Berlin

[the restored frontage of the New Synagogue of Berlin. The building behind was more or less destroyed in an air raid. See reference 5. I don't think we have anything like it in this country, but I associated this morning to the synagogue we once visited in Florence, for which see references 6 and 7]

I have now finished my first pass of 'Berlin', the near 500 page paperback book at reference 1, first noticed at reference 2. An author I first noticed at reference 3 and who makes it to a rather thin Wikipedia entry at reference 4.

I got a bit lost in a welter of names and places in the first part of the story, but things got better as we moved into the 17th century and the Hohenzollerns moved on from being Electors or Brandenburg to being Kings in, later of, Prussia.

Getty seem to want rather a lot of money for a proper version of the helpful image above.

That in Wikipedia at reference 8 is a good deal more complicated, as can be seen from the extract above, although in the original, an SVG file, you can pan around, which helps. I am reminded today how close the German Royal House was to our own.

But White-Spunner is a good writer, and after a while I got going properly. That said, I think I would liked a more expensively produced version of the book, with lots of pictures and maps in the right places, maps possibly as pull-outs in the old style, not much seen now. I suppose I could have read the book at my computer and called the pictures and maps up from there - but I did not bother to do that. Maybe if I ever get to a second reading.

Not least because he seems to be keen on buildings, so pictures at the right places would have been helpful. As things are, one would need to know Berlin to get the best out of his book. In the way, say, that I do know central London.

An odd city, with no simple reason for it being what it is, where it is. Not an obvious location for a capital, in the way of London or Paris. But very much a melting pot, having taken in many waves of immigrants over the years. Many from parts further east - both the European east and what we call the Middle East. Also, at least in the past, an industrial city in which conditions for many of the workers and their families were pretty grim: the lefty tendencies which so vexed the Nazis were no accident.

I close with two snippets.

First, he tells us (on page 341) that the Russians lost 300,000 men, killed and wounded, in the final, 12 day assault on Berlin. They were very keen to get there before we did, but one wonders how many lives - both Russian and German - would had been saved had they taken things a bit more slowly, just tightening the noose until the Germans surrendered. They were not going to go anywhere.

Second, he tells us that currywurst has been a popular dish in Berlin since elements of the British Army, with its strong links to India and matters Indian, were stationed there. It seems that a lot of curry powder found its way into the food served to our army at that time and the habit caught on.

A good find. As good value as the rather grander book I started with in Taunton (reference 3) near twenty years ago. It has earned its place among my small collection of books about Germans and Germany, some of which are noticed at reference 9.

[Another image from Getty: '... Emperor Karl I of Austria visiting Kaiser Wilhelm II at Army headquarters, World War I, 1917. Both Emperors salute the guard of honor. A photograph from Der Grosse Krieg in Bildern. (Photo by Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)'. As a solder, White-Spunner is rather scathing about the silly helmets]

PS: me at Portland Museum, sent in by a correspondent. I was quite startled by how much I look like my memory of my father.

References

Reference 1: Berlin - Barney White-Spunner - 2020.

Reference 2: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/03/second-outing.html.

Reference 3: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2008/08/further-geeking.html.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_White-Spunner. A graduate of Eton and the Guards: the right stuff. I learn little of his background or private life: maybe he prefers to keep that private.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Synagogue_(Berlin).

Reference 6: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2008/10/culinary-matters-reprised.html.

Reference 7: https://www.jewishflorence.it/?lang=en.

Reference 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Hohenzollern.

Reference 9: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/06/breslau-drain-covers.html.