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Published: July 21st 2013
Ostracised Modernity exhibition
One of the sculptures seized by the Nazi's in 1937 which was identified as a degenerate art work.Bathing in the Baltic took place in Warnemunde, a district of Rostock situated where the River Warnow meets the Baltic Sea. It is a very popular beachside resort. Many Germans travel from Berlin for a day at the beach - a 2 and 1/2 hour train journey. During the summer they bathe and sun bake, on their towels or in their pre-booked wicker baskets, in the nude or with bathers. From Rostock it is about a half-hour journey by tram and then train. We went on a Saturday and the train was very very crowded. The weather was warm with a pleasant Baltic breeze. There is a long promenade along which are the heavily booked hotels and pensions and also the ubiquitous wellness centres. We chose to walk along the sand at the water's edge. No pebbles but soft sand - so much nicer than the beaches of the Cote d'Azur. Here the 15 km long and broad beach is free, by which I mean that there is plenty of sand upon which to lay your beach towel! The "for hire" wicker beach chairs are at the back of the beach. The sea was very pleasant for bathing once your body
adjusted to the temperature and there was just a little seaweed floating around 😊 - cannot be compared to the beautiful clear and warm water of Greece! It was a lovely atmosphere with plenty of sand for children's beach games and bathing nude just seemed the natural thing to do! As many as 4 huge ocean liners can be docked at this little resort at a time. These can be 300 metres long and 15 storeys high. They frequently accommodate more than 2,000 passengers. We met a German tour guide at one of the cafe's on the Neuer Markt in Rostock and she was worrying whether her group of 47 were going to all arrive back at their appointed meeting place to return to the ship. Her group was spread all over Rostock enjoying "free time". We later saw her on her mobile phone holding up a sign pacing round the town looking for missing group members!
Lots of interesting fountains in Rostock. Famous one is located in front of the University building where children love to play in the summer. Another is on the main square. The town hall on the Neuer Markt looks a bit like a
University main building
Universitatsplatz. Built in 1867. Rostock's university founded in 1419 - 3rd oldest in Germany. movie set building, with its 7 gothic red brick towers and a pink coloured baroque facade which was added in the 18th century.
We visited the former Stasi (former secret police of the GDR) detention centre (prison) for political prisoners awaiting trial. There was some text in English 😊 The Cultural History Museum is housed in a former 13th century convent and here we enjoyed an exhibition of black and white photos taken in Rostock during the 19th and early 20th century; also an exhibition of last surviving stock of work from the Nazi's "Degenerate Art" campaign of 1937. 20,000 works of art were seized from German museums by the Nazi's because it was thought they did not fit in with the Aryan image. This exhibit is the largest collection of Nazi seized art that has survived. It is called the Boehmer Collection. Boehmer was a Nazi art dealer who was allowed to sell some of the seized art works abroad for foreign currency. In 1947, Soviet forces seized the collection from Boehmer's heir and handed over the art works to the Rostock museum.
We enjoyed our Rostock experience and feel "recharged" in readiness for our Berlin experience.
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