The Passenger ⋆ Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.

September 27, 2022September 28, 2022

Marianne, Hedwig & Meta

Garden of the Righteous, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

When the houses in the Ebertal in the south of Göttingen will be rebuilt also the streets will change: some new ones will appear, others will be renamed. A long part of the current Lönsweg will than be known as the Meta-Kamp-Steinmann-Straße. On the Gothaer-Areal nearby a Hedwig-Gehrke-Weg will probably appear and maybe we will also see a Marianne-Ellenbogen-Weg in the near future. Hopefully these new street names will cause people to search for the history behind them. What does connect these three women?

September 26, 2022September 27, 2022

Absorption

Once upon a time the city of Göttingen had different cinemas: the Sterntheater in the Sternstraße, the Capitol in the Prinzenstraße, the Cinema in the Weender Straße and many more before them. When in 1996 the large multiplex cinema CinemaxX opened in the former Lokrichthalle we all went there and enjoyed the modern atmosphere and the new technology. This was the beginning of the end of the smaller cinemas.

September 21, 2022October 5, 2022

Ebertal

The Ebertal is an area of Göttingen that has a bad reputation, at least for older people. It was created as a PoW camp, became an emergency accommodation after World War II and then temporarily attracted a bad mix of people. Currently it is completely rebuilt and thoughtful politics will lead to a good combination of inhabitants and a high living quality.

July 31, 2022August 2, 2022

Ederseebahn

I always enjoy riding my bike on old converted railway tracks: the inclination is limited, the infrastructure is often good, many tunnels and bridges are found on the way and you can typically discover remains of past railway times. One of these converted tracks can be found close to the Edersee in Northern Hesse: Between 1884 and 1917 a railway track was opened linking Wabern (Hesse) and Brilon-Wald (North Rhine-Westphalia). While the routes from Wabern to Bad Wildungen and from Korbach to Brilon-Wald are still in operation and served every two hours, the middle section from Korbach to Wega is out of service.

July 30, 2022August 12, 2022

Zissel

The inhabitants of Kassel like to party and after 2.5 years of pandemic limitations it was time again for the biggest party, the Zissel. It is unclear were this name comes from but the best guess is that it originates in the Low German language where it means something like to spend money for having fun. The Zissel is celebrated since 1926 and always happens on the first weekend of August from Friday to Monday. It starts with attaching the Zisselhäring (a large herring) to the Rondell on Friday and ends with removing and releasing the herring to the water on Monday evening.

July 20, 2022August 12, 2022

Bahnhofslichtspiele

The railway station of Kassel is a place that many people pass by, but it is also the Kulturbahnhof; a location to spend time at with bars, the Caricatura and also a cinema. When you pass through the main hall of the railway station you’ll see the entrance to the BALi, which is the abbreviation for Bahnhofslichtspiele. I came here for a show of three editors-in-chief of the famous German satirical newspaper Titanic: Oliver Maria Schmitt, Thomas Gsella and Martin Sonneborn.

July 3, 2022July 6, 2022

Forum Wissen

The university of Göttingen has a wide range of scientific collections. Most of them are open to the public, but they’re distributed throughout the city and only accessible in very limited time frames. Therefore most inhabitants don’t know the treasures stored in the city. This changes with the Forum Wissen which was opened in 2022. It serves as a portal to these collections and presents important items at a central and well-accessible place.

June 26, 2022June 27, 2022

Wasserspiele

The highlight of the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe at Kassel are the historic water features or water games. To show their power, the landgraves were even taming the elements and in this case controlling water: behind the Herkules monument, water is collected in large basins. At dedicated points in time it is floating down the hill without any electricity, creating sounds and fountains. This event happens every Wednesday, Sunday and on public holidays from May 1st to October 3rd.

June 21, 2022September 21, 2022

documenta fifteen

The fifteenth version of the contemporary art exhibition documenta happened in Kassel from June 18th to September 25th, 2022. It was curated by ruangrupa, an Indonesian artist collective that applied the principle of lumbung, the Indonesian tradition of a collectively used rice barn.

June 10, 2022June 16, 2022

Wo es beginnt

The COVID-19 pandemic created a special situation: for more than two and a half years concerts were shifted continuously into the future. We were always believing that next year everything will be fine and in addition to the concert tickets I had already bought I acquired new ones. In 2022 when everyone had the chance to get vaccinated and many people had already infected with variants of the virus that were at least less harmful, large concerts were possible again. And my calendar was full with concerts; starting with a performance of Madsen at the Stadionsporthalle of Hannover.