Since 2004, the Festival of Lights have lit up various buildings and attractions throughout Berlin. The 2012 version saw 12 consecutive October evenings of another grand lighting display in the German capital city.
Above: Photo, 23 Jun 2025 (X70).
The Jüdisches Museum (Jewish Museum) in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district is one of the most visited museums in the German capital. Millions from around the world have visited the museum since its opening in late-2001. With the unique architectural vision and building design by Daniel Libeskind, the museum does not set aside the history of the Jewish community within Germany as being separate from the history of the country as a whole. Instead, there is conscious effort by Libeskind and the Museum to have visitors consider how the historical, cultural, art, literature, music, intellectual, scientific, and economic contributions from the Jewish community are tied inextricably with the history of Germany over the span of two millennia. These very issues and questions are now also driving discussions about the present state and evolution of the Turkish and other expatriate communities within Germany.
One sculpture in the museum is both poignant and disturbing.
In this post, I wrote about how I discovered the statue called “Der Rufer” (The Crier) in Berlin’s Tiergarten:
The statue in the foreground is called “Der Rufer” (The Caller or The Crier). Created by Gerhard Marcks in 1966, a cast of the bronze statue was purchased and erected here in place in the former West Berlin in May 1989. The statue was placed deliberately so that the “caller” faced East Berlin. At the sculpture’s base is a quote by Italian poet Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374): “Ich gehe durch die Welt, und rufe ‘Friede Friede Friede'” | “I wander through the world, and cry ‘Peace, Peace, Peace.'”
On 12 September 2012, some 18 months after making the above photo, I discovered the same statue by accident at the Cultural Centre in Northbridge, Perth, Australia.
The Crier (Perth)
Sculptor Gerhard Marcks (1889-1981) did not intend to convey a specific message or meaning to his piece of work. However, the version of the sculpture in Berlin was dedicated to a call for peace, whereas the casting in Perth was dedicated to the victims of torture.
I made the photos shown above with a Canon EOS450D: the first (Berlin shot) with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit-lens, and the second (Perth shot) with the 50mm f/1.4 prime-lens. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-2og.
It’s a big thrill when travel merges with aspects of my childhood upbringing or aspects of my education. I’m fortunate to have had this experience in the German capital city of Berlin.
I had read that the Brüder Grimm (Grimm Brothers) were buried in Berlin Schöneberg. On a walk through the district, I arrived at the Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof, or Old Saint Matthew Cemetery, near the Yorckstrasse train station.
Oh, how I love you, Berlin.
German capital, deutsche Hauptstadt.
People, museums, history, east-and-west.
Five years still wa’n’t enough.
Between October 2005 and October 2009, I made all photos above with a Canon PowerShot A510 and a Canon EOS450D/Rebel XSi camera. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie on fotoeins DOT com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-1Gb.
Fotoeins Fotografie 