General views of Munich

10-14/Dec/2006

Leading attraction - Old City Hall		The column gives name of the place: Marienplatz	In reality the city hall much higher
Fountains in front of it	New City Hall, destroyed in WW2 and reconstructed		Frauenkirche. Special local trait - double onions
Residence of Kings, sounds of opera heard in the court. I had no time!		Opera. Maximillian-Josef behind me	We also love it
King Ludwig I		One get tired of all monumental things. Small niceties: artists and may pole in market
Promenade for buyers. It is usual day time, but close to season of gifts. Gate leads to		Karlplatz after king Karl, but people prefer informal name: Stachus
Ludwig I again: street, Arch, church, Univ. with bikers	Theater church on the other end of Ludwig street	General Hall. These generals participated in Napoleonic wars on both sides(1) and also in 30 Years war (2). Alas! This street leads to a born place of Nazism. Here in front of General's Hall, was a "Beer Putsch".
Propylea leading to Museum Quarter.	Again Nazism even in Museum quarter: Party headquarters	Museum quarter also. Here infamous Munich agreements were signed.
Glyptotek - Ancient sculptures	Also Ancient collection	Still another war: Napoleon  forced Bavaria to join him against Russia in 1812. 30 000 did not return. The same quarter.

Joseph Brodsky, owner of Nobel prize for Russian literature and US poet-laureate, called in one of short poems Munich "city, from which death spread away on the school map". To be honest, even in the middle of seeing something beautiful it suddenly springs to mind. Especially, if you are Jewish.

Ludwig II loved Wagner a lot, invested/throw away a lot of money for Opera, castles and Wagner himself. But Wagner was not just Anti-Semite. Conductor Aranovich found in Wagner Museum artifacts that are usually not shown. W explained sense of his music in some operas as a black Mass to purify Jesus from all Jewish. In one of theaters W found that violinist V was Jewish. W and administration signed a contract.

1. V must be baptized before the first rehearsal
2. W and and V never talk directly only through a middle man
3. V must periodically make Anti-Semitic remarks.

All conditions were met. Worth to know that the first wife of W was Jewish, he turned to A-S after her death.

In 1918 Munich turned a victim to a communist revolution for a short time. Hitler, may his name be blotted, chose the city for living. In 1923 he made an attempt to catch  power. He was imprisoned, but let go after 1 year instead of 5. He seemed less dangerous than Commies or something else. He left the prison with new connections and his infamous book. He obtained a great majority in Bavaria later on. AH proclaimed Munich a capital of Nazi movement.
As far as he ascended  to power he organized a first camp near Munich and very close to small suburban town Dachau. All awful things that were invented were tried first there (go up and to page of visit Dachau).
Britain and France opened the way to WW2 by signing Munich agreements also here! In the building opposite to Nazi headquarters, see above. And even good thing like Olympiad turned into bloodshed in1972, see known Spielberg movie "Munich". On the white side there was an opposition underground movement White Rose in the Munich University. Members were caught and executed.

Some buildings in the city are very beautiful, some a bit too big and trying to impress, after a sigh-seeing tour on a double-decker bus, I suddenly felt very depressed. It is purely psychological, of course, I am sure...Today there are kosher places, big Jewish center with mostly Russian speaking people, the life goes on. 

Understand me correctly - there are a lot of fine places, good climate, excellent transportation, a lot of culture, nature (Alps nearby),  industry and agriculture. 

In the city lived: Patrick Süskind, Thomas Mann (some stories took place in Munich), Klaus Mann , Erich Kästner , Paul Klee, E.M. Rilke and many others. 

I found also a connection to the previous visit abroad - Greece. Great European powers helped Greeks to get free from Turks, but did not allow them to set a Republic. They themselves were not necessarily like this in the year 1831. So, Greeks invited a King from Denmark, but got at the end prince Otto, son of Ludwig I of Bavaria. At the end the prince was forced to return to his motherland, he agreed with former Queen to talk Greek two hours daily.

From here go to the Museum page or to Dachau page, depending on your mood.

In the little town out of which death sprawled over the
  classroom  map
the cboblestones shine like scales that coat a carp,
on the secular chestnut tree melting candles hung,
and a cast-iorn lion pines for a good harangue.
Through the much laundered, pale window gauze
woundlike carnations and kirchen needles ooze;
a tram rattles far off, as in days of yore,
but no one gets off at the stadium any more.
The real end of the war is a sweet blonde's frock
across a Viennese armchair's fragile back
while the humming winged silver bullets fly,
taking lives southward, in mid-July.