Kassel Archives ⋆ Page 2 of 17 ⋆ The Passenger

May 12, 2022May 13, 2022

Film-Shop

It is a relic from the old times, but someone needs to show the kids of today that there was a world before video streaming and without Netflix. That in the past we had to walk to a video store where we could be VHS (Video Home System), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), BluRay media (and buy drinks, chips and fruit gum). That we needed to pay a penalty fee when we returned them too late. Many video rental stores have been killed by the streaming industry (and us as the customers), but one survived: the first, the world’s oldest.

November 14, 2021February 9, 2023

Gloria

Over the last decades cinemas have been facing a lot of concentration. Smaller ones are often lost and instead people visit larger multiplex movie theaters with the most modern technology, good catering, and most comfortable seats. But something gets lost if cinema would only mean multiplex cinemas. Fortunately, in Kassel smaller cinemas remained and one of them is the Gloria at the Ständeplatz, close to the city center.

November 14, 2021January 31, 2022

Zoo am Rammelsberg

There is no typical zoological garden at Kassel. If you want one of these, you need to go to Hannover, Leipzig or Frankfurt. What exists is a privately operated zoo for small animals: the Zoo am Rammelsberg. The entrance is free of charge and the costs are covered by donations. Many people use the opportunity to see and feed some animals, but the conditions under which they’re held are often disputed.

October 9, 2021January 16, 2022

Ehrenmal

War and remembering the victims of war is still today a controversial topic at Kassel. The city was in the past and is still today a center of weaponry production. In World War II it was therefore a target of massive attacks. Even today you can find the traces in vast air-raid shelters and in the face of the city: the historic city center never returned to its former beauty after it was completely burned down in the last world war. In different areas memorials can be found for the victims of war and especially the victims of fascism. The memorial for soldiers which died in both world wars was closed for renovations for many years and vandalized directly after reopening: the Ehrenmal at the Karlsaue.

September 8, 2021December 19, 2021

Affenfelsen

If someone at Kassel tells you that he wants to meet at the Affenfelsen (ape rock) you should move towards the city quarter Vorderer Westen. The Rudolphsplatz there has been redesigned as an urban living room. People meet outside, sit down in this public area to talk, bring their own drinks and later move on to bars and clubs. And this all with a nice view towards the Herkules monument.

May 24, 2021June 3, 2021

Kassel & Göttingen: a roundtrip by bike

Göttingen and Kassel are cities that are only 50 km apart and could form a nice region – if they wouldn’t have been part of different kingdoms in the past and now different federal states (Lower Saxony and Hesse). I firmly believe that they will be connected more in the future and first tendencies towards this can already be seen.

April 11, 2021May 5, 2021

Weinbergterrassen

The Weinberg is a special place in Kassel, Germany – it is a little bit aside from the city centre and you would not simply see it by accident. On the other hand, it should be on the list of every visitor because on top you’ll find the Grimmwelt museum and the Sepulkralkultur museum which are both highly recommended. The limestone mountain itself has a long a changeful history: as the place where the Huguenots settled when fleeing from France, as a place for growing wine and people drinking lots of beer outdoor, as the home of factory-owning family Henschel and as the mountain containing the Weinbergbunker in which a lot of people survived air-raids and later illegal techno parties happened.

September 12, 2020June 30, 2022

Hessen Kassel

The KSV Hessen Kassel is a football club with a big history and a stadium (the Auestadion) rather fitting to the past than to the present. It was an obvious idea to watch a match but I simply didn’t do it after moving to Kassel – shortly after I decided to buy a ticket, SARS-CoV-2 appeared and all matches were cancelled or no spectators were allowed. Now the large stadium becomes an advantage: people can watch matches during the pandemic safely while adhering to the distance rules. Against TSV Schott Mainz around 2,000 people (in a stadium for more than 18,000 persons) saw the first home game of the new season.

August 8, 2020February 9, 2023

Kurbad Jungborn

When it is getting hot outside the people in Kassel, Germany, gather on both sides of the river Fulda running through the city. The Fulda is used for swimming and all kinds of watersports and bathing in the river has a very long tradition. In earlier times there were Flußbadeanstalten – supervised places dedicated to swimming in the river. One of them is today the Auebad, the largest indoor and outdoor pool of the city. Another one you will automatically see when moving close to the Orangerie and the Spitzhacke: the Kurbad Jungborn which is today a museum and a coffee bar.

June 7, 2020June 7, 2020

Boreal

If you like the bustling and colourful Nordstadt of Kassel, Germany (including its special and sometimes a bit freaky inhabitants) then the Boreal beer garden might be a good choice if you want to spend some time outside. It belongs to the Kulturzentrum Schlachthof and is located between this cultural institution and the Nordstadtpark.