1937 Germany Postcard..location?

One of the hazards of browsing the web is finding stuff like this. I'd say this is clear evidence that man is going to the dogs.

 

Oh my.

 

>...flag on the right ... Berlin city flag...<

Good idea, Spring, on that right hand flag. I think it is Berlin. It does have the narrow stripes on the side and an animal in the middle. Nowwww, I found a vertical variant of the Berlin flag with the bear facing a narrow stripe. The results are that the bear's front rearing paws are nearly on a narrow stripe as well as one of his hind legs, paw, facing in the same direction. To make it all fit on the triangle shape thingy, the bear may have been stylized into a "spidery" bear.

Page showing the vertical variant flag with the bear facing a stripe, 3rd flag down:
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de-be.html

Here's a pic of the Berlin flag as a pennant. Now imagine the bear sideways as on the above variant:
http://www.sunny-flag.com/html-en/product-FJQEnhxvRmKI-Berlin+Flag,+Pennant.html

--- Susan

 

Thanks Susan, good you noticed Berlin flag has a bear. I thought that thing was a bit odd looking for a lion! Not that it matters but I think the cloth item hung from the righthand pole is rectangular shaped; if it were a pennant it wouldn't look symmetrical with the Nazi flag on left, and also the tip would be the darker color where in the pic it appears white, so it is only wrapped around the pole by the wind. Anyway, it is really strange that the city where this photo was taken hasn't been ID'd yet-maybe the lion was only there from 1937 until it was destroyed in the war a few years later? Too bad the inscription on the stone plinth isn't clear enough in the photo to read.

 

Here's a site on the bridges in Berlin, mostly on the Landwehrkanal. Site has links to more detailed info-maybe our lion is in there somewhere-there are historical notes on many bridges.

http://www.wikiwand.com/de/Liste_der_Brücken_in_Berlin

 

to me it doesn't look like a bear or lion at all.
rather like a marmot.

 

Unfortunately it isn't clear enough in the original either. Looking at the flag on the right I cant make this to be a Berlin bear, it looks more like the tail and wing feathers of the old Prussian flag but I don't think that survived into the 30s

 

Fid, hey why you tryin' to drag me into this, anyway?

 

Flag on the right looks more like letters to me, and might be the same as the pennant at the front of the boat.

 

I'm thinking the pennant or flag on boat's flagstaff might feature the same "spidery lion" as is painted on the boat's bow. If so we might want to keep looking for a red-white-red flag or pennant with a spidery lion in the middle.

 

Susan,
look at the boat, not the flag but the image to left of Elise (Thanks for the prompt Kristiaan). It looks like a griffin rampant...not that it makes any sense to me

Too slow!!!

 

Mentioned earlier that there was a photo of Hohenzollern bridge. Here it is and the group appear to be going down a walkway to the Elise (flag last letters ISE).

 

Maybe Dusseldorf, Konigsallee?

EDIT: Yes, location is the southern end of the Konigsallee moat in Dusseldorf. The lion statue now there is the Bergische lion, as far as I can tell it is not the same lion. But the Bergische lion is probably represented on the flag.

 

I once had a marvelous dinner in Dusseldorf.....but that's all I got...

 

Looks like the neighborhood is pinned down-the dome on the Deutsche Bank there closely matches the dome on a building in the postcard photo. http://s3-media1.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/2gbs5HIBLIDpdQMhKJ_JOg/ls.jpg I had run across an old but distant picture of a bridge with large unidentifiable sculptures on it, captioned to be in a now-filled-in moat in that area so I'll try to find that again.

 

Here's the former moat area and the same stone plinth the large lion occupied is near the edge of the water closest to the camera. Now we want to find out what happened to the lion.

 

Thumbs up! You nailed it!

 

Group effort, if it matters, rhiw... put a name on the neighborhood. A friend with contacts in Germany is going to have them ask where the big lion went.

 

'

Definitely a group effort. Big thanks to all who contributed!!