Model of the New Königsplatz in Munich, designed by the Architect Paul Ludwig Troost

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Postcards Collection – The Olympic Games in Germany, 1936

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Reich in Photos – Berlin during the 1936 Summer Olympic Games

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Die Deutsche Wochenschau – Newsreel No. 657, 7 April 1943

1. Germany.

 

A short newsreel entitled ‘The Reichsmarschall’s Division’.

 

– Soldiers from the division march through the gates of the barracks in the Reinickedorf district of Berlin.

 

– The gate bears the inscription: ‘General Hermann Göring’s Division’.

 

– Soldiers and officers.

 

– A view of the barracks and officers’ quarters.

 

– A close-up of an armband bearing the division’s name.

 

– Hermann Göring inspects the division, walking past the ranks of soldiers.

 

– Soldiers standing by self-propelled guns and armoured vehicles.

 

– Artillerymen demonstrate the operation of an anti-tank gun.

 

– Boarding the vehicles.

 

– Division manoeuvres at the training ground.

 

– Soldiers board half-track vehicles equipped with light anti-aircraft guns.

 

– Motorcyclists and self-propelled guns travel along the road.

 

– Soldiers cross the river in a boat.

 

– They fire machine guns, mortars and flamethrowers.

 

– Tanks are firing.

 

– Explosions in the countryside.

 

– A tank crewman in a tank.

 

– A tank crewman addresses German youths on screen, urging them to enlist in their division.

2. General Government, Breslau.

 

The funeral in his homeland of Hans Adolf von Moltke, a prominent figure in foreign policy and German Ambassador to Madrid.

 

– The coffin, draped with a flag bearing the swastika.

 

– A wreath from the Spanish Ambassador and from Caudillo Franco.

 

– German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop at the funeral; in the background, the Gauleiter of Lower Silesia, Karl Hanke.

 

– Laying of a wreath on behalf of the Führer.

 

3. Germany.

 

Berlin.

 

A memorial service for one of the leading figures in the German sports movement, the first Reich Sports Führer Hans von Tschammer und Osten (25 March 1943), in the Mosaic Hall of the Reich Chancellery.

 

– Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels delivers a speech.

 

– A wreath is laid on behalf of the Ministry of Propaganda.

 

– The coffin with wreaths, including one from the Finnish Olympic Committee, representatives from Hungary and Denmark, and one from Göring.

 

– In the hall, amongst the public, are Reichsleiter Wilhelm Frick and Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg.

 

– A funeral procession through the streets of Berlin.

 

– The coffin on a gun carriage at the Brandenburg Gate.

 

4. France.

 

The arrival of the German submarine U-177 at its home port after completing a combat mission.

 

– Sailors on the shore watch the approaching submarine.

 

– The submarine’s commander, recipient of the Knight’s Cross, Lieutenant Commander Gerhard Bilig.

 

– Fellow submariners greet their comrades-in-arms.

 

– Loading torpedoes, ammunition and provisions onto the submarine; refuelling.

 

– A submarine on a new patrol in the Atlantic.

 

– An observer.

 

– A newsreader reporting on the successes of the German submarine fleet.

 

5. Germany.

 

Adolf Hitler’s residence.

 

– The Führer receives Italian General Italo Gariboldi, commander of the Italian forces on the Eastern Front.

 

– The General is presented with a German decoration – the Knight’s Cross.

 

6. The Eastern Front.

 

The Lake Ladoga area.

 

– German soldiers travelling on a cart.

 

– In the forest.

 

– German Lieutenant-General Johann Zinnhuber, commander of the 28th Jäger Division, inspects an artillery position.

 

– Lieutenant-General Johann Zinnhuber talks to soldiers and officers.

 

– Wire entanglements being erected on the banks of the Neva.

 

– The shelling of Soviet positions begins.

 

– A firefight between Soviet artillery and German tanks.

 

– Soldiers run for cover.

 

– A fire is being extinguished in a German dugout.

 

– Soviet attempts to break through the German line between Lake Ladoga and Lake Ilmen are repelled.

 

– German artillery, a machine gun and light guns are firing.

 

– Soldiers are being awarded the Iron Cross.

 

– Grenadiers turn their camouflage jackets inside out, from the light side to the dark side.

 

– Tanks and infantry advance to the front-line positions.

 

– German infantrymen follow a tank.

 

– A tank fires on a Soviet bunker.

 

– The Germans are on the attack.

 

– A wounded man is being carried away.

 

– A tank and infantrymen advance.

 

– A destroyed Soviet bunker, the bodies of Soviet soldiers, and destroyed military equipment.

 

– A Soviet soldier is spotted in cover.

 

– Prisoners of war.

 

– A moment of calm.

 

– German soldiers are eating and smoking.

 

– The infantry continue their advance.

 

– A firefight in the woods.

 

– A Soviet soldier surrenders.

 

– A German fires a machine gun from cover.

 

– Soldiers with submachine guns.

 

– German artillery shells Soviet positions.

 

– A Soviet air raid on a German battery; bombs exploding.

 

– German anti-aircraft gunners fire at Soviet aircraft.

 

– A burning Soviet aircraft crashes to the ground.

 

– German aircraft at the airfield. ‘Junkers’ take to the air.

 

– A scene from an aerial battle.

 

– German artillery fires on Soviet positions.

On the Religious Origin of Runes

Source: SS Leitheft, No. 4. 1942

 

Few people imagine that the language we speak every day is not only a means of communication in human relations, but is the expression of the soul in its deepest roots. The language of the poet expresses the greatest mysteries and always influences linguistic creation. The sound of a word, its nuance, its musical content, often expresses more than logical concepts. Finally, language and writing have a religious origin, just like art. Our ancestors were aware of this. In the Edda song about the awakening of the Valkyrie, the creation of the runes, i.e. the signs that our ancestors engraved in small characters, is attributed to Odin: “Interpreted them/ Engraved them/ Conceived them Hopt”. But in Viking times, Odin was the god of warriors and scaldes and thus also the holder of the mysterious original wisdom. The myth of the essence of the runes is given to us in two verses of the Edda. Odin speaks about himself:

 

I know I’m hanging

AI ’arbre battu des vents

Nine full nights,

Sorry about a spear And given to Odin,

I myself have given,

I looked underneath,

I picked up the runes,

Screaming I picked them up,

From there, I fell back.

 

In his extreme distress, Odin delivered himself by collecting the runic characters. In the sublime poem of the Edda, The Seer’s Prediction’, there is the verse The Aesir gather .../ Remembering/ The great events/ And the ancient runes/ Of Fimbultyr’. Fimbultyr is Odin.

 

The Nobely stone, dating from around 600, attests to the same conception of the origin of the runes through the inscription: “I painted the runes from the counsellor” (Odin). For the Germans, the runes are part of creation, part of the power guiding the world.

 

The words “runes” do not only refer to the characters of the runic script, but to the sacred, mysterious signs of strength, giving divine grace, protecting from all dangers threatening body and soul, and also being able to harm and destroy. The popular belief in the immense power of runic signs continued in the northern countries until modern times, especially in cases of illness or disappointment in love. But it also lived and reigned in ancient Germany. The verb “becheren” (to give a gift) tells us this. Its original meaning was: to create or make something for someone by cutting runes. The name of the magical mandrake root (Alraun), which is endowed with mysterious powers, is also related to this. The key to understanding this Germanic folk belief lies in the questioning of fate by throwing small pieces of wood, as mentioned by Tacitus. The marks made by the spell were so powerful that the gods themselves were subjected to them; they must therefore have been powerful, sacred and come precisely from the powers of fate.

 

The ancient runes used by the old Germanic tribes.

  

 

These characters will already command respect because of their great age. For research in the last decade has probably discovered that at least a quarter, if not half, of the runes in the Common Germanic Futhark can be traced back to prehistoric symbols that have disappeared.

 

The Futhark characters cited were derived from names embracing the entire conceptual world of the Germanic people: they reflected the world of the Germanic peasants in the Germanic-Nordic settlement area. Each mark therefore corresponded to a particular word, for example the fourth rune to the word ‘anzuz’, i.e. Ase. At the drawing of lots, three small sticks were collected and a verse was written by hand from the sign-words that represented the answer to fate. But this could only be done when the sign was considered both as a sign with an initial sound, and thus as a character, whose initial sound, for example ‘anzuz’, served as the letter ‘a’. This dual aspect of the runes has only become clear in the last decade.

 

The Germans also possessed, through their predictive characters, a set of letters that could be used to communicate in writing. Who had the creative idea for this use and where did it take place are questions that remain unanswered for the time being. Some indications given by Roman authors lead to the conclusion that this art was practised very early by the spiritual leaders of the Germanic tribes.

 

However, it is clear from all this that our ancestors were aware of the religious origin of the runic script and thus also of the language. In 1938, research led to the conclusion that the runes were more than just a means of communication. Their engraving has a religious basis and a purpose similar to the ancient rock drawings: to strengthen and immortalise.

Richard Wagner – Overture to the Opera “Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen” (Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes)

Conductor: Karl Böhm

Performance: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Live recording: 1962

 

Die Deutsche Wochenschau – Newsreel No. 655, 24 March 1943

1. Germany.

 

A day of mourning in Berlin, dedicated to the memory of soldiers who fell on the Eastern Front.

 

– The Führer arrives at the Arsenal building, where he is met by Göring.

 

– Adolf Hitler steps out of the car and greets Field Marshal Keitel, Rear Admiral Dönitz, Reichsführer-SS Himmler, Field Marshal von Bock and Field Marshal Milch.

 

– A solemn gathering.

 

– Adolf Hitler, Göring, Keitel and others are seated.

 

– A symphony orchestra performs Beethoven’s 7th Symphony.

 

– Adolf Hitler’s speech (narrated by the commentator) on the treacherous plans of Bolshevism and the merits of German soldiers.

 

– The Führer leaves the Arsenal building; on the steps, the Commandant of Berlin, Lieutenant General Paul von Hase, approaches him with a report.

 

– On the right flank, a guard of honour with 30 banners of the old army and navy and 30 new Wehrmacht banners.

 

– A military parade, with the Führer inspecting the ranks of soldiers and sailors.

 

– Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring.

 

– Adolf Hitler visits the pantheon tomb of the fallen heroes.

 

– Four recipients of the Knight’s Cross lay a wreath on behalf of the Führer in the pantheon.

 

– Bowed banners.

 

– Berliners with their arms outstretched in the German salute.

 

– The Führer greets the wounded and disabled veterans of the First and Second World Wars, shaking hands and speaking with them.

 

– Disabled veterans in wheelchairs.

 

– The ceremonial march of the honour guard company.

 

– Standard-bearers.

 

– Weapons of the Wehrmacht and sailors marching past.

 

– Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring reviewing the parade.

 

2. The Atlantic.

 

A German submarine in the northern part of the ocean during a storm.

 

– This submarine belongs to a flotilla deployed against a large British transport convoy.

 

– The crew on deck in waterproof overalls.

 

– Huge waves.

 

– The lookout.

 

– Alarm on the submarine.

 

– The crew take up their positions according to the battle station order.

 

– The crew’s actions.

 

– Diving.

 

– The commander observes through the periscope.

 

– The periscope is retracted.

 

– The submarine evades the enemy destroyer.

 

– A depth charge explosion.

 

– Damage to the electrical wiring.

 

– Assessing the damage.

 

– Restoring the electrical system.

 

– The commander at the periscope.

 

– The submarine fires a torpedo.

 

– The submarine surfaces.

 

– The sinking of an enemy vessel.

 

– A German submarine.

 

– The sinking of an enemy vessel.

 

3. Greece.

 

The deployment of additional Wehrmacht units to Greece.

 

– German tanks on the streets of Athens.

 

– Tanks.

 

– Artillery.

 

– Tanks and other military equipment being loaded for dispatch to the islands.

 

– A naval transport ship sets sail for the island of Crete.

 

– Escort destroyers.

 

– A German convoy at sea.

 

4. Crete.

 

A view of the island.

 

– Construction of coastal defences.

 

– A German artillery battery.

 

– An airfield.

 

– Pilots boarding an aeroplane.

 

– Aeroplanes taking off.

 

5. The USSR. The Battle of Kharkiv.

 

Tanks and motorised units of the Waffen-SS advance through the snow towards Kharkiv, where the Bolsheviks have taken up defensive positions.

 

– Tanks and motorised infantry launch an attack on one of the settlements near Kharkiv.

 

– A firefight ensues with Soviet troops.

 

– Tanks advance.

 

– Infantrymen carrying the German flag.

 

– A motorcyclist rides up to a tank and receives a parcel.

 

– Following a sudden thaw, the roads have turned into quagmires.

 

– Motorcycles ride along a waterlogged road.

 

– Anti-aircraft batteries are clearing the approaches to the city.

 

– German infantrymen on the attack.

 

– German troops storm the city from the north and east.

 

– Germans in the suburbs of Kharkiv.

 

– Scenes of street fighting.

 

– German machine-gunners and artillery are firing.

 

– Wounded Soviet soldiers in a barracks, abandoned by retreating Soviet units.

 

– The Germans in the city; soldiers resting after the battle, eating.

 

– Fritz Witt, recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and commander of a motorised regiment, talks to a scout in camouflage uniform whilst looking at a map.

 

– German tanks and infantry on the streets of Kharkiv.

 

– Soldiers march past the park’s fence.

 

– Street fighting continues throughout the day.

 

– Almost every house has to be stormed following artillery preparation.

 

– Burning buildings.

 

– Soldiers carry a wounded man on a stretcher; the wounded are taken to the medical unit through courtyards and over fences.

 

– The red flag is taken down from the sentry box.

 

– A gun fires. On 14 March, Kharkiv was recaptured.

 

– Luftwaffe bomber squadrons bombing the retreating Bolsheviks east of Kharkiv