Tag: Germany

Welcoming Third Reich Touts Beautiful Country

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, it’s grandpa’s map time again. This time, it’s Germany! The last referenced date on it is ’33. Hitler has just become chancellor, he’s begun his purge of the civil service, professing national socialism. The Gestapo is born, and Germany is ripe for visitors!

It’s so hard to appreciate a large map online, especially one that has been folded since the 30s, with stiff, sharp creases. 

But you can get a taste of the fanciful and intricate illustrations. Here we see it referred to as the German Reich, though this is the first year of the rise of the Third Reich.

None of its citizens can know what the next few years will bring, or how their children will become indoctrinated.

Can you appreciate the colors, the birds, the animals, and churches? What a happy place of frolic.

By the way, friends and family who have lived in and visited Germany say it is a beautiful country today! Add it to your bucket list.

Berlin 1947

American Red Cross by Atkins

An American Red Cross worker is snugly sandwiched between two soldiers in a requisitioned vehicle, as a Berlin traffic policeman directs them during a sightseeing tour.

photo by Acme

These hungry little tots are lined up for hot soup at one of the many Berlin soup kitchens. The feeding program began in November 1945, just months after WWII ended, seeking to aid the diet deficiencies incurred by the kids.

The caption on this next National Geographic image read Berlin Still Has Sidewalk Cafes, But Little Gayety. The glum faces in this British occupation zone belie the fact that it was, in fact, Easter. This wide strip of the Kurfürstendamm, the famous avenue in Berlin, was once well-known for shops, cabarets, cafes, and dance halls. Here, patrons drink imitation fruit juices and “ersatz” coffee, as there was no access to fine wines and liqueurs of yore.

For a larger dose of fun and frolic, Allied-victorious American soldiers made the six hour trek south of Berlin to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where they spent hours on the slopes.

William Weinstein from Black Star

Who could blame them?

Basking In The Sun

LIFE 11/11/46
LIFE 11/11/46

life11-11-46035

Just over a year after Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces, signifying the end of WWII, much of Germany lay devastated. Potsdam Square, the Times Square of Berlin, was ashes. One of the few places left undestroyed was the Cafe Wien, jammed with Germans of all ages, drinking what LIFE described as “weak drinks, which are all the cafe can offer.” This fashionable lady, sitting on the once-fashionable avenue of Kurfürstendamm, doesn’t seem to mind.

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