Wednesday, April 21, 2010

From Otto to Siegfried - Würzburg, Germany

It appears that Otto was practicing his English on this card to Siegfried, who was spending his Summer vacation of 1905 at a spa resort. Bad Elgersburg is a scenic area known for its curative baths. The artist Edvard Munch came to Bad Elgersburg later the same year to recover from various ailments.

The message reads:
Dear Siegfried!
Thanks for your postal. I have sent the letter, if you have not got it, it was stolen from the person who opened it! Who was that? If this person publishes it in an amerikan tiding or journal he may get much money for this  art "Kunstwerk." I shall tell you more, when we meet again. Herzl. Gruss your friend Otto   Beg for answer! rapidly!

The front of the postcard shows the Käppele, a small Baroque/Rococo chapel by Balthasar Neumann in Würzburg, Germany. You can still visit it today. The City of Würzburg is still very beautiful despite the fact that it was bombed more completely than even Dresden at the end of World War II. On March 16, 1945 an estimated 90% of the city was destroyed by British bombers. Thousands of residents died and the medieval town center was destroyed. The fact that Würzburg still looks so beautiful today is due in large part to the painstaking efforts of survivors who sifted through the rubble and reconstructed buildings over the following twenty years.

5 comments:

  1. Hallo CHristine, ich hab mich schon lange nicht mehr gemeldet, ich hatte soviel zu tun.
    Da hast du ja wieder was nettes ausgegraben.
    Michg würde ja brennend interesieren von welchem Kunstwerk Otto da redet.
    Ich wünsch dir einen schönen Tag
    Janine

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  2. What a beautiful area of Germany. How sad about the destruction in World War 2 but inspiring that survivors reconstructed this idyllic site.

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  3. I'm pretty sure the terraced stair/garden leading from the town below to the church has small chapels with the stations of the cross, which was a convenient way to get in both your prayers AND your exercise on the way to mass!

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  4. Janine, Ich glaub' er redet nur von seinem Brief...also Kunstwerk.

    Anonymouse, gee, you sound as if you may have some inside knowledge of the place.

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  5. Funny you should mention da mouse, I think she has taken up residence in one of those chapels, good weather watching from there.

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