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December/January 2010
Gallery: Canvases in the Round – The European Panorama
by Matias Tugores
They were the IMAX theaters of their day and the images they depicted captured the imagination of viewers in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe.
There I was, standing in semi-darkness on a round, wooden platform, literally bathed in the Third Battle of Bergisel unfolding all around me. The foreground was strewn with dead
bodies and cannon shots could be heard in the distance at regular intervals. Painted in 1896, Innsbruck’s awe-inspiring and so real-life “roundview” I was immersed into is, with its one hundred
meter circumference (three hundred twenty eight feet), one of Europe’s largest extant panoramas and the major art monument in Tyrol. It depicts a feat of outstanding gallantry, so dear to the heart of the
Tyrolese people: the overcoming of the mighty Napoleonic troops by Hans Hofer and his poorly equipped and untrained men. It is displayed at Rennweg, in a twelve-sided rotunda, near where the heroic battle was
actually fought.
Such huge three hundred sixty degree canvases, known in German as Riesenrundgemälde, were all the rage in Western Europe until the early twentieth century. The picture-hungry
public of the time, which hankered for the unfamiliar and the unknown, flocked to these rotundas where wide landscapes, town views, the wonders of the world, battle scenes, and, from the 1880s, biblical scenes
and especially the Crucifixion at Golgotha, were exhibited, saving the expenses, the troubles, if not the dangers, of distant travels. This new pictorial entertainment, which had no equivalent in the history of
Western painting, hit its peak at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The panoramas were enjoyed in Germany, Austria, Britain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. In the United States, battle
scenes from Gettysburg and Atlanta were painted in about 1883 and 1886 and proved tremendously popular. Displayed at their beginnings in small, rickety wooden buildings, and then, as the canvases grew in size,
in mammoth round structures, where the panoramas attracted enthusiastic crowds all through the nineteenth century.
A round canvas did not necessarily create the panoramic vision, which Irishman Robert Barker, who patented his invention in July 1787, was quick to grasp (Barker coined the phrase
“panorama”). In order that the viewer could have the illusion of looking at the real thing, he had to be surrounded, or more exactly shrouded, by the picture. Constructed with the only purpose of
exhibiting these “roundviews” (or “pictures without boundaries”), the rotundas in which they were displayed had to be round, at least inside, have no windows, and at the top be provided
with a large light-dome, while the viewing platform had to be accessible from below…
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Chicago’s Christkindlemarkt – (Away From) Home for the Holidays
by Dave Schwan
Even though most are far away from home during the holidays, the vendors at Chicago’s Christkindlemarkt share their unique holiday spirit with two million visitors annually.
City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style/In the air, there’s a feeling of Christmas. Those opening lines from the classic Christmas song “Silver
Bells” can sum up the spirit of most any city this time of year. However, they wonderfully describe the busy city sidewalks leading to Chicago’s Daley Plaza, which is dressed in German holiday style. Every Christmas since 1997, the Plaza, in the heart of Downtown Chicago, becomes a little piece of Germany with the city’s immensely popular Christkindlmarket. Surrounding the Plaza’s famous fifty-foot sculpture by Pablo Piccaso, more than fifty vendors sell everything from food, music, ornaments, and jewelry to glassware, toys, crafts, and Christmas treats. Their places of business, wooden booths topped with red-and-white striped awnings, are modeled after those at the Christmas market in Nürnberg, Germany, which dates from 1545. The glow that permeates the plaza, mixed with the aroma of bratwürst, schnitzel, strudel, and Glühwein along with music for the season provides irresistible holiday cheer, warming any cold day in December. And the fact that over two-thirds of the vendors come from Germany gives this market real authenticity.
“It’s fantastic every year!” says Volkmar Andrä with BTM Musikproduktion of Berlin, which sells compact discs and other music-related items for the season.
They specialize in Christmas and children’s music and have been at the market since 1996. “The mixture of German and American visitors (gives us) a chance to spread typical German cultural traditions
at Christmas time,” says Andrä.
The idea for the market began in 1995 when the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest (GACCoM) wanted to augment trade between the United States and Germany. The
following year, the Chamber’s then-Vice President, Peter Flatzek, and Commercial Services Manager Ray Lotter (now Vice- President and Managing Director) had both German and local companies ready to
participate. The first market was held on Pioneer Court, outside the Chamber’s offices at the south end of Chicago’s “Magnificent Mile” on North Michigan Avenue. Over three hundred
thousand people attended and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was so enthused, he invited the Chamber to move the market to Daley Plaza (named for Richard J. Daley, the current mayor’s father). The Chamber
estimates that over a million people now visit annually, with customers coming from as far away as Florida, Texas, California, Hawaii, even Canada, Europe, and Asia…
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The Power and Beauty of Porsche
by Leah Larkin
The sensuous lines of Stuttgart’s latest museum help shape a spectacular home for the history of beauty and speed as defined by Porsche.
You would expect a museum devoted to Porsche to be exciting, elegant, and beautiful. The new Porsche Museum in Stuttgart – Zuffenhausen – is all that and more, a
class act fitting of this first class, prestigious automobile.
Even those not especially interested in these sexy, speedy sports cars will be overwhelmed by the building, a true architectural wonder. Three sloping pylons support a gigantic block
positioned at an angle with a huge, glazed glass window at one end. It looks as if it is hovering above the ground like a monolithic object from outer space. One hundred seventy architects from around the world
competed for the project, and the winner was the Viennese firm Delugan Meissl with its futuristic, spectacular design.
The interior is no less mind-boggling – all white (except for the cars), spacious, open, seamless, and sleek. A long escalator ride takes you to the exhibition area and the
first exhibit, a steel re-creation of Ferdinand Porsche’s first sports car body design, Type 64 built in 1939 and considered the “original Porsche.” The vast entrance area includes a lobby,
bistro and coffee bar, Museum Shop, and Museum Workshop.
The museum, which opened in January 2009, welcomed two hundred thousand visitors in just three months. With some eighty vehicles on display, it is truly a Mecca for Porsche fans and
car freaks. The cars are part of the museum’s total collection of four hundred automobiles. All are in driving condition, and many leave the museum temporarily to participate in historic races. The
exhibits change from time to time to highlight different models.
Visitors are given an audio guide (available in seven languages) with details on the various exhibits, and the signs posted at each exhibit are in both English and German. Once in the
exhibition area you can tour the museum in chronological order following the history of the company before 1948, or walk up a few steps to see the chronological presentation of the company history after 1948.
You will see cars made for the racetrack, classic models, and the latest specimens from the nearby factory…
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Bachstadt Köthen
by Zac Steger
Occupied since prehistoric times, today Köthen touts its connection to J.S. Bach.
Many travelers end up in Köthen, as I first did, at the train station waiting for a connection to someplace else. After all, there are not any obvious attractions that would
draw tourists here. However, classical music fans know that Köthen was once home to Johann Sebastian Bach, one of Germany’s greatest composers, who spent several years as Kapellmeister here. Though the
city may fall below the radar when it comes to major sights, a closer look finds a charming town with several notable past residents.
Köthen is the capital of the Anhalt-Bitterfeld Landkreis in Sachsen-Anhalt, a short trip from more popular destinations such as Dessau, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Leipzig. The
city was first documented as “Cothene” in 1115 when Otto von Ballenstadt was driving the Slavs out of the area. His royal house of Askanier (Ascania) would shape much of the history of Köthen. It
received its town charter in 1313 and for many years it was the seat of the Principality of Anhalt from 1396 to 1561 and Duchy from 1603 to 1853, when Herzog Heinrich died without an heir and the Duchy became
part of the Anhalt-Bernburg line.
The young Ascanian Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen is believed to have first met Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 to 1750) at his sister’s wedding while the composer was in service
of the house of Saxe-Weimar. Cultural pursuits were of great importance to the young prince and he offered Bach a place in his court.
Bach was appointed Kapellmeister at Köthen in 1717, a position he would hold until 1723. He produced some of his most famous secular works during this fruitful period, including
the famous Brandenburg Concertos.
He enjoyed a friendly relationship with the prince, who himself was also musically inclined. Bach traveled with him on several occasions and the prince occasionally performed in
Bach’s ensembles. While it was generally a very happy period, Bach’s time in Köthen was not without sorrows. His infant son Leopold Augustus, named after the prince, died in September 1719, and the
death of his wife, Maria Barbara, followed in July 1720.
In December 1721, Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilcke, a singer who had worked with Bach for some time. The prince married as well and, with devoting so much of his time to his new
wife, it is believed that Bach felt neglected. In 1723, he took up the position as Choirmaster and Organist at the St. Thomaskirche in Leipzig, the city in which he remained until his death. He did make several
visits to Köthen after his departure, including a visit to perform at the funeral of Prince Leopold, who, in 1728, died of smallpox at just thirty-two years old.
While the ensemble of buildings that make up Köthen’s restored palace may lack the dramatic appearance of other more notable castles, it is no less interesting and the interior
hosts an excellent selection of museums. You will find just about everything you need to know about the town and its history, from prehistoric times through Bach and beyond, as well as pleasant park…
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Where the Wild Things Are – Krampuslauf
by Anna Cramer
Before the arrival of St. Nicholas, his scary alpine companion, Krampus, helps separate the “naughty” from the “nice.”
They appear on the eve of the 5th of December. They look horrible, frightening with their thick, ragged fur coats and dark, Satan-like masks with long tongues and pointed ears.
They fill the snowy lanes with the deafening clamor of their monstrous cowbells and the clattering of their rusty chains. As they run, brandishing their birch rods, they try to touch or beat as many backs of
spectators as possible. In many alpine villages of Austria and southwestern Germany, fascinated winter guests and locals alike watch the yearly Krampus Run or Perchtenlauf, as it is also called in some
areas, with that strange mixture of horror, awe, and amusement, that seems to help us survive those long dark and cold weeks before the festival of light. Well-protected in some towns by a cord or by special
guards who separate the wild men and boys from the onlookers, onlookers need not fear physical harm. To the contrary, they will take home colorful memories of a strange century-old alpine winter custom that is
now enjoying a revival.
The ritual of the Krampus run, usually carried out by young men and boys, has a long tradition. Krampus is a scary figure, which appears along with Saint Nicholas, whose holiday is December 6th, the day of the Bishop of Myra (see sidebar). And while the holy man in his bishop’s ornate garment, after inquiring with the parents about their behavior, hands out little gifts to the children who have been good throughout the year, the role of Krampus,
who resembles the devil as much as mythical animal figures, is to punish the bad ones. As helper to Saint Nicholas, he carries a large wooden basket or Butte, strapped to his back, of the kind, which had
been used for centuries to carry provisions and materials up the steep alpine paths. It is filled with gifts like apples, nuts, Lebkuchen, and small toys, but also pieces of coal and potatoes for the undeserving. However, it also serves to stuff misbehaved children into it – and carry them away. For this, the devil’s claws or “Krampen,” which gave him his name, come in handy.
Today, the largest Krampus Runs with up to two hundred participants can be found in East Tyrol, Carinthia, and Salzburg, where Saint Nicholas has all but lost his role.
In German-speaking lands, the well-known figure of Knecht Ruprecht (“Knecht“ – farmhand), attendant to Saint Nicholas, seems to be the equivalent of Krampus,
but their origin and aspects differ. While Knecht Ruprecht wears a monk’s brown cloak, and, in his passive role, only carries gifts in a basket and a birch switch at his belt – it is Saint Nicholas who does the necessary spanking! Krampus
is far more frightening and administers the punishment himself, though only under the order of the saint. However, the dividing lines are fuzzy and may be mainly regional. In the Netherlands, “Zwarte Piet”
(“Black Peter”) takes his role, while in Switzerland, children are scared by “Schmutzli” (“the little dirty one”).
Whatever his name, Krampus can be seen as an anti-saint, whose function is to scare, threaten, and punish, though his evilness does not come anywhere near that of the devil. While
the devil, as the fallen angel, is the incarnation of perpetual evil, Krampus, or Kramperl, as this term of endearment calls him, acts as villain only to villains. He threatens people in order to help
them return to the path of virtue. After all, one word by Saint Nicholas stops his pranks, softens his behavior, and makes the birch disappear…
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A Nuremberg Christmas
by Alevtina Altenhof
As the first of Germany’s traditional Christmas markets, Nuremberg sets a nostalgic standard by which all others are judged.
At 5.30 p.m. on the Friday before the first day of Advent – as soon as dusk began descending upon the city of Nuremberg – the lights went out around the Main Market
square, and thousands of people turned to look towards the top of the Frauenkirche, Nuremberg’s most visited church, all in anticipation of the Christ Child’s appearance. Dressed in her white and
golden garment and with her long blond curls and a golden crown, she has been a symbol of the Christkindles market for years. And so this time, the 2007 and 2008 Christmas Angel, Rebekka Volland, opened the
world’s best known Christmas market with a solemn prologue ending with the words “…and those who come are truly welcome,” and invited visitors to enjoy the delights and enchanting
pre-Christmas atmosphere of the market.
The tradition of choosing a Christ Child for the opening of the Nuremberg’s Christmas market goes back to 1933. In that year, an actress from the Nuremberg municipal Theatre,
Renate Timm, played the role of the angelic messenger. Accompanied by two golden angels (Rauschgoldengel), a children’s choir and church bells, she recited a prologue from the gallery of the Frauenkirche,
inviting people to join the festive pre-Christmas atmosphere at the historic Nuremberg’s Christkindles market. In the following years, other famous actresses were given the role of the Christmas Angel.
However, since 1969 this tradition has been different: a young Nuremberg woman between sixteen and nineteen is chosen for the role of the Christ Child for a two-year period.
During the advent season in Germany, the Christmas Angel is, in fact, the most important representative of the Christmas Market, if not of the entire city. She usually appears in
numerous television shows and interviews. Her other activities include paying visits to charitable institutions, hospitals, kindergartens, and homes of the elderly, distributing presents and bringing joy. The
Christ Child is also often invited to other Christmas markets in Germany playing the role of an ambassador of the city of Nuremberg.
I was certainly impressed by the opening ceremony of the Nuremberg Christmas market performed by a Christmas Angel standing in the gallery in the bright lights and reciting her famous
prologue. Yet, this spectacle is only one part of the Christmas tradition in Germany. Every year, during the four weeks leading up to Christmas, the thousands of twinkling lights as well as the aroma of
gingerbread and mulled wine comprising the Christkindles market also become the heart of the town’s pre-Christmas spirit. The huge Main Market Square boasts its greatest grandeur during the Christmas
season…
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Riding the Rails Through Switzerland
by Sharon Hudgins
Convenience is just one of the benefits of the rail transportation system through the glorious mountain scenery of Switzerland’s beautiful locales.
I love riding on trains. As a child, I traveled with my parents on some of the last steam-driven trains in the United States. Later on my own, I rode the rails across Europe
from the northern tip of Scotland, through Holland, Belgium, and France, around Germany, and as far south as Rome. I've raced through Japan on the sleek high-speed "bullet train" and logged several
thousand miles on Russia's legendary Trans-Siberian Railroad.
So I was delighted when asked to join a group of writers on a train trip through Switzerland. Sponsored by Switzerland Tourism and RailEurope, the tour was designed to showcase
the Swiss Travel System's unique network of public transportation, with seamless connections linking trains, boats, buses, cog railways, gondolas (cable cars), and aerial tramways that take you up, down,
over, and across some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
Upon arriving at the Zürich airport, I found that it was a short walk within the airport from the baggage claim carrousels and passport control to the inter-city trains that run
directly (and frequently) to dozens of destinations around Switzerland. Using the system's Fly Rail Baggage Coupons ($15 per bag), I could even have arranged in advance to check in my luggage at the airport
where I departed from the United States and have it delivered directly to the train station at Bern, the first stop on my itinerary.
The capital of Switzerland, Bern is a relatively small city of one hundred thirty thousand people, with a compact historic Old Town that's easy to visit on foot or by tram.
Awarded World Heritage status by UNESCO in 1983, Bern boasts an impressive number of well-preserved medieval buildings and the largest cathedral in Switzerland. It's a city fun to wander in, from the
spacious square in front of Parliament, along cobblestone streets and through archways in old towers, and under the "Lauben," six kilometers of arcades that constitute one of the longest outdoor
covered shopping areas in Europe. Trams take you to the interesting Museum Quarter where you can spend an entire day visiting fine arts, historical, and scientific exhibits. Or take a bus up the hills to the
Rosengarten for a panoramic view over the clustered rooftops of Bern…
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Hunting in Germany
by Robert A. Selig
Whether for sport or survival, hunting has a long history in Germany and differs considerably from the American version of the activity.
Das ist des Jägers Ehrenschild, This is the hunter’s badge of honor,
das er hegt und schützt sein Wild, That he tends to and protects his quarry,
Waidmännisch jagt wie sich's gehört, Hunts with honor, as it is due,
den Schöpfer im Geschöpfe ehrt. And honors the creator in his creation.
Otto von Riesenthal (1830 – 1898)
Driving through the German countryside in late fall, one is apt to see, especially on a weekend, men, and sometimes a few women as well, dressed warmly with walking canes and
sticks in their gloved hands and bright orange ribbons on their hats, lined up along the edges of forests or walking seemingly aimlessly across barren fields in long extended lines or in large circles. Every so
often a shotgun blast pierces the cold air and quickly they point their sticks excitedly toward a point where a number of dogs are heading at break-neck speed. If you did slow down and took your eyes off the
road long enough to watch what was going on you might have even seen a rabbit tumbling through the air. It is the season of the Treibjagd (treiben – to chase), an end-of-year tradition in many small rural communities in Germany. As an American, you would be surprised to see how few of them were carrying shot-guns, but then hunting in the small towns of Germany in the late fall and winter still is a community event very different from hunting in the United States.
“To hunt – to pursue and kill game or other wild animals for food" is one of the oldest human activities indispensable for the survival of early humans. In an age
where no piece of an animal was wasted as bones became tools, skins were turned into shoes, clothing or tents and tendons found a new function as bow-strings or as thread, all ancient religions had cults for
gods and goddesses who were called upon for assistance in the hunt. With the beginning of the Christian Era, the Greek Goddess Artemis and the Roman Diana were replaced by St. Hubertus as Patron Saint of hunters
in German-speaking Europe, though St. Germanus of Auxerre and St. Eustatius sometimes takes his place. However, hunting always also had a recreational component: for millenia from the Sumerian kings and Egyptian
pharaohs on down, rulers had themselves portrayed in hunts conducted for pleasure rather than survival…
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Language: Christmas Like At Home
by Peter Pabisch
Christmas, as we know, is celebrated in the Protestant regions of Germany on December 25, thus on Christmas Day, like in Lutheran North America. Germany’s south and
Austria celebrate in the evening before, therefore the famous Christmas song Silent Night, Holy Night by the Austrian Josef Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber is dedicated to the late time of this day.
I come from Ober Sankt Veit in the Western Viennese district of Hietzing near the Vienna Forest. It is very conservative, but also liberal and clearly Catholic. A scenic area! People
there abide by a strict tradition during the Christmas holidays. Many people buy or even make an Advent wreath with four candles symbolizing the four Sundays before Christmas. They are burned in sequence –
the first all four times, the last only on the last Sunday, so that they differ in size at the end. In addition, the children get an Advent calendar and open a paper window from the first to the 24th of
December, in order to find a sweet or a piece of chocolate each day. This is intended to help them wait patiently for Christmas Eve.
Weeks before Christmas my mother baked Christmas cookies and I was allowed to help her do it. What a joy because I could lick the sweet leftovers in the bowl. The finished cookies
were stored in a cool enclosed balcony room we called the “Veranda.” In those days we did not yet have a refrigerator and the ice boxes with the frozen water blocks were only meant for the hot days
of the summer. As the days passed by, a whole array of various cookies in star, circle, or Christmas tree form were laid out. One had to promise not to nosh any, a promise that was not strictly kept.
Weihnachten wie zu Hause
Von Peter Pabisch
Bekanntlich feiert man in protestantischen Teilen Deutschlands Weihnachten am 25. 12., dem Weihnachtstag, wie im lutheranischen Nordamerika. Der Süden Deutschlands und
Österreich feiern am vorhergehenden Weihnachtsabend. Daher ist das berühmte Weihnachtslied „Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht“ der Österreicher Josef Mohr und Franz Xaver Gruber auf diesen Abend eingestimmt.
Ich stamme aus Ober St. Veit im Wiener Bezirk Hietzing nahe dem Wiener Wald im Westen der Stadt. Sehr konservativ, auch liberal und eindeutig katholisch. Eine schöne Gegend! Zur
Weihnachtszeit pflegt man dort die Tradition. Viele Leute kaufen einen Adventkranz, einige flechten ihn sogar noch selbst. Er hat vier Kerzen, die die vier Sonntage vor dem Fest symbolisieren. Die erste Kerze
brennt alle vier Sonntage, die letzte nur am vierten Sonntag, so dass sie am Ende verschieden lang sind. Die Kinder bekommen außerdem Adventkalender und öffnen ab dem 1. Dezember an jedem Tag bis zum 24. des
Monats kleine Papierfenster, um dahinter Schokolade oder Bonbons zu finden. Das soll helfen, den Festtag leichter zu erwarten.
Meine Mutter backte schon Wochen vor dem Fest seltenes Weihnachtsgebäck und ich durfte beim Backen helfen. War das eine Freude, da dabei auch viel süßes Zeug abfiel, das man schlecken
konnte. Die fertigen Keks kamen auf die Veranda, einen unbeheizten, geschlossenen Balkonraum, wo sie kühl lagerten. Damals hatten wir noch keinen Frigidär, denn der Eiskasten mit dem gefrorenen Wasserblock stand
nur im Sommer zur Verfügung. Bald lag eine ganze Palette der verschiedensten Kekssorten auf der Veranda in Stern-, Kreis- oder Weihnachtsbaumform – und man durfte sie bei Ehrenwort nicht wegnaschen. Es
gelang aber nicht immer, Wort zu halten . . .
At Home: Christmas Ball Confections for Table and Tree
by Sharon Hudgins
During this year of economic downturn, many of us have had to cut back on spending, especially for nonessentials. However, at Christmastime we all want to celebrate the season
by decorating our homes, cooking our favorite foods, and giving generously to others.
Maintaining those holiday traditions doesn't have to be expensive. In earlier times, people went into the forest and cut down an evergreen tree to bring home. Together the
family made ornaments out of paper, gathered natural decorations (pine cones and other seed balls) to hang on the tree, and strung garlands of red berries to drape around it. The girls would be busy crocheting
little bells, snowflakes, and animals, while mother and grandmother baked cookies for edible ornaments. The boys tied yarn onto fruits and nuts to suspend from the branches. And everyone eagerly awaited
Christmas Day, when they could finally eat all of these goodies, which were considered real treats in times of less abundance than our own.
Before the Chinese cornered the market on cheap copies of European Christmas decorations, people in many countries of Europe also went to the annual Christmas market in the
nearest town or village to purchase hand-carved wooden ornaments and mouth-blown glass decorations to hang on their trees. However, few of them could afford to shop like we do today, buying whole boxes of
inexpensive imported baubles. Instead, many families acquired only one new decoration every Christmas, which joined the collection of other ornaments from years past, to become a treasured keepsake handed down
from one generation to the next.
In Germany and other northern European countries, women prided themselves on their Christmas baking. When friends came to visit during the holidays, the hostess set out her best
platters covered with an impressive array of homemade cookies and confections. And when people went to visit other family members and friends, they took along as a gift a pretty plate or box filled with sweets
of the season.
Now is a good time to revive some of these older holiday traditions, by making our own tree decorations and giving homemade gifts from the kitchen. Following are some of my
favorite recipes for Christmas-ball confections that you can wrap in foil to hang on your tree, pack in inexpensive boxes or recycled glass jars to give as gifts, and serve your own family without having to
spend money on pricey store-bought stuff. Nuts are the only costly component of these recipes (and liquor, if it's not already in your pantry). However, you won't be using any gas or electricity to cook
these no-bake confections, so you'll save money that way…
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“The Giants are Coming”
by Anna Cramer
A remembrance of reunification conquers the hearts of Berliners.
For this year’s twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Wall, millions of Berliners and visitors to the German capital were dwarfed – this time not by the brute
forces of history, but by friendly giants. As two huge marionettes enacted a tale of separation and reunion during the weekend of October first through fourth, slowly “walking” through Berlin’s
center, the one and a half million spectators looked and felt like Lilliputians right out of Gulliver’s Travels.
The legendary French street theatre “Compagnie Royal de Luxe” had sent a sixty-foot giant wooden puppet out to reunite with his long lost twenty-six foot tall niece.
For four days, the fairy tale by their founder and artistic director, Jean Luc Courcoult, was enacted in a show, so eagerly awaited, that spectators stood along the streets for hours in windy and rainy weather,
to catch at least a glimpse of the lifelike figures, and relive their childhood memories of literary giants.
In her green dress and yellow fisherman’s coat and hat, the giant girl slowly crossed the city from east to west, partly in a boat, riding on real water, thanks to Berlin
firefighters, walking along the boulevards, and taking naps in between. Suspended by a scaffold-like movable apparatus, her movements were coordinated by a crew of servants in red liveries, busily moving
ledgers, pulling ropes and moving about like ants following an invisible plan. In the meantime, her uncle, a deep-sea diver, emerged from the river Spree, and approached the Brandenburg Gate from west to east,
after having found and destroyed, as the tale goes, the imaginary sea monster, responsible for the division of the city and the building of the Wall. Their path, along the famous boulevard “Unter den Linden,” and through the “Tiergarten”
park, respectively, was accompanied by music and drums, while the onlookers were occasionally showered by hundreds of letters, catapulted into the air like confetti. These were copies of the thousands of
letters, written by East German refugees after their escape to the west, but which had never reached their destination, as they were intercepted by the GDR secret service and only found after the fall of the
Wall.
The puppet representing the uncle, first wearing his diver’s helmet, then bare-headed, was operated by about forty puppeteers, clad in red, who themselves presented a
spectacular show of coordination, jumping in pairs, rope in hand, from the scaffold behind the marionette in precise alternating movements, in order to move the legs step-by-step in an astounding slow-motion
stomp. This precision of human actions, somehow as strangely outdated as the wooden puppets themselves, managed to create a lifelike impression. Slowly the huge heads turned, the limbs and even the eyelids
moved, and the breasts heaved in breathing. The figures even seemed to look the people in the eyes, and perhaps it was this effect, that was so touching…
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Grandmother’s Springerle Cookies
by Lisa Kim Harris
Every Christmas season I make several batches of springerle cookies, from my grandmother’s handed-down recipe, and give them as gifts. To my family, these hard anise-seed
cookies, embossed with a raised design, are known as “Grandmother’s Cookies.” Each time I press one of her three wooden molds into silky-textured dough, I think of my grandmother doing the
same, as well as her mother, and her mother’s mother. It is as if my soul travels through time and communicates with my female forebears. Our hands have touched the same piece of wood – carvings
passed from one cook to another – and over a century they have produced a symbol of love and family.
About the size of a billfold, the molds tell me where I come from. They are made from a light-colored wood, probably pear, and each contains pictures that conjure up an
“Old World” image – dainty swans paddling through still mountain lakes; stone castles strategically built on a bluff; plump apples, pears, currants, and a cluster of cherries, ready for
harvest; antlered-stags bounding through fields; a carousel slowly turning to tinkling festival tunes.
As I re-create her recipe, I imagine her in her kitchen, a smiling matronly woman with gray hair piled high on her head, standing among her well-used pots and pans. She presses
the molds into the rolled-out dough, leaning into them, so they leave a perfect scene behind. Her cookies are difficult to make. The dough must be supple enough to take the mold’s imprint: too dry, and
there will be no picture of a flower basket or leaping trout; too wet and the dough will stick to the cherry clusters and the sailing ship’s riggings. After imprinting, she would cut the dough into
rectangles and set it out to dry overnight. The next day, she would painstakingly remove each cookie with the blade of a sharp knife, the back wet with water, and place the cookie on a baking sheet sprinkled
with anise seed. Again, the conditions must be just so: dough that is too moist will stick to the rolling surface, dough that is too dry will crumble and break, and the stag’s antlers mangled and the
carnival carousel’s flag snapped in two. After almost three decades of baking results, I have concluded that a perfect cookie either requires a certain alignment of the moon and the stars, or my
Grandmother’s special touch.
Springerle cookies are German, specifically from Swabia, and date to medieval times. They were given at festive occasions: births, weddings, and holidays. In my family
tradition, they were only made at Christmas. However, my grandmother was not German. She was British, born in Dorset County. So where did the recipe and molds come from?…
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Family Research: Reunion of Families was Long in Coming
by James M. Beidler
A few years ago, this column featured a roundup of the many German-speaking peoples who lived in eastern European areas for centuries until World War II. This is a story of one such family and a
heart-warming family reunion.
One revolution instilled a fear in Michael Renner’s heart that never went away. It took another revolution some sixty years later before the children from his two families
had a chance to meet.
Michael’s father Christian, a wealthy German-speaking landowner in the town of Speier, Ukraine, was arrested, tortured, and shot dead by the Bolsheviks in 1918, when
Michael was ten. His mother sent him off with relatives to the towns of Felsenburg and Christina. Later, Michael married Leogadia Maier, the daughter of German-speaking Russian Karl Maier, and his ethnic Russian
wife, Serafima. They had children Emma (born in 1935) and Adolf (1937) and felt a measure of protection living in the house of his Russian mother-in-law.
However, when raids of German villages in Ukraine began in World War II, Michael knew he was risking the lives of those he loved by staying in Russia, so when he was asked to leave
the home in 1941, he did so with a heavy heart, for his wife refused to leave her newly widowed mother alone. The children stayed behind with their mother.
In February 1944, he finally made it to Germany, and filled out the necessary Einwanderungszentralstelle (abbreviated EWZ) documents that would play such a vital
part in locating his children decades later. “He also filled out a form for his wife, so I can only surmise he expected her to follow,” said Valerie Renner Ingram, a daughter of his second family.
“He never saw or heard from his family again, and in time, assumed they had been killed.”
While in Germany, Michael met Valerie’s mother, Angela Kiefel, a German-speaking refugee from Romania, and they were married. Michael and his new wife had three sons in Germany
before leaving in 1952 for America. Valerie was born in North Dakota, where the family lived before settling in Spokane, Washington, and having two final children. Michael never forgot the children of his first
marriage – a picture of them always hung on the wall of their house in America. “Dad never knew if they were dead or alive, but we knew by the softness in his eyes that he loved and missed them very
much,” Ingram said….
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Calendar
November – December – January 2009
Please contact events directly to confirm dates, locations, and admission fees.
NOVEMBER
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 .
Newington, CT
November 27 – 29: Hartford Sängerbund Christkindlmarkt. 719 North Mountain Road. Visit www.hartfordsaengerbund.org .
Leavenworth, WA
November 27 – 29: Leavenworth Christkindlmarkt. Call 509-548-5807 or visit www.leavenworth.org
.
DECEMBER
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 .
Tulsa, OK
December 4 – 6: Eleventh Annual Christkindlmarkt. German American Society of Tulsa building, 2301 East 15th St, one block west of S. Lewis Ave. Admission
free. Call 918-744-6997 or visit www.gastulsa.org .
Leavenworth, WA
December 4 – 6, 11 – 13, 18 – 20: Leavenworth Christmas Tree Lighting. Call 509-548-5807 or visit www.leavenworth.org.
Bellevue, WA
December 5: Quarterly General Dinner Meeting. Hosted by Pacific SteinSammler, the Northwest chapter of Stein Collectors International. Call 360 609-1389 or
email layers@wa-net.com.
Oregon, OH
December 5: Teutonia Männerchor und Damenchor's Annual Weihnachtszeit Konzert (Christmas concert). Oak Shade Grove, 3624 Seaman Rd. (near Coy Rd.), Oregon,
OH. Tickets and reservations at $20.00 each may be obtained by calling 419-691-6345 or 419-474-0333.
San Antonio, TX
December 5: 17th Annual Kristkindlmarkt. Beethoven Männerchor Halle und Garten, 422 Pereida St. Call 210-930-6374 or visit www.beethovenmaennerchor.com .
New Britain, CT
December 7: Sixth Annual German Advent/Christmas Service and Reception. St. John's Lutheran Church, 295 – 303 Arch
St. Service is conducted entirely in the German language. Call 860-225-4653 or email: STJLCNB@aol.com.
Tomball, TX
December 12: Weihnachtsmarkt Texas Style. Old Town near the historic Train Depot Plaza, 201 S. Elm. Visit www.tomballsistercity.org or www.myspace.com/tgchristmas .
Brentwood, NY
December 13: German choir performing Weihnachtslieder. Benefits German Seamen’s Mission in New York. Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. Call
631-273-5444.
Toledo, OH
December 20: Teutonia Männerchor and Damenchor's 2nd AnnualWeihnachtstimmung (Christmas Spirit) 3:30 p.m. service at Grace Lutheran Church, 4441 Monroe
Street. Call 419-474-0333.
JANUARY
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
January 17 – 18: Bavarian Ice Festival. Call 509-548-5807 or visit www.leavenworth.org
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