The principality of Hessen-Homburg could have been the scene for a real life 19th century operetta, if there had been more romantic adventures in the castle. Yes, it had a very nice little castle, one nice enough for Kaiser Wilhelm II to use later as summer residence; and it had a casino before Monte Carlo [more...]
For the first few years of the 19th century, it looked as though Napoleon would rule Germany, maybe establishing a French Empire in Europe. When the century began, France already had control over the German area west of the Rhine. In 1801 the Kaiser and the Holy Roman Empire signed the Peace Treaty of Lunéville, [more...]
House law is not really an English expression, rather just a literal translation of the German Hausgesetz. Nonetheless, it is understandable if one thinks of an old fashioned household in which “Father’s word was law”. In the German expression, the house was a noble one, like the House of Windsor in England. Ruling noble houses [more...]
In 1700, there was no king in Germany, which was part of the Holy Roman Empire, but only loosely ruled by the Emperor in Vienna, under whom only the ruler of Bohemia was recognized as “king”. The following year, however, Friederich, Duke of Prussia, got the Emperor’s secret permission to be crowned as “King in [more...]
Das Deutschlandlied (The Song of Germany), has been used as the national anthem of Germany since 1922. It is mostly known by the opening words of the first stanza, “Deutschland über alles” (Germany above all), but this has never been its title. In 1841, when August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the poem, it was [more...]
Munich (German: München) is the capital city of Bavaria. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg. 1158 is generally considered to be the foundation date, which is the earliest date the city is documented. In 1175 Munich was officially granted city status. Following the start of World War I, life [more...]
Germany lies near the center of Europe, with coastlines on the North Sea (at its northwest) and on the Baltic Sea (at its northeast). Between 1949 and 1990, Germany was split into two: the Federal Republic of Germany (“West Germany”) and the German Democratic Republic (“East Germany”). Germany is bordered by Denmark, Poland, the Czech [more...]
In 1930, Albert Einstein, the famous theoretical physicist, was dividing his time between living in Berlin in a five-storey house at Schöneberg, Haberlandstrasse, 5, then located near Berlin’s zoological garden, and his summer house at Caputh to the south of Berlin. The 1930 Berlin telephone directory lists him as: Einstein Albert Prof. Dr. Univ. -Prof., [more...]
Zapfendorf is a small town in Bavaria, Germany, which together with its surrounding villages has a population of around five thousand inhabitants. It’s an ancient settlement, dating from at least the Bronze Age. Unfortunately, much of the town was destroyed in 1945 when a munitions train standing on a Zapfendorf siding was bombed. The town [more...]
Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin. Hamburg was founded in 810 by Charlemagne and earned its place in history by becoming the most strategic port in the Hanseatic League. Bombing by the Allies during the Second World War caused many civilian casualties, created a devastated city as well as destroyed harbor areas. [more...]
Cologne (Köln in German) is Germany‘s fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. The first urban settlement on the site of Cologne was Oppidum Ubiorum, founded in 38 BC by the Ubii, a Germanic tribe. Cologne was acknowledged as a city by the Romans in 50 AD and given the name of Colonia Claudia Ara [more...]
Neuschwanstein Castle (New Swan Stone palace) is a 19th-century palace, 3306 feet above sea-level, in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat. If it looks somewhat familiar, that may be because Walt Disney used it as inspiration for Cinderella’s Castle at the Disney theme parks. The foundation [more...]
The Brandenburg Gate is a former Berlin city gate and is one of the main symbols of both the city and of Germany. There is a lot of symbolic architecture around the world. From the pyramids in Egypt to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. But the Brandenburg Gate is very unique in that [more...]