And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
I've had the privilege to visit almost 12 years ago..At that time, the Bishop was in trouble for using church funds to remodel his personal quarters. And, if I recall correctly, it's between Frankfurt and Cologne and had a narrow road/gate where workers would offload wagons and bring them to the other side for transport. It became a "toll" gate.
These old buildings always fascinated me. It's as if they were all built by hand and by eye, without even using a string for straight lines. True right angles are rare, parallel lines are a hard "no", and level is just something to be desired. They look so much more organic and alive than modern, perfect constructions.
It's like they grew there, carefully feeling out the spot, taking advantages where they are offered.
I wondered how it looked in 1945. In the book "Band of Brothers", one of the men talks about not ending the war until they were able trample all of Germany life, like the rest of Europe had been trampled. His thought was the Germans should have that same ugly memory of what the war did to EVERYTHING German & a surrender (or terms) before that happened would leave Germans with an acceptable memory of the war they started. He wanted the war to leave a lasting and very negative impression on the German people.
It looked the same in 1945. Aerial bombardment was (more or less) concentrated on the railway station/marshaling yard/railroad tracks half a mile away. The advancing american troops didn't meet much resistance, so the damage to the historical city was minimal. Until the 1980s the heart of the city was "sleeping" in a dilapidated condition, the inhabitants either left their medieval dwellings for newly built homes in the "burbs" or stayed there (you would call the latter "poor white trash"). Then the city council decided against demolition/modernisation and instead offerded builder/owners a subsidy to have all the houses completely restored. Not very many cities in Germany that kept their complete medieval core.... Hansjoerg from Limburg++
I've had the privilege to visit almost 12 years ago..At that time, the Bishop was in trouble for using church funds to remodel his personal quarters. And, if I recall correctly, it's between Frankfurt and Cologne and had a narrow road/gate where workers would offload wagons and bring them to the other side for transport. It became a "toll" gate.
ReplyDeleteThese old buildings always fascinated me. It's as if they were all built by hand and by eye, without even using a string for straight lines. True right angles are rare, parallel lines are a hard "no", and level is just something to be desired. They look so much more organic and alive than modern, perfect constructions.
ReplyDeleteIt's like they grew there, carefully feeling out the spot, taking advantages where they are offered.
does it stink here ?
ReplyDeleteI wondered how it looked in 1945.
ReplyDeleteIn the book "Band of Brothers", one of the men talks about not ending the war until they were able trample all of Germany life, like the rest of Europe had been trampled.
His thought was the Germans should have that same ugly memory of what the war did to EVERYTHING German & a surrender (or terms) before that happened would leave Germans with an acceptable memory of the war they started.
He wanted the war to leave a lasting and very negative impression on the German people.
It looked the same in 1945. Aerial bombardment was (more or less) concentrated on the railway station/marshaling yard/railroad tracks half a mile away. The advancing american troops didn't meet much resistance, so the damage to the historical city was minimal. Until the 1980s the heart of the city was "sleeping" in a dilapidated condition, the inhabitants either left their medieval dwellings for newly built homes in the "burbs" or stayed there (you would call the latter "poor white trash"). Then the city council decided against demolition/modernisation and instead offerded builder/owners a subsidy to have all the houses completely restored. Not very many cities in Germany that kept their complete medieval core.... Hansjoerg from Limburg++
Delete“Weimar excesses lead to post-Weimar corrections”.
ReplyDelete