Berthold from the Offstage

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the death of a writer, a master of the German language, and a political voice of conscience: Berthold Brecht.

The graves of Berthold Brecht and Helene Weigel at the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof in Berlin.

Berthold Brecht, the already successful author, was an ideological communist who fled Germany on February 28, 1933 - one day after the Reichstag fire and two days before the Nazis seized power - first to Prague, Vienna, and Zurich, and then to Paris. Further stops on his journey into exile - the Nazis had stripped Brecht of his citizenship - included Svendborg (Denmark), Lidingö (Sweden), and Helsinki.

In May 1941, Brecht received an entry visa to the United States and traveled with his family via Moscow and Vladivostok by ship to Santa Monica, California, where he lived in a rented house.

After the war ended, the House Un-American Activities Committee questioned him on October 30, 1947, asking whether he had ever been a member of a Communist Party. Brecht truthfully answered "no."

However, he could no longer stay in America. The following day, he traveled to Paris and soon after to Zurich. Switzerland was the only country that granted the stateless Brecht a residence permit.

Finally - since Brecht remained barred from entering the Western occupation zones of Germany - he traveled from Zurich via Prague to East Berlin in October 1948 at the invitation of the East German Cultural Association for the Democratic Renewal of Germany. 

The result of this statelessness was Brecht's "Flüchtlingsgespräche," Refugee Conversations at a wooden table in the spartan train station restaurant in Helsinki between the physicist Ziffel and the worker Kalle: "The passport is the noblest part of a human being. It doesn't come into being as easily as a human being does. A human being can come into being anywhere, in the most reckless way and without any good reason, but a passport never does. On the other hand, it is recognized when it is good, whereas a person can be as good as he wants and still not be recognized."

This loose collection of dialogues premiered on February 15, 1962, in the Werkraum of the Munich Kammerspiele, and Red Baron - I was a doctoral student at the university at the time - was there.

Famous Erwin Piscator directed the production, and the cast included cabaret artist Werner Finck as the tall, somewhat clumsy bourgeois intellectual and physicist Ziffel, and the Swabian folk actor Willy Reichert as the stocky, down-to-earth communist worker Kalle.

Ziffel had fled Germany primarily because the Nazis had exploited science for their war effort. He argues philosophically and ironically.

Kalle had already been imprisoned in a German concentration camp. He views the world with a sharp, materialistic class consciousness.

In their dialogues, the protagonists deconstruct the "virtues" of diligence, patriotism, and courage. Bad governments demand these virtues from their citizens to cover up mismanagement, wars, and their own mistakes. An ideal state doesn't need any heroes, capitalism, or fascism. 

For Ziffel and Kalle, National Socialism is not an "accident"* of history, but a logical consequence of the capitalist economic system, which relies on dictatorships in times of crisis. 

*Nor is it bird droppings

In the waiting room "Exile," the two refugees explore the agonizing feeling of waiting, their dependence on visas, and their longing for a homeland that no longer exists.

Against this backdrop, Brecht's warnings from beyond the grave regarding the current political situation in Germany read like an omen. The author is Florian Harms, editor-in-chief of the German news service T-Online.

Once again, Red Baron is promoting someone else's work and providing the translation of the German text here:

Greetings to you who are reading this:

You must listen to me. Today marks 70 years since my death, and as is the custom with all those who were a thorn in the side, I have been set in marble so that I may remain silent. 

But even in life, I considered silence to be the worst of all arts. That is why I speak once more today. It will be a short speech, for the dead have little time.

I see my country well-fed, yet seething with discontent. It has been taught to distrust, and now it distrusts the wrong people - not those who deceive it, but those who warn it. The seats of government and the parliaments, the offices and city halls no longer serve the people, and I ask: Who benefits when you smash them to pieces? Where trust falls, freedom does not rise. Instead, men rise who are loud.

I know the agitators. I saw them when they first came, in brown uniforms, with simple slogans for people who were a nuisance. People laughed at them, then voted for them, then idolized them. In the end, everything was destroyed. "The womb from which this crawled is still fertile," I once wrote. It was a warning, and warnings do not lose their validity.

Eighty-one years after the end of Hitler's regime, many are once again following those who promise simplicity but mean cruelty. They do so carefree, like stepping into the water on a summer day without knowing how deep it is. They say a fish never swims into the same net twice. People, however, are happy to swim right into it if the net is decorated with blue instead of brown flags and music is playing. I see it, and I'm worried.

For while you argue over who hates the state the most, there's a man in the East waging war. I won't call him a general, for generals lead armies; he, however, leads an army of butchers who are tearing Ukraine apart. He has plunged Europe into its deepest crisis since 1945 and is now striking at you as well: drones over airports, arson at warehouses, assassination plots against corporate leaders, sabotage of what is dearest to you. Hundreds of cases have already been counted. 

And yet many of you still believe that this man can be dealt with through compromise. He cannot. Evil must be brought to its knees; otherwise, it will sweep you off your feet—take it from someone who has seen more evil than all of you put together. Remember this: War is not far off. It's already in your basement, setting the clock.

It has eager accomplices. They set invisible traps for you ... They stoke anger and rake in billions upon billions of dollars: colorfully packaged rumors, portioned out, delivered right to your bedside. The executives at Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and that thing called X don't profit from peace - they profit from strife. Hate gets more clicks than reason, and whatever gets more clicks gets amplified. That's how they've built a business out of your worst traits and call it "community."

I'm telling you the old truth anew. "First comes food, then morality," I wrote. But these gentlemen and their henchmen have realized that you eat the most when you sell morality first. They feed you anger until you puke, and send the bill to democracy.

I have my concerns, but I also have hope. In every country, there are decent people. They aren't the loudest; often, they're the weary ones. But there are many of them - more than the agitators believe - and their time has come. Not tomorrow, when the fishermen's nets have been hauled in at Halle, Magdeburg, Schwerin, and Rostock*. Not the day after tomorrow, when the neighbor with the match is already standing in the living room. Decent people everywhere should unite.

*There are upcoming State elections in Sachsen-Anhalt und Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

A decent person does not look away. One who steadfastly calls a lie a lie, even if it is shared a thousand times over. One who would rather help a discredited government office than shout it down. One who knows that freedom is not a summer retreat, but a work that must be built upon daily, because many are trying to undermine it every day.

So show that you are decent! That would be my wish. And in the spirit of those who came before me, who also wrote and suffered for this country - Lessing, Heine, Tucholsky - all of whom knew that a people can lose its reason as easily as a glove. That is what I can tell you on the 70th anniversary of my death, through the pen of a small-time journalist. Stand up. I can no longer do so myself.

**

Dortu Documents

Red Baron was tempted to name this blog the Dortu Files. Indeed, it would be wrong, for what I present here are a few selected documents shown in an exhibition at the Freiburg Stadtarchiv (city archives). The occasion is the 200th birthday of revolutionary Maximilian Dortu, born in Potsdam on June 29, 1826. I wrote a detailed blog about Dortu in 2012.

Archive Director Dr. Florian Hoffmann had compiled many previously unpublished documents about and related to Maximilian.

Revolutionaries shot under martial law in 1849 (unknown author)

The most shocking document on display lists 25 revolutionaries who were executed by firing squad in 1849.

 

The list is headed by Joh. Ludw. Maxi. Dortu from Potsdam, who was shot at the Alter Wiehrefriedhof on July 31, 1849. The two others executed there by firing squad: Friedrich Neff from Rimmingen* on August 9 and Gebhard Kromer, a soldier from Bombach, on August 2, figure on the list.

*Rümmingen

Other known persons of the 1848/49 Revolution are listed too: In Rastatt, following the surrender of the federal fortress to the Prussian invading army, both Regimental Commander Ernst von Biedenfeld and the last governor of the fortress, Gustav Tiedemann, were summarily executed by a firing squad on August 9, resp on August 11, 1849.

Cityscape, circa 1860, by Gottlieb Theodor Hase

Now located in my fully built-up Wiehre neighborhood, the "Old" Wiehre Cemetery was far outside the city in 1849.

I shall continue to show and comment on more displayed documents.

Dortu had already become a "democrat" while still a student, serving as spokesperson for the Association of Radical Democrats in Potsdam. Following the barricade fighting in Berlin in March 1848 (Read the full story in German), Dortu sharply attacked Prince Wilhelm - the future German Emperor Wilhelm I  -accusing him of ordering the troops on March 18–19 to use grapeshot. Because of his derogatory nickname, the "Kartätschenprinz (Cardush Prince)," Dortu was sentenced in June 1848 to 15 months of imprisonment in a fortress. 

He evaded his sentence by fleeing to Brussels. Still, since he did not have a passport and the local police there took notice of his inflammatory speeches, the Belgian authorities deported him to France.

          

He eventually turned up in Paris and stayed at a hôtel meublé on 69 Rue St. Jacques in the Latin Quarter.

Plan of Paris before Georges-Eugène Haussmann milled the Boulevard Saint-Michel through the Latin Quarter in 1860. The Rue St. Jacques runs parallel to the future Boulemich to the east, and number 69 is at the height of the Rue des Ecoles.

Dortu rarely appeared in public; instead, he devoted himself to military-scientific studies to prepare for the expected uprising in Germany.

In May 1849, Dortu finally traveled to Baden to support the revolution there. Gustav Struve recommended him to Johann Philipp Becker, who was building up the Badische Volkswehr (People's Defense Force in Baden), "Dortu is a man of exceptional character, as bold as a lion in battle, impassioned and enthusiastic at the podium, and filled with the noblest patriotism of any age."

Young Maximilian

Becker, a determined democrat, called for swift military action against the approaching counterrevolution, and appointed Dortu as an aide-de-camp in the General Command of the Volkswehr. 

Order of the Day by the General Command of the People's Defense Force to the Mannschaft.

The Commander-in-Chief of the People's Defense Force, Joh. Ph. Becker's order aimed to better organize Baden's Defense Force and contains a warning: Let the reactionaries take note that an executionary army - one that watches over and protects, and stands up for freedom with property and blood - has already been established.

On June 17, Becker entrusted Dortu with organizing the People's Defense Force in the Gernsbach administrative district. There, young Maximilian's impetuosity became evident when he interpreted Becker's daily order of May 27 strictly.

Dortu rode up on horseback with his men in front of the Weisenbach church

On June 24, members of the Volkswehr under the command of Dortu arrested Pastor Franz Xaver Weingärtner and other Weisenbach citizens suspected of counterrevolutionary activities. In fact, the revolutionary government had suspended Weingärtner from office on June 21, because the pastor had made it clear that he was an opponent of the Baden Revolution.

 Nevertheless, Dortu's too harsh crackdown led to his removal from office and punitive transfer to the defensive frontline along the Murg River near Rastatt.

Why does Dortu's fate still move people - especially in Freiburg - to this day?

 
In general, an early death freezes a person's life in time. The myth of an early death dates back to antiquity. The favorites of the gods lead short, glorious lives instead of long, meaningless ones.

 
Young Dortu, who still had his whole life ahead of him, chose to stand by his convictions - and paid for it with his life. His last words: "I die for freedom. Brothers, aim well." still echo every July 31 at the commemoration reunion at the Old Wiehre Cemetery. 

Dortu's lasting impact stems from the combination of his personality, youth, political convictions, and sacrifice. He developed into the quintessential symbol of the failed revolutionary movement of 1848/49.

 
So the obituaries of some of his great contemporaries read:

Wilhelm Liebknecht: "In my life, I have never met anyone else who came as close to the ideal of the young hero as Max Dortu."

 
Amalia Struve, the icon of the Baden Revolution: "In my eyes, Dortu is the martyr who can be regarded as the representative of the enthusiastic German youth. He possessed the full force of that conviction and enthusiasm found in the noblest segment of German youth. Ready for any task - even the most seemingly ordinary - when it came to serving the fatherland, cheerful and undaunted in the face of any danger - he exemplified, perhaps more than anyone else, what deep conviction, combined with youthful energy, is capable of."

 
His former boss, Johann Philipp Becker: "Dortu was a man of the most fortunate dispositions. He combined the critical acuity characteristic of his North German compatriots with that warm enthusiasm for all that is great, beautiful, and good - which is the nobility and magic of youth. He displayed pride in his reflections, power in his voice, and grace in his entire demeanor. Toward his friends, he showed the same devotion and self-sacrifice with which he was committed to his political convictions."
**

On Yule Lads, Alðingi and BCPPs

On our way to Đingvellir, the old site of assembly of the Icelanders, our guide Andrí pampered us with stories about the 13 Icelandic Jólasveinar (Yule Lads) or Christmas trolls.

Our itinerary outlined by the tireless Andrí

The Yule Lads are the sons of the fearsome troll Grýla and her lazy husband Leppalúði. They live in the mountains with their terrifying pet, the Yule Cat Jólakötturinn, who is said to eat anyone who doesn't receive a new piece of clothing for Christmas.

Beginning on December 12, one Yule Lad comes down from the mountains each night. Children place a shoe on their windowsill, and each Lad leaves either:

- a small gift for well-behaved children, or

- a rotten potato for naughty ones.

Here is a list of the 13 Yule Lads:

Arrival on   Icelandic name    English name      Favorite mischief

Dec. 12        Stekkjarstaur        Sheep-Cote Clod     Bothers sheep

Dec. 13        Giljagaur              Gully  Gawk            Steals milk from cows

Dec. 14        Stúfur                  Stubby                   Eats food stuck to cooking pans

Dec. 15        þvörusleikir          Spoon Licker            Licks wooden spoons

Dec. 16       Pottaskefill            Pot Scraper              Scrapes leftovers from pots

Dec. 17       Askasleikir            Bowl Licker               Steals and licks food bowls

Dec. 18       Hurðaskellir          Door Slammer          Slams doors at night

Dec. 19       Skyrgámur          Skyr Gobbler             Eats skyr, the Icelandic yogurt

Dec. 20       Bjúgnakrækir       Sausage Swiper        Steals sausages

Dec. 21       Gluggagægir        Window Peeper         Sneaks around peering through windows

Dec. 22       Gáttaþefur           Doorway Sniffer   Uses his big nose to sniff out Christmas bread

Dec. 23       Ketkrókur             Meat Hook               Hooks and steals smoked meat

Dec. 24       Kertasníkir           Candle Beggar          Steals (edible) tallow candles from children

The Yule Lads stay for 13 days. The first one leaves on Christmas Day, and the others one after the other during the twelve nights of Christmas until January 6, Epiphany.

At the Đingvellir National Site, on top of the Hallurinn slope near the rocky ledge, the Icelandic flag is supposed to mark the former Lögberg. An elected Law Speaker standing on the Law Rock recited aloud the laws to the Alðingi (Icelandic early parliament).

At the Law Council, the chieftains sat on a central platform, while the followers were seated in front and behind. Since the Icelanders did not have a written language at that time, the rules of their society were passed on orally.

The Alðingi, founded around AD 930, held legislative and judicial power. It was the heart of the Old Icelandic Commonwealth that lasted until 1262. At the Law Rock in late June, important speeches were made regarding the affairs of the country's inhabitants; the podium was also open to all who wished to address the assembly.

The Law Council enacted new laws and ruled on legal disputes. It had no power of enforcement, however, and the parties themselves had to ensure that judgments were enforced. Vengeance was a strong tradition, leading to many bloody conflicts, which are recounted in the Sagas of Iceland and the "contemporary" sagas of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Here is an artist's view bearing the title: "We shall go to Lögberg tomorrow and move the courts out for challenging at the latest when the sun is on the western ravine crag, seen from the Law Speaker's seat at Lögberg."

The laws of the old Commonwealth were partly written down in the early 12th century when writing had arrived in Iceland with the adoption of Christianity. That written law code became known as Grágás.

Walking up the old main public road through the Đingvellir site.

The old Icelanders had chosen for their Alðingi a dangerous place where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet.

On March 31st 2011, a pothole suddenly opened up in the middle of the old road through the Đingvellir area. Luckily, the passage had been closed to vehicles on November 1st 1967. The hole eventually opened up into a long, deep crevice.

The fault was about 10m deep and extended 15 m southwest under the now gravel trail.

The impressive fault

Iceland is rich in energy. Abundant water power is directly fed into turbines producing electricity.

Heating of the nearby greenhouse

As you have seen in the previous Iceland blog, the ground is steaming in many places, and geothermal energy in the form of 80–100 °C hot water is used for residential heating in over 90% of all households, swimming pools, thermal baths, snow-melting systems for roads and sidewalks, and heating greenhouses.

Not far from our hotel: During 24 hours for maximum output,
the vegetables in the greenhouse get the right temperature.
The LED light is tuned to the wavelength for optimal chlorophyll production.

Electricity-generating turbines require hot steam of usually 180–300 °C. In geothermal power plants such as Hellisheiði or Nesjavellir, water is extracted from depths of several kilometers, where temperatures exceed 200 °C. As the hot water rises, it expands into steam, which drives a turbine powering a generator.

What about water heated to 80 °C? It can be used too to generate electricity in so-called binary-cycle power plants (BCPP) using the Organic Rankine Cycle. Water at 80 °C heats a liquid, whose boiling point is much lower than that of water (e.g., isobutane or pentane). These organic liquids vaporize, drive a turbine, and are then condensed, i.e., liquefied again. However, the efficiency of BCPPs is low, at 8 to 15%. This only makes these plants economically viable under certain conditions.

**

Nancy

On the second day of the Museumsreise 2026, our group explored Nancy, Lorraine's capital.

  

The first stop was the Musée d'École in the Villa Majorelle. Its interior was crammed with Art Nouveau furniture, paintings, and other objects.

Portrait de M. et Mme Corbin by Victor Prouvé painted in 1906

This eyecatcher is an example of the Nancy School. The painting depicts the wealthy class, with a newspaper-reading husband and Madame striking a pose. The background is filled with decorative glass art, an Art Nüoveau rose window. 

An Art Nouveau vestibule

Marcel Corrette: Le goûter sur la terrasse 1938

And here are Mr. and Mrs. Corbin again, shortly before World War II, having a snack on the terrace.

Rich people lived in style and sat on a canapé whose back was decorated with a hard-working Lorraine miner.

Victor Prouvé: Portrait des Demoiselles Moulins, 1903

And again, Victor Prouvé: He painted the granddaughters of the orchestra director at the Nancy Opera, all of whom, of course, play the piano.

Then we went up a flight of stairs to the first floor, where we met ...

 

... a cluttered bedroom ...

... a bathing paradise (?) ...

... and a contemporary stained-glass window.

It was hot, and those saturated with Art Nouveau gathered in the shade in front of the museum before the scheduled departure time. Our bus took us next downtown to Square Stanislas.

 

We had to walk a few meters and passed the Prefecture of the Department of Meurthe-et-Moselle.

And there it was in all its splendor, Square Stanislas. For its history, you may wish to consult the information (in German) that Professor Asch sent to the participants as an email attachment before the excursion.

To Stanislas, the Benefactor, from a Grateful Lorraine, 1831

In the background, the rather grand city hall.

The corners of the square are richly decorated with golden arches and fountains.

In the distance, a slender, pointed, tall church tower could be seen. I left Square Stanislas, walking down along a street lined with magnificent buildings and through a triumphal arch, heading in the direction.

Saint Épvre (©Krzysztof Golik/Wikipedia)

Suddenly, I found myself standing in front of a Neo-Gothic church. Built in the 19th century, the cathedral is dedicated to Saint Épvre and is a landmark of Nancy.

Épvre comes from the Latin aper, which literally means "boar." Saint Épvre was a bishop of Toul in the 5th century. He is regarded as a particularly compassionate pastor and is said to have been especially dedicated to helping the poor and the sick.

Unusual depiction of the Holy Trinity in the Typanon of St. Épvre

After lunch, the Museum of Fine Arts, located on Square Stanislas, was the penultimate stop on our excursion. I took many photos, and while looking through them, I realized that I could use them to illustrate the story of salvation. Here we go:

Frans II Pourbus (1569-1622): Annonciation, 1619

Anonyme flamand XVIe siècle: Adoration des bergers

Gerard Seghers (1591-1651): Le Christ après la Flagellation, 1525.

With the pillar of scourging in the background, Jesus bends down to pick up his clothes.

Giampietrino (1508-1549): Christ au roseau

As King of the Jews, Jesus wears a crown of thorns and a reed. Is he contemplating a second Gethsemane: "Father, must this be?"

Scene of crucifixion in St. Épvre

Wilhelm Stetter (1487-1552): Apparition du Christ à Marie-Madeleine, 1523

The risen, triumphant Christ.

Luca Giordano (1634-1705): Conversion de Saint Paul, 1685

The spread of Christianity began with Saul's conversion near Damascus.

Here are some other painting highlights.

Paolo Girolamo Piola (1666-1724): Susanne et les veillards, 1700.

Lecherous old men are much older than in the Old Testament, but here, two of them try to seduce Susanna in the bath. 

Georges de La Tour (1593-1652): La femme à la puce, 1638

Here, you are possibly wrong. The girl isn't unbuttoning her bodice; she's crushing a flea between her thumbnails.

Lorraine clearly is the "missing link" between Charles' territories in Flanders and Burgundy.

Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, was nicknamed "The Turk of the East" because of his drive for territorial expansion. In his quest, Charles fought three decisive battles (Read more in German).

On March 2, 1476, at the Battle of Grandson against the Swiss Confederates, he lost his (Hut) hat.

On June 22 of the same year, at Morat against the allied Swiss, Lorraine, and Further Austrian troops, he lost his (Gut) estate.

The following year, the duke, in a final desperate effort, staked everything on a single gamble. On January 5, 1477, in the Battle of Nancy against the allied forces, he lost his (Blut) blood and with it all his possessions.

Auguste Feyen-Perrin (1826-1888): Charles le Téméraire, 1865

The duke was found naked on the battlefield. Why hadn't the looters also taken the ring from him - the one that a servant is holding out to the approaching victors as a sign of identification?

The church rises majestically above the village

Our last stop was the basilica, St. Nicolas in St. Nicolas de Port.

St. Nicolas' altar

As early as 1093, the first church was built to house a finger from Saint Nicolas' blessing hand, which the crusader Aubert de Varangéville had brought from Bari in 1090. Due to the large influx of pilgrims, a second, larger church was built beginning in 1193. It is said that Joan of Arc prayed there in 1429 before she saved France.

A breathtaking view toward the high altar

The present-day late-Gothic basilica was built starting in 1481 on behalf of the Duke of Lorraine, René II, and consecrated in 1560. It is said that the duke was thereby fulfilling a vow he had made in prayer in 1477, should he defeat the enemy Burgundians - which he did with the help of his friends in the battle of Nancy.

Only a glance at the floor plan reveals that the church building has a slight bend. According to ChatGPT, the most likely explanation for the bend is a combination of structural factors and the lengthy construction period. The interpretation of it as a symbol of Christ's bowed head is widespread and theologically appealing, but there is no historical evidence to support this interpretation for this basilica.

Storks perched on a distant corner of a roof clattered their "Que Dieu vous protège."

 Thank you, organizers, for this remarkable excursion.

**