Immer wieder Berlin
Something like a picture book for academics… 400 pages of b&w and full-colour images of Berliners and their city in the Roaring Twenties.
I had to buy this book when I visited “The Capital of the 20th Century” last week. The hyperbole is justified - if only for the duration of a single decade. Between 1918 and 1933, Berlin, just a boorish upstart in the latter third of the 19th century, became a fountain of artistic and political imagination, attracting dreamers and doers from around the world.
One example which comes to mind is the reception of Josephine Baker. While other cities received her as an attractive entertainer or a threat to moral society, many famous Berliners saw completely new possibilities in her stage persona. Theatre director Max Reinhardt, collaborator of Brecht and Zuckmayer, wanted to engage her as an actress. Even at an old age, la Baker recalled her stay in Berlin as one of the best times in her life.
“Ich kam nach Berlin, da war ich sehr jung. Ich wollte alles vom Leben. Dann habe ich Berlin ziemlich schnell wieder verlassen und bin nach Paris.
Kaum war ich in Paris, hatte ich schon wieder Heimweh nach Berlin. Und war ich wieder in Berlin, wollte ich wieder nach Paris. Ich war hin- und hergerissen zwischen zwei Lieben.”
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin…
July 5th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Heh, Berlin still seems to have that kind of magnetism. I had an acquaintance who, when I mentioned that I’d move here permanently after coming back from my two-month internship, almost said something like “Oh no, not again!” Because *everyone* she knew who had visited Berlin for a short time had moved there afterwards.
July 5th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Määkin haluun!!!!!!!!!