your dream vacation plans, a stay at a FeWo just might put your plans back on track.
A wealthy friend once said to me, “If you’re ever in Zurich, you must have dinner at the Airport Hilton Hotel! “ I smiled a polite response, but
thought, “We’re an old retired couple, and can’t afford to stay at the Zurich Airport Hilton Hotel. “
The going price at the Zurich Airport Hilton for a double room ranges from $304.30 to $682.23 a night. As for the restaurant, the lowest-priced item on the menu is the soup of the day at $8.83 a
bowl, while a Sunday brunch in the restaurant my heiress friend found so remarkable is $63.84 – per person!
This information re-confirmed our decision that airport hotels – as luxurious as they might be – would not be our choice while traveling in Europe. Instead, my husband and I live in
grand comfort all around Germany in vacation apartments called Ferienwohnungen.
We first discovered the advantages of FeWo (short for Ferienwohnung) living in 2000, when we planned to meet with a group of Germany-loving Internet friends in the Black Forest. The Great
Gathering would take place in a friendly country Gasthaus in the small village of Urach, but the problem was – where to stay? In a community of four hundred people, hotels would be in short supply.
An email sent to a local Ferienwohnung owner listed on the Urach home page revealed that many of the village’s rooms had already been reserved, but he referred me to another FeWo owner who
did not have Internet access. I wrote a letter asking whether they could provide a bed for us and received a reply saying that they could offer us an entire apartment for only 29 pre-Euro Deutschmarks per person
per night – an equivalent of about $30.00. I jumped at the offer, and thus began our new mode of Germany travel – making ourselves at home in FeWos whenever possible.
When we finally arrived at Haus Frank in Urach, we were greeted by our hosts and led up a private stairway to our comfortable vacation apartment. It had a cozy living/dining room (complete with
color cable television) that looked out over the Urach River and a green hillside dotted with grazing cows. Two double bedrooms, two bathrooms, a spacious kitchen outfitted with every dish, pot, pan, and
implement necessary for serious cooking, plus a rooftop deck with garden house and lawn furniture completed the amenities. My husband and I looked at one another in amazement. All this for $30.00 a day?
The next morning, we awoke to the soft strains of music coming from the radio in our living-dining room. We followed the sounds and discovered that our hostess had set out a bountiful German
breakfast of juice, boiled eggs, a basket of fresh Brötchen, a platter of Black Forest ham and cheese, butter, homemade plum preserves, and two vacuum bottles with coffee (for me) and tea (for my husband). It
was the first of many such memorable Frühstücks.
FeWos vary in size, style, and price, but they are inevitably larger and more comfortable than any hotel, because most of them started out as real homes instead of vacation rentals…
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The Passion Plays of Oberammergau
by Anna Cramer
Once every decade, the residents of Oberammergau join as one to fulfill a promise made nearly four hundred years ago.
If you plan to visit the small town of Oberammergau in a valley of the Western Alpine foothills this year, you may come across an unusual number of men with long hair and thick, long beards, lay
actors and participants of the Passion Play of 2010.
From the village bridge, the visitor takes in the quiet river Ammer in the foreground, the enormous wooden gables of the wealthy farmhouses behind it, and, in the background, the typical
onion-shaped tower of the parish church St. Peter and Paul. To the south stands the rock finger of the Kofel like a sentinel, four thousand four hundred feet high, whereas in the other directions, rolling hills
complete this picture-postcard view of a typical Bavarian town. Strolling through the streets, we admire the “Lüftlmalerei “ (see inset) façades decorated with colorful frescoes, some two
hundred years old, and wonder at the omnipresence of stores offering woodcarvings of mostly religious character.
While Oberammergau lives up to the Bavarian holiday image of a wealthy farm town, which shows off its stately, well-maintained houses and beautiful surroundings, it is best known the world over
for its Passion Plays. Once every ten years, the quiet setting changes completely, the normally laid-back rhythm of life is broken, and Oberammergau becomes the scene of a world-famous theatrical and religious
event, through which the townspeople fulfill a vow they took three hundred seventy-six years ago. The year 2010 will see the forty-first repetition in 2010 of the “Play of the Suffering, Death, and
Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. “
The tradition was born in times of severe suffering. In 1633, when Germany was ravaged by the Thirty Years’ War, through which it eventually lost a third of its population, this wealthy
trading post along the old trade route from Augsburg via Mittenwald to Venice was also attacked by the Plague. In despair, the surviving townspeople vowed to commemorate Jesus’ suffering and death once
every decade, if they were spared total extinction. They kept their promise faithfully to this day, and only modified the strict rhythm if wars made it inevitable. Once every ten years, the entire town enacts
the last six days in the life of Jesus, and his resurrection, in theatrical shows. One hundred ten performances between May and October will attract over half a million spectators from all corners of the earth.
As tradition demands, every one of the more than two thousand applicants will be incorporated, provided they meet the simple, but strict criteria: Each actor, singer, or musician must either be a
native of Oberammergau or have lived here for a minimum of twenty years. The oldest player will actually be over one hundred years old in 2010, but hopefully will still be able to participate. This principle
applies not only to the masses of Roman soldiers and to the thirty-six major roles, but also to the Judaic and folk groups which are enacted by lay actors. Even the children and newborn babies form part of the
cast. Once accepted, the male actors have to follow a strict rule: after Ash Wednesday of the year before the plays, they may no longer shave or have their hair cut, as set down in the
famous “Oberammergau Barterlass “ (beard regulation), in order to enhance the authenticity of the scenes…
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Leipzig – City of Commerce, Scholars, and Revolution
by Zac Steger
This historic home to printing and trade fairs bears little resemblance to its former dreary self during its time under Communist rule.
Since the reunification of Germany in 1990, Leipzig has established itself as one of the most important cities in the country and the European Union. Long known as a center of commerce, Leipzig is
also a center of learning and publishing, and enjoys a rich literary and musical history. It is also a good place to explore the history of the Deutsche Demokratische Republic and the eventual collapse of
Communism.
Thousands travel to Leipzig each year for its Trade Fairs at the Neue Messe. Located near the intersection of two major trade routes, the Trade Fair began in the Middle Ages and claims to be the
oldest existing one in the world. It became particularly important during the days of the DDR when it was a member of Comecon, the Eastern European economic bloc.
Arriving in Leipzig by rail brings visitors to the Hauptbahnhof, one of the largest stations in Europe. The great size can be attributed to the fact that, when it opened in 1915, it served both
the Prussian and Saxon railways under one roof. Due to decreasing use, and not being well suited for contemporary high-speed trains, the station was renovated and, in 1997, reopened to include a shopping center.
Construction on an underground rail network was begun in 2003 and is currently scheduled to be completed in 2009.
Most of the important sights in Leipzig can be found in the old town, starting at the Marktplatz where the Alte Rathaus (Old City Hall) stands. Completed in 1557 after only nine months of
construction by Heironymus Lotter, the Renaissance building has gone through several changes to achieve its current look. Since 1909, the Old City Hall has housed the Museum of City History. The Neue Rathaus
(New Town Hall) was completed in 1905 on the site of the former Pleissenburg fortification at the southernmost point of the old town.
On the north side of the square is the Alte Waage (Old Weigh House), a Renaissance structure also built by Heironymus Lotter in 1555. Built for trade-fair purposes, the Weigh Office was located on
the ground floor and today is a private business. The building was reconstructed in 1964 following war damage.
One of the most beautiful buildings on the market square is the Königshaus, constructed at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The city council used the building for important visitors,
including Peter the Great, who stayed on his journey back to Russia from the Netherlands. Following a Baroque renovation in 1706 to 1707, the building attracted even more notable visitors, including Augustus the
Strong and Napoleon.
In 1530, a medical professor from Auerbach, Heinrich Stromer, began construction on Auerbachs Hof, which was later converted into a shopping arcade. The original structure was torn d own in 1912
and reconstructed by Anton Mädler. The Mädler Passage still houses Auerbachs Keller, famous from a scene in Goethe’s Faust. Though the pricey menu may put off many from actually dining here, it is a
must-see for anyone interested in Germany’s most famous author. Not far away is Specks Hof, built between 1908 and 1929, the oldest surviving Passage arcade in Leipzig and once an integral part of the
Trade Fair…
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Hallstatt – An Austrian Gem
by Dave Schwan
Perhaps one of the world’s most picturesque settings, Hallstatt’s scenic location attracted residents even in prehistoric times.
There is an Austrian village southeast of Salzburg where human activity can be traced back seven thousand years. It was a center for salt mining centuries before the start of the Roman Empire, of
which it eventually became a part. Christianity has had a foothold here for nearly one thousand years. It was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, an arm of the United Nations, in December 1997. All this
and much more has taken place in a town with less than one thousand residents and virtually no roads leading to it until the late 1800s. Even if it did not have this history, it would still be one of the most
scenic places to visit in an area with plenty of scenery, the region called Salzkammergut. The extraordinary village within that region is named Hallstatt.
Salzkammergut is a portion of Upper Austria that was first mined for salt by the ancient Celts. Remnants of their culture in the region date back to 5,000 BC. The word Salzkammergut can mean
"estate of the salt chamber" as the Habsburgs controlled the area during their reign over the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was also a favorite vacation spot for the ruling monarchs.
Hallstatt lies in the southern-most portion of Salzkammergut, perched precariously on a slope headed straight into the adjacent lake, Hallstattersee. Due to the incredibly steep terrain, Hallstatt
was accessible only by boat and narrow footpaths until the first road was laid in 1890. While modern day vehicles can easily reach it, driving into the heart of town can be very difficult. That is why ample
parking is available just off the main roads. After that, you are on a footpath and stairway that provides a marvelous view looking down on the village, lake, and mountains beyond.
A walk down the narrow pathways into the heart of town provides a close-up view of residences, businesses, and the town's Catholic Church with its adjoining St. Michael's chapel, a
structure that has been part of the mountainside since the twelfth century.
Adjacent to the church is a cemetery and burial grounds quite unlike almost any other. The centerpiece is a tomb-like structure called a charnel house, also known as an ossuary or ossuarium,
containing the bones of over six hundred people. A pamphlet given to visitors explains that charnel houses were constructed for a second funeral after a body buried for several years was exhumed in order for the
grave to be reused. The lack of burial space, especially in Hallstatt, makes this a necessity.
In many cases, the names of the deceased were painted on their skulls, and then displayed in the ossuary. Other bones were neatly placed below the skulls. While all this may sound macabre, there
are fascinating historical connections. Charnel houses such as this were often consecrated to St. Michael, namesake of Hallstatt's church and a fighter against the powers of hell. In fact, the word
"charnel" is derived from the Latin carnarium (flesh) and charnel houses have their roots in customs and traditions evolving from the Stone Age, in which communal graves were common. (Coincidentally,
an archeological dig near Hallstatt in 1846 uncovered a large prehistoric cemetery as well as an ancient blacksmith site.)…
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From Wertheim to Sainte Lucie and San Juan: Löwensteiner Jäger in the Caribbean, 1795 to 1797
by Robert A. Selig
They were men with questionable backgrounds fighting battles at destinations that were unknown to them including the British islands of the Caribbean.
Looking through British War Office Record Group 97 in the National Archives in Kew, one is apt to find, in a subgroup labeled Soldiers Service Documents, any number of the most fascinating
biographies. They are of men who had survived many a battle, fever, and shipwreck, not to mention military hospital, during a military career that had often taken them to the four corners of the earth, to earn
the reward of enjoying the waning years of their lives in the peace and relative comfort of the Royal Hospital of Chelsea. To find a goodly number of men with German-sounding names among the pensioners does not
come as a surprise either: ever since the ascension of George I to the throne of St. James in 1714, the Kings of England were also Electors of Hanover. In order to meet the manpower needs of their armed forces,
the King-Electors preferred to hire complete regiments such as the famous Hessians, Braunschweiger, or Ansbacher, of the American War of Independence.
They, or rather the princes who provided these units, recruited men from all across the Holy Roman Empire and beyond. There are pensioners such as Anton Wellsmith from Hesse-Cassel and Otto
Bernhard of Eiterfeld near Fulda in the records. Gottfried Hauener came from Würzburg to Chelsea while Franz Gabriel hailed from Breslau in Silesia and Xaver Seritza from the Tyrol. Franz Dalhammer from Vienna
was already fifty-four years old when he was discharged while Jacob Helfre from Freyberg in Switzerland continued to serve until the ripe old age of sixty-seven. His fellow countryman, Charles Wissard from
Berne, retired at forty-six, while Franz Hofman, born in "Deutsch Bohmen," had served for ten years and six months before he entered Chelsea at the age of forty-five.
What binds these men together is their service in Löwenstein's Regiment, which had taken them to such far-away places as Sainte Lucie, Grenada, Trinidad, and San Juan on the island of Puerto
Rico, where they had been aiding the crown to suppress slave revolts that had broken out in the West Indies following the French Revolution and which were threatening British possessions there as well. The
French declaration of war on Britain on 1 February 1793, combined with the openly proclaimed intention of the revolutionaries of exporting the ideals of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité to the Caribbean, caused
Britain to embark on the pre-emptive conquest of Tobago, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and St. Lucia in 1793. By early 1794, only St. Domingue (modern-day Haiti), the most profitable colony in all of the Americas,
where a slave rebellion led by Toussaint L'Ouverture had erupted as early as August 1791, was still French. In response to British conquests, the Jacobins, in the summer of 1794, sent Victor Hugues as
commissioner to the West Indies. Hugues at once issued a flaming proclamation freeing all slaves, which in turn led to slave revolts on the British islands of Jamaica, St. Vincent, and Grenada in 1795. A greatly
alarmed Court of St. James decided to send two expeditions to the Caribbean in 1796: one under General Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Hugh Cloberry Christian was to capture St. Lucia and Guadeloupe in the
eastern Caribbean; the other was to conquer St. Domingue, the den from whence went out calls for armed rebellion, a place of refuge for runaways and a source of weapons and logistical support. To achieve this
goal, London needed between twenty-five thousand and thirty thousand soldiers, yet fewer than twenty thousand were available. Enter the Löwensteiner Jäger/Löwenstein Chasseurs, as they are also called in British
records…
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Language: Die Periode der Geschichte um Maximilian
Von Peter Pabisch
Maximilians mexikanisches Kaiserreich von 1864 bis 1867 verursachte wesentlich mehr Aufregung, als es seiner Wichtigkeit und Dauer angemessen war. Man kann nicht einmal die Frage klar beantworten,
ob es überhaupt je solch ein Reich gab. Die Lage entsprach eher einem Kampf der Willensstärke, deren Hauptvertreter nicht nur Mexikos Präsident Benito Juarez und Erzherzog Maximilian von Österreich waren. Dazu
gehörte auch Napoleon III. von Frankreich mit seinem Oberbefehlshaber in Mexiko François Achille Bazaine (1811-1888), dazu gehörte Maximilians älterer Bruder Franz Josef von Österreich, dazu gehörte Königin
Viktoria von England – und dazu gehörte am prominentesten der Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika Abraham Lincoln, der zu jener Zeit mit dem Bürgerkrieg zu schaffen hatte. Viele Nebenfiguren
müssen dieser Liste hinzugefügt werden – zuerst Maximilians Frau Charlotte und ihr Vater Leopold I., der ambitiöse König von Belgien, ebenso wie der Vereiniger Italiens Giuseppe de Garibaldi. Erwähnt muss
auch Wilhelm von Tegetthoff (1827-1871), der Nelson Österreichs, werden, dessen Statue noch heute auf dem Praterstern dominiert, einem Platz im Zentrum Wiens. Er galt als ein loyaler Unterstützer Maximilians
über dessen Tod hinaus.
Die Filmindustrie Hollywoods erfasste viel später das abenteuerliche Sujet der Ära Maximilians in mindestens zwei Filmen – „Juarez “ mit Betty Davis als Charlotte und „Vera Cruz
“ mit Gary Cooper und Burt Lancaster, die zwei nordamerikanische Söldner nach dem Ende des Bürgerkriegs verkörperten. Sie boten Maximilian ihre Dienste an, allerdings nicht aus selbstlosen Gründen, sondern
wegen der Aussicht auf Gold. Napoleon III. erwartete in diesem Kampfgeschehen jene finanziellen Ausgaben Frankreichs zurückzugewinnen, die den konservativen Kräften Mexikos in früheren Kriegen zur Unterstützung
gegen die U.S.A. waren gegeben worden; sogar Großbritannien war an solchen Rückzahlungen aus ähnlichen Gründen interessiert. Die größte Enttäuschung in dieser Unterstützung stellte der mexikanisch-amerikanische
Krieg von 1846 bis 1848 vor, als Mexiko seine geborgten Finanzen und etwa 65% seines Landes verlor, das heute den gesamten Südwesten der Vereinigten Staaten bedeutet.
Wie passt der Habsburger Maximilian in dieses Gesamtbild? Psychologen würden den Grund des Übels im versteckten Wettbewerb mit seinem Bruder, dem österreichischen Kaiser Franz Josef I. sehen, der
sein Land 68 Jahre regieren sollte, vier Jahre länger als Königin Viktoria – was eine der längsten Regierungsperioden eines Herrschers in der Weltgeschichte bedeutet. Unter den drei jüngeren Brüdern dieses
Kaisers war Maximilian der älteste und nur zwei Jahre jünger als Franz Josef. Es wird öfters erwähnt, dass seine Mutter, die bayrische Prinzessin Sophie, Maximilian zum Lieblingssohn erkoren hatte, weil er
witzreich und vielsprachig, charmant und diplomatisch, gut aussehend und erfolgreich in gestellten Aufgaben war. Er vertrat das Kaiserreich Österreich als Vizekönig der Lombardei und Venetiens von 1857 bis 1859,
ehe die Lombardei und ein paar Jahre danach Venetien Italien zufielen. Er diente ein Jahrzehnt von 1854 bis 1864 in der österreichischen Marine und wurde sogar der ranghöchste Admiral mit Station im
Mittelmeerraum nahe Triest. Immerhin konnte seine Flotte auf eine 500-jährige Tradition hinweisen – anders als die deutsche Marine, die erst ab 1871 aufgebaut werden sollte. Zu den Leistungen dieser
österreichischen Marine zählt die Erfindung des Torpedos, aber auch die Erforschung der tiefsten Stelle des Mittelmeeres. Diese gute Leistung spiegelt sich auch bis heute in allen Seehäfen der adriatischen
Küste, die nach wohlüberlegter österreichischer Planung angelegt sind. Wäre Maximilian doch in dieser Stellung geblieben!
The Historical Interlude Around Maximilian
by Peter Pabisch
Maximilian’s Mexican empire, from 1864 to 1867, caused a great stir far beyond its importance and duration. Even the question of whether there ever was an empire cannot be answered
definitively. More likely the situation represented a battle of will-power, including key figures, in addition to Mexico’s President Benito Juarez and Archduke Maximilian of Austria. There were also
Napoleon III of France and his Mexican commander-in-chief, François Achille Bazaine (1811-1888); Maximilian’s older brother Francis Joseph of Austria; Queen Victoria of England; and, most prominently,
United States President Abraham Lincoln, who had to deal with a civil war to his very end. Many smaller players have to be added to this list, foremost Maximilian’s wife Charlotte and her father, the
ambitious King of Belgium, Leopold I, as well as the unifier of Italy, Giuseppe de Garibaldi. Even Wilhelm von Tegetthoff (1827-1871), the Nelson of Austria, whose statue dominates Praterstern – a square
in the center of Vienna – has to be mentioned as the most loyal supporter of Maximilian beyond his death.
Much later, Hollywood’s film industry used the adventurous vein of the Maximilian era in at least two successful films – Juarez with Betty Davis as Charlotte, and Vera Cruz with Gary
Cooper and Burt Lancaster playing two of North America’s mercenaries after the end of the Civil War. They were offering their services to Maximilian, albeit for no unselfish reasons, since there was gold
to be gained. In this fight, Napoleon III envisioned recouping the money France had spent to support conservative Mexican forces in previous wars against the United States; even Great Britain had an interest in
this repayment for similar reasons. The biggest blow to their support of Mexico was the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, when Mexico lost its borrowed finances and about sixty-five percent of its territory,
now the entire Southwest of the United States.
How does the Habsburg Maximilian fit into this entire scenario? Psychologists would place the root of all evil in his hidden competition with his brother, Austrian emperor Francis Joseph, who was
to reign for sixty-eight years, four years longer than Queen Victoria, thus making him one of the longest reigning monarchs in world history. Among this emperor’s three younger brothers, Maximilian was the
oldest and only two years his junior. As often observed, he was their mother’s, Bavarian Princess Sophie, favorite son, because he was witty, multilingual, charming, diplomatic, good looking, and
successful in his appointed tasks. He represented the Austrian empire as Vice-Roy of Lombardy-Venetia from 1857 to 1859, before Lombardy and, a few years later, Venetia became part of Italy. He served in the
Austrian navy for a decade from 1854 to 1864 and even became the highest-ranking admiral, stationed in the Mediterranean near Trieste. After all, his fleet had a five hundred year tradition – unlike the
German fleet that was built only after 1871. Among its great deeds was the invention of the torpedo, but also the discovery of the deepest point in the Mediterranean. In fact, all the seaports along the Adriatic
coast are modeled after well functioning Austrian designs to this day. And Maximilian was an important instigator of the modernization of this fleet. Had he only stayed in this occupation!..
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At Home: Rösti: Swiss Potato Pancakes
by Sharon Hudgins
Sitting down to dinner at the Restaurant Brasserie Anker in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, I was delighted to see that the menu listed twenty dishes featuring Rösti. When I placed my order for
Rösti garnished with mixed vegetables, one of my American dining companions asked, "What's that?"
"Rösti is a national dish of Switzerland," I replied, "ranking right up there with cheese fondue and Swiss chocolates."
When our orders arrived at the table, the Americans were surprised to see placed in front of me a skillet filled with a thick potato pancake topped with cooked vegetables.
"It's giant hash browns!" one guy exclaimed. "I've never seen a portion of them that big!"
Well, he was almost right. Rösti are indeed made from grated potatoes cooked in hot fat, but they're not quite the same as American hash browns. And the Swiss would never relegate them to the
status of something you'd merely serve as a side dish in a roadside diner.
The basic recipe calls for coarsely shredded raw or cooked potatoes to be sautéed in butter in a large skillet, seasoned with salt, shaped into a big thick pancake, and slowly cooked until a
golden brown crust forms on the bottom. Sometimes the potato pancake is turned over and cooked until crusty on the other side, too. Then it's placed on a heated plate and served immediately, while the crust
is still crisp, the potatoes inside steamy hot, and the aroma of butter strong enough to make you not care about all that cholesterol.
Rösti (also spelled Roesti, Röschti, Roeschti) started out as humble farmhouse fare, a breakfast dish cooked in a big iron skillet over embers in the open hearth. The single Rösti was placed in
the middle of the kitchen's wooden table, and everyone dug in with a large spoon, helping himself to a portion of the hot potato pancake before going off to work in the pastures and fields.
Since then, Rösti has migrated from the farm to urban home kitchens, small family-run restaurants, and pricey upscale eateries. At one of St. Gallen's cozy little "first-floor
restaurants" in a medieval building, the waitress advised me to order a plate-size portion of Rösti to go with the city's famous Olmabratwurst sausages. At a fine restaurant in Lugano, I ate an
excellent pike-perch perfectly baked inside a crust of herbed Rösti. And in Zürich, I found that Rösti is the classic accompaniment to Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, thin strips of veal with mushrooms in cream sauce.
Rösti is so popular in Switzerland that it's eaten in several ways, at different times of the day – not only for breakfast, as in the past, but also as a snack, as an accompaniment to a
variety of meats, and as a main dish on its own (often with a mixed green salad to provide a crunchy counterpoint to the rich, buttery potatoes). And, of course, each cook, amateur or professional, has his or
her own recipe for this classic Swiss dish – usually with a secret technique for producing the best Rösti on the block…
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Family Research: Perseverance Pays Off with Photographs of Relative's Grave
By James M. Beidler
German Life reader Peter Kent of North Fort Myers, Florida, has found that sometimes you can strike genealogical gold looking for a relative who actually went looking for gold. In Kent's case,
searching his mother's family has been an on-and-off pursuit for much of his life. "When I was about twenty years old, I asked my mother if she knew anything about her grandfather's parents,"
Kent wrote. "She told me that the records were in a church in a town called Busdorf that was destroyed in the war of 1864 between Prussia and Denmark. That ended that." However, when Kent received
information on his father's family in Germany, that gave him the impulse to check further on all his lines, including his maternal Lagersen family.
A decade or so later, Kent wrote to his grandfather's hometown and received, among other information, a letter, which included the following phrase: "Friedrich Lagersen, verschollen in
America." This Friedrich was a brother of Kent's great-grandfather. That seemed to end that search, since "verschollen" means “missing. “
Later, Kent used the Ellis Island index to find that Friedrich had arrived in New York on May 10, 1855, on the ship Gutenberg from Hamburg. "The name, age and trade coincided with my records,
sparse at this time," Kent wrote. As a next step, Kent went to the Rootsweb.com website and used the Social Security Death Index to find several Lagersens who fit the right time frame to be Friedrich's
children. Kent wrote that he also had to sift out some Lagersens from Minnesota who were likely Norwegian. A Rootsweb message board, however, connected Kent with a Lagersen researcher who was able to furnish
some information about Friedrich. According to this researcher, Friedrich lived in New York for a time before moving to Davenport, Iowa, where he lived for just two years before becoming part of a wagon train
bound for California. There Friedrich settled in the town of Kelsey that is known today as Lawrenceburg, where he married Henrietta Drews from Hannover, Germany…
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Calendar
APRIL
Frederick, MD
First Friday of the month: Der Stammtisch at Brewer’s Alley, 124 N. Market Street. Call 301-631-0127.
Indianapolis, IN
First Wednesday and first Saturday of the month: Docent-led tours of the Athenaeum at 401 East Michigan Street. Call 317-630-4569, ext. 1 or email athfound@sbcglobal.net.
Long Island, NY
April 4: GTV Die Gemütlichen Enzianer’s Annual Bavarian Bauernball. Polish-American Hall in Port Washington, NY. Featuring The Kapelle Fellas and Schuhplattler
entertainment. Call 516-822-2190.
Pittsburgh, PA
April 4: Austrian Ball. Sponsored by the Austrian-American Cultural Society. Pittsburgh Golf Club, 5280 Northumberland Street. Visit www.aacs-pit.org.
New York, NY
April 7: Panel Discussion: “Green Living in Germany & Japan. “ Deutsches Haus at New York University, 42 Washington Mews. Visit www.deutscheshaus.as.nyu.edu.
Oregon, OH
April 10: Fish Fry. Sponsored by the Teutonia Männerchor, Oak Shade Grove, 3624 Seaman Rd. Call 419-691-4116 or 419-474-7604.
New York, NY
April 17: Deutsches Haus Film Series. Film 3: Halbe Treppe (Grill Point). Deutsches Haus at New York University, 42 Washington Mews. Visit www.deutscheshaus.as.nyu.edu.
Franklin Square, NY
April 19: Easter Service (in German) at 3:00 p.m. Ascension Lutheran Church, 145 Franklin Avenue. Call 516-352-1263.
Jessup, MD
April 25: die Schlauberger (dSb) at Blob’s Park. 2009 Tour Kick-off. Visit www.schlauberger.com.
Oregon, OH
April 26: Springtime Cabaret Concert. Sponsored by Teutonia Männerchor/Damenchor at the GAF Oak Shade Grove, 3624 Seaman Rd. Reservations required. Call 419-474-6052, 419-472-9721,
or 419-691-4116.
MAY
Frederick, MD
First Friday of the month: Der Stammtisch at Brewer’s Alley, 124 N. Market Street. Call 301-631-0127.
Indianapolis, IN
First Wednesday and first Saturday of the month: Docent-led tours of the Athenaeum at 401 East Michigan Street. Call 317-630-4569, ext. 1 or email athfound@sbcglobal.net.
Leavenworth, WA
May 8 – 10: Maifest. Call 509-548-5807 or visit www.Leavenworth.org.
Covington, KY
Mary 15 – 17: 30th Annual MainStrasse Village Maifest. Call 859-491-0458 or visit www.mainstrasse.org.
Cincinnati, OH
May 17: Maifest at the German Heritage Museum. Sponsored by the German-American Citizens League of Greater Cincinnati. Visit www.gacl.org.
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