Berlin from the kids' view
We assigned ourselves some reading before our trip to Berlin. Myles read mostly history, focusing on Prussian kings up to 20th Century Berlin. Brigid and I read the novel Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner.
Published in 1929, it was unique among German children's literature in that it was set in a contemporary, real place (Berlin), and that it was a detective story. It was also the only novel by Kästner to remain in print during the Nazi era as everything else he wrote up to then was banned. He also wrote the book that became The Parent Trap.
In the story, Emil is traveling alone on the train from his home in the ambiguously named Neustadt to visit his grandmother and other family members. A strange man sits near him, engages him, possibly drugs him, and makes off with the hundred-mark note Emil has hidden under his jumper. Emil wakes to realize the man and his money are gone, but sees the strange man on the platform before the train pulls away. Even though this is not the station where Emil is to meet his grandmother, he exits the train and begins to follow the stranger. Over the course a few days and nights, Emil meets other children to help organize the detective work and they continue to monitor and follow the stranger.
As I said, the book was set in the very real Berlin of the 1920s, and many of the places still exist today. For Brigid and me, it was a fun scavenger hunt as we hit a few of Emil's locations.
Emil first got off the train at Zoologischer Garten Station. He followed the stranger, whom he knew as Herr Grundeis, at this station and onto the 177 Tram. Before the War and partition, this station was a major stop on trains coming into Berlin. After reunification, the station was not restored to its previous use as a stop on the cross-country trains, and it was instead used for S-bahn and U-bahn metro rail.
Meanwhile, Emil's grandmother and cousin Pony Hütchen waited for Emil to arrive at Friederichstraße station.
Emil continued to follow Herr Grundeis on the 177 tram until his quarry alighted to dine at the Café Josty in Potsdamer Platz. Potsdamer Platz was destroyed during World War II, and along with it the original location of the Café Josty. However, within the last few years a new giant multi-entertainment thing was built near the old Postsdamer Platz and in one corner someone has revived the name and spirit of Café Josty. The decor is even similar to how it was in the 1920s.
It was while he was surveiling Herr Grundeis when Emil met the gang of children called The Detectives. They helped him continue to trail Herr Grundeis, eventually tracking him to Hotel Sachsenhof at Nollendorfplatz.
We went into the lobby, quietly. I had read in some online Emil-fan guides (yes, they exist), that sometimes children are brave enough to inquire at the desk for Herr Grundeis. Brigid, however, was much too shy.
We did not make it to the house of Emil's aunt and uncle at Schulman Straße. I looked on google maps and there is a picture of an apartment building there, maybe even the original one but refaced. The day we were within walking distance of the address, though, it was raining, so we remained in the Naturkünde Museum instead.
Another thing that I encouraged both kids to do was to take their own pictures. Brigid had her iPod, and Myles had his small camera and mobile phone. I originally made the request to keep them engaged, though it sometimes became necessary as my phone battery and my portable battery both had difficulty keeping enough charge for my own daily use of camera, maps, and guide-apps.
What I hadn't expected was the kinds of pictures they would be interested in taking. I had in my purse some Lego minifigures that both Myles and Brigid wanted to pose around Berlin.
Myles and Brigid had so much fun following their Lego people sightseeing.
In Potsdam the minifigs really seemed to have a good time.
One of the minifigures Myles got that week we called Dick Turpin, after the famous highway man, which, of course, we know more about because of Horrible Histories. It didn't seem out-of-place in front of Potsdam's gates. Nothing dandy about him.
Published in 1929, it was unique among German children's literature in that it was set in a contemporary, real place (Berlin), and that it was a detective story. It was also the only novel by Kästner to remain in print during the Nazi era as everything else he wrote up to then was banned. He also wrote the book that became The Parent Trap.
In the story, Emil is traveling alone on the train from his home in the ambiguously named Neustadt to visit his grandmother and other family members. A strange man sits near him, engages him, possibly drugs him, and makes off with the hundred-mark note Emil has hidden under his jumper. Emil wakes to realize the man and his money are gone, but sees the strange man on the platform before the train pulls away. Even though this is not the station where Emil is to meet his grandmother, he exits the train and begins to follow the stranger. Over the course a few days and nights, Emil meets other children to help organize the detective work and they continue to monitor and follow the stranger.
As I said, the book was set in the very real Berlin of the 1920s, and many of the places still exist today. For Brigid and me, it was a fun scavenger hunt as we hit a few of Emil's locations.
Emil first got off the train at Zoologischer Garten Station. He followed the stranger, whom he knew as Herr Grundeis, at this station and onto the 177 Tram. Before the War and partition, this station was a major stop on trains coming into Berlin. After reunification, the station was not restored to its previous use as a stop on the cross-country trains, and it was instead used for S-bahn and U-bahn metro rail.
Meanwhile, Emil's grandmother and cousin Pony Hütchen waited for Emil to arrive at Friederichstraße station.
Emil continued to follow Herr Grundeis on the 177 tram until his quarry alighted to dine at the Café Josty in Potsdamer Platz. Potsdamer Platz was destroyed during World War II, and along with it the original location of the Café Josty. However, within the last few years a new giant multi-entertainment thing was built near the old Postsdamer Platz and in one corner someone has revived the name and spirit of Café Josty. The decor is even similar to how it was in the 1920s.
It was while he was surveiling Herr Grundeis when Emil met the gang of children called The Detectives. They helped him continue to trail Herr Grundeis, eventually tracking him to Hotel Sachsenhof at Nollendorfplatz.
We went into the lobby, quietly. I had read in some online Emil-fan guides (yes, they exist), that sometimes children are brave enough to inquire at the desk for Herr Grundeis. Brigid, however, was much too shy.
We did not make it to the house of Emil's aunt and uncle at Schulman Straße. I looked on google maps and there is a picture of an apartment building there, maybe even the original one but refaced. The day we were within walking distance of the address, though, it was raining, so we remained in the Naturkünde Museum instead.
Another thing that I encouraged both kids to do was to take their own pictures. Brigid had her iPod, and Myles had his small camera and mobile phone. I originally made the request to keep them engaged, though it sometimes became necessary as my phone battery and my portable battery both had difficulty keeping enough charge for my own daily use of camera, maps, and guide-apps.
What I hadn't expected was the kinds of pictures they would be interested in taking. I had in my purse some Lego minifigures that both Myles and Brigid wanted to pose around Berlin.
Myles and Brigid had so much fun following their Lego people sightseeing.
In Potsdam the minifigs really seemed to have a good time.
One of the minifigures Myles got that week we called Dick Turpin, after the famous highway man, which, of course, we know more about because of Horrible Histories. It didn't seem out-of-place in front of Potsdam's gates. Nothing dandy about him.
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