Classic Cars: Tatra T87 Nazi Killer

The distinctive fin and aerodynamic body of the T87.

Today, Czech design is renowned for its retro cool. Cubism, Bauhaus and Art Deco have all left indelible marks on the country from its architecture to its interior design. These artistic movements did not simply die out in the early 20th century, but have left a lasting impression on Czech culture. Similarly, a little-known car brand named Tatra, developed a luxury car that was far ahead of its time in Czechoslovakia in 1938: the Tatra T87.

So what's special about the T87? Well, today it is a collectors item for car enthusiasts the world over. Owners include British architect Norman Foster and veteran US comedian Jay Leno. The latter has an extensive collection of classic cars. He recently presented his dark green T87 in a 30 minute video on his YouTube channel Jay Leno's Garage.

Jay Leno presenting his T87.

For those interested in either cars, history, design, engineering or even US automobile culture it is well worth watching. Leno, somewhat of a relic himself, provides an entertaining yet highly informative and detailed look at the T87 and its history.

After the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia in WWII, top SS officers requisitioned the luxury car for their own personal use. However, it was unusually fast for the time with a top speed of 100mph. Moreover, the car needed some practice to drive well as the rear-mounted engine made the car back heavy. Several high ranking officers came to their demise as they spun out of control when leaving the autobahn. The car became a hero and legend has it that it killed more Germans than the whole Czechoslovak army.

During Leno's presentation we learn that the chief engineer behind the car was Hans Ledwinka (erroneously referred to as 'Winkler' by Leno). This brilliant engineer, we are told, provided many of the ideas that were taken up by a certain Ferdinand Porsche. Tatra went on to win damages from Volkswagen after the war for stealing design secrets. However, Ledwinka himself died virtually penniless in 1967.

The most distinctive feature of the car is it's aerodynamic shape and the large wind fin on the back. Aerodynamics was taking off as a new science at the time and pioneering aerodynamicist Paul Jaray who helped develop the Zeppelin airship worked directly on the T87. Remarkably, as we see in Leno's video, the underside of the car is completely streamlined too, with barely a nook or a cranny for any extra air friction to cause drag. This car flies like the wind. 

Watch the video above to learn more and see the car in action.

WWII memoir with a twist

US troops march through a wood as they move to liberate Germany in 1945.

The Past is Myself by Christabel Bielenberg is a fascinating account of life in Germany from about 1930 to 1945. 'Oh no, not another turgid Nazi-era memoir!' you're thinking. The 'twist' here is that the author is English.

Christabel is married to a German from Hamburg called Peter. Both husband and wife watch the rise of the Nazis with utter surprise, horror and dismay.

What shines throughout the whole story is Christabel's incredibly strong character and humour. She endures long periods of the war separated from her husband and is more or less left to raise three young sons by herself.

As allied bombing draws closer and closer to their little house in Berlin, the family is eventually forced to evacuate to a little village in the Black Forest. Here, they experience the incredible warmth and hospitality of the locals who more or less ignore all Nazi rules and decrees as far as possible. The experience of liberation by French troops turns out to be a rather terrifying experience as much raping and pillaging ensues.

What stands out in the book are the many German friends that Christabel has who totally despise the Nazis yet are unable to openly express their opposition for fear of being dragged away to Gestapo HQ.

Christabel and her husband are in fact friends with many of the July 1944 plotters who attempted and failed to blow Hitler up with a bomb hidden in a suitcase. Although, this was a popular selling point for the book when it was first published in 1968, it is most valuable for its detailed and insightful observations of everyday life under the Nazis.

The author does employ a rather old-fashioned style which is sometimes a little heavy to get through, but persevere and you will be rewarded. Highly recommended for anyone interested in history as well as fans of memoir and women's history and literature.

The Road Ahead is the follow-up novel by Christabel which recounts her family's emigration to Ireland after the war. There are interesting reflections on Irish life and society at the time, but the book lacks the bite and drama of her first one.

Paint It Black

Dark Romanticism - From Goya to Max Ernst

The Städel Museum, Frankfurt Main:  until 20 January 2013
Musée d’Orsay, Paris:  04 March until 09 June 2013

The exhibition 'Dark Romanticism' is a treasure trove of ghoulish art which is sure to leave even the most well-heeled gallery goer slightly unhinged.

If you are familiar with Gothic literature, such as Mary Shelley's ‘Frankenstein’ or the tales of Edgar Allen Poe, then you will be in a good position to appreciate the major themes of the exhibition: the supernatural, death and horror.

As scientific and social progress faltered with the descent of the French Revolution into unadulterated violence, artists began exploring irrational elements of human nature. Therefore the major part of the exhibition is rooted in 19th century European art.

It begins with Johann Heinrich Fuseli’s painting ‘The Nightmare’ (1802). A woman is hounded by a demon and a vacant-eyed horse in her sleep. This evolves into Franz Stuck’s ‘The Sin’ (1893). A dark-haired nude stares from the picture, as an evil green viper hisses at us from her shoulder.

Spanish artist Goya features strongly. Despite sketches of dismemberment and rape, there remains a dreamlike quality in all his work which renders it immediately accessible and intriguing. Another highlight is the set of little black pen-and-ink wash pieces by none other than French writer Victor Hugo. His impressionistic doodles are a delight to behold and it is amazing that he considered his artwork to be a mere hobby.

Clips from early black and white horror films embellish the overall gothic mood. Nosferatu, Frankenstein and Dracula are all there along with some more esoteric footage. Not to be missed.

Arguably the curators have tried too hard to extrapolate dark romanticism into the later 20th century. Instead of showing Dali and Hitchcock, a room exploring the massive influence of gothic literature would have added an important dimension to the otherwise comprehensive show.

'The Nightmare' (1802)

'Breaking the Code' at The English Theatre in Frankfurt

You probably haven't heard of Alan Turing. His name has not made it into the bastion of scientific household names such as Newton or Einstein. Never mind the fact that his genius was of equal stature to these great men. Never mind the fact that he conceived modern computers and artificial intelligence in the 1930s. Never mind the fact that without him the Allies may very well have lost the Second World War. All these great feats were buried by the British Establishment for the fact that he was a homosexual.

The play 'Breaking the Code' (1986) by Hugh Whitemore is a stunningly poignant portrayal of the personal and professional life of Alan Turing. Based on the critically acclaimed biography (1983) by Andrew Hodges, the play seamlessly manages to combine historical accuracy with drama, humour and even lofty mathematical thinking.

In the centenary year of Turing's birth, the English Theatre in Frankfurt am Main is staging a magnificent production of the piece running until 27 October.

The panache and charisma with which Stephen Fewell plays Turing infuses the whole play with bittersweet emotion. Whether portraying the schoolboy who is embarrassed by his mollycoddling mother, the professor giving a talk at his old school, or the man pursuing relations with other men, Fewell performs the character with charm and loveability. Given that he never leaves the sparse stage-set, his acting energy and stamina are crucial to the overall success of the two-hour play.

The plot jumps back and forth in time and gives the pulsating drama only more interest and intensity. In the beginning we see Turing reporting a minor burglary to police inspector Ross. With no apparent irony, Turing says that he believes the burglar is a man called 'George'. During his account, his terrible nervous tic-like stammer startles the dependable policemen who smells something fishy and starts to dig a little deeper into the case.

Later we see Turing being interviewed by the head of Bletchley Park's codebreaking unit. Dillwyn Knox is unable to follow all of Turing's avant garde thinking - he is obsessed by the question of whether a mind can exist without a body - but Knox recognizes his brilliance and hires him to help break the Nazi's impenetrable Enigma Code.

However, most of the play's action takes place around 1952 long after Turing's monumental wartime achievement. He is working at Manchester University and picking up men in the local pub on the side. When he reports the burglary to the police, he unleashes a tragic chain of events which expose the immense cruelty and hypocrisy of a society which punishes homosexuality as a crime.

As a man of great principle, Turing could no more live a lie than accept a mathematical theory he had proved to be false. When necessary, he would stammeringly admit to being a homosexual - first to a brilliant female scientist at Bletchley who declares her love for him and later, before the trial, even to his mother. Unlike other homosexuals at the time who married and had children to keep up appearances, Turing was true to himself and defied social convention.

Whilst some will see Turing as naive, this performance renders him courageous in his pursuit of truth at all costs. One thing is sure: after seeing 'Breaking the Code' the name of Alan Turing will stay with you for a very long time indeed.

(More links to be added later)

Crisis - What Crisis?

How long will this economic doom and gloom in Europe last? Since a bank collapsed in the US three years ago, politicians have been ranting on about a 'crisis'. Surely it is now time for governments to stop moaning on about the economy and take some positive action.

A real crisis is a short and sudden critical event with potentially devastating consequences. It is not something that drags on so long that it makes you yawn with utter boredom.

OK, so the Euro is in trouble. Greece was a little naughty and fiddled her accounts. But why did the rest of Europe make such a huge tragedy out of this? As former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt pointed out, Greece has the economic weight of a single German state. So why all the agonizing from Merkel and co. over whether to bail Greece out or not?

The answer of course lies in winning political capital. The current 'crisis' is quite a handy little tool for our governments. First, they make us worry about losing our jobs, then they say they'll save us, if we go along with funding cuts to public services. 'We're all in this together!' - 'Hang on, austerity is quite good fun actually!'

At the same time, all attention to more serious issues such as improving healthcare, schemes for affordable housing, ensuring accessible top-quality university education let alone reducing world poverty, combating climate change and building good multi-lateral relations on a global level get conveniently swept under the proverbial carpet of crisis.

Sadly, the 'occupy' protest movement merely proves that plenty of people have been fooled into believing in the 'crisis'. And how does this affect the rest of us? We can't even clear our heads with a refreshing stroll in the park anymore!

Latest German History Movie A Violent Collage

Two and a half hours of endless violence, garbled ideology and much posturing. And I'm not talking about 'Quantum of Solace'. No, this is the latest film about modern German history. But it is not about the World Wars or the East German dictatorship. It is about West Germany's terrorist group of the 1960s and '70s: the Red Army Faction (RAF).

[Watch the trailer on the official film website]

'The Baader Meinhof Komplex' tries to sum up around 30 years of complex social tensions in West Germany: the post-war generation that had to deal with the role of parents and grandparents in Nazi Germany; the student movement and the reaction of older people to its liberalism; and the radicalisation of left-wing ideology that resulted in terrorist tactics.

What results is a collage of scenes that supposedly show 'what actually happened' at the time. We see a student demonstration brutally put down by police and of course the catalystic shooting of the student Benno Ohnesorg by a police officer.

The left-wing intellectual Ulrike Meinhof joins the extremist Andreas Baader and away we go. Political assassination follows bombing follows shooting.

The graphic depiction of violence in this film is shocking in itself, but does it really make one think about the social issues of the time. I left the theatre feeling numb. I can imagine others leaving the theatre feeling elated. For example, this movie would go down very well with any member of Antifa - a German group that sees a need to fight fascists hands on.

It made me more convinced than ever that the use of terror is wrong. What did these people achieve apart from expressing their anger in the most apalling way? The film provided no new clues or perspectives. Given the amount of time it spent looking at the terrorists after they were caught and tried, it's portrayal of them is rather too sympathetic.

German director Uli Edel might have been better off sticking to the realms of myth as in his last movie - 'Ring of the Nibelungs'. He's tried to create an epic, where a single story could have told a lot more. To prove my point, look at 'Downfall' by German director Oliver Hirschbiegel. He took Hitler as his material, but he did not make a film about the entire Second World War. His powerful drama plays out in a bunker in Berlin in 1945 and reveals a lot more about German history than Edel's violent collage.

That said, see 'The Baader Meinhof Complex' yourself and let me know what YOU think.

Obama speech in Berlin

Barack Obama called for nations to cooperate to increase freedom and peace in the world. A strong European Union would be good for the world and good for America.

We all share the burden of ‘global citizenship’ he said and the task ahead is more challenging than ever before. The advance of technology has made the world smaller, but also more dangerous.

Obama recalled the events of the Berlin Airlift 60 years ago. Only three years after the end of the Second World War, America was ready to provide a lifeline to its former enemy.

Ideas, not weapons were what, eventually defeated Communism. Obama argued that this achievement should bring hope and strength for the challenges ahead.

Obama said that a world without nuclear weapons is a major target. The superpowers of the Cold War came close too many times to destroying everything.

Using the metaphor of the Berlin Wall, he called for walls between Muslims, Christians, Jews and different races to be brought down.

He admitted war is objectionable, but said that the battle in Afghanistan must be fought on by US troops and German troops. German Chancellor Merkel will certainly have been listening closely to this part.

Obama avoided echoing JFK’s ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ and also his own ‘Yes we can!’ slogan. His delivery was sober and balanced.

Repeatedly addressing the ‘People of the world’ as well as the ‘People of Berlin’, Obama seems keen to take on the real power and responsibility of being a world leader.

“Thank you Berlin. God bless you.” He ended to spontaneous applause from the large crowd.

German Wikipedia in book form

Forget your laptop, forget your blackberry and smash up your i-phone, because soon you'll have all the information you need at the flick of a page. Well, if at least if you can read German and let's face it, who can't?

Full of composite words such as 'Zeitgeist' ('Zeit' = time, 'Geist' = spirit), it takes only half as much time to learn German as any other language. And on top of that, it's so logical, isn't it?

So make sure you pre-order your copy of Das Wikipedia which is due out in September. Factually checked and colourfully illustrated, its a snip at 20 Euros.

The free online lexikon will print 50,000 of the site's most visited subjects.

So we can expect poppy entries on Carla Bruni, Tokio Hotel and Playstation3. Time to flog those dusty Britannica's at a carboot methinks.

German news round-up

Germany was alive and kicking this weekend with several unusual headlines hitting the news.

Thousands celebrate German pop song festival in Hamburg
I thought that the only person that actually enjoyed German 'Schlager' lived a few doors down from me. 'Schlager' are folky German pop songs that are sung by mustachioed orange-tanned grinning Bavarians and have plenty of accordion in them. Actually, I think the songs are specially designed to be carried by a gentle breeze, propagating themselves like pollen.


I was astounded to discover that 300,000 fans celebrated this music in Hamburg on Saturday. And the organisers had expected half a million! Several lorries were converted into huge 'Schlager' floats which blasted the music out through the streets during an all-day procession.
Check out some images from the 5th Schlagermove, here, at Stern.

World's longest concert continues
The church organ in Halberstadt played the next - sixth - chord of John Cage's As Slow As Possible work to much rejoicing amongst locals. The performance began in the year 2000, so with one chord ringing out for more than a year on average, the tonal change must have been a breath of fresh air.

Hitler head torn off
Minutes after the opening of Madame Tussauds wax figure museum in Berlin on Saturday, an angry German visitor attacked the wax effigy of Adolf Hitler. He jumped over a rope supposed to separate the exhibit from the public. When another visitor tried to stop him, a melee ensued and the result was a headless Fuhrer. The man in his forties came from the leftist district of Kreuzberg police said after they had detained him. Museum officials swiftly removed the damaged waxwork.

Today, media reported that the museum is fixing the figure which will remain a part of the exhibit of politicians.

Germany has a new super star

Saturday night, i found myself glued to the TV for a good four hours. It was the final of Deutschland sucht den Superstar on RTL.

Fady Maalouf competed with Thomas Godoj for the viewers hearts and a record deal.

It was clear for me who should win. Bohlen again hit the nail on the head when he said that Fady's singing reminded him of the warm feeling he got as a little boy when he had peed himself!

Thomas has a great voice for the rock side of pop. His first two songs of the evening: 'Fairy tale gone bad' by Sunrise Avenue and 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol ranked with his best performances on the show.

To me, Fady's crooning voice was all-over the place again on non-discript pop songs.

I was happy when Thomas won (I even sent in an sms) and also very relieved.

The amount of advertisement breaks they slotted in with increasing frequency before the winner was announced was terrible. RTL had a captive audience of perhaps a couple of million and they unashamedly battered us senseless with dozens of commercials on a loop.

Tom's final song which will be released as a single this week could have been better. Firstly, the lyrics of 'Love is You' are pretty banal. Secondly, the song itself is way too poppy for his so-called rock image. And thirdly, this is not a song to launch a super star career. But hopefully, others will come soon that are.

So Tom was number 1 from 30,000 original entrants. Maybe his victory was most pleasing due to his underdog status. In terms of his singing ability he was no mere beginner. But what about his image? At his audition Bohlen brutally told him that it looked like a coffin lid had hit him three times in the face! The English expression, 'third time lucky' springs to mind.

In the end, it is reassuring to see that an 'outsider' with true talent can still beat all the pretty vacant wannabes out there.

Night of the Museums in Frankfurt a.M.

Nacht der Museen, Saturday 26 April 2008

Around 50 museums and galleries opened their doors to the public from 7pm until 2am. A special ticket for the bargain price of 12 Euros gave you admittance to every single one of them if you had the stamina and resolve.

This was a great opportunity to do a quick whip around and find out which museums were worth a second more considerate visit in the future. Or so I thought.

Huge crowds, meant that long snaking rows of people crawled around from exhibit to exhibit at snails pace. Or the larger museums resembled over-excited ant hives as masses of visitors swarmed around. It was an incredibly lively occasion as far as museums go!

In the end I made it to five along Museumsufer (Museum Embankment):

1. Städel art gallery. Enjoyed a glass of wine whilst watching a live calypso band in the hall at the back. Did not witness a single artwork. They were actually operating one-in, one-out at the door. Never mind, I was here before, and the collection is extremely impressive.

2. Museum für Komunikation. Again very busy. A modern building with lots of glass. Got a great aerial view of the classical dance performance, from the third floor looking down to the large open floor at the bottom. Seemed a bit thin on exhibits. But an interesting exposition on diary writing and blogging, offered me some inspiration.

3. Deutsches Architekturmuseum. Models of human settlements through the ages. A little bit boring. Strange layout meant slow moving crowds. Blueprints displayed more like artwork, than technical drawings and little more than basic information offered.

4. Museum der Weltkulturen. World cultures? All I saw was a small wooden canoe and a stuffed crocodile!

5. Museum für angewandte Kunst/Museum of Applied Arts. Another modern building with lots of glass and spacious rooms with white walls. A lot on offer here. Vases, furniture, electric appliances, toys, kitchen implements etc. All practical yet 'arty' in their own inimitable ways. The special exhibition called 'FRAGILE' (pronounced as in Latin, with hard 'g') showed the best collection of Soviet Union porcelain I had ever seen. No, surprisingly, this was the museum highlight of the evening. The delicate cups with intricate proletarian designs, made my tea mug look stone age.

Every city with more than two museums should have an evening like this!

Germany's X-Factor

Germany's X-Factor is called 'Deutschland sucht den Superstar' or DSDS for short.

I've been hooked on it for some time now. It's much more entertaining than the UK equivalent.

For a start, the regional selection round found every madman/woman and his/her dog wailing in their bid for super pop stardom. The characters were so outlandish it was hilarious. My favourite, was the guy who looked like a cross between Captain Spock and a bosseyed Yoda. He wore his best shirt for the audition, a bright orange Hawaiian beauty, and murmured the most ridiculous ditty.

Whereas Simon Cowell would have stomped off in a rage, Dieter Bohlen (pronounced 'Bullen'), the German equivalent, chuckled along with the million-plus viewers.

Sure, Bohlen also looks like a sour grape, but he is infinitely more likeable than the arsey Cowell. His comments are succinct and he is often very funny with it too.

Now into the finals, Bohlen is really giving the final 8 or so competitors what for. Last week he lifted another humdinger of a critique out of the can. One which had my English mates tickled once I'd translated. One of the girls sang a bland rendition of some pop song - the details are irrelevant and Bohlen said:

'Your performance was... dildoesque.' He went on to explain: 'Yes, technically perfect, but lacking all emotion.'

The entertainment value of this show is clear, my Enlgish mates hardly understand a word of German, but they lapped it all up with as much relish as the Bier.

Picture: Mario Teusch - hopeful from the first Casting Show

The Queen of Spades

On Saturday 26 January I saw 'The Queen of Spades' by Tchaikovsky at the new opera house in Frankfurt am Main. It was only the second opera I have seen, but I was very impressed.

The production was immaculate and the highs and lows ebbed and flowed deliciously.

It was sung in Russian and had German sub(top)titles. The music was solemn and measured, perfectly fitting the lurking threat of death that haunted the characters.

Officer Hermann, the main character, is a heavy gambler and a wild man, full of passion. On first sight he falls in love with Lisa, the granddaughter of a countess known as the Queen of Spades. However, Lisa is already engaged to the buoyant Prince Yeletsky. Hermann is in despair when he finds out - he believes that he is far too poor to compete for the fair Lisa. His officer friends taunt him and tell him the story of the old countess. Her fortune is said to be based on the secret of three dead-cert winning cards: 'tri karty! tri karty! tri karty!' A refrain oft repeated throughout the piece.

Frank van Aken is perfect for the role of Hermann. He staggers around the stage with the weight of the world on his shoulders and rages against the elements, memorably in a flashing thunderstorm. It was van Aken, incidently, who played Laca, another desperate aggressive lover in the other opera I saw here, 'Jenufa'.

Lisa performed by Anja Kampe, certainly has the innocent desire to do good. Just as Jenufa, she is cast as the embodiment of purity. Lisa falls for the raw passion of Hermann over the take-it-or-leave it attitude of Yeletsky. For me there was something missing in her character. She was too much the simple object of purity. She just did not emit enough emotion, her facial expression seemed too rigid - neither loving, nor despairing.

You can see that Michael Nagy has fun playing the happy-go-lucky Prince Yeletsky and he provides a great foil to the brooding Hermann. I really enjoyed his lighter mercurial lines which came as some relief from the melancholic mood.

The importance of the military and its traditions in late 19th century Russian life was powerfully evoked as the stage was often filled with rows of soldiers in blue uniform. And the codes of courage and strength clearly shine through all that jolly cameraderie. Pistols abound and game upon game of Russian roulette is gleefully played with little concern for the dead losers who have to be dragged out of the way.

Finally, the stage set and choreography of the characters really made the piece. Four huge square arches were lined up in a row on the stage. On one side they were shiny, which made the lightening scene, and on the other dark. The action took place under this forboding monolith and to make the characters seem even more fragile and pawn like, the pillars were set on a circular rotating stage. One of the huge backdrops showed a fine bearded man, perhaps representing Hermann. In a later scene, this was turned upside down to reveal a grinning skull!

The set was both modern and minimalist, yet also strangely classical. The statue of a bright red gorilla with raised fist was hardly out of place. It reflected the raw brutal animal urges of Hermann. When the statue smashed into pieces on the floor, it was not a good sign. To see something like this live... well it was so much more powerful and real than any Hollywood special effects.

Overall, a fantastic performance that carried Tchaikovsky's self-declared 'masterpiece' off with great applomb. He must have been smiling in his grave.