Frankfurt der Oder
Hello all! Back in January I returned from a European vacation and thought I would fill you in on some of the sights I saw. I am not going to bore you with tales of Berlin’s nightlife, the fascinating mix of rebuilt old and Soviet blech in Warsaw, or even comparisons between sauna cultures in Berlin and Helsinki. That is old hat (and hair) and the sophisticated Glib community is not interested in the same-old same-old travel commentary. If you were, you would read Rick Steves and line up to see the same old cathedrals with Paul and Paula from Des Moines.
In part one, we will travel to beautiful Seelow with a side trip to the other Frankfurt—the Frankfurt der Oder. Since the people I was visiting had school, work, and sleeping one off on their schedules, I couldn’t interest them in a visit to “rural” Germany. No problem. I just used Germany’s public transit system. I walked to a Deutche Bahn (DB) station and purchased a day regional ticket for €18. This enabled me to travel from Berlin to the Polish border to Seelow and return by my choice of RB (Regional Bahn) and VB (Local Bahn).
German rail (DB) has everything from the high-speed ICE with all the amenities, intercity not-high-speed, DB trains with amenities, RB (like US commuter lines), and VB, which are 2- to 3-car standard gauge smaller than standard rail cars but bigger than streetcars going from small cities to smaller towns. In and around cities, you have S-Bahn (city-based commuter lines), U-Bahn (subways), and Strassen Bahn (street cars) plus bus routes. Berlin has plenty of everything but the VB. German trains, like most things German, are clean, efficient, and numerous.
As I sped east from the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main train station) on an RB, I was struck by the lingering differences between western and eastern Berlin. As I travelled east, I would see the same ~20 story rectangular apartment/commercial building in eastern Berlin and other small cities we passed. The only difference was in the decorative trim along one side. The choices were an ugly pink, ugly green, or ugly blue—but the blueprints were identical. Soon we passed through the suburbs and entered what passes for rural land in Germany. It was open and rolling with occasional wooded areas. My prior profession kicked in and it was clear there was no defensible terrain. Sure, there were plenty of places where you could break things or kill people, but there was no place to make a line to stop a determined attack. Since it was still early, there were small groups of German shepherd-sized deer in some fields, and farm vehicles about the roads as the farmers prepped fields for spring planting. From a Euro perspective, it was very rural; from an American perspective it was exurb at best.
After an hour, we arrived in Frankfurt Der Oder. I didn’t have time to explore since I needed to transfer to my VB to Seelow. The VB felt like an oversized streetcar as we travelled 27 km to Seelow. While on the way, I noticed another stop for Werbig, a dorf (village) about 4 km farther away, so I stayed on board until I arrived there. I got off the train in the floodplains of the Oder River and could see the town of Seelow in the middle distance on the top of a long bluff. As I strolled through the lowlands, I could see that it was cut by many small canals/drainages and had a distinctly wet-soil smell and feel. Some areas were pasturage and others were clearly farmed. I took a small road with almost no traffic along the base of and then up a steep bluff around 100 feet tall with bits of forest near the edge. After about 5 km of walking, I entered the south side of Seelow.
Along my walk, the events of April 1945 are still clearly in evidence. Less than 1 km later, I passed a cemetery with 13 anti-war monuments scattered about. The DDR started the practice and several are more recent. None were artistic enough to waste electrons on.
Seelow is a pleasant small town founded in the 16th century (2020 pop ~5200) and is the kreis (county seat) for this rural area. I grabbed a pretzel roll with a wurst and a dunkel weissen (yes, a German bier for breakfast—when in Rome, etc.). I enjoyed my snack and watched small-town German life around me. In front of me, the main road through town was arrow straight from the west and headed straight east toward the Oder River about 20 km distant. It was a very nice day for a northern German winter with enough sun through the clouds that I would throw an occasional light shadow. Now some of you may wonder what brought me to this insignificant town; others already know. For the road through town was the old Reichstrasse 1 which ran from Berlin to Konigsburg, Germany (today Kaliningrad, Russia), and this was the point of attack for the Soviet offensive on Berlin. In April 1945, Seelow had all the attention from Stalin, Zhukov, Hitler, and the Wehrmacht that the farmers could handle.
I continued my stroll along RS 1 to the very edge of the bluff and there I found the primary object of my day: a small bunker-looking structure, a “petting zoo” of parked USSR military equipment, a large statue on a towering plinth, and a section of woods. From the bluff, the old RS 1 continued in a plumb line straight to a small city about 20 km away. That was the then “Festung Kustrin” and the Oder River. Looking over the peaceful landscape I tried to envision it in April 1945. Throughout the lowlands, I could see where tens of thousands of soldiers, thousands of vehicles, and countless miles of trenches, fighting positions, obstacles, and wire had been. And what I could see in my mind’s eye from this point of high ground extended at least 100 km to the south and another 100 km to the north encompassing well over a million men poised for battle—a battle to be centered where I stood. Why? Because Stalin decreed it, and Zhukov was bound and determined to be the first to Berlin. I turned my back to the view and went to the petting zoo and museum.
The petting zoo wasn’t that impressive, with a T-34, a Katyusha, two towed pieces of artillery, a towed heavy mortar, and a searchlight. By this period in the war, the Germans knew how to deal with and destroy all of this equipment, but the Katyushas were reviled and nicknamed “Stalin’s Organs” by the Wehrmacht soldiers. The photo shows why. It was an area-indirect fire weapon that rapidly launched a salvo of 36-48 (model dependent) 83-mm unguided rockets up to 8.5 km and had a short reload period. Since the USSR considered (and Russia considers) artillery to be the god of the battlefield, they amassed many (thousands) of these systems and fired them at a rapid rate. In Iraq, we would consider the enemy to be quite froggie if they fired 6-8 rockets at a time and they rarely volley fired since we would kill them with counterfires. The Soviets would routinely fire hundreds to thousands of rockets in a single fire mission. Since being under indirect fire can quickly produce a helpless feeling, I think I would have rapidly grown to hate the Katyusha as well.
The Katyusha. The USSR employed tens of thousands of these for close-in fire support. The rockets were not accurate, but if you saturate a 1-km-sized box with thousands of rockets in less than a minute, you can get your point across. The most popular truck chassis used were made in the US by Studebaker.
The museum itself is only one display room about the size of a basketball court with a smaller attached theater. The USSR let the DDR develop the museum in the 1970s. The original DDR displays largely praised the USSR and explained how it was those western Germans who led the gullible, yet peace-loving, eastern Germans into a hopeless war against the proud socialists of the world. Since unification, the displays have become much more neutral, but there is a book with photos of the old displays available. Most of the exhibits are WWII armaments and are interesting with recovered Panzerfausts, small arms, grenades, uniforms, and load-bearing equipment used by both sides. An interesting aside was that the Soviets pulled out their broken heavy equipment shortly after the battle. They left the broken German equipment largely where it was and only allowed the DDR government to move it away in the late 1970s. So, good socialist German farmers had to plow around broken tanks, artillery, and trucks for 30+ years as a good Marxist FU. If you geek out on WWII era weapons, you will enjoy the museum; if you don’t, you will probably wish you spent your €4 on bier.
Next week: Inside the Museum
Thanks for sharing, dbleagle!
Nitpick: It’s Frankfurt an der Oder.
*dives in*
You’ve lit the rhywun signal!
Fun lunch read, thanks.
Nah, I’ll shut now.
Yes, fun article. Thanks, dbl.
up, even
Thanks dbleagle!
the sophisticated Glib community
Who dat? [OK with that out of the way, I’ll read the rest]
Not it. I’m a simple man with expensive tastes.
Simple pleasures.
Grunts in a simian fashion.
The irony of ultima ratio regum in modern form.
And you are the perfect tour guide here!
I think of soldiers now that were born after German reunification and how we’re speaking of things beyond their experience. It’s all just from a book to them.
Somewhat similar to the WW1 vs WW2 divide.
I talked and interacted with WW2 vets. OTH, my WW1 knowledge is all from the history books.
if you don’t, you will probably wish you spent your €4 on bier.
Both for me, please. When I was a kid, my great uncle – a Scottish born Canadian who flew for the RAF in WWII – had all kinds of war memorabilia. Young me geeked out completely.
Looking forward to the museum tour!
I had and uncle who fought in France in WWII. When I was in high school, for a project I interviewed him about the Depression. It was fantastic. I really wish I had done the same concerning the war, but he passed away before I became really interested. He had brought back a Luger and a Nazi bayonet. I don’t know what happened to those. But I do have a few bullets from that Luger, which I treasure by my wife finds very creepy. I keep telling her, those rounds were never fired because my uncle was there to do his job.
Yeah, my uncle had several rifles and pistols. Some even had swastikas on them. I have no idea how he got those back or where they ended up.
He gave me a WWI style helmet that I kept for many years – not sure what happened to that either, but it was really cool.
When I took my KY concealed carry test, I didnt own a pistol. I borrowed one from my friend’s Dad. His Dad or Uncle had taken it off a dead German officer. It was a Sig Sauer(just a Sauer?) with swastikas engraved in it.
One of the guys in the class had swastika tattoos on his hands. It was an interesting mix of people.
Hard core. I remember the first time a saw a swastika tat in the wild. WalMart (of course). A tough looking dude helping his adorable little girl (dressed like a princess) pick out school supplies. He had his sleeves rolled up and there was a really faded wolf/swastika tat on his forearm. Looked like prison work. The incongruity of the scene still cracks me up.
This dude had them between his thumb and index finger. Also a tough looking dude.
A former coworker had one. It was a prison tattoo done by a friend of his that later committed suicide.
The former coworker had other related tattoos that he was going to cover up. Since the swastika one was from a friend, he didn’t want that one covered up.
The former coworker told me once that before he went into prison he hated blacks, Jews, and Mexicans. After he got out of prison, he became an equal opportunity bigot and hated everyone equally.
You are all equally worthless.
My sister had the same project. We found the tape and transferred it to a digital medium. My twins got to hear their great parents (whom they never met) experiences during the depression. The whole thing was kind of cool.
This line always stuck with me. “We were promised a chicken in every pot. We had the chicken but no pot.”
On the receiving end of a Katushya strike in Hell Let Loose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j45a7Ny-zhg
I just recently learned about Studebakers being lend/ leased out to the USSR.
Wiki notes – “Most of these were exported to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease by the USA during World War II, since the competing GMC 6×6 CCKW design proved to be more suitable for Western Front conditions.”
Any idea why? It does note the Studebaker will run on really low octane fuel.
Super low compression and a dead simple engine, probably. I’m not sure how well the Soviets were able to maintain their equipment, but judging from everything else – not so well.
That’s my speculation too.
This doesn’t compare the two, but interesting: https://www.rbth.com/history/333156-how-us-studebaker-became-soviet
I was in Switzerland in 1991. The older Swiss were not at all happy about German reunification. All the towns near the German border still had the WW2-era tank traps between buildings still in place. I asked, they were, supposedly, “Memorials.” Yeah, right. Memorials to a war they didnt fight in. Sure.
What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?
What makes a man?
Is it the woman in his arms?
Just ’cause she has big titties?
Or is it the way,
He fights every day?
No, it’s probably the titties.
We were neutral prior to 1917, and again up through almost all of 1941.
Its a Zapp Brannigan quote from Futurama.
Those ” things are useful for that. Since I don’t know the show by heart.
Thats as bad as putting /s at the end of sarcasm.
It sickens me.
” Since I don’t know the show by heart.”
kif sigh.
Editor: When you’re writing up the interview, I need you to make Buttigieg look edgy and cool.
Reporter: Boss, are you kidding?
Editor: No, I’m not fucking kidding! I already spent the money his campaign gave us! DO IT, OR YOU’RE FIRED!
Reporter: Fine, fine, I’ll do my best.
WTF
Wired went completely south during the Obama years, but this is new low for them.
Mensa Black Card holder? He can borrow against someone else’s intellect with no limit?
And the annual fee is paid for with OPM.
I wouldn’t read that with Bea Arthur’s eyes.
Would you read it in her voice?
* Adds to OnlyFans idea list
We don’t kink-shame, right? I need a little reinforcement here.
Wrong.
It’s definitely time for kink shaming.
It’s not Sam’s fault – the luggage kept identifying itself as his!
I’m not sure where exactly the line is, but there is definitely a difference between kinky and batshit crazy.
It’s kinky when I do it and crazy when you do it.
“Buttigieg reflects on how neoliberalism’s promises have been shattered by the reality of climate issues, racial disparities, and the persistence of far-right ideology. 2/9”
Iowahawk with a killing blow. More the final tweet in that thread than the opening one.
I liked this one: It’s like every person in media was a campaign volunteer for Tracy Flick in high school
Scrolling down, a ray of sunshine:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/ex-biden-nuclear-official-sam-brinton-arrested-as-fugitive-from-justice
Ex-Biden Nuclear Official Sam Brinton Arrested As ‘Fugitive From Justice’ For Luggage Theft
Short on details, though.
Reads like he missed a court date or some court appointed meeting.
Recall the twitter explosion after he was wearing one off pieces from someone else who had her luggage go missing.
Yeah, he blew off a court date. Page loaded funny for me and wouldn’t scroll.
Held without bond, but just overnight for a hearing today. Let’s hope this triggers his 180 day prison sentence, which was deferred pending good behavior.
At least they’re getting slagged in the comments.
I’ve long wanted to visit the Seelow Heights.
yes, a German bier for breakfast
I’ve done that before.
Hell, I did that today. If you consider Milwaukee’s Beast Diet “bier”.
Im sure InBev/Miller/Coors/SAB still holds the Reinheitsgebot sacrosanct.
I discovered earlier this week that I may find myself in Hamburg in the near future. So the timing here is fortuitous.
MikeS is currently terrorizing Germany as well.
Hannover is not that far away and hosts a Schützenfest.
“I discovered earlier this week that I may find myself in Hamburg in the near future. ”
Did you decide to “accidently” hit a rancher’s buffalo with the wagoneer’s new cow catcher?
Have you been following me?
I am sure there is a lot of stuff in Germany that I would enjoy visiting, but the only thing on my bucket list is the Altstadt in Dusseldorf.
This place used to be open for breakfast. It’s a shame it is no longer open for breakfast as their Brewer’s Breakfast was excellent.
I had lunch hier. It was good.
Uerige is the primary target. And then sample as many other Alts along the stadt as possible.
I avoided Uerige because at the time I could get their alt in the US.
Approximately 100% of my swing top bottles I used in homebrewing came from Uerige.
Munich was amazingly beautiful. Dachau was definitely worth the visit.
Neuschwanstein castle is fairly close by there, too, just a couple of hours drive IIRC.
Yes. We didn’t have time to see it and I still regret not extending the trip a couple more days.
I left something off, there is another German item:
Zoigling in the Upper Palatinate.
My impression of Düsseldorf is that the Altstadt was completely destroyed and they rebuilt it all modern. I.e. it’s not a tourist destination. I’m sure you have your reasons to visit.
Its one of a small handful of beer related visits I would like to make. The Altstadt, Zoigl breweries, a few Belgian breweries, and pop into some London pubs.
For London, it would be a side thing to do while there. The others, beer would be the main attraction, and I might hit some side stuff.
Oh, “Altstadt” is a brewery? It is also one word for “downtown”.
Old Town.
The area is filled with breweries who make “Alt” beer.
It is a style from the Altstadt in Dusseldorf, although a few alt breweries are from outside the Altstadt.
Google says there are six Alt breweries: Schumacher Alt, Uerige, Brauerei Kürzer, Füchschen Alt, Schlüssel Alt, Gulasch Alt
https://travelobserved.com/german-altbier-breweries-in-dusseldorf/
And just to be clear the “alt” for the beer style and the “alt” for the area both mean old, but are unrelated. But there are 5 alt breweries in altstadt.
The original DDR displays largely praised the USSR and explained how it was those western Germans who led the gullible, yet peace-loving, eastern Germans into a hopeless war against the proud socialists of the world.
Natürlich.
Thanks dbleagle!
I went to East Germany. Gullible and peace loving are the first words that come to mind.
That does make me wonder, what actually did happen to the German communists of the Weimar. They weren’t all killed, which has to mean plenty of them ended up going along with the Nazis. Of course the winning communists of the east wouldn’t welcome back those that had survived the war.
I don’t know where they went, but I saw this poster in a museum in Dresden, which indicates they were around somewhere. https://photos.app.goo.gl/EDyzAW1Z1YuWLF3s5
Note the logos at the bottom of the poster.
Yep, antifa dates to the thirties at least.
The Red Army Faction was another incarnation of the brand.
Yet another thing we can thank the Germans for.
Yeah, Germany has been full of great ideas over the years.
Logo is creeping me out.
Wouldn’t a lot of them have escaped to Moscow?
Semi-related, “Babylon Berlin” (Netflix) is pretty good series based in Weimar Germany.
The Bee is fearless.
Female Scientists Still Unable To Make Sense Of Strange Lever That Makes Car Lights Blink
Brutal.
Working link.
Danke
Thanks, Dbleagle. Been a long time since I was in Germany, close enough to rural France that an hour’s drive would find us drinking cheap wine rather than beer.
During WW2 my brothers and I played army. As the youngest I was always a Hiney, Kraut or Nip. My oldest brother was always Mike, the pilot. Of course, I always lost.
We all grew up and retired from the army.
This is getting silly.
A fucking hoodie? Really?
Lump likes the roomy space in there.
Meh. If I were a senator, I would wear my “Bitches Love Independence” shirt. I am not annoyed.
https://legendusashirt.com/product/i-gave-them-bitches-1776-independence-bitches-love-independence-shirt/
I’d give Congress all the respect they deserve. I’d be showing up in jeans and a t-shirt, maybe a bowling shirt for special occasions.
This
I like the comment that it should have the names of his donors. Similar to NASCAR. I wonder how many of the Senators would be Pfizer Senators.
Hey- my hillbilly-ness kicked in long enough to recognize a new, clean, Carhartt, as possible biz-casual. If not outright formal wear.
Good Lord, it was like a 5th grader reading a civics presentation.
And I dont know about DC, but it was chilly here this morning- lump needed to be kept warm.
A Dem friend admits Fetterman is a fucking embarrassment but that is harmless whereas Oz would have given GOP dangerous power.
Does your friend wear a helmet?
More MIC fuckery.
$22B High-Tech Army Goggles Leave Soldiers Queasy, Off-Target — Lawmakers Skeptical
Barfing soldiers who can’t hit what they aim at sounds bad.
Tres V 2.0 has this game called “Thumper”. To me its like Guitar Hero on a roller coaster meets Tempest.
I can only imagine playing that with VR goggles.
The officers all talk up how great it is and the soldiers bitch relentlessly.
This is a classic bit of DOD acquisition – idiots chasing shiny things for General Officers.
And General officers sucking up to DoD contractors in hopes of landing that retirement gig at their Mega Corp.
We can’t be allowed to have a VR gap.
Feinstein Suffered More Complications From Illness Than Were Publicly Disclosed
Senator Dianne Feinstein, 89, whose recent bout with shingles included contracting encephalitis, is frailer than ever. But she remains unwilling to entertain discussions about leaving the Senate.
Paywall – https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/18/us/politics/feinstein-illness-shingles-senate.html
“The grim tableau of her re-emergence on Capitol Hill laid bare a bleak reality known to virtually everyone who has come into contact with her in recent days: She was far from ready to return to work when she did, and she is now struggling to function in a job that demands long days, near-constant engagement on an array of crucial policy issues and high-stakes decision-making.”
The NYT is done running cover for her. I hadn’t realized that the state has little say in replacing a senator that’s alive. She could be in coma and brain dead and it appears only a 2/3rds Senate vote will get rid of her.
She’ll grasp onto power with her boney hands until she’s dragged kicking and screaming into hell by the grim reaper just like McCain.
She will be lying in state, one way or another.
Fetterman’s wife is likely ready to jump in.
She’s busy fighting fires.
Since I called her having had a massive stroke in the AM lynx, Ill accept a severe case of encephalitis also.
Unwilling or unable? Or a distinction without a difference?