1937 Germany Postcard..location?

We know that the person who collected this visited Cologne in 1937 as part of a group, in one torn photo of a riverboat they are chaperoned by a uniformed officer with a swastika armband. In another they are on the steps of Cologne cathedral. The lion in the postcard looks like a Brunswick lion, but the location appears to be on a bridge and we haven't yet been able to track it down.

 

That looks narrower than the Seine at least at Paris. Seems to be a Nazi thing based on the emblem on it so maybe it was destroyed and forgotten about on purpose or bombed during the war as I haven't found it in about a half hour of searching.

 

Yes, I wondered why it was difficult to find and it may well have been destroyed. still, it's odd that no photos of it pre war can be found easily.

 

Yes as bridges were targets or destroyed on purpose.
Also the river through Cologne looks too wide for this as well.

 

I can't tell where this pic was taken, but can say the statue was not made before the Nazis era. The front of the statue has the Nazis eagle circle/wreath symbol with a swastika in the ring.

--- Susan

 

I thought the shield thing could have been a Nazi-era addition to an existing statue, but who knows. The way the shield thing sits a bit awkwardly in front of the lion's dark-colored base and not on it made me think of an add-on. But I looked for a good while and could not find this lion on a bridge in Germany, with or without his shield. When the allies came into Germany in 1945 they tended to be quite liberal in the use of demolition explosives on things with Nazi symbols.

 

I think it's a canal rather than a river.

 

>... shield thing could have been a Nazi-era addition ... <

You could well be right! Like you I couldn't find a lion statue like this on a bridge or anywhere in Germany, Austria or any Nazis possession before, during or after WWII.

>... I think it's a canal rather than a river...<

I had the same thought.

>... looks like a Brunswick lion... <

It certainly looks like the Brunswick lion. The original is in a Brunswick castle today.

Brunswick Lion in 1900:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Lion#/media/File:Loewensaeule_Braunschweig_1900.jpg

There are several copies around the world today. A replica stands today in the Burgplatz in Brunswick.

Replica in Goslar, Germany in 1900:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Lion#/media/File:Goslar_Braunschweiger_Loewe_(2006).JPG

Lubeck, Germany:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Lion#/media/File:BSLoewegrKopieHLfullview.jpg

Schwerin, Germany:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Lion#/media/File:Schweriner_Dom_Loewe.jpg

and even one at Harvard University!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Lion#/media/File:Lion_in_courtyard,_Harvard_University.jpg

Finding all these replicas, it could be one of the replicas that vanished with WWII.

--- Susan

 

I'd agree it is more like a canal than a river. Looking at photos of Cologne's damage from Allied bombing it is easy to see why landmarks have disappeared, even before allied troops got to work on Nazi statues. It still seems likely to have been in Cologne, other photos included Hozenhollern bridge and these two:



The German officer seated near back is wearing a swastika armband.

 

Hm. I wonder if it's Lindenthal. Those are old lime trees from the look of them.

Here's some Cologne canals: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kölner_Randkanal and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Canals_in_Cologne

 

The guy with armband looks like a Hitler Jugend officer.

 

Picture was probably taken in Braunschweig;
https://www.braunschweig.de/tourismus/ueber-braunschweig/sehenswuerdigkeiten_top10.html

 

Here's an approach I'd try if I had a reason to put more time in on this: Google this phrase but end it with the name of a town you want to check, spelled the German way, and switch to "images."

großen Löwen-Statue auf Kanalbrücke ---

And change the words if that doesn't work. Look at Google "web" results too.

Phrase means "large lion statue on canal bridge "

Good luck.

 

That is where I had started, in English, then changed it to canal later.

 

Here are some of the larger city names to start with. I didn't try to pick those with no canal/river but is probably easier to google- test all of them than sort them out.

1. Berlin
2. Hamburg
3. München
4. Köln
5. Frankfurt
6. Stuttgart
7. Dortmund
8. Düsseldorf
9. Essen
10. Bremen

Check Dresden too, the WWII firestorm didn't leave much unburned/unmelted.

 

I have what I believe are the, or some, classified photo overheads of pre and post Dresden.

 

Classified? Did ya get 'em in a private email from Hillary?

Sorry I just couldn't help it!

 

Ha!!!!!!
I didn't know anything about Billary when I got these.

 

By the way...... I know a few people who should visit cologne.....

 

Here's another possible clue: the flag on the right has 3 stripes, center wide one is probably white. Two thin ones on edges are same color, unknown, lighter than black, maybe red? The design in center may be legs, tail etc. of one of those spidery-looking lions, but not sure. No German state flag is close, Berlin city flag has right stripes but lion is way different. ??? Maybe some other city flag, or what?