Hotel Berlin

I cannot exactly remember when I first saw this film, but it was quite some time ago, and I believe it was on like a late, late movie. I never forgot it, but many years passed before I saw it again on television. In more recent times, it has been shown on TCM (Turner Classic Movies), and somewhat ironically, I was working on this article, when I saw that it was scheduled to be shown on TCM over the Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, I could not finish the article before it aired, but they do air it periodically and they also have it on TCM on Demand from time to time. It is well worth seeing. There are many good points made in the movie; things some folks have let slip from their memories as the years since 1945 have passed; or, political philosophy and tactics are just not recognized by many younger people born long after Hitler's defeat.

The movie was really "ahead of its time;" I mean literally, as it was filmed in late 1944, and it was only completed in early 1945, with its release coming in March of that year (Germany surrendered in early May). The central idea of the movie was the approaching end of the war in Germany, and since it was made while the war was still ongoing; and in fact, Hitler had unleashed a failed, but powerful offensive in mid December 1944, known to Americans as, "The Battle of the Bulge," the film's whole premise could have quickly dissolved in the face of  real events. We have to remember, while we can look back now and see the German situation as totally lost, back then no one knew for sure what would happen, only that if the situation went forward as it was, Hitler's end was not far off. So the producers of the movie did take a gamble. There are no specific references in the movie to where the Allied and Soviet forces are, so the situation was left vague enough so as not to be painted into a corner. This is really a pretty good movie, with its major shortcoming being that they tried to cram too many characters into a 98 minute movie, but the characters of General von Dahnwitz and Professor Koenig are very good (see more below).   

This film is based on the novel "Hotel Berlin '43" (yes, '43), by Vicki Baum,* but updated to a setting as the war nears its end in 1945. Like an earlier Baum novel which was made into an Academy Award winning movie, "Grand Hotel," this movie deals with a number of people at the hotel, including a German anti-Nazi escapee from Dachau concentration camp, Martin Richter, played by Helmut Dantine,** who is hiding out there, helped along by some anti-Nazis of the hotel staff, who give Richter a waiter's uniform, figuring that between the air raids and the busy hotel, he won't be noticed. The headwaiter sends him to actress Lisa Dorn's room (see further below), since she is so well known, he assumes the Gestapo will not search her room, although they do show up for a quick search, and one of the Gestapo men steals a bar of her scented soap, something that was likely a great luxury at that point in the war. Dorn is suspicious of her new waiter, but she thinks he is an undercover Gestapo agent, until she sees Richter's photo on a wanted poster in the hotel lobby. The Gestapo pursues Richter and others amidst Allied air raids, as Berlin prepares for the end. The Nazis are seemingly more concerned with their homegrown enemies, than with their enemies on the front lines. At one point, three Japanese officials, and allies of Germany, choose to leave the hotel and return to Japan, with the clear message that Germany is doomed. 

General von Dahnwitz, played by Canadian-American actor Raymond Massey, is an army general known to have been a participant in the plot to kill Hitler. He is to be arrested, and then executed, but only if he will not handle matters himself; that is, commit suicide. Initially the general only knows that he is under heavy suspicion. Von Dahnwitz, whose son was recently killed while serving with the Luftwaffe (he very coldly says, "He did his duty"), is not against the war, he's only against the way Hitler has directed the war ("a little corporal," he calls Hitler***). At one point he says how the war is lost, but that, "We must not lose another" (he's already thinking of the next war!). We also learn that Dahnwitz is on the Allied war criminal list for possible war crimes in Kharkov, in the Soviet Union. After von Dahnwitz is told to commit suicide or he will face arrest and execution, the general, who is in love with actress Lisa Dorn (see below), asks her to marry him and to go to Sweden (a neutral country) with him on a plane he has waiting. The Gestapo finds out about the plane, grounds it and arrests the pilot.

General von Dahnwitz is to be given his "options" by the ever present Gestapo and its commander at the hotel, Commissioner Joachim Helm, played by English actor George Coulouris (his father was from Greece). When General von Dahnwitz mentions that he has a bad tooth, Helm recommends a dentist, even though he knows the general will soon be dead, either by suicide or by Gestapo execution. Helm says, "I have to get some fun out of my work."

Then there's "Tillie," played by American actress Faye Emerson (she was married for a time to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's son, Elliot), who is the hotel hostess and an informer for the Gestapo. Her main concern is to get a new pair of shoes, which in war ravaged Germany was not an easy thing to do. She'll do just about anything to get new shoes and she calls all the guys "Shhhnooky," hoping they can help her achieve her goal. Later in the story, Tillie gets to see actress Lisa Dorn's suite (see below), along with the maid, who still believes Hitler is the only way to  win the war. Tillie sees the waiter's coat worn by Martin Richter and she goes to Commissioner Helm to give him the information, in hopes of getting new shoes, but while the commissioner likes her information, he rejects her request. 

And there's Lisa Dorn, played by American actress Andrea King, an actress and the love interest of General von Dahnwitz. She is often in the general's company and she has a luxurious suite at the hotel with a closet full of clothes from Paris. After seeing a wanted poster with Martin Richter's photo, she confronts Richter in her suite, where he has been hiding by acting as her waiter (covered above). Richter offers to help her get out of Germany, something she says she would like very much, although she had just turned down General von Dahnwitz's marriage proposal and flight to Sweden. Hm, is she just playing one of her roles to fool Richter? With Gestapo men all over the hotel, Richter stays in Dorn's room all night, ah, undoubtedly just to be sure she'll get breakfast in the morning. When Dorn leaves the hotel for rehearsal, two Gestapo men follow right behind her and also upon her return. Richter meanwhile climbs through the window to get to Professor Koenig (see below) in the next room. Later Richter is given an SS officer's uniform by the anti-Nazis, in hopes this will help him get out of the hotel. Dorn will help, but then Commissioner Helm comes to her suite and finds Richter. The two men fight and Helm is either killed or knocked unconscious (it's unclear to me), but it doesn't matter, because Richter throws Helm down the elevator shaft, as in, express service to the basement and appropriate for a Nazi low life. Richter says he'll ask the German underground to help get Dorn out of Germany too, but they send back word saying, "No." Richter tells her he'll convince the underground members personally and that he'll contact her after all is set. Dorn decides to use Major Kauders (see below) as a way to get Richter out of the hotel. The Gestapo troops find Helm's body and call in another detachment of Gestapo men. During an air raid alarm, Dorn has Richter, who is dressed as an SS officer, act as if he's drunk and she asks Kauders to take him outside, which he does, as the Gestapo men do not ask to see the drunken SS officer's papers. Baron Stettin comes to Dorn and tells her he'd like to take her with him, because he's leaving Germany (he had promised his friend von Dahnwitz to look after Dorn, but then again, maybe he just wants to make sure she gets breakfasts, too), but that the Gestapo suspects her in Commissioner Helm's death. So she tells Stettin that she can get Richter for them, and all of the anti-Nazi underground, as Richter will be contacting her with an address for her to go to him. All of this is overheard by one of the waiters, an anti-Nazi, who reports it to the main group. So they send word to Dorn with a false address. When she leaves her room, the bellhop tells her he'll operate the elevator for her, but one of the underground men is waiting on the elevator, drugs her and takes her to the real underground address, where Richter can't believe she was going to sell him out to the Gestapo. When Dorn sees him, she is happy at first, and she turns on her charms, but then she sees Richter has a gun and he kills her. No more staying overnight with you to make sure you get breakfast, Fräulein Dorn, you Nazi chameleon!    

There is Baron von Stettin, played by English actor Henry Daniell, who is in the German diplomatic corps. Stettin is friends with General von Dahnwitz, and is something of the go between for the general and the Nazi authorities (hey, I said he was in the diplomatic corps). Stettin and others are thinking ahead of how to plan for Germany's rise from defeat by going to the United States and blaming everything on Hitler. "Americans forgive and forget easily," he says, and Stettin is scheduled to leave soon and he wants Professor Koenig to go along (see below). At the end, the Baron is leaving the hotel to go to the United States to further a postwar Nazi cause once the war ends, but without using the name "Nazi." He and his associates want to blend in to make themselves acceptable. Damn! I wonder if later he ever wore a "Make America Great Again" cap?    

Nazi official Hermann Plottke, played by Alan Hale, Sr., father of the Skipper, from Gilligan's Island, is a thief, but he's worried about what will happen to him if the Allies capture him, as he is on the list of wanted Nazis. Plottke too has been planning, as he has opened bank accounts in various foreign countries with money he has stolen over time, something that has not gone unnoticed by the Gestapo and Commissioner Helm, who threateningly tells Plottke to return the stolen money within 48 hours.

Sarah Baruch, played by Helene Thimig, **** a Jewish woman, whose son had been romantically involved with Tillie (mentioned above) before the Nazis put him in a labor camp. Sarah comes to the hotel for Tillie's help in getting pain medication for her husband, who is dying of cancer. She wants him to die more peacefully. She also tells Tillie that her son has been freed by the American forces and that he sent word to his parents by way of the underground. During her time at the hotel, Nazi Hermann Plottke (above) recognizes her and orders her to put on her Star of David patch, something mandatory by Nazi law. Tillie takes a stand against Plottke, outing him to the gathered crowd for the thief he is. The Gestapo takes him into custody for questioning in Commissioner Helm's death, since Helm had threatened Plottke about the large sum of money Plottke had stolen. Naturally the Gestapo men wonder if Plottke killed Helm because of this. 

Major Otto Kauders, played by German-Swiss actor Kurt Kreuger, is a Luftwaffe pilot on leave who demands a room and wants to have a good time before heading back to fight. He takes up with Tillie, an old acquaintance, who wants to use him to get new shoes, but he sees a picture in Tillie's room of Max, Sarah's son, and the love of Tillie's life. Kauders says Max looks like a Jew, which brings a slap from Tillie and Kauders walks out.   

Greatly disillusioned Professor Johannes Koenig, played by Peter Lorre***** is the German intellectual and scientist of the film, who comes to see his own complicity with the Nazis. Early on during an air raid, when the hotel front desk clerk asks, "Why can't we admit we are beaten and end this horror?" Koenig answers, "We are getting what we deserve, it serves us right, absolutely right." He is admonished to mind his words of "defeatism." We find out later that Baron von Stettin wants Koenig to leave Germany for South America, where Stettin will see to it that the professor gets a new laboratory and staff, all provided by what will then be a Nazi underground movement. Later, however, when Martin Richter is with Koenig, who has been drinking heavily, the professor says how science has now changed under the Nazis, so that human beings, not animals, are worked on directly for research, and that science has made it possible for 6000 people a day to be murdered in Birkenau camp.****** Martin says he still believes there are good Germans to carry on after Hitler's defeat. Koenig wonders aloud where these good Germans are. He looks around the room, "Where are they?" He goes to the closet and opens the door, "Are they in here?" Koenig asks if Martin has read the Bible, and he goes on to say that God would have spared Gomorrah if there were just ten righteous people, but there weren't ten, so Gomorrah was destroyed. "And now there aren't ten good Germans left, so Germany will be destroyed." Richter tells Koenig of one of the professor's former students who had been inspired by Koenig, but that he had been beaten to death by the Nazis in Dachau, but that before he died, he said he thought that Professor Koenig would be proud of him. This causes Koenig to break down sobbing. This helps Koenig come to his senses and he goes back to the anti-Nazi underground. He reads a leaflet to be put out by the underground, which is a speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, about how Germany will have to earn its way back into the confidence of nations. 

There are some other interesting characters in the film. One is the bellhop, also called "#6," his badge number at the hotel, played by young American Richard Tyler (he was only about 13 when the movie was made). His father, Walter Baumler, played by German-American actor Wolfgang Zilzer, is one of the leaders of the anti-Nazi underground. The teenage bellhop helps in many of the anti-Nazi activities at the hotel. And then there is the front desk clerk, Kliebert, played by Hungarian-American actor Steven Geray, who has his hands full keeping up with all of the goings on at the hotel, including the air raids, Gestapo investigations and people wanting him to get them out of bomb ravaged Berlin, where communication and transportation is often crippled. Finally, there is Dr. Dorf, the hotel physician, played by German actor Erwin Kalser (he lived in the United States during the war years and for a time thereafter, and he played the Red Cross inspector in "Stalag 17," if you've seen that movie). Dr. Dorf likes to remind people that defeatist talk will get them into trouble.    

All the cynicism is then contrasted with the ending of the movie, which shows a written statement by the Allied leaders, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, saying that Germans aren't totally to blame.

* Vicki Baum was an Austrian Jew, born in Vienna. She moved to the United States not long before the Nazis took power and she then became an American citizen. Of course, her works were banned by the Nazis in Germany (and Austria, when it became part of Germany in 1938).

** Helmut Dantine was a long time anti-Nazi, and indeed, he was arrested by the Nazis after Hitler moved into his native Austria, where Dantine, too, was born (Vienna). After his release by the Nazis in the late 1930s, he emigrated to the United States where he pursued an acting career; ironically, often playing Nazi roles in Hollywood films. He died in the U.S. in the early 1980s.

*** Hitler only rose to the rank of corporal (German: "Gefreiter") in World War One; thus later, some of his opponents, especially in the German military, disparagingly referred to him in private by his previous rank. 

**** Helene Thimig was married to Austrian theater/movie producer and director Max Reinhardt, who was Jewish. They left Germany and settled in the United States in the late 1930s, where Max died during World War Two. Helene later returned to Austria, where she died in the mid 1970s. 

***** Peter Lorre was born in Austria-Hungary, and he learned his acting in both Vienna and Berlin. He became famous for his role as a child killer in the 1931 German film, "M." Lorre was Jewish and left Germany when the Nazis took power in 1933. He eventually ended up in the United States, where he became well known for movie roles, especially because of his prominent sad eyes and expressions.

****** This was quite dramatic information to be included in this movie, which was filmed before the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau; later, much more commonly known to most people as Auschwitz, the most infamous of all Nazi concentration camps.

Photo is of the disc from "rarewarfilms"

WORD HISTORY:
Wretch-This noun, related to "wreak," goes back to Indo European "wreg," which had the notion, "to hunt, to chase, to drive against, to shove." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "wrekanan," meaning, "to chase, to drive against, to shove;" and by extension, "to punish by driving out (exiling);" thus also, "to avenge." This produced West Germanic "wrakjon," meaning, "an outcast, one chased out as punishment." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wrecca," meaning, "an outcast, someone banned from a region." This then became "wrecche," before the modern version, with the meaning gradually changing to, "an unfortunate, unhappy person," from the idea of an outcast being miserable. There is also a further meaning of, "a nasty person," often paired with "ungrateful" in usage to mean, "someone so nasty and miserable as to be unappreciative." The other Germanic languages have: German has "Recke," its ancestor was also spelled with a "w," and its meaning was also "outcast," but later, the meaning changed dramatically from the point of view of a person driven out of a territory, to "warrior, hero," perhaps from the notion of "one who drives out enemies," although the initial change seems to have maintained the connection to an outcast, as it meant "wandering warrior." Low German Saxon no longer uses a form of the word, but as of a few hundred years ago, it had "Recke," with the "outcast" meaning, and its ancestor too was spelled with a "w," and this was also the same with Dutch, which also had "recke." So only German and English still have the related words in use, but now with decidedly different meanings in modern times.

Schindler's List, Movie and History

This 1993 Steven Spielberg movie, based on a novel about real life Oskar Schindler, is both depressing and uplifting. Perhaps that is fitting, as Schindler himself displayed actions of darkness and light, but then I suppose we all do to some extent. The thing is, when the final bell sounds, hopefully we will have tallied far more light than darkness, and that certainly was the case with Oskar Schindler. When I look at a couple of examples of characters, one fictional, George Bailey of "It's A Wonderful Life," and one real, Claus von Stauffenberg, who almost succeeded in assassinating Hitler, I see that we need to be broadminded enough to accept the flaws of both men, and thus, others too. George Bailey wanted to leave his small hometown of Bedford Falls and go off to design and build great things, make lots of money and travel the world, but his sense of conscience and service to others had him choose to remain in Bedford Falls, although grudgingly, and to help many of the town's people, and to resist the ruthless greed of Mr. Potter.* Claus von Stauffenberg was a German officer from the nobility and a devout Catholic. As with many Germans, Stauffenberg sided with Hitler's foreign policy goals of regaining lost German claimed territories, and he developed an admiration for Hitler, but he then learned of the terrible atrocities being committed in the name of the German people, and his conscience switch was flipped to "on." Stauffenberg and many others paid with their lives for the attempted assassination of Hitler.**

Oskar Schindler was born in the Czech province of Moravia, which had some German populated areas. He later went into business and joined the Nazi Party in the late 1930s.*** Schindler wanted to make money at an enamelware business he took over in German-occupied Poland, in Krakow (German: Krakau). He used Jews to save labor costs and he paid bribes to various Nazi officials to keep using Jews in his plant. So Schindler's original motive in using Jews was to make money. When he witnessed the brutal, ruthless treatment and murder of Jews in the city, like Stauffenberg mentioned above, his conscience was activated and he saw things for what they really were. One little girl in a red coat stood out to him. The movie was filmed in black and white, except for the scenes of the little girl in the red coat. From then on, Schindler tried to save as many Jews from the Nazis as possible by keeping them employed for him and by paying more bribes to Nazi officials.

The film is generally historical in many of its depictions, including the depiction of Amon Göth, a psychopathic SS officer, who was tried and executed after the war, right near the site of many of his despicable crimes. The executions in the Krakow Jewish ghetto shown in the film are based on fact, as are Schindler's bribes to Nazis to save the lives of helpless Jews. PLEASE watch this movie, if you haven't already seen it, and please watch it again if you have seen it before. The fight against evil never ends and we need to constantly be reminded of the horrors we humans can inflict on the world. We also need to be reminded of the good and brave deeds done by some in opposing evil, at great risk to themselves. If you have difficulty in watching brutality and murder, I do have to advise, this is a very troubling movie, because it is based on fact. However, the ending showing how the real life survivors of the Nazis honored Oskar Schindler is very moving and swings the darkness of the film's and history's truth back to the light. It made me recall a scene in another film based on the life of Solomon Perel, "Europa, Europa," **** where a German soldier tells the German Jewish teenager, "not all Germans are the same, there are other Germans" ("nicht alle Deutschen sind gleich, es gibt noch anderen Deutsche"). "Schindler's List" was criticized by some, but any movie, play, book, or article attempting to depict or describe the horrible inhumanity of those times will be criticized, because there is so much pain and no adequate way to put into words or pictures that pain for those who went through it.

* For more on George Bailey and "It's A Wonderful Life," this is a link to a previous article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2012/12/its-wonderful-life-showed-conscience.html

** For more on Stauffenberg, this is the link to another article:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/07/heroes-against-hitler-colonel-klaus-von.html

*** Germans joined the Nazi Party for various reasons, I'm sure, including for business reasons, to stay "in good" with the regime, and to derive any benefits from that association. Most Germans were not party members, and the process of becoming a Nazi Party member wasn't always easy, but that doesn't mean some non party members weren't supportive or fanatical in some beliefs.

**** Released in most of Europa as, "Hitlerjunge Salomon." For more on this movie, here is the link to the article I did:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2014/12/solomon-perel-staying-alive-among-nazis.html

Photo is from the DVD cover by Universal, 2013. 

WORD HISTORY:
Tear-This is the word pronounced as if, "teer," and meaning "salty liquid that comes from the eyes in droplets." It goes back to Indo European "dakru," which meant "tears," and it is has widespread forms throughout the Indo European languages. "Dakru" gave its Old Germanic offspring "tahra/taghr," meaning "tear." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "teahor" and "teagor," both meaning "tear," which then seemingly merged into "tear," and likely pronounced like "tee-are." This then became "teer/ter," before the modern version. The verb form, meaning "to produce tears, to shed tears," developed from the noun in the 1400s. The other Germanic languages have: German "Zähre," a form that is now very high style and poetic, and also the common form "Träne," where the "r" sound moved ahead of the vowel and the word was then contracted from "trahan" (see also the Low German and West Frisian forms); Low German Saxon "Traan," West Frisian "trien," Dutch "traan," Danish "tåre," Norwegian and Swedish "tår," Icelandic "tár."  

Sauerkraut Recipe

This recipe is my own, but it is really a collection of ideas from many sources over the years. For New Year's Day my mother and my maternal grandmother always fixed pork roast with sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and rye bread with caraway seed. Before putting the food onto the stove, they would always give me a pinch of raw sauerkraut to eat, as that was supposed to bring extra good luck; notice, I said it's "supposed to bring extra good luck." I would guess that a high percentage of Americans would mention sauerkraut, if they were asked to name a German food, although bratwurst has become very popular since American forces helped to occupy and defend post-World War Two Germany. This recipe has traditional German ingredients, but with some specific Alsatian influences. Alsace (German: Elsass), its most well known city being Strasbourg (German: Strassburg), was long a German land, but because it bordered on French lands, it became a highly contested region, as the French sought to incorporate it into France. Wars and the resulting treaties saw the area come under French control, but then this was largely reversed during Bismarck's time in the 1870s, when much of Alsace came back under German control (a small, but heavily French populated part remained as a part of France). This continued until the end of World War One, when the area went back under French control. Don't get too comfortable, because the German defeat of France in 1940 put the area back into Germany, but Germany's defeat in 1945 saw Alsace become a part of France, where it has remained ever since. The German dialect of Alsace is closely related to that of Switzerland, southwestern Germany (in a fairly broad area, where Stuttgart is one of the main cities), Liechtenstein and the far western tip of Austria.

The use of wine in sauerkraut is not something unusual in Germany/Austria, for while Americans correctly associate Germans and beer, wine is a common drink for Germans/Austrians, and there are several regions, especially in western Germany near and along the Rhine and Moselle Rivers, and in eastern Austria, where vineyards are plentiful and wine is produced in large quantity.

Ingredients:

2 pounds sauerkraut, well rinsed
2-3 strips of smoky bacon, cut into small pieces
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 apple, chopped (Germans tend to use green apples, but I use either green or red, unpeeled, and my German relatives have yet to disown me ... then again, I haven't heard from them for a while. Hmm, maybe I'd better check on that one. LOL!
2 medium onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups of white wine (Germans generally use dry white, but I've used semi-dry white [see under the apple type, above, about my German relatives], but I wouldn't use a sweet wine, see next ingredient )
2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon black pepper (unless you're a salt fiend, you won't need salt, as the bacon, ham and sauerkraut add plenty)
1/2 lb. ham, chopped
1 pork steak, whole
4 German sausages (fresh bratwurst; that is, not the precooked type, work well)
2 Frankfurters/wieners/hotdogs, whatever term you use, preferably with natural casing
If you want to make it more Alsatian, add about 8 or 10 juniper berries and 2 bay leaves (juniper berries are used to make gin), as well as another type of sausage, like knockwurst/knackwurst.

Now, I BAKE my sauerkraut, so make sure to have an ovenproof pan (with lid) or casserole that is big enough to accommodate all of the ingredients, keeping in mind the juice that will build during baking and that you will be adding the sausages later. In a skillet, saute the bacon pieces just a couple of minutes, then add the onion. Allow to cook, stirring to get the onions just somewhat softened. Add the garlic and continue for another minute or two. In your baking pan, add the sauerkraut, the chopped apple, the wine, the ham pieces, and the bacon/onion/garlic mixture. Stir to mix. Add the pork steak on top, then add the brown sugar and pepper. Cover and place into a 275 F degree oven. You really can't overcook this, in my opinion, but after an hour, you can turn the heat DOWN to 250 F, and let the dish bake a couple of hours longer. About an hour before serving, place the sausages around the top. Any precooked sausages will just need to be well heated, but any raw sausages will need the time to properly cook through. Mash some potatoes, cut the pork steak and sausages into pieces, and dig in, putting some of the liquid over the potatoes, or in a little hollowed out spot, as you would for gravy. Don't forget the beer or wine! (I'll have a brown ale.) Oh, I almost forgot. Before cooking, take a pinch of raw sauerkraut. HEY! I just got an email from Germany. See, they haven't disowned me .... What the hell do they mean it has to be a green apple and a dry German white wine, or else?

* For the history of the word "sauerkraut," or more specifically, the word, "kraut," see: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/05/german-question-part-twelve.html

WORD HISTORY:
Time-This word, related to "tide," goes back to Indo European "di/da," which had the notion of "divide, separate into pieces." This produced "diman," which meant "periods of time, seasons." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "timon," with the same meanings. Whether this form only survived in the North Germanic languages is unclear to me, but Old Norse had "timi," the form still in use in Icelandic, which means "time, period," and Danish and Norwegian have "time," both pronounced like "tee-ma," and meaning "hour, class (session)," while Swedish has "timme," pronounced similar to the Danish/Norwegian, and with the same general meaning. This form "may" have then come to England with Old Norse to give Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "tima," meaning "time, period of time." Later this became "tyme," before the modern version. Before the borrowing from Old Norse, English used "tid" (long i) for "time" and "tide," before separating the two. German uses "Zeit" (the 'z' is pronounced 'ts' and 'ei' is pronounced as a long i), and "Gezeiten" for "tide" (technically "Gezeit" means 'tide,' singular, but the plural form "Gezeiten" is most often used). 

Coffee: "Grounds" For A Love Affair

This article was updated slightly on June 19, 2015.


Each day one hell of a lot of people get their day going with coffee. In fact, quite a number of people keep their day going with coffee. "Apparently" coffee plants grew wild in Kaffa, a province of Ethiopia (also known for a long time as "Abyssinia") and the locals began using the plant to make a drink around 1000 A.D., give or take a hundred years or so. People from the Arabian Peninsula got hold of some plants and began to make a regular business out of growing and making coffee, but when the Turks acquired some plants in the 1500s, they seem to have been the first to roast the berries from the plant, the "beans," which they then ground and boiled in water. Venice was a major trade center in Europe in those times, and the Venetian traders brought coffee home in the early 1600s. It wasn't long before the Venetians and other Italians opened a number of coffeehouses, the first in Europe.* Trade and diplomatic missions brought coffee to France in the mid 1600s, where the French opened "cafés," the French term for "coffeehouses." The mid 1600s also brought coffee to England, where literally hundreds of coffeehouses opened in a relatively short period of time. Of course it wasn't long before European colonists from several nations began toting coffee off to the New World, where it has flourished ever since, and several countries are among the world's biggest producers of coffee: Brazil is the #1 coffee producer and Columbia is #2, while both Mexico and Guatemala are in the top ten. Indonesia, Vietnam and Ethiopia are also major producers in the top ten. Americans are likely more familiar with Columbia, as coffee from that country has been advertised here for decades. **

The latter part of the 1600s brought the Germans into the act, as the Turks besieged Vienna, then the capitol of the Old German Empire.*** When the siege was broken, the Turks left large quantities of supplies behind, including coffee beans. The coffee business soon took hold in Vienna and it spread to other German areas. Vienna is still known for its coffeehouses, where you pretty much need to take a class just to learn the various terms for coffee served in a variety of ways. I'd venture to say that any and all German and Austrian coffeehouses have my favorite, "Eiskaffee," or Ice Cream Coffee; cold coffee over vanilla ice cream in a tall glass, typically served with whipped cream and a cookie. If you order this, you get to cover a couple of your vices all in one order. What's not to like?

* Technically, the Turks, under the name, the Ottoman Empire, occupied a part of southeastern Europe in the Balkans, including the former city of Constantinople, which they eventually renamed Istanbul.

** For more see:  http://www.nationalgeographic.com/coffee/map.html

*** The proper name was, "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation."     

WORD HISTORY:
Coffee-The ultimate origins of this word are disputed, but while I understand the desire to claim the origins of the word for this popular drink, I lean toward the word being derived from the old Ethiopian province of "Kaffa," where "supposedly" the plant grew wild and was first used for making a beverage. Trade contact likely brought Arabic speakers to borrow a form of the word as, "qahwa/qahwah." This then was borrowed by Turkish as "kahveh." The Venetians, avid traders, learned of the beverage from the Turks, giving Italian "caffe." This was borrowed into English as "coffee" in the early 1600s, again, undoubtedly the result of trade and the resulting desire for the beverage.

Rolling Back Fascism Is Not Easy, Part Three

This was first published in January 2013 (Note 7/30/17: Much has happened since early 2013, and we are now in a terrible situation with a brooding nutcase in the White House, who has essentially been unapologetic for mobilizing fascists in his own cause. We need to stand up to fascists! We don't need a Führer, a Duce, or a Vladimir Putin!


"Right Wing Extremism In The United States"

Germans, and especially traditional conservative Germans, through then President von Hindenburg,* "invited" Hitler and the Nazis to take power in January 1933, thinking they, the conservatives, would really be the ones in control, since the cabinet was well stocked with their own members. Hitler then outwitted them, threw off any controls on himself, and the conservatives became complicit in that ruthless, murderous regime, which made Attila the Hun almost look like a candidate for sainthood. Hitler then convinced Germans that HIS interest was THEIR interest, dragging the nation through years of aerial bombardment, death, destruction and defeat, all the while forcing Germans, at gunpoint, to continue the war to keep his sorry evil ass in power. Many a German died at the hands of the Nazis for real or perceived desertion or for simply expressing the need for peace or speaking the obvious truth that the war could not be won.** Speaking about reality was, therefore, a crime, while spouting delusional nonsense about "final victory," and that all was well with the nation, was praised, even when Allied forces were just blocks away. The fear of criticism showed the true weakness of the fascists. Nazi execution squads roamed through cites looking for deserters even in the final days of the regime, in a display of just how nuts the country had become under Hitler, the nutcase in chief. Hitler was able to convince Germans that his interest was their interest, and by the time many realized their error, it was too late.

While worrying about a revival of fascism in Europe, Americans have taken their eye off the ball in our own country, where "some" greedy, ruthless, wealthy Americans have done much to convince many an average American that by supporting their agenda and giving them tax cuts, that they are the real patriots. This is VERY dangerous folks and those of you who have bought into this nonsense have already become subservient to ideas that are NOT in your interest. Reasonable proposals are called "socialist" or "anti-American," unions are maligned and threatened by union busting laws, attacks on some of our most economically vulnerable citizens are orchestrated and the campaign against about 90% of the population is funded with tremendous financial resources of wealthy interests, and supported by misguided elements of the 90%. All the while the richest Americans become richer, as the rest of the country drifts or declines and many have already lost virtually everything in their lives. The rightist fanatics didn't spend all of that money on recent elections to promote fairness and democracy folks. No, and the "our interest is your interest" idea lurks behind the groups with benign sounding names they sponsor. Other fascist leaders of the past were supported by some wealthy interests, too. Like the German conservatives, American conservatives thought they were just using fringe groups and nutcases to gain power, but the fascists have overwhelmed them and taken control of at least parts of their formerly mainstream political party. Others have perverted religion to their own ends. They have opened up the doors and windows to these fanatics, but once you let fascists in, getting them out again can be VERY painful. It took almost the whole world to defeat Hitler. Finally some traditional conservatives are speaking out against the insanity, but many more are still needed, as far too many have failed to speak out against fascist propagandists like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and others. Speak up traditional American conservatives and Republicans! Show the nation you have some courage, before it takes the courage of a Sophie Scholl to out the fascists hiding behind YOUR name (see note **).

More in Part Four...

* Paul von Hindenburg was one of Germany's leading generals (a field marshal) in World War One and a popular and respected figure in the country in the aftermath of that war. He served as the elected president from the mid 1920s until his death in 1934, at the age of 86. While elderly, and some say a bit senile, he stood for reelection in 1932 (seven year presidential terms) and easily won against none other than Adolf Hitler, who, while the loser, solidified his position as a national political figure.

** During World War Two, college students Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans, and a friend, Christoph Probst, were arrested for distributing anti war leaflets at the University of Munich. They were "tried" before a Nazi court and then beheaded. There are several memorials and honors to this young courageous German woman and the other young Germans who tried to fight evil, and who gave their lives doing so. I hope all of you will be interested enough to read more about these German heroes, or to watch the movie, "Sophie Scholl-The Final Days," a German language movie, with English subtitles. Resistance to such evil takes tremendous courage. Since the end of the war, Germans have tried to come to terms with their Nazi history, which has been a gradual process, but they have made great progress. Polls of Germans show Sophie and Hans Scholl are viewed as some of the most important Germans in history.

WORD HISTORY:
Fascism-The ultimate origins of this word are uncertain, although it may go back to an Indo European form that had to do with bundles or loads of wood. It goes back to Latin "fasces," the plural form of "fascis," which meant "bundle of sticks." This gave Italian "fascio," with the same meaning, but also with the meaning "bundle or group," including with political connotations. Benito Mussolini's political movement took the derived name "fascismo" (fascism) in 1919, using the "fasces" as its emblem; that is, a bundle of wooden rods with an ax included; the bundle of rods symbolizing strength through numbers. English borrowed the word from Italian circa 1920.

Germans and Apples

Because apples keep so well, fall and winter are good times to know about some dishes using apples. The Germans have a sort of love affair with the apple and I'd say their most popular fruit juice is apple juice. By German, I mean people of German background, not just the nationality German; so, people in Germany, Austria, about 2/3 of Switzerland, much of Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, much of Alsace and a fair part of Lorraine, as well as a part of northern Italy.* Even if you're a "picky" eater, please don't turn your nose up at some of the combinations until you have at least tried them. I believe I've told this little story before, but it bears repeating. Back in the 1980s I was traveling on a train (common transportation in Germany, and Europe in general) between Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, which are only about 20 miles apart. An American couple, likely in their 60s, was sitting across from me. Americans were frequently encountered in the area due to the large American military presence in what was then West Germany, but these folks were tourists. I started a conversation with them and found out they were from Seattle, so somewhere in the neighborhood of 5500 to 6000 miles from Germany. They were headed for Frankfurt and they wanted to know about places to eat, as this was their first trip to Germany. Since they would be getting off the train at the main train station in Frankfurt, I immediately recommended the "Dippegucker Restaurant am Hauptbahnhof," which simply means "the pot looker restaurant at the main train station." The lady then said she was afraid to try German food, as she might not like it, and that they would probably just go to McDonald's (McDonald's has many outlets in Germany, all of which sell beer and wine). So, she traveled about 6000 miles to eat a hamburger she could have gotten on any street corner in America? While it's been many years, I have to believe it took a great deal of self restraint on my part to keep from smacking her, kicking her in the shin, or calling her a "blöde Kuh," if not all three. ("Blöde Kuh" means stupid or silly cow, in German).
    
A pretty common German dish in many areas comes from Berlin and is simply "liver and onions," but the recipe includes sliced apples with the onions. For Germans, the liver is usually calves liver, but the substitution of beef or pork liver will not condemn you to prison, and while some Germans have told me the apples have to be green, like Granny Smiths, I've used Red Delicious for years and I have yet to turn into a pillar of salt, so use what you have and, by the way, I leave the skin on the apples. Here in America, you may see this dish on the menu of German restaurants as "Berlin Liver," or perhaps, "Berlin Style Liver."

Then there's "Himmel und Erde," or "Himmel un Ääd" in some Rhineland dialects, which means "Heaven and Earth." The dish is simply mashed potatoes and apples; that is, the (lightly cooked) apples are mashed in with the potatoes. The name idea is, the apples represent the "heaven or sky," as they come from a tree, and the "earth" is represented by the potatoes, which have to be dug out of the ground. There are variations on this dish, depending upon the area, and some Germans use pears instead of apples. In the south, in Bavaria and Austria, I've seen recipes simply calling it "Puree of Apples and Potatoes." Germans often serve it with blood sausage (Blutwurst), Bratwurst, or liverwurst (Leberwurst). To give it some texture, I often don't completely mash the apples up, or if I don't have fresh apples, I add the store bought chunky apple sauce from a jar after the potatoes are mashed. Now if you think potatoes and apples don't go together, see the next listing.

Speaking of potatoes, potato pancakes are common in German areas, and they are usually accompanied by apple sauce, which is pretty common in the U.S. too. See, you've probably had potatoes and apples before. The standard German word for potato pancakes is "Kartoffelpfannkuchen," but there are a number of dialect terms and recipe variations like,  "Reibekuchen," "Döbbekuchen," "Döbbekooche," "Dibbekoche," "Dippedotz," "Reiberdatschi," "Rievekooche,"  "Grumbeer Pannekuche," and others. Some Germans believe the potatoes should be freshly grated, while others use potatoes first boiled in their skins. Besides the potatoes, there is some onion added (either grated or finely chopped), as well as some flour and salt. To this base recipe some regions add chopped bacon, or even whole strips of bacon are placed on top and the dish is finished in the oven. In the past, lard was commonly used for frying, but nowadays oil is more common.

Swiss Germans make a fried apple dish (Apfel Bröisi), which is thin bread slices fried in butter and sugar, then apple slices are added and fried further until the apples are soft. The dish is topped with fresh dabs of butter, sugar and cinnamon. 

Germans add apples to sauerkraut or to red cabbage (called Rotkohl, Rotkraut, or Blaukraut, depending upon region). In some areas, especially in Austria and Bavaria, apples are cored, stuffed with raisins and walnuts or hazelnuts (sometimes cranberries and lemon zest are added too) and are baked in white wine, butter, and sugar, which combine in a syrupy sauce, to which apple brandy (Schnapps) can be added. The finished dish, called "Bratäpfel" (baked apples), or "Besoffene Bratäpfel" ('drunken' baked apples, because of the wine and schnapps) is often served with warm vanilla sauce, made with heated milk, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla.

If you're in the German state of Hessen (often Hesse, in English), you'll want to finish your meal with a nice glass, or ten, of apple wine, which is really like hard apple cider, and is a specialty of Hessen in general, but particularly of Frankfurt. The standard German word for this drink is "Apfelwein," but there are variations in Hessian dialect, including ""Ebbelwoi,"  "Äppelwei," or "Stöffche," and you can get it by the glass ("Rippenglas;" that is "ribbed glass," which has ridges for a good grip) or the "Bembel" (a stoneware jug), and after a few of either, you won't much care what name the Hessians call it ... ah ... at least that's what I've heard.  

* Alsace and Lorraine are parts of eastern France. 

 

WORD HISTORY:
Apple-This noun goes back to Indo European "abol," "abel," the exact meaning of which is unclear, but which had to do with "produce of trees and vines," and there are forms in other, non Germanic, languages too. Its Old Germanic offspring was "aplaz," which meant "fruit, nuts." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "aeppel," which meant "fruit," and later this became "appel," before the modern version. It wasn't until the 1500s and 1600s that the meaning narrowed to the specific type of fruit we now call an "apple." Translations of the Bible over time generally used "forbidden fruit" in the Garden of Eden, but some translations called this fruit "apple," from the general meaning of the word back then. Common in the other Germanic languages: standard German "Apfel," all sorts of German dialect forms like "Ebbel," "Appel," "Apel," "Äppel," "Äbbel," "Epfel," "Ebbfe," "Opfe," Low German Saxon and Dutch "Appel,"  West Frisian "apel," Danish "aeble," Icelandic "epli," Norwegian "eple," and Swedish "äpple." 

Thank You!

I want to thank everyone who checked out any or all of the "German Question" articles. As I noted before, I really intended to do, like maybe, a series of six articles about the subject, but once I got going, there was no stopping me, and, like other peoples, the Germans are the sum of their collective history, so I did a basic overview of that history. The series drew thousands of visits to this site from around the world, and I hope some people took away a little knowledge, not only about German history, but about how their own culture and history relates to some of the events in German history. I really enjoyed doing this series.

WORD HISTORY:
Warp-This verb traces back to Indo European "wer," which had the notion of "bend, twist." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "werpanan," which meant "to throw or hurl," apparently because we "bend and twist" our arm when throwing. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "weorpan," with the same basic meaning of "throw, fling, hurl." Now comes a problem. By the 1300s, the meaning "distort, twist out of shape," began to take over. The question is, why? What I mean is, how did English speakers in the 1300s know the word's meaning derived from "twist, bend, turn," if they used it to mean "throw?" So presumably the word must have also retained the "twist, bend" meaning as a secondary meaning all along, with "throw" being the primary meaning up until then. The word then became "werpen," before acquiring the modern spelling. There is also a nautical meaning of "towing a ship with a line;" the notion being of the rope being "thrown" from one point to another. There is an archaic noun form "warp," with the meaning "threads arranged lengthwise in woven fabric." This seems to come from the idea of "throwing the threads" in a particular pattern. It comes from Old Germanic "warp," and was "wearp" in Old English. English "warp" has relatives in the other Germanic languages: German "werfen," which means "to throw, to launch" also used in modern times for a rocket launcher (noun), "Werfer;" Dutch has "werpen"=to throw; Swedish has värpa, with the meaning, "to lay eggs," and the notion of "discharging" is still present. "Apparently" forms of the word have died out in the other Germanic languages, but if anyone knows otherwise, I hope you will post a comment with your knowledge.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-Six

"Hitler & The German Question" Part Two

Hitler's increasingly violent racism certainly excluded German Jews as being "Germans," first with legal measures and later by mass murder.

As in Poland, Germans were forcibly expelled from Czechoslovakia immediately after the end of the war, and those expulsions continued for more than a year, but some Germans remained, in some cases being "retained;" that is, not permitted to leave by the Czech government, because of special work skills. The numbers were relatively small compared to the prewar German population. There were deaths among the German population during the expulsions, and the number of casualties is very much in dispute, but 15,000 to 20,000 is a likely minimum.

The Soviet military began arresting Germans in Hungary, even before the war was over. Thousands were sent to the Soviet Union, never to return. After the war, the communist government of Hungary expelled tens of thousands of Germans to occupied Germany and Austria, but even then some Germans remained as part of the national Hungarian population. In the case of Rumania too, thousands of Germans had fled the advancing Red Army, but at least a quarter of a million Germans remained, although as communism "waned" (there's that word, see previous "Word History") in the late 1980s, many left for Germany. Similar happened in the Soviet Union, although untold thousands of ethnic Germans died in Soviet prisons or labor camps, or when they were forcibly moved from their home areas to Siberia or to other remote regions.

As the war wound down in Yugoslavia, many Germans fled, but many were killed by communist resistance or military units, or sent to Soviet labor camps. Quite a number of the Germans from northern Yugoslavia eventually emigrated to the United States in the 1950s, with many coming to Cleveland, where their presence, more so now their descendants, is still evident.

Austria was reestablished as an independent nation, although a pro-German unification party remained on election ballots, with an ever decreasing share of the vote as the years ticked by. I must admit, I regret the separation of Austria from Germany, and I often wonder if things would have been different, if Austria had become part of Germany after World War One, as was likely before the Versailles Treaty forbade it. Would the Germans still have gone berserk under Hitler or some other right wing leader? Maybe, as let's not forget where the chief nutcase came from... Austria!

It is my "intention" to finish this series in three more articles: the next one about the western boundaries, one about the positive German contributions to the world (especially after all of this nasty period of Hitler and the Nazis), and one with a basic bibliography. I'm not guaranteeing it will be just three articles, but let's see if I can do it.

WORD HISTORY:
Wax-This is the now archaic verb, not the substance made by bees or used for candles, and it is most commonly used in modern times in the expression "wax and wane" (see previous article for "wane"), and it is related to English "eke," as in "eke out a living." It goes back to Indo European "wegs, weks," and the related Indo European "aug," which had the meaning "to increase." This gave Old Germanic "wahksijan," with the general sense of "to increase, to grow." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "weaxan," with the same "increase, grow" meaning. This later became "waxen," before the modern version. Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "wachsen," Low German Saxon and Dutch have "wassen," West Frisian has "waakse," Danish and Norwegian have "vokse," Swedish has "växa," and Icelandic has "vaxa;" all with the same general meaning of "to grow."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-Five

"Hitler & The German Question" Part One

Hitler was trying to answer the "German Question;" that is, "who is a German?" Interestingly, he "may" have answered it for all time, although not in the way he wanted it answered. Certainly part of the reason why the answer turned out differently than Hitler would have liked, was that his racist ideology went far beyond the bounds about Germans living within a unified nation. His claims for Austria, the Sudetenland, Memel and Danzig met with general acceptance by much of the world, including the European powers; however, by taking in non Germans, such as the Czechs in 1939, and by waging war in Poland and, later Soviet Russia,* with the resultant subjugation of millions of non Germans, much of the rest of the world gradually decided to resist Hitler. At first millions of Soviet subjects welcomed German troops as liberators from Stalinist oppression, but it wasn't long before many of these same people saw themselves becoming part of an enslavement and extermination policy by Hitler, who then planned to resettle Germans in their homelands. Faced with such polices, even Stalin looked good, and most chose to resist Hitler.**

So, we've come a long way in this series of articles on the Germans. We've seen how some ancient Germanic tribes began to slowly develop a common identity as "Germans," but never quite enough to bring about a truly unified nation, as politics and regional interests interfered. The old German Empire, "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation," was usually too fragmented and loose to be considered a true national state, in spite of its name.*** Then there were the Dutch, for example, who were called by the all inclusive name "Germans" for awhile, only to establish a separate national identity. Then there were the extensive German areas of Switzerland, where to this day people identify as being part of the "German linguistic and cultural community," but don't see themselves as "national Germans." So how did Hitler help to answer the "German Question?"

While Hitler started out trying to unite many German areas in Europe under one national government, the fact is, many of these Germans ended up in far worse condition than before the war, at least in the short term. The end of the terrible Second World War saw millions of Germans living in eastern Europe fleeing the advancing Red Army as it approached their regions. Some Germans who, in recent years, had been resettled from places like Latvia, western Poland or northern Italy barely had time to get accustomed to their new homes before they had to flee for their very lives. Other Germans, whose families had lived in places like East Prussia for centuries, also migrated westwards, away from the Soviets. No one really knows for sure how many Germans were caught up in this massive movement of people in eastern Europe, but by all accounts, it was a very large number, undoubtedly exceeding 10 million, and perhaps closer to 15 million!

The long time German province of East Prussia was divided between the Soviet Union and Poland, then fast becoming a communist-dominated country. There was no need for a new "Polish Corridor," as that entire area, including Danzig, and then even into (German) Pomerania, became a part of Poland. Silesia went to Poland too, as the Polish state literally moved westwards to accommodate the Soviet Union's annexation of eastern Poland. Germans who had remained behind during the war, were physically expelled from Poland in the first few years after the war ended, and they were the lucky ones, as many died in communist prisons or labor camps, adding an ironic twist to their fate.

* Remember, Germany and the Soviet Union had been allies. The Soviets invaded and occupied eastern Poland. The Soviets attacked Finland, eventually taking some territory from that little nation. The Soviets took over Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and large parts of Rumania. The British, and later the Americans, however, had no problem in siding with the Soviets against Hitler. Stalin may have been another murderous loony, but at that moment, Hitler was the greater threat. I'm not sure Hitler ever completely understood that hatred of him is what held together the almost "unnatural alliance" against him, and his talk about that alliance coming apart, while certainly based upon real disagreements and distrust among the Allied powers, never really came close to taking place; that is, until AFTER Hitler's defeat.

** One of the "what ifs" of the Second World War has been, would Hitler have defeated Stalin "if" he had used the discontented elements of the Soviet population against Stalin, instead of treating large segments of the population so ruthlessly?

*** The word "nation" does not always mean "a single, unified political state with clearly defined borders," but also the much broader "people of the same or similar ethnic, and often linguistic, background;" thus we speak in English of the "Iroquois nation," or of the "Sioux nation."

WORD HISTORY:
Wane-Like its relative "want" (see previous "Word History"), this word goes back to Indo European "wen(o)" or "weun," with the general notion of "to leave, to abandon," and by extension, "be lacking, be empty." This gave Old Germanic "wanojan(an)," also with the notion of "be lacking," but more so in the sense "to become lacking, to become smaller, to become less, to shrink." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wanian," with that same meaning. This later became "wanen," before the modern spelling. More common in modern expressions like "in the waning days of....," or "wax and wane" (for "wax," see next article). Its other close Germanic relatives have all died out; I guess you could say, "usage by these relatives 'waned' until... those forms became totally lacking." Old High German had "wanon," which meant "to grow less, decrease." "Wane" is likely related to "wan," "lacking color, pale," originally meaning "dark, gray;" that is, "without specific color." When I was a kid, it was not uncommon to hear "wan" used for the complexion of someone who was sick.