Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Impressive indeed !
Nuuumannn's European Tour of 2019
- Thread starter nuuumannn
- Start date
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Crimea_River
Marshal
Beauty Grant.
Great shots Grant!
Grant, a simple thank you for an absolutely fantastic thread
The best!
- Thread starter
- #166
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Brilliant thread Grant, most enjoyable and informative. Have a great time with your Mum, and looking forward to seeing more on your return.
Crimea_River
Marshal
Safe travels Grant.
fubar57
General
Some very nice shots
- Thread starter
- #170
So from across the Pacific we return to Berlin and my last day in my favourite city. We begin at an aviation site with considerable history; located in the north west of the city is Staaken, one of Berlin's most important historic airports. Established in 1915 by the Zeppelin company as a factory site, rigid airships and aeroplanes were built here; development of the giant Zeppelin-Staaken Riesenflugzeugen that raided Britain during the Great War took place at Staaken. Post-war the airfield came into use as a passenger port for DZR, Deutsche-Zeppelin Reederei, the Zeppelin run airline serviced by airships, and was the headquarters of Deutsche-Lufthansa AG until the mid 1930s, when the firm moved to Tempelhof.
In 1935, Adolf Hitler announced the unveiling of the Luftwaffe to the world during a ceremony at Staaken on 1st March. The site rose in importance as the principal airfield of the Abwehr (German Intelligence) run Aufklärungsgruppe Ob.d.L., the secretive strategic reconnaissance unit that utilised a variety of different types to covertly photograph strategic sites around Europe under the guise of Lufthansa passenger flights. Run by Theodore Rowehl under the governance of Wilhelm Canaris from the Bendlerblock, this was one aerial unit that Goering in the RLM building on Wilhelmstrasse had little control over. During the war, the Junkers concern had a servicing facility on site and a concentration camp was run there housing foreign forced labour engaged in the overhaul of Junkers engines and airframes.
After the war, the site fell under Soviet control, although part of the land was located in British territory, so a deal was struck where land that fell under Soviet jurisdiction at Gatow was given to the British in exchange for Staaken. Used as a fighter station with Yak-3s for a period, Staaken closed in 1953. A few remains still survive, including the Zeppelin headquarters built in 1915, which is now on private land and leased to Netflix for use as a film set. Surrounded by trees, access is easy, although my presense was noted and I was allowed to stay and take a few snaps before being helpfully told what else remains around the site. This is the rear of the Zeppelin headquarters - the front is virtually invisible behind foliage. The car wrecks are Netflix set dressing.
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This is the end of what used to be a taxiway looking out across the main runways. Hard standing still exists under the solar farm. On 10 August 1938, Lufthansa Fw 200S-1 Condor D-ACON Brandenburg took off from Staaken and flew to New York, being the first aeroplane to cross the Atlantic from Germany, and landed at Floyd Bennett Field on the 11th, having flown a distance of 6371.302 kilometers (3,958.944 miles).
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This road was the principal taxiway from the hangars that branched off perpendicular to the taxiway to the left and right of it. Zeppelin factory hangars, then the Junkers buildings sat to the left of the taxiway and the enormous airship shed, within which 11 Zeppelins were built sat parallel to the taxiway on the right. The land is now an industrial park and the hangars no longer exist.
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On the southern edge of the airfield was the watch tower and another row of hangars, one of which the tower, seen here was attached to. These were managed by Zeppelin and were where the big Riesenflugzeugen were operated from on their completion in the factory sheds on the north side of the aerodrome. The tower is unoccupied, although is currently a protected site.
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Evidence of Soviet occupation post WW2. On 5 April 1948, over the south west of Berlin, a Soviet Air Force Yak-3 collided with a British European Airways Vickers Viking airliner, all 14 people aboard the Viking and the Yak pilot lost their lives; the wreckage falling not far from the RAF airfield at Gatow, where the Viking was on approach to land when the Yak struck it from behind. The result was an international incident that lent weight to the tension that all parties felt at the time that led to the blockde of entry points to the West from Berlin by the Soviets after the introduction of the Deutsche Mark as currency in the West, which in turn gave rise to the Berlin Airlift. The Yak took off from Staaken and was stationed here.
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Evidence in the window of the building's original occupants; LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin visited Staaken in 1928 and began transatlantic services from here; the first airship mooring mast in Germany was built on site to handle airship operations, as well as the big shed on the northern side of the field, where the Zeppelin could be housed. The 11 Zeppelins built on site were LZ 37, the first completed in November 1916, L 41, LZ113, LZ 47, L 50, L 52, L 54, L 56, L 59, L 60 and L 64. These were the 'ships' military designations and were different to the Zeppelin assigned construction numbers, which were prefixed as LZ. What has lent confusion to the mix is that the German army prefixed its Zeppelins with LZ, so the designations cause confusion. The navy operated Zeppelins were prefixed with the letter L.
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The watch tower from the rear, on the right side was an aircraft hangar. Without a doubt the giant R type Riesenflugzeugen were the most remarkable aircraft constructed by the Germans during the Great War. Although other firms, such as AEG, Linke-Hoffman and Siemens-Schuckert built their own giants, it was Zeppelin at Staaken that led the research and development effort, and had built the largest number of them. Initially based at Gotha-Ost, where the first Zeppelin R type was built, the VGO I, Zeppelin tranferred the research team to Staaken in the summer of 1916 and constructed the R IV, R V and the first of the R VI types there, and the subsequent R XIV and R XV onsite. Of the 18 R VIs, which was the most numerous of the R types built, the first was built at Staaken, six by Aviatik, four by OAW and seven by Schutte Lanz.
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This is an accommodation block across the road from the southern boundary of the airfield. The stucco finish defies dating at first glance, but the red brick chimneys betray similarities to the Zeppelin buildings of 1915.
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To the east of the airfield site was a circle of barrack blocks that were built by the Nazis. Their original purpose is lost to me, but at one stage they were used to house Eastern European forced labour workers who were brought in by the Junkers Flugzeugbau. They are currently on private land and are earmarked for refurbishment. We were given permission to photograph the buildings, as long as we didn't linger for long as building work was going on around us.
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The first of the refurbished accommodation blocks has opened to the public, but we had to drive across the building site to get this photo.
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A derelict building undergoing development with the sign Frauen ABTLG (Abteilung); Women's Section.
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After lunch at McDonalds Staaken (!) we drove to the centre of Spandau district, to the Kaufland supermarket and parked the car on the grounds of the former Spandau Prison. Constructed in 1876 as a military detention centre with cells for 600 inmates, the distinctive red brick fortress block was infamous for its role post-war in housing the highest ranking Nazis serving their prison sentences after being convicted during the Nuremberg Trials. This is the main entrance to the Kaufland supermarket car park, which used to be the entrance to the guards and admin staff facilities that bordered the prison's southern barricade wall. Directly to the left is what used to be the warder's accomodation block.
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This image was taken from the Kaufland car park and would have been within the walls of the prison proper. Standing with our backs to the outer wall, with the guardroom and main entrance to our right, we would be looking at the main administration block, which adjoined the crucifix shaped cell block. On 18 July 1947, after landing at RAF Gatow, seven forlorn looking individuals were hurried aboard a blacked out bus and transported to the prison in the centre of Spandau district, which had survived the Soviet assault on Berlin largely intact. Their names were Prisoner No.1, Baldur von Schirach, sentenced to 20 years inprisonment, Prisoner No.2, Karl Donitz, sentenced to 10 years, Prisoner No.3 Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath, sentenced to 15 years, Prisoner No.4 Erich Raeder, sentenced to life inprisonment, Prisoner No.5 Albert Speer, sentenced to 20 years, Prisoner No.6 Walther Funk, life inprisonment, Prisoner No.7 Rudolf Hess, life inprisonment. Of these, Prisoners No.1, 2 and 5 served their sentences, Prisoners No. 3, 4 and 6 were released early due to ill health and Prisoner No.7, the last inmate, committed suicide in 1987.
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This is what used to be the guards' replacement mess and accommodation that flanked the prison's guard tower and main entrance. Although located within the British Sector, management of the prison and its seven inmates was the responsibility of the four powers in control of the city, each country's military would guard the facility for a month at a time, with the rotation being British during the months of January, May and September, French in February, June and October, Soviet in March, July and November and American in April, August and December. These four monthly cycles ran for the next 40 years from August 1947 until August 1987 after the last inmate's death. Publicity surrounding the prisoners was strictly controlled and photographs of the facility were strictly verboten, although the changing of the guard each month was initially a publicised affair, with interest waning as the years wore on. Apparently the inmates hated the Soviet months the most, citing the worst food and demeaning guards.
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This is a section of what was the Allied guards accommodation and is a good representation of the prison block's construction and design, being built to represent an impenetrable fortress. Our seven Nazis were housed together in one wing of the prison, with 32 exterior guards manning six machine gun armed watch towers evenly spaced between one another around the perimeter wall, with 18 warders and ancilliary staff making up the facility's occupancy of 78 staff overall at any given time; a ratio of more than 10 staff to each prisoner. Ther routine was as follows, from the Wikipedia page on the prison: "Every day, prisoners were ordered to rise at 06:00 hours, wash, clean their cells and the corridor together, eat breakfast, stay in the garden until lunch-time at noon (weather permitting), have a post-lunch rest in their cells, and then return to the garden. Supper followed at 17:00 hours, after which the prisoners were returned to their cells. Lights out was at 22:00 hours. Prisoners received a shave and a haircut, if necessary, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; they did their own laundry every Monday. This routine, except the time allowed in the garden, changed very little throughout the years, although each of the controlling nations made their own interpretation of the prison regulations."
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Taken from within the Kaufland supermarket car park, within the outer wall and on the prison grounds, this building is the original guards accommodation from when the prison was built in 1876. The remaining former prison buildings are all used by local businesses and serve as shops and offices. Following Rudolf Hess' death in August 1987, the prison block and all other buildings within the boundary walls were demolished to prevent the site becoming a shrine to the Nazis. Afterwards the British built an armed forces service centre called the Britannia Centre, which included a NAAFI - Naval Army, Air Forces Institute, a general store for the needs of the armed forces personnel and families and a cinema named the Jerboa, a reference to the Desert Rats. In typical British humour, the facility was nicknamed Hessco's after the Tesco supermarket chain back home. After a string of German occupants, including an Aldi supermarket, the property is now run by the Das Kaufland supermarket chain, which also owns the Lidl supermarkets. Apart from these eminently attractive red brick buildings linking the site to its intriguing past, there is nothing that tells the masses that visit on a daily basis that this ordinary suburban shopping district was once the site of the notorious Spandau Prison and its seven peculiar inmates.
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Next, the site of the XI Olympiade.
In 1935, Adolf Hitler announced the unveiling of the Luftwaffe to the world during a ceremony at Staaken on 1st March. The site rose in importance as the principal airfield of the Abwehr (German Intelligence) run Aufklärungsgruppe Ob.d.L., the secretive strategic reconnaissance unit that utilised a variety of different types to covertly photograph strategic sites around Europe under the guise of Lufthansa passenger flights. Run by Theodore Rowehl under the governance of Wilhelm Canaris from the Bendlerblock, this was one aerial unit that Goering in the RLM building on Wilhelmstrasse had little control over. During the war, the Junkers concern had a servicing facility on site and a concentration camp was run there housing foreign forced labour engaged in the overhaul of Junkers engines and airframes.
After the war, the site fell under Soviet control, although part of the land was located in British territory, so a deal was struck where land that fell under Soviet jurisdiction at Gatow was given to the British in exchange for Staaken. Used as a fighter station with Yak-3s for a period, Staaken closed in 1953. A few remains still survive, including the Zeppelin headquarters built in 1915, which is now on private land and leased to Netflix for use as a film set. Surrounded by trees, access is easy, although my presense was noted and I was allowed to stay and take a few snaps before being helpfully told what else remains around the site. This is the rear of the Zeppelin headquarters - the front is virtually invisible behind foliage. The car wrecks are Netflix set dressing.
This is the end of what used to be a taxiway looking out across the main runways. Hard standing still exists under the solar farm. On 10 August 1938, Lufthansa Fw 200S-1 Condor D-ACON Brandenburg took off from Staaken and flew to New York, being the first aeroplane to cross the Atlantic from Germany, and landed at Floyd Bennett Field on the 11th, having flown a distance of 6371.302 kilometers (3,958.944 miles).
This road was the principal taxiway from the hangars that branched off perpendicular to the taxiway to the left and right of it. Zeppelin factory hangars, then the Junkers buildings sat to the left of the taxiway and the enormous airship shed, within which 11 Zeppelins were built sat parallel to the taxiway on the right. The land is now an industrial park and the hangars no longer exist.
On the southern edge of the airfield was the watch tower and another row of hangars, one of which the tower, seen here was attached to. These were managed by Zeppelin and were where the big Riesenflugzeugen were operated from on their completion in the factory sheds on the north side of the aerodrome. The tower is unoccupied, although is currently a protected site.
Evidence of Soviet occupation post WW2. On 5 April 1948, over the south west of Berlin, a Soviet Air Force Yak-3 collided with a British European Airways Vickers Viking airliner, all 14 people aboard the Viking and the Yak pilot lost their lives; the wreckage falling not far from the RAF airfield at Gatow, where the Viking was on approach to land when the Yak struck it from behind. The result was an international incident that lent weight to the tension that all parties felt at the time that led to the blockde of entry points to the West from Berlin by the Soviets after the introduction of the Deutsche Mark as currency in the West, which in turn gave rise to the Berlin Airlift. The Yak took off from Staaken and was stationed here.
Evidence in the window of the building's original occupants; LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin visited Staaken in 1928 and began transatlantic services from here; the first airship mooring mast in Germany was built on site to handle airship operations, as well as the big shed on the northern side of the field, where the Zeppelin could be housed. The 11 Zeppelins built on site were LZ 37, the first completed in November 1916, L 41, LZ113, LZ 47, L 50, L 52, L 54, L 56, L 59, L 60 and L 64. These were the 'ships' military designations and were different to the Zeppelin assigned construction numbers, which were prefixed as LZ. What has lent confusion to the mix is that the German army prefixed its Zeppelins with LZ, so the designations cause confusion. The navy operated Zeppelins were prefixed with the letter L.
The watch tower from the rear, on the right side was an aircraft hangar. Without a doubt the giant R type Riesenflugzeugen were the most remarkable aircraft constructed by the Germans during the Great War. Although other firms, such as AEG, Linke-Hoffman and Siemens-Schuckert built their own giants, it was Zeppelin at Staaken that led the research and development effort, and had built the largest number of them. Initially based at Gotha-Ost, where the first Zeppelin R type was built, the VGO I, Zeppelin tranferred the research team to Staaken in the summer of 1916 and constructed the R IV, R V and the first of the R VI types there, and the subsequent R XIV and R XV onsite. Of the 18 R VIs, which was the most numerous of the R types built, the first was built at Staaken, six by Aviatik, four by OAW and seven by Schutte Lanz.
This is an accommodation block across the road from the southern boundary of the airfield. The stucco finish defies dating at first glance, but the red brick chimneys betray similarities to the Zeppelin buildings of 1915.
To the east of the airfield site was a circle of barrack blocks that were built by the Nazis. Their original purpose is lost to me, but at one stage they were used to house Eastern European forced labour workers who were brought in by the Junkers Flugzeugbau. They are currently on private land and are earmarked for refurbishment. We were given permission to photograph the buildings, as long as we didn't linger for long as building work was going on around us.
The first of the refurbished accommodation blocks has opened to the public, but we had to drive across the building site to get this photo.
A derelict building undergoing development with the sign Frauen ABTLG (Abteilung); Women's Section.
After lunch at McDonalds Staaken (!) we drove to the centre of Spandau district, to the Kaufland supermarket and parked the car on the grounds of the former Spandau Prison. Constructed in 1876 as a military detention centre with cells for 600 inmates, the distinctive red brick fortress block was infamous for its role post-war in housing the highest ranking Nazis serving their prison sentences after being convicted during the Nuremberg Trials. This is the main entrance to the Kaufland supermarket car park, which used to be the entrance to the guards and admin staff facilities that bordered the prison's southern barricade wall. Directly to the left is what used to be the warder's accomodation block.
This image was taken from the Kaufland car park and would have been within the walls of the prison proper. Standing with our backs to the outer wall, with the guardroom and main entrance to our right, we would be looking at the main administration block, which adjoined the crucifix shaped cell block. On 18 July 1947, after landing at RAF Gatow, seven forlorn looking individuals were hurried aboard a blacked out bus and transported to the prison in the centre of Spandau district, which had survived the Soviet assault on Berlin largely intact. Their names were Prisoner No.1, Baldur von Schirach, sentenced to 20 years inprisonment, Prisoner No.2, Karl Donitz, sentenced to 10 years, Prisoner No.3 Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath, sentenced to 15 years, Prisoner No.4 Erich Raeder, sentenced to life inprisonment, Prisoner No.5 Albert Speer, sentenced to 20 years, Prisoner No.6 Walther Funk, life inprisonment, Prisoner No.7 Rudolf Hess, life inprisonment. Of these, Prisoners No.1, 2 and 5 served their sentences, Prisoners No. 3, 4 and 6 were released early due to ill health and Prisoner No.7, the last inmate, committed suicide in 1987.
This is what used to be the guards' replacement mess and accommodation that flanked the prison's guard tower and main entrance. Although located within the British Sector, management of the prison and its seven inmates was the responsibility of the four powers in control of the city, each country's military would guard the facility for a month at a time, with the rotation being British during the months of January, May and September, French in February, June and October, Soviet in March, July and November and American in April, August and December. These four monthly cycles ran for the next 40 years from August 1947 until August 1987 after the last inmate's death. Publicity surrounding the prisoners was strictly controlled and photographs of the facility were strictly verboten, although the changing of the guard each month was initially a publicised affair, with interest waning as the years wore on. Apparently the inmates hated the Soviet months the most, citing the worst food and demeaning guards.
This is a section of what was the Allied guards accommodation and is a good representation of the prison block's construction and design, being built to represent an impenetrable fortress. Our seven Nazis were housed together in one wing of the prison, with 32 exterior guards manning six machine gun armed watch towers evenly spaced between one another around the perimeter wall, with 18 warders and ancilliary staff making up the facility's occupancy of 78 staff overall at any given time; a ratio of more than 10 staff to each prisoner. Ther routine was as follows, from the Wikipedia page on the prison: "Every day, prisoners were ordered to rise at 06:00 hours, wash, clean their cells and the corridor together, eat breakfast, stay in the garden until lunch-time at noon (weather permitting), have a post-lunch rest in their cells, and then return to the garden. Supper followed at 17:00 hours, after which the prisoners were returned to their cells. Lights out was at 22:00 hours. Prisoners received a shave and a haircut, if necessary, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; they did their own laundry every Monday. This routine, except the time allowed in the garden, changed very little throughout the years, although each of the controlling nations made their own interpretation of the prison regulations."
Taken from within the Kaufland supermarket car park, within the outer wall and on the prison grounds, this building is the original guards accommodation from when the prison was built in 1876. The remaining former prison buildings are all used by local businesses and serve as shops and offices. Following Rudolf Hess' death in August 1987, the prison block and all other buildings within the boundary walls were demolished to prevent the site becoming a shrine to the Nazis. Afterwards the British built an armed forces service centre called the Britannia Centre, which included a NAAFI - Naval Army, Air Forces Institute, a general store for the needs of the armed forces personnel and families and a cinema named the Jerboa, a reference to the Desert Rats. In typical British humour, the facility was nicknamed Hessco's after the Tesco supermarket chain back home. After a string of German occupants, including an Aldi supermarket, the property is now run by the Das Kaufland supermarket chain, which also owns the Lidl supermarkets. Apart from these eminently attractive red brick buildings linking the site to its intriguing past, there is nothing that tells the masses that visit on a daily basis that this ordinary suburban shopping district was once the site of the notorious Spandau Prison and its seven peculiar inmates.
Next, the site of the XI Olympiade.
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Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks Grant. Well told once again.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Excellent coverage Grant, and I always wondered what happened to Staaken airfield - now I know. Thanks, and looking forward to the next installment.
fubar57
General
Great history 
Ah something I have never seen. Thanks Grant!
Great shots Grant!
Very informative Grant
- Thread starter
- #177
Taking a break from the business of life and packing to move house, some more from Berlin. We have driven the short distance from Spandau to Charlottenburg and the site of perhaps the most complete surviving Nazi relic, the Reichssportfeld. Built to serve the XI Olympiade, the new facility was built on the grounds of the old Deutsche Stadion and its development was personally watched over by the Fuhrer. Initially, Berlin was to host the 1916 Olympics, but the Germans started a war two years earlier, so that didn't happen and in 1931, after Berlin was awarded as the city to host the IX Olympiade in 1936, the entire site was redesigned by Werner March, son of the Deutsche Stadion's original architect, who originally intended on keeping much of the original stadium, but for the intervention of Hitler, who insisted on increasing the grandeur of the site. 1936 was, after all to be the year in which the Nazis would reveal themselves to the world as the governors of the new national socialist utopia, with the XI Olympiade as the focus of their ambitions, for that year at least. The site is massive; at 132 hectares, 330 acres, it houses the Olympiastadion, the swimming pool with diving platform, a hockey pitch, the Maifeld arena and a smaller semi-circular stadium called the Dietrich-Eckhardt-Freilichtbuhne, today the Waldbuhne. This is the approach from where the public catching the S-bahn to the stadium would have taken at the southern edge of the Olympiastadion. The towers are the entrance to the Maifeld to the right - there are six of these round the site and at left the carillon of the Langemarckhalle, which we'll see later.
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The stadium itself is a masterpiece of contemporary architecture and is larger than first impressions suggest. Sunk into the ground, what protrudes is only the upper tier of seating. Capable of seating 110,000 when completed, today it seats the still impressive 74, 224. It is built out of steel reinforced concrete and clad with Franconian limestone, to give it a classic look. Originally, my friend and I wanted to go do a photo shoot on site, but access is now only through paid guided tours, which last an hour, which means one can't wander about the site freely. Neither of us wanted to do that; it was too hot and I've been in before, so I just snapped a few shots from the outside. This is the southern entrance gates. The stadium is still in use today and has been extensively refurbished, but subtly so as to not distract from the original architectural genius of the building. Note the canopy that extends over the grandstands - a new addition, but tastefully done.
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At the eastern gate, which is designed as the main entrance is the Olympische Platz. When arriving by road or by U-Bahn, this is what greets visitors. An interesting fact about the 1936 Olympics is the torch relay, a tradition thought up and put into practice for the first time by the Nazis. Beginning at Olympia, Greece on 20th May 1936 and carried en route by some 3,000 runners, the torch proceeded through Athens, Delphi, Salonika, Sofia, Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna, Prague and Dresden, before reaching Berlin and a ceremony in the Lustgarten - see earlier on my Berlin walking tour, then going to the stadium proper via the Olympische Platz on 1st August. We'll see the cauldron that was lit for the duration of the games later. This little gem of an idea was not without controversy even in its first incarnation; many along the route went out to see the spectacle, both supporters and opposers to the Nazi regime, which led to protests in several places along the route. Another wee factoid of the XI Olympiade was that the spectator sport was gliding.
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The two towers that mark the main public entrance to the grounds at its eastern end. These are the Bayernturm and Preussenturm, the right hand one once holding a stylised swastika, evidence of which still remains. The other columns, two of which were seen earlier were named Frankenturm, Friesenturm, Sachsenturm and Schwabenturm, after German principalities. The games themselves were considered a success and there is not enough space here to go into the controversies of race and colour that the event, held by the Nazis inspired, suffice to say, the games lived up to the expectations of the Nazi hierarchy in promoting the Germanic people as the master race, securing a total of 89 medals (33 Gold, 26 Silver, 30 Bronze) of 388, with the United States next, with 56 medals. A total of 49 nations sent athletes to the games. Absent of course was the Soviet Union, who was not invited (wonder why); the Soviet Union's first Olympics wasn't until 1952, when its rulers realised the potential of the games to fulfil their political agenda.
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Atmospheric shot of the two towers again. The XI Olympiade was known as the "Record Breaking Games", as in 41 events, no fewer than 49 Olympic records and 15 world records were broken. One of the least well known, but historically significant was the Men's 1,500 Metres, which was won, somewhat unexpectedly by Jack Lovelock of New Zealand, achieving a world record of 3 minutes, 47.8 seconds. The highest individual tally medallist was Jesse Owens of the Unted States, with four Golds in track and field, then Hendrika Mastenbroek of the Netherlands with three Golds in swimming.
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The stadium from the eastern gates. The XI Olympiade was of course known as the Media Games and for the first time, worldwide radio and within Germany, television coverage of the games took place. There were more than 120 correspondents from 41 radio stations from around the world and some 1,800 journalists from 59 countries present. Most well known coverage of the games was director Leni Riefenstahl's iconic effort extolling the beauty of the Germanic image - her propagandistic two-part creation "Olympia", sponsored by the Propaganda Ministry on Wilhelmstrasse, naturlich.
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Another view of that magnificent structure. The tiered section we see at ground level is designed so that each of the 136 columns are spaced from each other to give the appearance of even spacing from every angle, although they are spaced apart at different distances; a clever trick of the architectural eye.
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A few hundred metrs away from the eastern entrance through a wooded pathway is the U-Bahn station, looking very much as it did in 1936, only with the words "Reichssportfeld" replaced by its modern nom de plume.
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Next, the Langemarckhalle.
The stadium itself is a masterpiece of contemporary architecture and is larger than first impressions suggest. Sunk into the ground, what protrudes is only the upper tier of seating. Capable of seating 110,000 when completed, today it seats the still impressive 74, 224. It is built out of steel reinforced concrete and clad with Franconian limestone, to give it a classic look. Originally, my friend and I wanted to go do a photo shoot on site, but access is now only through paid guided tours, which last an hour, which means one can't wander about the site freely. Neither of us wanted to do that; it was too hot and I've been in before, so I just snapped a few shots from the outside. This is the southern entrance gates. The stadium is still in use today and has been extensively refurbished, but subtly so as to not distract from the original architectural genius of the building. Note the canopy that extends over the grandstands - a new addition, but tastefully done.
At the eastern gate, which is designed as the main entrance is the Olympische Platz. When arriving by road or by U-Bahn, this is what greets visitors. An interesting fact about the 1936 Olympics is the torch relay, a tradition thought up and put into practice for the first time by the Nazis. Beginning at Olympia, Greece on 20th May 1936 and carried en route by some 3,000 runners, the torch proceeded through Athens, Delphi, Salonika, Sofia, Belgrade, Budapest, Vienna, Prague and Dresden, before reaching Berlin and a ceremony in the Lustgarten - see earlier on my Berlin walking tour, then going to the stadium proper via the Olympische Platz on 1st August. We'll see the cauldron that was lit for the duration of the games later. This little gem of an idea was not without controversy even in its first incarnation; many along the route went out to see the spectacle, both supporters and opposers to the Nazi regime, which led to protests in several places along the route. Another wee factoid of the XI Olympiade was that the spectator sport was gliding.
The two towers that mark the main public entrance to the grounds at its eastern end. These are the Bayernturm and Preussenturm, the right hand one once holding a stylised swastika, evidence of which still remains. The other columns, two of which were seen earlier were named Frankenturm, Friesenturm, Sachsenturm and Schwabenturm, after German principalities. The games themselves were considered a success and there is not enough space here to go into the controversies of race and colour that the event, held by the Nazis inspired, suffice to say, the games lived up to the expectations of the Nazi hierarchy in promoting the Germanic people as the master race, securing a total of 89 medals (33 Gold, 26 Silver, 30 Bronze) of 388, with the United States next, with 56 medals. A total of 49 nations sent athletes to the games. Absent of course was the Soviet Union, who was not invited (wonder why); the Soviet Union's first Olympics wasn't until 1952, when its rulers realised the potential of the games to fulfil their political agenda.
Atmospheric shot of the two towers again. The XI Olympiade was known as the "Record Breaking Games", as in 41 events, no fewer than 49 Olympic records and 15 world records were broken. One of the least well known, but historically significant was the Men's 1,500 Metres, which was won, somewhat unexpectedly by Jack Lovelock of New Zealand, achieving a world record of 3 minutes, 47.8 seconds. The highest individual tally medallist was Jesse Owens of the Unted States, with four Golds in track and field, then Hendrika Mastenbroek of the Netherlands with three Golds in swimming.
The stadium from the eastern gates. The XI Olympiade was of course known as the Media Games and for the first time, worldwide radio and within Germany, television coverage of the games took place. There were more than 120 correspondents from 41 radio stations from around the world and some 1,800 journalists from 59 countries present. Most well known coverage of the games was director Leni Riefenstahl's iconic effort extolling the beauty of the Germanic image - her propagandistic two-part creation "Olympia", sponsored by the Propaganda Ministry on Wilhelmstrasse, naturlich.
Another view of that magnificent structure. The tiered section we see at ground level is designed so that each of the 136 columns are spaced from each other to give the appearance of even spacing from every angle, although they are spaced apart at different distances; a clever trick of the architectural eye.
A few hundred metrs away from the eastern entrance through a wooded pathway is the U-Bahn station, looking very much as it did in 1936, only with the words "Reichssportfeld" replaced by its modern nom de plume.
Next, the Langemarckhalle.
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At the western edge of the Reichssportfeld is the Langemarckhalle, capped by a symbolic bell tower. So, what is Langemarck and why is it comemmorated at the Olympic sports ground? These were questions I had when I visited, which were amply answered within the building. Built as part of the Reichssportfeld site, the Langemarckhalle is a memorial shrine to German soldiers who fought in the First Battle of Ypres in 1914 - we'll visit Ypres, or Ieper in Belgium over the next few days, and is named after the small town of Langemark in West-Vlanderen. An important part of the Nazi mythology, the Langemarck comemmorations came to symbolise the wasted youth of the Great War battles - ironically started by the Germans, and the Langemarckhalle was the focus of the Nazi memorial to the war dead, aside from the Neue Wache east of Unter den Linden. This all tied in with the Nazi ethos of the national struggle epitomised in sporting prowess. While the building has been restored, the bell tower is not original - destroyed by the British in 1947 owing to a fire that had consumed the building in 1945 having weakened its structure. In 1962, the Federal government had it rebuilt. Note the differences in the brickwork.
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Inside, the Langemarckhalle is dark and sombre, befitting a memorial. A modern glass elevator shaft has been built to enable visitors to ascend to the next level and then the bell tower.
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This is the memorial hall, with plaques representing unit badges of those that fought during the First battle of Ypres. Young soldiers of the Wehrmacht were expected to visit this place and pay homage to the fallen. On this floor is a small pictorial exhibition on the Langemarck comemmorations and their significance to Nazi ideology.
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Flanking each edge of the hall are inscriptions in the stone work. This one is from Friedrich Holderlin's ode "Der Tod furs Vaterland", penned in 1799 and evoking a mythical state or ideal for which one is prepared to die for, bearing in mind that in 1799, Deutschland as a united country did not exist. Ever the plagiarists, the Nazis collared the poem and used it to symbolise their "Schicksalsgemeinschaft", or 'Community of Fate' mythology.
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At the opposite end of the hall is a poem written by Great War volunteer Walter Flex, of the 50th Regiment and titled, "Das Weinachtsmarchen das 50sten Regiments", 'The Christmas Fairytale of the 50th Regiment' and first published in 1915. It speaks of dead soldiers rising up to save a war widow who drowns herself and her child in despair and held christian and nationalist connotations that were pounced on by the Nazis, hence its use here.
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From the Langemarckhalle we look across the Maifeld to the Olympiastadion and a peek inside the building's walls at the seating inside, its entrance guarded by stone men and horses named the Rossefuhrer, designed by Josef Wackerle and symbolising the Fuhrer principle, or the cult of personality, mentioned previously, idealised by the Nazis.
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The grandeur of the stadium from the bell tower, exposing its sunken seating plan and displaying the extent of the modern canopy addition.
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A close up of the entrance shows the Olympic Flame cauldron, with on the faces of each pillar a plaque that records the medal tally per event of each country that participated in the games.
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From the bell tower we get to see more of the Reichssportfeld features, the Olympic pool with its diving platform to the right, and two more of the Deutsche stadtturmen in the foreground.
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This is the Waldbuhne, the 25,000 seat stadium formerly known as the Dietrich-Eckhardt-Freilichtbuhne, named after playwright and poet Dietrich Eckhardt, one of the founders of the Deutsche Arbeits Partei (DAP), which evolved into NSDAP, with the addition of national socialism to the name, or the Nazi party as we know it.
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The original bell from the tower has quite a story to tell. This is a reproduction cast by the firm that made the original, but weighing significantly less, at 4.5 tons, compared to the original at 9.6 tons. Following the fire within the Langemarckhalle in 1945, which was started inadvertently within the rooms where the state archives were being stored, and the warping of the tower, which necessitated its deconstruction, the bell was buried in front of the ruin of the building. This was after it had fallen from the tower ruin and cracked, and at some point in its life it had been pierced by an anti-tank round, damage that can be seen to this day, as the bell was relocated by the Federal government and placed above ground next to the Olympiastadion, with its swastika reliefs blocked in.
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Only part of the inscriptions from the old bell have been recreated on the new one - the swastikas noticeably absent.
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More from the Langemarckhalle and farewell to Berlin next.
Inside, the Langemarckhalle is dark and sombre, befitting a memorial. A modern glass elevator shaft has been built to enable visitors to ascend to the next level and then the bell tower.
This is the memorial hall, with plaques representing unit badges of those that fought during the First battle of Ypres. Young soldiers of the Wehrmacht were expected to visit this place and pay homage to the fallen. On this floor is a small pictorial exhibition on the Langemarck comemmorations and their significance to Nazi ideology.
Flanking each edge of the hall are inscriptions in the stone work. This one is from Friedrich Holderlin's ode "Der Tod furs Vaterland", penned in 1799 and evoking a mythical state or ideal for which one is prepared to die for, bearing in mind that in 1799, Deutschland as a united country did not exist. Ever the plagiarists, the Nazis collared the poem and used it to symbolise their "Schicksalsgemeinschaft", or 'Community of Fate' mythology.
At the opposite end of the hall is a poem written by Great War volunteer Walter Flex, of the 50th Regiment and titled, "Das Weinachtsmarchen das 50sten Regiments", 'The Christmas Fairytale of the 50th Regiment' and first published in 1915. It speaks of dead soldiers rising up to save a war widow who drowns herself and her child in despair and held christian and nationalist connotations that were pounced on by the Nazis, hence its use here.
From the Langemarckhalle we look across the Maifeld to the Olympiastadion and a peek inside the building's walls at the seating inside, its entrance guarded by stone men and horses named the Rossefuhrer, designed by Josef Wackerle and symbolising the Fuhrer principle, or the cult of personality, mentioned previously, idealised by the Nazis.
The grandeur of the stadium from the bell tower, exposing its sunken seating plan and displaying the extent of the modern canopy addition.
A close up of the entrance shows the Olympic Flame cauldron, with on the faces of each pillar a plaque that records the medal tally per event of each country that participated in the games.
From the bell tower we get to see more of the Reichssportfeld features, the Olympic pool with its diving platform to the right, and two more of the Deutsche stadtturmen in the foreground.
This is the Waldbuhne, the 25,000 seat stadium formerly known as the Dietrich-Eckhardt-Freilichtbuhne, named after playwright and poet Dietrich Eckhardt, one of the founders of the Deutsche Arbeits Partei (DAP), which evolved into NSDAP, with the addition of national socialism to the name, or the Nazi party as we know it.
The original bell from the tower has quite a story to tell. This is a reproduction cast by the firm that made the original, but weighing significantly less, at 4.5 tons, compared to the original at 9.6 tons. Following the fire within the Langemarckhalle in 1945, which was started inadvertently within the rooms where the state archives were being stored, and the warping of the tower, which necessitated its deconstruction, the bell was buried in front of the ruin of the building. This was after it had fallen from the tower ruin and cracked, and at some point in its life it had been pierced by an anti-tank round, damage that can be seen to this day, as the bell was relocated by the Federal government and placed above ground next to the Olympiastadion, with its swastika reliefs blocked in.
Only part of the inscriptions from the old bell have been recreated on the new one - the swastikas noticeably absent.
More from the Langemarckhalle and farewell to Berlin next.
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fubar57
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Lovely shots Grant!
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