My father IV

Another big project of my father's were the houses on the "Palmaille," a lovely promenade street running along the high shore parallel with the Elbe river. On the side facing the water stood a row of stately homes which Hitler wanted to have razed so that he could build a parade street to show off his "Brown shirts". Some of these homes were built by C.F Hansen. It horrified my father to have these homes destroyed though I don't know if the owners were equally upset. In any case, he set to work and somehow managed to convince the authorities in Berlin to keep their hands off these buildings.

And he succeeded. Whom he approached in Berlin I don't know since he did not belong to the "Partei" (the Nazi party). He ended up writing a book about the buildings and the Danes were delighted. So much so that King Christian the Xth gave him a medal for his effort and success. The buildings were put under the "Denkmal Schutz" (Monuments Act), which meant they could not be altered in any way. I do know that years later when business activities started up again in Germany some of the owners were not pleased since they could not utilize the interiors of the buildings for their needs such as office space. Beautiful stately rooms do not lend themselves well to accommodate typing pools, nor is a wonderful view of a busy harbor conducive to concentration on the work at hand. So I am sorry if my father inconvenienced these families and business but I am glad that we at least have the two books he wrote about C. F. Hansen, the Danish architect building in Germany.

What my father would think of the modern structures being erected in the Hafen City (Harbor City) I can only guess at. Much would be too utilitarian for his taste, but on the other hand he would be pleased that the harbor is utilized in such a positive way such as the concert hall (Elb Philharmony) under construction.

One day, he was 79 years old, he passed a sign sitting in the window of a shipping company offering a cheap fare on a freighter to Egypt. So he booked a passage to Alexandria in order to visit the pyramid of Giza. He was never seasick though otherwise not given to sports activities. He only learned to ride a bicycle when he was 59 years old and at that it took him a long time to negotiate turning corners. But once he had learned he used his bicycle until he was unable to see properly. So the passage to Alexandria through the Bay of Biscay and its stormy weather did not phase him at all.

When they let him off the boat in Alexandria he disappeared into the milling crowds waving his cap. Nasser had just taken over and the population demonstrated in the streets. Somehow my father found a hotel and then a taxi which took him to the pyramid. But it did not return to take him back to the hotel. So my father set off on foot. In order to prevent sunstroke he used the water he had brought to paint his watercolors and sprinkled it on his bald pate. Needless to say, he made it back in one piece to the hotel and back to Hamburg where he proceeded to write a book about his experiences.

Somebody recently said my father must have been lonely in his old age. He was never lonely except right after the war when he felt he had nobody to talk to, meaning, to discuss the issues concerning the destroyed cities. Other, young people, had taken over who ran the show, though not very well at first. So he started writing articles and slowly gathered a group of young people around him who were interested in his opinions. He was never about himself. He was always about an issue. Neither was he about money in the sense of acquiring it.