Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Hamburg Museum of History

  • Hamburg – Hamburg Museum of History (Death Mask of Fritz Schulze)

    This is the death mask of Fritz Karl Franz (Fiete) Schulze, a freedom fighter who was executed in 1935 for opposing the Nazis. He worked in the shipyards in Hamburg and became interested in politics, joining the SPD and later the USPD, a similar party which broke away from the SPD. After becoming involved in a failed uprising Schulze fled to Russia in 1926, but he returned to his home city of Hamburg in 1932.

    Schulze was arrested in April 1933 for “high treason and three charges of murder” and was tortured during his period of imprisonment. He was sentenced to a ridiculous 260 years of hard labour and three death sentences. He was executed on 6 June 1935 when he was beheaded by an axe in the courtyard of a Hamburg prison. He has since had his sentence overturned by the Hamburg courts and his reputation has been restored.

  • Hamburg – Hamburg Museum of History (Executing Pirates)

    Back in the fourteenth century, and indeed for centuries afterwards, pirates gave Hamburg and other cities in the Hanseatic League a real problem. They interrupted trade routes, stole goods, damaged ships and kidnapped crews. So, the Hamburg authorities wanted to look like they were being tough, and they executed every pirate that they could find. They then displayed their dead bodies at Grasbrook, so that every incoming boat would see them.

    One of the museum’s pride and joys was a skull with a nail through it which was discovered during construction work in 1878. It was found where pirates were buried and it was thought that the skull might have been that of Klaus Störtebeker. It was a bit awkward for the museum as someone pinched it in 2010, although fortunately the police found it in 2011 and gave it back.

    I’m not actually sure where the skull now is, as I couldn’t find it in the museum. But they do have some replicas on display which are visible in the above photo. The wheel in the photo was used to torture prisoners by breaking their bones before they were executed. What a lovely place Hamburg must have been……

  • Hamburg – Hamburg Museum of History (Model Railway)

    I’m not one for model railways as I prefer the real things, but I’m impressed at the effort and commitment that people put into them. I can get the whole club mentality of joining together and building something (assuming your efforts aren’t literally clubbed to pieces by yobs as was the case with the poor folks at Market Deeping Model Railway Club).

    And Hamburg is also where the largest model railway in the world is located, at a museum called Miniatur Wunderland, which I didn’t visit on this trip. However, the Hamburg Museum of History has a large room on their top floor dedicated to another model railway.

    The history of the collection goes back to the 1920s when a group of parents didn’t really want their children displaying extensive model railway kits in their living rooms. So a room was found where they could display their efforts and in 1949 the railway was moved to the museum. Although it seems they’ve had some trying times over the decades, including having to replace all the wiring in the 1990s for fire reasons, it’s all still functioning.

    And below are some of the photos of their set-up….

  • Hamburg – Hamburg Museum of History (Burnt Things)

    There was a very large fire in Hamburg in 1842, which started a cigar factory and managed to destroy a third of the city and kill over fifty people. In today’s money, the damage done was around €1 billion, with numerous churches being destroyed, as well as the City Hall.

    There are some exhibits in Hamburg Museum which come from that fire, items all fused together from the heat of the inferno. They’re quite a reminder of what must have been a terrifying time for the city. I think I’d have been quite irritated if I had owned all the coins which got melted together and probably had a go at trying to chip some of them off in a desperate bid to use them.