The mysterious case of dance mania that broke out in Medieval Europe
St. John’s Dance, known historically as St. Vitus Dance, was a social phenomenon involving a type of dance mania that gripped mainland Europe between the 14 th and 17 th […]
The history of Volkswagen, the “People’s Car”
Germany’s Volkswagen is the largest car maker in the world, after Toyota. Its 590,000 employees produce around the world nearly 41,000 vehicles daily. It currently owns 12 subsidiaries including Volkswagen […]
“The Death Camp” and the forgotten story of Germany’s first holocaust
Shark Island was founded in 1795 off the coast of Luderitz, Namibia. Originally named Star Island, the land sat amidst immense winds and crashing waters of the Atlantic for a […]
Is Saint Corona the patron saint of epidemics?
Did you know Aachen Cathedral, Western Germany, may be able to claim a special spiritual connection with the global coronavirus pandemic? It is said that the cathedral, one of Europe’s […]
The Easter Egg Museum of Sonnenbühl – Germany
If the Easter Bunny needed a place to safeguard his eggs off-season, the quaint village of Sonnenbühl in Baden-Württemberg would be ideal! With its overwhelming hospitality, Sonnenbühl is a little […]
Some surprising things you (probably) didn’t know about Good Friday
Have you heard of the theory that it storms on Good Friday in the afternoon between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.? The Christian belief is Christ’s crucifixion occurred on this […]
Weissensee Abandoned Children’s Hospital – Berlin
We are in Berlin, where an empty, tumble-down, complex sits amidst handsome new apartment buildings in Weissensee neighborhood. Though a curious passerby probably never wouldn’t guess it, this crumbling graffiti […]
#March 15, 1889: the power of nature blows gunboat diplomacy out of the water in Apia Harbour, Western Samoa
Gunboat diplomacy was at its height in 1889 and on this day, March 15, tension was high with an act of war seemingly imminent. Three American warships (the sloop-of-war USS […]
Blub swimming and leisure center – Berlin
A lost waterpark sits in the Britz area of Neukölln district in Berlin, Germany, or, at least, what remains of it. The place seems to be inhabited only by rats […]
#February 13, 1945: Ancient Dresden reduced to rubble
February 13, 1945. On this day, waves of British bombers began reducing one of the Germany’s (and world) most beautiful cities to rubble. Thousands were to die in the ensuing […]
The dark origins of the fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the most famous (and appreciated) fairy tales in the world, first related in 1812 when the Grimm brothers published their collection […]
A forest of pillars, recalling the Holocaust: the controversial Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin
In the 15 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of the nation, Germany has struggled to come to terms with its Nazi past. Nowhere has […]
Berlin: The Return of the Cows
Dietrich-Bonhoeffer Strasse is a quiet street in Berlin, which lies on the lively edge of gentrified Prenzlauerberg’s encroachment into Friedrichshain. If you are in the splendid German capital, apparently there […]
16# Traditional German Weihnachtsgans – the Christmas Goose
Christmas season in Germany conjures different things: winding and pictoresque Weihnachtsmärkte, seasonally draining wallets or St. Nick and terrifying (at least in Bavaria) counterpart Krampus. One thing, however, a German […]
14# The Christmas Pickle
Each december, millions of people dust off Christmas ornaments and hang them on their respective trees. They carefully place glass baubles and string lights to respect a tradition that, as […]
12 rare Color Photographs show the First Nazi Concentration Camps in 1933
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled before and during the Second World War. Killed in gas chambers, starved to death, killed during experiments or shot by […]
1950s Berlin: Photographs of a destroyed city
Berlin, 1956. About ten years have passed since the end of the Second World War, and Germany was at the beginning of a reconstruction, first architectural and then political, which […]
The entrance of Bockenheimer Warte Subway Station of Frankfurt: a tram crashing into the sidewalk!
Try to imagine a scene in a Marvel movie in which the Hulk has picked up a tram car and rammed it into the sidewalk. That’s kind of what the […]
Street artist Megx painted german bridge to look like giant LEGO Bricks
While driving through the outskirts of Wuppertal in the Rhine-Rhur metropolitan region of Germany, drivers are wont to stare in disbelief the a giant multicolored cluster of Legos hovers from […]
The German couple which traveled for 26 years, through 179 countries along 550 thousand miles with a Mercedes G-Class
If Gunther Holtorf had a lengthy career with Lufthansa beginning in 1958, in 1989, he left his job to take an on-the-road journey. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, […]
Klaus Störtebeker: the legendary German pirate who deceived death
Although over the centuries the reputation of Klaus Störtebeker (1360-1401) took on a legendary aura, almost like a German Robin Hood, in real life he was probably a pirate not […]
Konstanz: the German city that avoided WWII bombing by pretending to be Switzerland
Europe, the old continent so rich in artistic, historical and architectural treasures, suffered incurable wounds especially during the World War II, in which centuries of history were swept away by […]
Roter Franz, the Mummy with Hair, Beard and Red Eyebrows
Roter Franz is the mummy of a young man found in the Bourtanger swamp, on the border between Holland and Germany, in 1900. Also known as “Neu Versen Man”, the […]
Crimes, mysteries and ghosts in Beelitz, Germany.
Crimes, mysteries and ghosts: this is Beelitz, a famous abandoned German hospital, located near Berlin, exactly in the south-west part. The entire structure is made up of 60 buildings and […]
7# The Dark Side of Christmas: Krampus, Santa’s horned helper!
In ancient times, a dark, hairy, horned beast was said to show up at the door to kidnap children. The Krampus could be heard in the night by the sound […]
2# Thomas Nast: the cartoonist who invented the Modern Icon of Santa Claus.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Santa Claus was still a character to be defined. What could he wear? In magazines people did not know how to draw him, […]
The strange story of the friendship between Hitler and a Jewish little girl.
We all know that Adolf Hitler was responsible for sending six million Jews to their deaths. Her name was Rosa Bernile Nienau and she was a little girl of Jewish […]
Götz von Berlichingen: the legendary German Knight of the Iron Hand
Götz von Berlichingen was born in Germany around 1480, around the time that even those belonging to families of the small nobility with few means, like him, very often became […]
Bleikeller: eight naturally mummified bodies in glass coffins are housed in an underground crypt.
When Arp Schnitger, a reputed organ maker who working in Germany in the late 17th century, was assigned a portion of an underground crypt of St Peter’s Cathedral in Bremen […]