Berlin

Now in Berlin from Leipzig. The last city to visit before retuning to the UK. Off wee go to explore, as none of us had been hear before. I bumped into what I always heard/knew about but never seen. The Trabant car. These cars are so rubbish from the Eastern block that they became famous. Someone was offering a self drive tour of Berlin in one of them. From what I understand, steel was so limited in The Eastern Block, they made the body work out of whatever they could lay their hands on, including horsehair.

 

Continued on down to Checkpoint Charlie. There was information there about the wall coming down with posters explaining how it all happened. There was a list of people who successfully escaped to the West over the years and a list of those who failed and got shot. What I found more interesting was a 5 minute walk further where there is 100 meters of remaining wall. This shows what someone from West Berlin would see looking at the wall and vice versa.

100 metres of remaining wall from the West Germany side

Moving on we saw the Brandenburg Gate and then Reichstag.

Berlin Zoo

 

If you go to Berlin, you can't leave without going to the zoo. Everything was in German so have no idea how much they are involved in conservation. Berlin Zoo did remind me of Bristol zoo in the 1970's.

Ingolstadt

Coming up to the end of our tour of Europe, we are on our second part of a three part stay in Germany. Today we visit the Audi factory and museum. Having owned nothing but VWs and Audis and never been to Germany before, I always wanted to take a visit. Although I have been to Lypzig, now Ingolstadt and tomorrow Berlin, I need to come back. I have only scratched the surface of things to do.

Audi factory and museum tour.
Unfortunately but fully understandable, there is no photos in the factory. Strictly forbidden, but have photos of the classic cars and outside. Well I have to have something to prove what I did on my 50th Birthday. So here goes:

Audi Quattro - Audi introduced the 4 wheel drive system (Quattro) and put the car into rallying. 

The Audi Quattro was successful in Rally's around the world, but as a Brit, I remember it for winning the Lombard RAC Rally, year after year.

Audi stopped rallying, they said the safety standards weren't good enough and the authorities didn't do anything to improve it.

Audi decided to concentrate on the Le Mans 24hr endurance race and successfully and continuously 

won that including this year 2014 still using the Quattro, 4 wheel drive system (though much more advanced)

Some of the cars that from the 4 manufacturers that eventually come together to make the Auto Union

Horch 855, only 7 made and this is No 007. Insured for £14,000,000 and privately owned.

Wanderer

DKW motorbikes

Audi

Each manufacturer represents one of the 4 rings making the union.

Audi wanted to get back into racing and found under the Auto Union group one Mr Porsche worked for Wanderer and he designed this:

This was built with 16 cylinders to take on the likes of Mercedes and won (pre war)

Outside the Audi factory

Off to Berlin tomorrow.

Leipzig

Arrived from Salzburg on Saturday after a few hours on the train. People ask why do you want to go to Leipzig, that part of Germany is former Eastern Block. You can go to Leipzig for several reasons , for example, to go somewhere different, it was also the city that Johan Sebastian Bach played as the organist in St Thomas's Church. I came to Leipzig for a very different reason, it's where my Great Uncle would have come on his way to Colditz as a British POW during WW2, he was a Methodist Army Chaplin and I wanted to find out more. He never discussed it when he was alive and Colditz effected his health. When the Colditz series was on TV in the 1970's, so I understand, he decided to watch it, after 10 minutes he switched it off saying everyone looked well fed and looked fit and healthy, not what he experienced.

Colditz railway station from the back.

Colditz railway station from the platform side.

We hired a British historian, who lived in Berlin, through Military History Tours. He had passed photos, knew of my Uncle (Capt Rev Jock Platt) and it was good to meet someone who seriously knows their stuff.

On the Sunday we met at Leipzig Station at Terminal 20 for 9.30 am as planned. Colditz station had closed so we caught the train to a place called Grimma (and it did look grim) Small East German towns like Grimma are hardly, if not at all touched by West Germany and brought up to date. The modern train system and of course internet / mobile phone service installed but that's pretty well it. Probably the other West German touch is the graffiti. From Grimma we took the bus for Colditz.

First of all we looked at Colditz railway station, this is the way my Uncle would have arrived, having been captured in Dunkirk with other British soldiers, then marched up to the Castle.

I have old photos of his from his time in Colditz and I took photos of what it looks like today.

Why was Colditz painted white? Well, originally it was white but over the centuries it got dirty and shabby and looked like it did during the war. Repairs and maintenance had to take place to avoid the place becoming a ruin.

We looked at all the escape plans done by the French, Polish, British, Dutch and a couple of Indian POW's.

Colditz today 2014

Colditz in WW2 This photo has been used several times in books and magazines.

POWs Forecourt

Colditz entrance today (left) and during the war (right)

 

Entrance to Fourcourt today (left) and during the war (right)

POWs Forecourt today 2014

POWs Forecourt in the 1940's during WW2. My Uncle is the one in the deck chair.

Other photos of Colditz today.

Entrance to POWs forecourt.

Forecourt.

Colditz today POWs forecourt.

Mock up of POWs sick bay.

Mock up of German officers staff room.

Colditz today

Pub where German officers went for a drink.

French escape route.

Post Office where Red Cross parcels were delivered.

Looking at the Layout of Colditz and then my Uncles photos, it was intriguing to see places where he actually stood/sat 74 years ago. He came in 1940, when captured in Dunkirk and came out in 1945 when the US Army came and the war was ending.

Toured round Leipzig and went to the Stasi museum (everything in German but got Leaflets in English) this is how the old East German security / spying / Big Brother system worked under Eric Honnicker, the last E German leader before the Iron Curtain came down in 1989 and other Communist leaders before him.

Day 2 in Lypzig.

Next we went to St Thomas's Church and looked into what Johann Sebastian Bach got up to. After a great couple of days and thunder storms for good measure we caught the train for Ingolstadt.

One thing we experienced about Leipzig was the different sounds you get. When a train goes past, you're convinced it was thunder. Another sound which I would assume was one of these pneumatic diggers used for breaking up concrete / tarmac road surfaces sounded just like a machine gun. One very concerned wife asks what's that sound and my answer was "As Leipzig was in East Germany they still use the Firing Squad!"

Johann Sebastian Bach

 

Different entrance into St Thomas's Church

Pulpit in St Thomas's Church

Inside St Martins Church

Backs organ

St Thomas's Church