Lina Hähnle

When I read yesterday's Badische Zeitung, the name Lina Hähnle was mentioned in three articles. I did not know the lady and learned that she founded the German Vogelschutzbund (Federation for the Protection of Birds) in 1899. Lina is so world-famous that she even has an article in the English-language Wikipedia.

But why was there suddenly something about Lina in three different articles? It was about her involvement in the Nazi regime.

Lina was born in 1851, so I wondered what an old lady of 82 had to say about the 3rd Reich.

In fact, she greeted the Machtergreifung (seizure of power) by the Nazis in 1933 with a "sieghaften Heil auf unseren Volkskanzler, der die Deutschen aus der Verbundenheit mit der Natur heraus gesunden lassen will (victorious Heil to our People's Chancellor, who wants to make the Germans healthy out of the bond with nature)."

It was a recurrence of the right-wing position after the lost First World War when the Vogelschutzbund warned in 1919 against domestic "Schädlinge (pests)" that had to be driven back so that "sie nicht mehr den ganzen Organismus vergiften können (they could no longer poison the whole organism)."

Consequently, in 1934, the BfV amended its statutes, according to which, in the future, only "deutsche Staatsangehörige deutschen oder artverwandten Blutes (German citizens of German or kindred blood)" could become members.

In 1990, the BfV became Germany's Naturschutzbund (Nabu; Nature Conservation Union).


To mark the 75th anniversary of Lina Hähnle's death, Nabu held a conference in February 2016 entitled "Lina Hähnle und die demokratischen Traditionen im deutschen Naturschutz (Lina Hähnle and the Democratic Traditions in German Nature Conservation)." At the time, the head of Nabu's president office said, "Wir wollen auf das soziale und demokratische Engagement von Hähnle und ihrer Familie aufmerksam machen (We want to draw attention to the social and democratic commitment of Hähnle and her family)."

On the occasion and in contrast, Andreas Speit wrote an article in the taz, "NS-Geschichte des Nabu: Die braune Vogelschützerin (NS History of Nabu: The Brown Bird Protector)." His conclusion: Hähnle had acted "nach außen nicht nur kritiklos, sondern unterstützend und bejahend (outwardly not only uncritically, but supportively and affirmatively)."

"In the person of Lina Hähnle is depicted how National Socialism instrumentalized nature conservation and used it as a gateway into a partly quite skeptical milieu." In the end, Hähnle does justice to "neither uncritical remembrance nor discrediting," i.e., the Vogelmutter (Mother of the Birds) is ambivalent.

Lina-Hähnle-Path in Freiburg-Weingarten (©Andreas Schwarzkopf†/Wikipedia)

In contrast, at the time, the Street Naming Commission of the city of Freiburg had placed Lina Hähnle in the best category: C2 - unobjectionable with exemplary character.

What a balancing act. The commission members confronted with the facts, no longer remember how their unclouded classification came about.

The then chairman of the commission, Bernd Martin, wrote, "As far as I remember, I never had anything to do with the Hähnle matter." The historian Volker Ilgen, who was commissioned to do the research, said he can no longer recall the decision-making processes because of the abundance of names and the long time that the commission's work goes back, "I also no longer have any documents; and besides, I have neither the time nor the inclination to deal with the subject."

In the meantime, the dust has settled a bit. After all, the Freiburg Street Naming Commission had pointed out in its final report that it could not be its goal to cleanse the "history of the dark stains" that can also express themselves in street names. It is always necessary to "weigh up political-ideological entanglements and merits," to "understand people in their historical context," and to assess "whether their support of the Nazi injustice state, for example, went beyond being a fellow traveler."

And Nabu also responded, "The image we have of Lina Hähnle has 'many shades of gray.' Hähnle had a stabilizing effect on the system during National Socialism 'with her like-minded association.'" 

 Finally, Lina fulfills the Jerry Coyne criteria, and therefore she should not be canceled.

Peaceful Lina-Hähnle-Weg (©Michael Bamberger/BZ)

Thus a renaming of the Lina-Hähnle-Path remains probably spared. Still, besides the explanation, "Foundress and First Chairwoman of the Federation for the Protection of Birds," the street sign would require a further addition.

Today, December 31, is unique. I do not mean the traditional firecrackers on New Year's Eve, which after two years of prohibition because of Corona, now again allow Germans to welcome the new year with noise. I instead regard the temperature forecasts of today.

While in the States, the great thaw of the enormous snow masses continues, in Freiburg, the temperature is expected to reach 19 °C (66 F), the highest temperature recorded so far in Germany on New Year's Eve. As a precaution, Red Baron has eyed his T-shirts.

I wish all my readers a Happy but, above all, Healthy New Year.

Goethe's Words That Are Worth Remembering

In 2000 Red Baron bought a book by Martin Müller: Goethes merkwürdige Wörter.

The title contains merkwürdig, one of Goethe's words. Does it mean "worth remembering," or is it one of Goethe's "odd" words?

Indeed. the meaning of merkwürdig has changed over the last two centuries. Around 1800, it meant something worth remembering, while nowadays,  the word is best translated into odd or strange.

In this sense, it is merkwürdig that Martin Müller did not mention in his book a project that started in 1946 when scholars of three Academies of Science and Humanities at Berlin-Brandenburg, Göttingen, and Heidelberg began working on a dictionary project to record Goethe's language - and thus the world view of the world's most famous German poet.

Today's Badische Zeitung article informed us that The Goethe dictionary is a mammoth project slowly approaching the finish line. It is to be completed by 2025. It was recently presented in Berlin.

The project was started in 1946 on the initiative of Goethe scholar Wolfgang Schadewaldt and was conceived as an intellectual and moral renewal of Germany after Nazi barbarism.

Scholars have identified around 93,000 different words in Goethe's work. An archive of about 3.5 million textual records - initially painstakingly scattered on index cards - has been created. They come from his poems, dramas, novels, countless letters, diaries, scientific papers, and official writings. After all, the Frankfurt-born poet and later Weimar minister also dealt with anatomy, botany, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, optics, administrative science, and civil law.

When scholars began their work in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Heidelberg, they soon faced the effects of Germany's division. Still, despite the Wall and the Cold War, by the mid-1960s, the collection of materials was essentially complete.

Goethe is considered the most powerful German in terms of words, even ahead of Martin Luther. Still, instead, the classical trio in Weimar Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, and Christoph Martin Wieland laid the foundations for the modern German language. They created many new German words by poetic inventiveness or adoption from foreign works like Wieland's translation of Shakespeare.

Here are some examples of Goethe's nowadays mostly forgotten words:

ärschlings > with the butt first 

äugeln > throwing eyes on someone; replaced by flirten 

Einhelfer > Souffleur > prompter 

Geströhde > Strohhaufen > a heap of straw 

Handquehle > Handtuch > hand towel 

Kahlmäuserei > Pedanterie > pedantry 

Krabskrälligkeit > Schwangerschaft > pregnancy 

Piphahn > penis 

Rüsterbaum > Ulme > elm tree 

Schlittenrecht > The right of a sled driver to kiss his female passenger at the end of the ride 

strozzlich > sich spreizend > spreading, splaying 

Unstimmung > Missstimmung > rift, dysphoria 

Vorlust > Vorfreude > joyful anticipation 

Windbruch > trees cut down by storm

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Hamburg Splinters

My latest organized visit to Hamburg started by train from Freiburg Hauptbahnhof on December 12 at 9:48 AM. During the trip, the ICE 76 was diverted due to the deployment of an emergency doctor in the tracks (euphemistic for someone who threw himself in front of a train) and finally stopped longer in the small town station of Riedstadt-Goddelau.

Remember to click the photos to enlarge them.

Looking out the window, I thought visiting the Büchnerhaus, his birthplace, would have been possible if our train had stopped longer.

Wikipedia knows about the giant of the German language:

The Büchnerhaus in Riedstadt-Goddelau is the birthplace of the playwright Georg Büchner. Today, the house is a cultural center with a literature museum.

Büchner was born here on October 17, 1813, in the small room on the second floor that the young family had rented. His father was a country doctor at the time and thus was also responsible for the physical illnesses of the inmates of the Philippshospital, one of the first psychiatric hospitals in the world. However, at the time, as a "madhouse," it was more of an asylum.

Here, young George must have gotten the insight for his drama Wozzeck.

We were only 45 minutes late arriving at Hamburg Central Station, so the total travel time was 6 hours 35 minutes.

©warrel040/Wikipedia

Our venerable Reichshof hotel was located directly opposite the central station.

The lobby is styled art deco.

The hotel is a cultural monument in Hamburg's St.Georg district.

  

Freizeit from13.00 -16.30

This time, the trip organized by the Badische Zeitung was characterized by lots of free time at our disposal (Zeit zur freien Verfügung). This makes group travel fluffier for the participants and cheaper for the organizer.

Stadtrundfahrt

As in the past, the obligatory sightseeing tour by bus rounded the Außenalster (Outer Alster), traveled along the Reeperbahn to Altona, and up the Elbe River along the Landungsbrücken back to the city center. 

Red Baron learned two new details.

On Feenteichbrücke.
To the right is Hamburg's Senate (government) guest house.
President Trump stayed there in 2017 during the G7 summit.

It is customary to kiss someone when you cross the Feenteichbrücke (Fairy Pond Bridge) at the Outer Alster. Nobody was at hand, and nobody on the bus kissed Red Baron.

The Altona Town Hall was originally the Altona-Kiel Railway Company station building. In 1844, Altona was a Danish port city on the Elbe River. Subsequently, the station was opened on the king's birthday for Christian VIII Østersø Jernbane (King Christian VIII Baltic Railway) on September 18, 1844.

The bus tour ended at Gänsemarkt, the gateway to Hamburg's Christmas markets. The former geese market (Germans adopted the turkey only after the war) is an appropriate seasonal place.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing with a birdie on Gänsemarkt

Lessing, a precursor of the German classic (Goethe, Schiller), was the first serious dramaturg at Abel Seyler's Hamburg National Theatre. With his Hamburg Dramaturgy, Lessing decisively shaped German theater culture.

Maximilian II, Duke of Bavaria

Birdies on statues are standard. I took the above example in Munich in 2006.

Hamburg Rathaus and Christmas Market.
Note the Wichern Advent wreath with its 24 candles.

From Gänsemarkt, we walked along Jungfernstieg past Christmas stalls to the Rathausmarkt. The offered drink of choice at Christmas Markets is mulled wine. Visitors may choose finger food between sweet, sour, and salty.

©Bucerius Art Forum

While most of my fellow travelers sought the ultimate Christmas kick, Red Baron uncoupled and visited the exhibition New Images in the Age of Augustus at the Bucerius Art Forum.


Elphi

Our group listened to Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in D major op. 123 at the Elbphilharmonie in the evening.

The Orchestre des Champs-Elysees and the Collegium Vocale Gent are seated,
waiting for the conductor.

Greeting the audience: 
The ensemble is standing, and Conductor Philippe Herreweghe bowing.

Hafencity

The morning zur freien Verfügung

In the early morning hours, Red Baron went to see his former high school GOA, where he was interviewed by two students, "Grandpa, tell us about the schooling before 1954." The students will produce a video while I provide a few blurred B&W photos.

In the afternoon, our group visited the new Hamburg quarter Hafencity built on the premises and free plots of the former Speicherstadt (warehouse district).

 

Gewürzmuseum (spice museum) in the twilight

Elphi in the sunset

The highlight of the evening: Kale cooked the north German way.
Simply delicious (©MIA).

Departure Day

On the free morning of our departure, I visited the paintings of the exhibition Femme Fatale at the Hamburger Kunsthalle. Here is the blog.

Before we mounted the train to Freiburg, I saw franz & friends at the Hauptbahnhof.

The only thing I need on an ICE train:
A pot of coffee and a Franzbrötchen

This is my last blog on the eve of Christmas 2022. While the US is covered with too much snow, we in Freiburg enjoy spring-like temperatures. 

A winter feeling I had before I left for Hamburg and during my stay in the Hanseatic city. I took a photo of my backyard the evening before my departure.

It shall serve as the background for my best wishes to my readers:

A Merry Christmas

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Confusion About Fusion

A piece of news was announced days before with a drum roll, but it didn't sweep ordinary citizens off their feet when it was announced.

The New York Times reported:

The result announced on Tuesday (Saint Nicholas Day, December 6) is the first fusion reaction in a laboratory setting that produced more energy than it took to start the reaction.

. . . If fusion can be deployed on a large scale, it would offer an energy source devoid of the pollution and greenhouse gases caused by the burning of fossil fuels and the dangerous long-lived radioactive waste created by existing nuclear power plants, which use the splitting of uranium to produce energy.

. . . There was always a nagging caveat, however. In all of the efforts by scientists to control the unruly power of fusion, their experiments consumed more energy than the fusion reactions generated.

That changed at 1:03 a.m. on Dec. 5 when 192 giant lasers at the LL laboratory's National Ignition Facility blasted a small cylinder about the size of a pencil eraser that contained a frozen pellet of deuterium and tritium, the heavier forms of hydrogen.

This is the classic nuclear fusion process that is being studied in many laboratories around the world. Red Baron reported on it; however, this time, we had not only the ignition, but a nuclear reaction lifted off.

This all happened at LLL, the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, where its Director Kimberly S. Budil voiced his caveat about the clean and inexhaustible energy source solving mankind's major problem.

The technological development of a fusion power plant will take "probably decades," Budil said, "not six decades, I don't think. I think not five decades, which is what we used to say. I think it's moving into the foreground, and probably, with concerted effort and investment, a few decades of research on the underlying technologies could put us in a position to build a power plant." What a cranky phrase.

Red Baron is a confirmed pessimist. First, nuclear fusion is not clean energy because the nuclear reaction produces enormous amounts of neutrons that will create (admittedly only short-lived) radioactivity.

However, these high neutron fluxes are a challenge to the materials used in constructing a fusion reactor. At present, no material is known that will support a prolonged impact of neutron radiation. Metals become brittle after extended exposures.

 

Material damage is actually the primary cause of fission reactors shutting down. Safety reasons demand that components like boiler vessels and pumps must be replaced because of radiation damage to their construction materials.

Our sun. The only working fusion reactor (©Chappatte/Der Spiegel)

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Femme Fatale

My announced trip with the Badische Zeitung to Hamburg took place from December 12 to 15. On the long train ride, six and a half hours, including a 45-minute delay, I read an article about the ChatGPT AI program that may serve as a writing assistant.

Compared to a previous visit, we participants had much free time on this year's Hamburg trip, i.e., to stroll the many Christmas markets in the Hanseatic city. Christmas markets are not my thing, so I used half the free afternoon and the two free mornings for other activities.

On Wednesday morning, the day we left, I visited an exhibition at the Hamburger Kunsthalle that had just opened the week before. On the second floor of their new building, the museum had brought together pictures dealing with the "femme fatale."

 
I quickly entered the term "femme fatale" into the ChatGPT mentioned above AI app, and here is what the Writing Assistant spit out:

Femmes fatales are women who have an aura of mystery and danger around them and are often seen as being sexually attractive and mysterious. They are often portrayed as being manipulative and using their sexuality to get what they want. They are often the villains or antagonists in stories and are often seen as being dangerous and irresistible to men.

ChatGPT's English is a bit bumpy and often is used too often, but the text alludes to the lust of men, i.e., painters and viewers alike, which Edvard Munch illustrated in the following lithograph.

Click the paintings for an enlargement.    

Edvard Munch, 1897, In the Man's Brain

And then there was Munch's Madonna.

Edvard Munch, 1894, Madonna

Red Baron stood in front of the painting and tried to associate the term Madonna with the lady's pose. I failed and consulted Edvard Munch's website for an explanation:

Originally called Loving Woman, this picture can be taken to symbolize what Munch considered the essential acts of the female life cycle: sexual intercourse, causing fertilization, procreation, and death. Evidence for the first is in the picture itself, an intensified, spiritualized variation in the nude of the 'mating' pose, the woman depicted as though recumbent beneath her lover … Procreation was implied by the decoration of the original frame, later discarded, on which were painted drops of semen and an embryo. That Munch associated the image with death is clear from his own comments on the picture, in which he sees it as representing the eternal cyclical process of generation and decay in nature. He continually connected love with death: for the man because it eviscerated him, for the woman because, following Schopenhauer, he appears to have thought her function ended with child-bearing.

To call the picture Madonna is not inappropriate if the word is understood metaphorically, for Munch, unable to accept Christianity or a personal god, regarded the continuous generation and metamorphosis of life in a religious light, subsuming its spiritual as well as its material components. The blood-red halo around the woman's head could be considered the spiritual counterpart to the touches of red on her lips, nipples, and navel. She seems to float within curing bands of colored light suggestive of art nouveau. Far from deforming her, however, they look like a supernatural emanation, possibly deriving from the spiritualist notion of an aura surrounding all individuals but only visible to mediums.

The "classical" image of the femme fatale is based primarily on biblical, mythological, and literary female figures widely portrayed as "fatal women" between 1860 and 1920.

Carl Joseph Begas, 1835, The Lureley

The Hamburg exhibition started with the beautiful Lorelei, who - being betrayed by her sweetheart - falls to her death from a rock above the River Rhine. She was transformed into a siren who lured fishermen passing the now-called Loreley rock to destruction.

Heine's fair copy of Die Loreley

Well-known is the poem by Heinrich Heine:

   

Die Loreley Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten Daß ich so traurig bin; Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn. Die Luft ist kühl und es dunkelt, Und ruhig fließt der Rhein; Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt Im Abendsonnenschein. Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet Dort oben wunderbar, Ihr goldnes Geschmeide blitzet, Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar. Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme Und singt ein Lied dabei, Das hat eine wundersame, Gewaltige Melodei. Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe Ergreift es mit wildem Weh, Er schaut nicht die Felsenrisse, Er schaut nur hinauf in die Höh. Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn. Und das hat mit ihrem Singen Die Lorelei getan.

Lorelei I don't know what it means, That I am so sad; A tale from the old days, Won't get out of my head. The air is cool, and it's dark, And calmly flows the Rhine; The summit of the mountain sparkles In the evening sunshine. The most beautiful virgin Sits wonderfully up there; Her golden jewels flash, She combs her golden hair. She combs it with a golden comb, While doing so, she sings a song; That has a wondrous, A mighty melody. The skipper in the little ship It seizes him with wild pain; He does not look at the rocky reefs, He only looks up to the heights. I think in the end The waves swallow up skipper and barge; And that with her singing Has done the Lorelei.

Both paintings depict Lorelei as an adorned but not necessarily seductive or even cruel woman.

Fiedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Martersteig, 1871, Loreley

Matersteig's Lorelei of 1871 has a touch of Germania watching on the German Rhine and looking out for the French Marianne.

Julius Hübner, 1828, The Fisher Boy and the Mermaid

Half she pulled him, half he sank down. Fornication with a minor?

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1863, Helen of Troy

Was it Helen's blue eyes that the Trojan War was fought for?

Evelyn de Morgan, ~ 1900, Medea

Another lady in Greek mythology is Medea. From the female painter's point of view, did she become guilty solely due to her excessive love for Jason?

Herbert James Draper, 1904, The Golden Fleece.

Medea sacrifices her brother Apsyrtos when the pursuers after the stolen Golden Fleece approach her ship. 

Alfons Mucha, 1998, Medea.
In the title role, Sarah Bernhardt with mad eyes.

When Jason leaves her for another woman, Medea finally becomes a mad avenging fury.

Gustave Moreau, 1884, Oedipus and the Sphinx

A sexually aggressive Sphinx asks Oedipus, "What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night?" He answered correctly, which caused the sphinx to commit suicide.

John William Waterhouse, 1891, Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses

On his long journey, Ulysses was often exposed to female temptations. The sorceress Circe turned his companions into pigs.

The Bible knows many fatal women.

Hermann Hahn, 1898, Judith with the Head of Holofernes

Franz von Stuck, 1926, Judith and Holofernes

Von Stuck added the erotic touch with Judith holding the sword playfully.

Max Liebermann, 1902, Samson and Delilah

A vicarious victory? As a surrogate of Smamson's manhood, Dalilah holds Samson's severed lock triumphantly toward the sky.

Lovis Corinth, 1899/1900, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

Is the painter's phantasy going overboard?

Victor Müller, 1870, Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

A thoughtfully sobered Salome ...

Lovis Corinth, 1899/1900, Salome II

... and a sensually excited Salome.

Gustave Jean Jacquet, ~1890, Pandora

A chaste Pandora ...

Odilon Redon, ~1914, Pandora

... and here, sexually exaggerated.

Male gazes drive the market for depictions of femmes fatales.

Jean-Leon Gerome, 1862, Phryne before the Judges

Hetaira Phryne was prosecuted for άσέβεια (impiety) and defended by Hypereides. He exposed Phryne's breasts to the jury, who were so struck by her beauty that she was acquitted. Only a few men remain seated in stoic calm.

Hermann Kaulbach, 1882, Lucrezia Borgia

Lucrezia's dance is eagerly commented on, and some men cast lascivious looks.

 

The next painting was not shown in Hamburg but in Freiburg in 2017 and fits  perfectly:

Johann Heinrich Ramberg, 1800, Cherry-picking girl.

The innkeeper's naked daughter is picking cherries off the ground with leering old men watching.

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Freiburg Splinters 4

Freiburg's Christmas Market

After last year's Weihnachtsmarkt ended abruptly because of Corona, this year's market is overrun by everyone playing catch-up. In some places, you can cross the crowds only with difficulty. Especially in front of the kiosks, where mulled wine is served, there are big clusters. Here are some impressions focusing on the new part of the Christmas market in Colombipark.

The Colombi-Schlössle

Oberkirch

Many traditional stores and restaurants in Freiburg are closing or have already closed due to Corona or age, i.e., lack of succession. For example, the Kleiner Meierhof stopped serving meals at the end of 2018, and since then, the windows have been nailed with boards. 

The traditional well-known Freiburg fashion house Kaiser on Kaiser-Joseph-Straße closed its doors on June 30.

So it hit like a bomb when the Badische Zeitung announced that the Restaurant Oberkirch on Münsterplatz would close on October 31.

The Oberkirch has been an institution in Freiburg for 85 years. Karl Oberkirch opened his wine tavern in the "Haus zum wilden Samson" and "Haus zum Rosenzweig" in 1938, directly next to the Historisches Kaufhaus. These houses date back to the 13th century and have housed a tavern since 1738.

Will the Oberkirch suffer the same fate as the Kleiner Meierhof, or will a new tenant be found? Didn't I take many American friends there, booking a table near the window so they could admire the Minster Church? Wasn't the best asparagus in town served at Oberkirch?* Freiburg's gourmet scene held its breath.

*When you open the link, scroll down a little, and you will see the future tenant on a table with his back to the photographer

"If something becomes free at Münsterplatz, you are welcome to ask me," and someone must have asked Toni Schlegel. So my president took over the Oberkirch on December 1, reopening in his efficient way the place already on December 6.

He told me, "No opening night but a flying change." That also applied to the staff as Red Baron was greeted by familiar faces when he had lunch at the Oberkirch on December 8. 

Thank you, Toni, for saving my favorite restaurant.

The Christmas Goose

On December 7, traditionally on a Wednesday, the Christmas dinner of the Freiburg Madison Society was held at the Greiffenegg. After we had to do without the goose for two years due to Corona, here are two photos of this year's bird:

While browsing the website of the FMG. I found older pictures proving the lovely tradition.

2009

2ß10

2013

2014

2015

2017

In the missing years, the goose was not photographed, and in 2020/21, the Christmas dinners had to be canceled due to Corona. Have a look at the photo gallery of the 2022 dinner.


Reichsbürger

On December 7, in the early morning hours, the federal police in Germany swarmed out and simultaneously took action against the Reichsbürgerszene (Reich citizens scene) in eleven federal states. This was also the case in the tranquil Black Forest. 

Reich citizens do not recognize the Federal Republic of Germany and planned - according to statements of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution - a coup in Germany with the establishment of an authoritarian state under Heinrich XIII, Prince of Reuss, as the head. 

This night-and-fog action of the federal police hit high waves. Even in faraway America, Stephen Colbert mentioned the operation on his Late Show and linked it to the riot in Washington on January 6, 2021. 

In fact, for a year, Reichsbürger were said to have been making plans for German "Day X" when they decided to invade the Reichstag building with a good two dozen men and women. Members of parliament and government officials were to be handcuffed in the Bundestag. "We're going to flatten them now; this is the end of the fun!" Prince Reuß is said to have announced in an intercepted telephone conversation. 

Der Spiegel further reported: According to the investigation, some Reich citizens formed the "military arm" of the group; they were apparently prepared to go to extremes. That this would also lead to the killing of "representatives of the system in force" was at least "tolerated" by the accused, according to the prosecutors.

A police car in front of Rüdiger von P.'s hideout at Neuhof (©Michael Saurer)

The raid by the federal police reached as far as the tranquil town of Münstertal. There lived the head of the network's "military arm," Rüdiger von P., who was also supposed to "eliminate" the rule of law at the county and municipal levels. 

Rüdiger von P., a former lieutenant colonel and commander of a paratrooper battalion, dishonorably discharged from the Bundeswehr, held crude opinions that the Federal Republic is led by a secret group under the leadership of the Freemasons. He wrote on his internet portal, "Mankind will learn 'the truth only after the change of system,' the 'germ of disease Freemason' must be eradicated for all time." 

The man lived in hiding. Nobody knew him in the 31-soul village of Neuhof in Münstertal's district.

The Last Rose

The other day Red Baron noticed this solitary rose three meters high in a garden near his apartment. The photo was taken in portrait mode with my iPhone and is zoomed in. This late flower reminded me of the aria, Last Rose, from Friedrich von Flotow's opera Martha:

Letzte Rose, wie magst du so Einsam hier blüh'n? Deine freundlichen Schwestern Sind längst schon, längst dahin

Last rose, how may you Alone here, bloom? Your friendly sister Are long, long gone

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