The Munich Thread

[grassi]

No problem, November 9th is the decisive date for Germans, at least if it comes to comemoration.
A truely special date in German history.

Best regards

grassi

[grassi]

@ Keir

So next time you come by a German war memorial on Volkstrauertag it can look like this:

Maybe 200 people attending at a quarter past 9 am, the major of the political community helding a speech, the catholic priest and the evangelical lutheran pastor giving the blessing, the community praying "Lord's Prayer" and "Ave Maria" (well, at least some), a dozen delegations from clubs and unions in Bavarian dressings with flaggs, a local brass band playing "Ich hatt' einen Kameraden", the choir singing contemplative songs, a Bundeswehr Oberstleutnant watching some "Reservisten" in uniforms shooting three salutes, the fire brigade, the Red Cross with an ambulance, cones with flames, wreaths etc.
And afterwards some went to have a Frühschoppen in the nearby Gastwirtschaft - a fresh beer or a glass of wine.

This is what the Federal Secretary of the Interior announced officially today:
http://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/Kurzm ... ertag.html

Best regards


grassi

[Keir]

On what is now Katharina-von-Bora-Straße beside the former Verwaltungsbau is this building adorned with these carvings. I can't seem to find any information on the provenance of these symbols; can anyone shed light on them? Cheers.

[Geoff Walden]

I have wondered the same thing while walking past there ...

That building was a combination of new construction and remodelling done in 1934, and housed some of the main Nazi administration offices for the Party, that were not in either the Braunes Haus or the Verwaltungsbau. These offices included the Materialamt der Reichsleitung der NSDAP, Amtsartz der Reischsleitung der NSDAP, Hausinspektion der Reichsleitung der NSDAP, Postamt der NSDAP, and the Dienstwohngebäude der NSDAP - offices and living areas for the the sort of hands-on bureaucrats that actually got all the work done. The building also housed (and still does) the heating system for the surrounding complex, and associated things like tool rooms. There was a large air raid shelter beneath the front wing of the building.

[Keir]

Cheers, Geoff! You're the guy to ask- A parent is urging me to arrange a school trip for his kid's class to visit the underground tunnels beneath the remains of the ehrentempels so he can tag along. Have you seen them for yourself?

[b14ck]

No problem, November 9th is the decisive date for Germans, at least if it comes to comemoration.
A truely special date in German history.

Best regards

grassi

I have a son born on the 11th of november and a wife born on the 9th of november, both dates mean a lot to me, it's a funny old world

[Keir]

And my son was born on the winter solstice, which happens to be my mother's birthday (she came to Germany for the birth) as well as Stalin's (official) b-day.

[ghostsoldier]

My oldest son shares a birthday with someone notorious here...April 20th.
Rob

[Geoff Walden]

Cheers, Geoff! You're the guy to ask- A parent is urging me to arrange a school trip for his kid's class to visit the underground tunnels beneath the remains of the ehrentempels so he can tag along. Have you seen them for yourself?

Hi Keir,

That would be a really cool class trip! Sure beats the class trips I took as a kid in school, to the local printing company, soap maker, etc.

I had a tour of the tunnels beneath the Führerbau and the access tunnel leading to the Verwaltungsbau. They showed us staircases that they said led to the Ehrentempel, but they didn't take us up there. I'm not real sure, now, that those staircases actually led there. So no, I didn't see those tunnels. I have been told that the rooms beneath the Ehrentempel were recently exposed due to heavy flooding in the area - true?

Any photos of these rooms or tunnels?

[Schultze]

@Geoff,
I do tours that finish by the F-bau/temples every week...not aware of any bits being exposed or damaged by flooding. Munich is quite small as you know and so I'm sure word would have gotten around on the bush telegraph.

Taff

[Keir]

Can't seem to find any information at all about this site on Widenmayer Str. 27, but it was the former location in Munich for the Office for Aryanisation apparently, in charge of implementing the Verordnung zur Ausschaltung der Juden aus dem deutschen Wirtschaftsleben
Only came across the address through the publication Vorüberlegungen zu einem NS-Dokumentationszentrum in München .

[Keir]

Just spent the day in Nordfriedhof searching for various graves known mostly in infamy. I cycled past it yesterday only to discover on my return the website http://www.ww2gravestone.com, which forced me to brave rather inclement weather to spend an afternoon. The first set is of Andreas Bauriedl, relocated after the war from his sarcophagus in an ehrentempel on konigsplatz. Note the date of death- apparently it was his blood that had 'consecrated' the blut fahne.

[Keir]

Emil Maurice's grave. Not sure what I expected to find for the remaining site of Hitler's chauffeur and first Supreme SA Leader before becoming SS Oberführer...

[Keir]

The grave of Gustav Ritter von Kahr who had helped stop the Beer Hall putsch and was murdered during the Night of Long Knives over 11 years later as the date of death shows.
Gustav von Kahr, long in retirement, had moved far from the political arena in his native state. He lived in Munich,

maintaining a low political profile, and was no longer in any position to do any damage to Hitler or his movement. But over a decade earlier he had caused, with help, the failure of the Hitler putsch. Although the Hitlerian coup of 1923 might well have fallen short without Kahr’s intervention, he was dragged from his home under arrest by the SS. His body was found later, hacked to pieces, in the hills near Dachau.
Mitchell (162) Hitler's Stormtroopers and the Attack on the German Republic, 1919-1933

[Annelie]

Not sure either what one would expect considering (according the the link you supplied)that he died at 75. In those days I am sure it was prudent not to make a big deal of their connection with the dritte reich? His funeral and stone probably reflected that? Probably some close and old friends found their own way to celebrate his passing?

It was interesting

declared "Honorary Aryans" and allowed to stay in the SS. Despite his Jewish ancestry, and his relationship with Hitler's niece, Geli Raubal, Maurice was first and foremost a loyal companion to Hitler. After the war Maurice became a watchmaker again in Munich and died at the age of 75, on 06-02-1972 and is buried on the Nordfriedhof of Munich, clos by the grave of Hitler favourite Prof Troost (see Troost) and Hitler’s secretary Traudl Junge (see Junge).

I envy you the ability and time you get to spend finding interesting things in and around Munchen.