Description
Illustrierter Beobachter
Donnerstag, 14. Dezember 1939 • 14. Jahrgang • Folge 50
32 pages scanned
Cover Page
Caption: “Der Führer und Generalfeldmarschall v. Mackensen. Der Besuch Adolf Hitlers auf dem Erbhof Brüssow am 90. Geburtstag des verdienten deutschen Heerführers.” (“The Führer and Generalfeldmarschall v. Mackensen. Adolf Hitler’s visit to the Brüssow family estate on the 90th birthday of the distinguished German commander.”)
Subject: Adolf Hitler standing beside Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen, the latter in full ceremonial Hussar uniform, during Hitler’s birthday visit.
Location: Gut Brüssow (the Mackensen family estate).
Photo credit: Heinrich Hoffmann.
Major Headlines & Content
Der Führer ehrt den 90jährigen Feldmarschall (The Führer Honours the 90-Year-Old Field Marshal) — Adolf Hitler personally congratulates Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen on his 90th birthday during a visit to the Mackensen family estate, Gut Brüssow. A related photo spread shows flooding from the Maas in Holland and a Dutch aircraft marked with neutral colours and lettering. Photo credit: Heinrich Hoffmann (cover and portrait photos); Associated Press (flooding photos).
Der General unter seinen Leuten (The General Among His Men) — A Kommandierender General (Commanding General) is shown visiting wounded soldiers in a Lazarett (military hospital), inspecting Fahnenjunker (officer cadets) training as Pioniere (combat engineers) in Ostpreußen (East Prussia), checking troop kitchens and the day’s menu, observing a Pioniertruppe demonstrate a pontoon bridge crossing, visiting the unit’s guard dog Rero, and commending a Pionier who had rescued a drowning man. Photo credit: Inge Mantier.
Zwei alte Gauner in neuen Kasperle-Figuren (Two Old Crooks as New Puppet-Show Figures) — Satirical Punch-and-Judy-style puppet figures caricaturing British and French leaders mock Allied protests over violations of neutral rights, with mocking references to the Hague Convention, the Geneva League, Abyssinia, and Manchukuo. Photo credit: Möbius.
Das leugnet John Bull! Deutsche als Kulturträger in Südafrika (John Bull Denies This! Germans as Bearers of Culture in South Africa) — Feature on Germans living in South Africa, including farmer Schulz near Kapstadt (Cape Town) and Stellenbosch, Professor Dr. Hermann Bohle (former professor of electrical engineering at the University of Kapstadt and father of Gauleiter Ernst Wilhelm Bohle), Gesandtschaftsrat Bruno Stiller (Pretoria), and Gertrud Riemerschmidt, who measures sunlight intensity using German scientific instruments. Photo credit: Ilse Steinhoff.
Einweihung des Deutsch-Italienischen Hauses in Berlin (Inauguration of the German-Italian House in Berlin) — Report on the opening reception of the German-Italian Society’s new house in Berlin. Named attendees include Dr. phil. Ludwig von Winterfeld (President of the German-Italian Society), Gräfin Viola di Campalto, Staatssekretär Freiherr von Weizsäcker, the wife of Italian ambassador Attolico, Prinz Philipp von Hessen (honorary president of the Society), Senator Graf Trecani (Vice-President of the Italian-German Society in Milan), and Dr. Hans Erman. Italian violinist Gioconda de Vito performed a Paganini sonata. Photo credits: Helmut Möbius.
Neun Uhr Einkauf, zehn Uhr Probe (Nine O’Clock Shopping, Ten O’Clock Rehearsal) — Photo feature on sisters Margot and Hedi Höpfner, solo dancers at the Deutsches Opernhaus in Berlin, shown shopping at Adolf-Hitler-Platz before their daily rehearsal. Photo credits: Möbius, Weidenbaum.
Other Content
Photo feature — “Musik um Mitternacht” (Music at Midnight) — midnight concerts held in the picture gallery of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, attended by large crowds seated among the artworks. Photo credit: Leif Geizes.
Photo feature — “In der Hauptrolle: achtzehn Mädel!” (In the Leading Role: Eighteen Girls!) — feature on the Tobis film “Wir tanzen um die Welt,” in which eighteen girls share the lead role; dancers named include Ruth Eweler, Evelyn v. Schöning, Charlott Daudert, Charlotte Thiele, Edith Oß, Carola Höhn, and Irene v. Meyendorff. Photo credit: Tobis.
Fiction serial — “Empörung in Thorn” by Arnold Krieger (10th instalment). Historical novel set in Thorn (Toruń), West Prussia, concerning the trial and political unrest surrounding the character Rösner and his accusers, including Britta, Roland, Wally, and Marczewski. Continues across multiple pages.
Short story — “Perlenfischer” (Pearl Fisher) by Alfred Hein — a married couple, Herr and Frau Funke, at a seaside resort encounter a self-described poet who recites verse to Frau Funke about pearls and longing, until her husband intervenes.
Short story — “Der stumme Gast” (The Silent Guest) by Ernst Reeling — set in a small Residenzstadt, where the famous Dutch violinist Jan Berghoven gives a concert before the local nobility; an unseen presence, implied to be the spirit of Beethoven, is said to attend.
Humour piece — “Rache!” (Revenge!) — anecdote about a lifelong friendship and prank rivalry between a Baumeister (master builder) and an Apotheker (pharmacist) over a fishing-club meeting. Signed E.A.G.
Humour column — “Anekdoten” and “Humor” — short jokes and anecdotes, including several involving Mark Twain, Georg von Meiningen, and Reitergeneral von Sedlitz, alongside a cartoon strip about a cat named Karo on cleaning day and gag cartoons about a card game and Wybert throat lozenges.
Humour column — Short anecdotes including “Selbstkenntnis,” “Der Klügere gibt nach,” “Wenn die Sonne kommt, verblassen die Sterne,” and “Kurz, aber deutlich” — featuring Mark Twain, naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, Kaiser Wilhelm I, and mathematician Gotthelf Kästner.
Cartoon spread — “Vorweihnachtliche Bildergeschichten 1939” (Pre-Christmas Picture Stories 1939) by Emmerich Huber — six comic panels with Christmas-themed jokes about gift portraits, Christmas-tree decorating, house numbering for Father Christmas, and soldiers at the front receiving children’s holiday letters.
Feature/column — “Deutsche Wanderluft und Heimatliebe” (German Wanderlust and Love of Homeland) by Ernst Schultze — essay on the Germanic tradition of wandering and attachment to homeland, citing Tacitus and the Austrian writer Peter Rosegger.
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