Berlinica Publishing LLC

04/07/2025

"I want to give a ‘shout-out’ here to colleagues at the Berlinica Press, which published a substantial source for this story: Mark Twain in Berlin: Newly Discovered Stories, by Andreas Austilat. (New York: Berlinica, 2013.) Titled “A Tramp in Berlin” in the United States, this book is yet another German-American publication that I’ve had to classify, unfortunately, as “Not-Easy-To-Get-Here.” This, although I would expect the book to be visible in every “Berlin” section of every bookstore in town…. "

America's most famous writer praised our horse-drawn mass transit - as ever, with the back of his hand....

02/11/2025

Wir bündeln die Interessen innerhalb des Verbandes und vertreten sie gegenüber Politik und Öffentlichkeit, auf nationaler und europäischer Ebene. Wir setzen uns ein für sichere Rahmenbedingungen.

01/08/2025

Three Biographies

Peter Panter, Die Weltbühne, June 1, 1926

"You’re the unborn Peter Panter?” asked the Good Lord, stroking his white beard, which was flecked with gray here and there. I was a bright blob floating in my test tube; I hopped up and down in affirmation. “You have three possibilities,” the Heavenly Father said, squashing a bedbug in infinite benevolence as it scurried across his wrist. “Three possibilities. Please consider each one and tell me which you choose. We’re particularly interested in not favoring either party in the current dispute between Determinists and Indeterminists. You figure out up here what you’d like to be someday; down there you won’t be able to do anything about it. If you please …” The Old Man held a large box lid up to the tube, on which I read:

I
“Peter Panter (1st Draft). Born on April 15, 1889, son of poor but well sanitized parents, in Stettin on Lasztownia Island. Father: Given to quarterly episodes of binge drinking, with five quarters each year. Mother: Subscribes to the Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger. Studies veterinary medicine in Hannover and becomes a municipally licensed exterminator in Halle in 1912. Two wives: Annemarie Prellwitz, classy, in flannel, with her hair in buns (1919–1924); Ottilie Mann, meticulous, proper, tremendously fertile, in balloon cloth (1925–1937). Four sons; then acquires a German Persian rug. 1931: Cleans Hermann Bahr’s beard; Bahr survives, and P. converts to Catholicism. Summoned to Vienna in June, 1948, to eradicate the bedbugs accumulating at the Neues Wiener Journal’s cultural desk. When the operation naturally fails, exterminator P. becomes depressed. In this state of mind, attends a Keyserling lecture on April 20, 1954. Dies: April 21. Panter departs from life, with the consolation of the Catholic Church, immediately after voraciously devouring a bowl of matzo balls. Burial weather: partly cloudy with a light southeasterly wind. Headstone (designed by Paul Westheim): 100.30 marks; marble price: 100 marks. Forever cherished in our thoughts: eight months.”
“Well?” asked the Almighty God.
“Hmm …” I said. And read on:

II
“Peter Panter (2nd Draft). Born May 8, 1891, eldest son of senior civil servant Panter and his wife Gertrud, née Hauser. The premature child is so hard of hearing in his left ear as a young boy that he already seems destined for a career in justice. Joins the fraternity corps, in which a certain Niedner is an alum—” God Almighty made the sign of the sw****ka. I continued to read: “—and soon adopts the properly boorish behavior expected in such circles. 1918: War assessor, just in time for the Kaiser’s birthday. Swears eternal loyalty to him. 1919: Junior assistant to the state commissioner of public policy; State Commissioner Weismann, in accordance with traditional Prussian frugality, does not sit in an armchair but remains on a wooden bench day and night. District Court Councilor P. achieves great things for the Republic and its president. Swears him eternal loyalty. Participates in the Kapp Putsch in 1920, advises Kapp in judicial matters and swears eternal loyalty to him. Panter’s frequent swearing calls attention to the talented jurist, and he is transferred to the post of chief legal counsel to the Reichswehr. Meanwhile, Rathenau is murdered, and the Republic imposes a constitutional court on itself, in which decisions are made without due process. Transfers there as judge; sprains his arm signing jail sentences for Communists in 1924. No funeral is held, as a German judge is irremovable and can still fulfill the duties of his office even after death.”
“How could anyone sink so low?” the Good Lord asked. I, meanwhile, had crept to the bottom of the test tube. I wagged my little tail, and God Almighty correctly guessed “No,” made the sign of the Star of David, and held up number …

III
“Peter Panter (3rd Draft). Born January 9, 1890, in Berlin, with gigantic nostrils. His Aunt Berta looked in his cradle and said so immediately. Succeeds with minimal effort in becoming a decent man, then falls into the clutches of publisher S.J., who employs him in a variety of tasks; at the beginning of their acquaintance, P. writes articles and poems, and after just fifteen years, he’s allowed to put stamps on letters on his own and execute other important clerical tasks. January 19, 1913: Contracts with the publisher for a monthly honorarium. December 8, 1936: Notice of first installment. Assumes the pseudonyms Max Jungnickel, Mark Twain, Waldemar Bonsels, and Fritz von Unruh. Can never convince anyone that there’s more than one author behind these names. Painted in oil by Professor Liebermann; gives him a Paul Klee original in return, though Liebermann doesn’t eat it up. S.J. bequeaths Panter his son; P. knocks large holes in the expensive heirloom’s head in the very first week and doesn’t handle him very gently in other ways either. Dies on July 4, 1976, while attempting to tear the publisher back out of his grave.”
“Well?” the Good Lord asked.
“Hmm,” I said again, “Can’t we combine all three biographies? Maybe I could be the son of a senior civil servant, and exterminator at the Weltbühne …”
“Hurry up!” Father God said sternly, “I don’t have much time. I’m presiding over three field services at ten o’clock: Poles versus the Germans, Germans versus the Poles, and the Italians versus everyone else. I must go be with my peoples. So choose.”
And so I chose.

Happy 135. birthday, Peter Panter!

12/24/2024

Berlinica Publishing wishes readers, authors, booksellers, and everybody a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a very good New Year 2025!

Here is a picture from our West Berlin. Storybook From the Island. This is from the story "Christmas in West Berlin," by Kerstin Schilling. The picture shows burning candles West Berliners used to put in between their windows at Christmas Eve after the Wall went up. This was meant to show their friends and relatives in the East part of the city that they were not forgotten.

Der Berlinica Verlag wünscht allen Lesern, Autoren, Buchhändlern und allen anderen ein frohes Weihnachtsfest, schöne Feiertage und ein gutes neues Jahr 2025!

Hier ist ein Bild aus "West Berlin. Lesebuch von der Insel." Es stammt aus der Geschichte "Weihnachten in West-Berlin" von Kerstin Schilling. Das Bild zeigt brennende Kerzen, die Westberliner nach dem Mauerbau an Heiligabend zwischen ihre Fenster stellten. Damit wollten sie ihren Freunden und Verwandten im Ostteil der Stadt zeigen, dass sie nicht vergessen sind.

https://berlinica.com/our-west-berlin

12/24/2024

Eva C. Schweitzer

Advent, Advent ... So here is the promised story about Kurt Tucholsky, one of the most famous German-Jewish journalists of his time, left-wing, critical, satirical, undogmatic. He took his own life in Sweden at the age of 45 when he took sleeping pills on the eve of December 20. He died a day later in hospital in Gothenburg. Having been persecuted and banned by the N***s, he was no longer able to earn a living, his visa was in limbo and he regretted to the last that he had left his wife Mary. All his friends had scattered and disappeared. There are rumors that he was murdered by the Gestapo, but there is no proof. I really don't want to sound pretentious, but I only recently realized that I was born on the same day, December 20, that he ended his life, albeit a few decades later. His grave in Mariefred, Sweden, still has visitors. This is a picture from 2023. A wise man once said, as long as somebody still says your name, you are not dead.

Advent, Advent ... hier also die versprochene Geschichte über Kurt Tucholsky, zu seiner Zeit einer der berühmtesten deutsch-jüdischen Journalisten, links, kritisch, satirisch, undogmatisch. Er nahm sich im Alter von 45 Jahren in Schweden das Leben, als er am Vorabend des 20. Dezember Schlaftabletten nahm. Einen Tag später starb er im Krankenhaus von Göteborg. Da er von den N***s verfolgt und verboten wurde, war er nicht mehr in der Lage, seinen Lebensunterhalt zu verdienen, sein Visum war in der Schwebe, und er bedauerte bis zuletzt, dass er seine Frau Mary verlassen hatte. Alle seine Freunde waren verstreut und verschwunden. Es gibt Gerüchte, dass er von der Gestapo ermordet wurde, aber es gibt keine Beweise. Ich möchte wirklich nicht überheblich klingen, aber mir ist erst vor kurzem klar geworden, dass ich am selben Tag, dem 20. Dezember, geboren wurde, an dem er sein Leben beendete, wenn auch ein paar Jahrzehnte später. Sein Grab in Mariefred, Schweden, hat immer noch Besucher. Dies ist ein Bild aus dem Jahr 2023. Ein weiser Mann sagte einmal, solange noch jemand deinen Namen nennt, bist du nicht tot.

https://berlinica.com/tucholsky-in-translation

12/22/2024

Advent, Advent! On December 21, 1935, Kurt Tucholsky died. I will post more about this later.

12/19/2024

Advent, Advent! On December 18, 1917, the UFA was founded, Germany's most prestigious movie company. Originally initiated by the Kaiser and financed by Deutsche Bank, it soon became independent and produced great movies during the Weimar Republic, most notably Metropolis, The Nibelungen, and the Blue Angel. We do have a story on Marlene Dietrich in our book "Our West-Berlin", but today, I will give you an Berlin Angel based on Marlene. Who knows where it is?

Advent, Advent! Am 18. Dezember 1917 wurde die UFA gegründet, Deutschlands prestigeträchtigste Filmgesellschaft. Ursprünglich vom Kaiser initiiert und von der Deutschen Bank finanziert, wurde sie bald unabhängig und produzierte während der Weimarer Republik großartige Filme, darunter Metropolis, Die Niebelungen und Der Blaue Engel. Wir haben eine Geschichte über Marlene Dietrich in "Our West-Berlin", aber heute möchte ich einen Berliner Engel vorstellen, der auf Marlene basiert. Wer weiß, wo er ist?

https://berlinica.com/angels-of-berlin

12/18/2024

Advent, Advent ... so, after the Transitabkommen was agreed upon on December 17, 1971, it would still take half a year to get it ratified, but then, ten of thousands and later millions of West-Berliners would take the Autobahn to West Germany. It was quite the ordeal, with waiting at the border and not being allowed to leave the trail, and, of course, NO CONTACT with East Germans, that was strictly forbidden. More about this in our book "Our West-Berlin," in a story by Tanja Dückers.

We usually left West Berlin by car. Our mother always drove, because our father never got his driver’s license; perhaps a good decision, as nobody could well imagine this imaginative, sensitive person at the wheel of a car.

Most of the time we went to the Dreilinden-Drewitz border crossing (we just said Dreilinden, the transit point in West Berlin), that is, to the tank. The tank was standing just before the GDR checkpoint, so it greeted us. The tank was positioned so that its gun barrel was pointed at West Berlin. We children understood this symbolic language, and our parents would talk about it often and with a lot of discomfort. The war vehicle placed here was the first Russian tank to reach Berlin in 1945. The Soviet military administration had erected this “landmark,” here, after several relocations starting in 1969.

Once we reached Dreilinden, we had plenty of time to look at the tank, because we had to wait—always—for ages. I found the tank as impressive as it was frightening. We children pestered our parents with questions, but they knew little about such things. Our father had avoided the draft because he was nearsighted. One of my favorite quartet games I played as a schoolgirl did not involve cats or horses, but tanks. Even today, I can surprise many a former draftee or soldier with knowledge about the Tiger, the Leopard 2, or some or the other artillery piece (”self-propelled gun” I added to my list of favorite words)

(....}

Here the original German version:

Aus West-Berlin herauszukommen war gar nicht so einfach, als die Mauer noch stand. Meistens fuhren wir mit dem Auto. Am Steuer saß immer unsere Mutter, denn unser Vater hat nie einen Führerschein gemacht. Vielleicht eine gute Entscheidung, am Steuer eines Autos kann man sich diesen phantasievollen, empfindsamen Menschen nicht gut vorstellen.

Meist ging es über die Grenzübergangsstelle Dreilinden-Drewitz (wir sagten nur Dreilinden, der Transitpunkt in West-Berlin), also zum Panzer. Dieser stand kurz vor dem DDR-Kontrollpunkt, wir wurden also von ihm begrüßt. Der Panzer war so aufgestellt, dass sein Geschützrohr auf West-Berlin gerichtet war. Diese Symbolsprache verstanden auch wir Kinder, und die Eltern redeten öfter und mit Unbehagen darüber. Das hier aufgestellte Kriegsgefährt war der erste russische Panzer, der im Jahr 1945 Berlin erreicht hatte. Die sowjetische Militärverwaltung hatte dieses „Denkmal“ hier (nach mehreren Umsetzungen ab 1969) errichtet.

Waren wir erstmal in Dreilinden, hatten wir viel Zeit, den Panzer anzuschauen, denn wir mussten — immer — lange warten. Ich fand den Panzer ebenso eindrucksvoll wie beängstigend. Wir löcherten die Eltern, die sich in diesen Dingen wenig auskannten (der Vater war wegen seiner Kurzsichtigkeit nicht eingezogen worden), mit Fragen. Eines meiner Lieblingsquartette, mit dem ich als Schülerin spielte, war kein Pferde- oder Katzenquartett, sondern ein Panzerquartett. Noch heute kann ich manchen ehemaligen Wehrdienstler oder Soldaten mit Wissen über den Tiger, den Leopard 2 oder das eine oder andere Artilleriegeschütz (die Selbstfahrlafette wurde in die Liste der Lieblingsworte aufgenommen) überraschen.

https://berlinica.com/our-west-berlin

12/17/2024

Advent, Advent ... according to my chocolate Advent calendar, Christmas is two days away! On December 16, 1971, the transit agreement between the GDR and the West German government was signed in Bonn after the four Allies who ruled Berlin at the time had reached an agreement. It was ratified six months later. The transit agreement made it possible for West Berliners to travel to West Germany by car (and train) on three transit routes to Munich, Hanover and Hamburg, for the first time since the end of the blockade without a visa or airplane.

Advent, Advent ... laut meinem Schokoladen-Adventskalender ist Weihnachten in zwei Tagen! Am 16. Dezember 1971 wurde das Transitabkommen zwischen der DDR und der westdeutschen Regierung in Bonn unterzeichnet, nachdem sich die vier Alliierten, die Berlin damals regierten, zuvor geeinigt hatten. Es wurde ein halbes Jahr später ratifiziert. Das Transitabkommen ermöglichte es den West-Berlinern, mit dem Auto (und dem Zug) auf drei Transitstrecken nach München, Hannover und Hamburg in die Bundesrepublik zu reisen, zum ersten Mal nach dem Ende der Blockade ohne Visum oder ohne Flugzeug.

https://berlinica.com/berlin-city-history

12/14/2024

Advent, Advent! During these days in December 1521, Martin Luther began to translate the Bible from Latin into German, an undertaking that occupied him for more than a year. Luther spent these months in hiding at Wartburg Castle, where his protector, Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, had hidden him. This was necessary because translating the Bible so that the common people could read it was frowned upon by the Pope. Not only the Pope, but also the devil was unhappy; he swarmed around Luther in the form of a fly! Luther threw his inkwell at the devil. This caused a large ink stain that remained on the wall of Wartburg Castle forever. Even when tourists broke off small pieces, the ink stain would reappear the next morning, throughout the late Middle Ages, the founding of the Reich by Bismarck and even in communist East Germany - most of Lutherland became part of the GDR after 1945. The inkblot only stopped freshly materializing when the West took over in the name of "honesty". Boring! Anyway, here's a picture of the Wartburg, and if I get a few likes, you'll see me and the inkblot.

Advent, Advent! In diesen Tagen im Dezember 1521 begann Martin Luther, die Bibel aus dem Lateinischen ins Deutsche zu übersetzen, ein Unterfangen, das ihn mehr als ein Jahr lang beschäftigte. Luther verbrachte diese Monate im Versteck auf der Wartburg, wo ihn sein Beschützer, Friedrich der Weise, der Kurfürst von Sachsen, versteckt hatte. Das war notwendig, denn die Bibel so zu übersetzen, dass das einfache Volk sie lesen konnte, wurde vom Papst missbilligt. Nicht nur der Papst, auch der Teufel war unglücklich; er umschwärmte Luther in Form einer Fliege! Luther warf sein Tintenfass nach dem Teufel. Das verursachte einen großen Tintenfleck, der für immer an der Wand der Wartburg blieb. Selbst wenn Touristen kleine Stücke abbrachen, tauchte der Tintenfleck am nächsten Morgen wieder auf, und zwar durch das ganze späte Mittelalter, die Reichsgründung durch Bismarck und sogar im kommunistischen Ostdeutschland - der größte Teil des Lutherlands wurde nach 1945 Teil der DDR. Der Tintenfleck hörte erst auf, sich frisch zu materialisieren, als der Westen im Namen der "Ehrlichkeit" die Macht übernahm. Langweilig! Wie auch immer, hier ist ein Bild von der Wartburg, und wenn ich ein paar Likes bekomme, werdet ihr mich und den Tintenfleck sehen.

https://berlinica.com/leipzig-and-luther

12/12/2024

Advent, Advent! Exhausted from the Writer's Room Christmas party. so imagine you got five Lindt chocolate balls, a bunch of Jewish cookies and enough Prosecco to drown yourself in it. As for December 11, have a pic from "Our West-Berlin!"

Advent, Advent! Erschöpft von der Writer's Room-Weihnachtsfeier. So stell dir vor, du hattest fünf Lindt-Schokoladenkugeln, einen Haufen jüdischer Kekse und genug Prosecco, um dich darin zu ertränken. Für den 11. Dezember gibt es ein Bild aus "Unser West-Berlin"!

https://berlinica.com/our-west-berlin

12/10/2024

Advent, Advent ... it is late at night, and I'm gonna pretend it is still December 9th. This is the day when Mark Twain, who spent half a year in Berlin in 1891-92, met his new best friend Rudolf Lindau. Lindau was a diplomat and als travel author who wrote many novels. He went to California, China, Siam, Japan, India and later to Istanbul. In Yokohama, he founded two newspapers. He also represented Otto von Bismarck in Paris as a press attaché where he also worked for French papers. At age 81, he died in Paris. If anybody wants to write a book on Lindau which would also be suitable as a PhD., please email me!

Heute ist der Tag, an dem Mark Twain, der 1891-92 ein halbes Jahr in Berlin verbracht hat, seinen neuen besten Freund Rudolf Lindau kennenlernte. Lindau war Diplomat und Reiseschriftsteller, der viele Romane schrieb. Er fuhr nach Kalifornien, China, Siam, Japan, Indien und später nach Istanbul. In Yokohama gründete er zwei Zeitungen. Außerdem vertrat er Otto von Bismarck als Presseattaché in Paris, wo er auch für französische Zeitungen arbeitete. In Paris starb er, im Alter von 81 Jahren. Wenn jemand ein Buch über Lindau schreiben möchte, das sich auch als Doktorarbeit eignen würde, bitte eine E-Mail an mich!

https://berlinica.com/americans-in-berlin

12/09/2024

Advent, Advent! This is December 8, and today, you will get a peak into the future! You have 24 hours to guess who wrote this! Link will follow!

To Posterity, Greetings
Dear Reader of the Year 1985:

Through some chance you are rummaging in the library; you come across this volume, pause, and read. Greetings.

I am very self-conscious. You are wearing a suit of a fashion that contrasts greatly with the one I used to wear, and you carry your cranium quite differently too. I make three starts—each time with a different subject; after all, we’ve got to establish contact… Each time I have to give it up again; we don’t understand each other at all. It must be that I am too small; my era reaches up to my neck, my head barely sticks out a little bit above the level of my time… There, I knew it—you’re smiling me down.

Everything about me seems old-fashioned to you: my way of writing and my grammar and my attitude. Oh, don’t slap my back; I don’t like that. I’m trying in vain to tell you how things were with us and how we made out… Nothing… You smile, my voice sounds ineffectively from the past, and you know everything better. Shall I tell you what people in my chronological neck of the woods got excited about? Geneva? A Shaw premiere? Thomas Mann? Television? A steel island in the ocean as an aircraft base? You snort at everything and the dust flies yard-high; you can’t recognize a thing because of all that dust.

Shall l flatter you? I can’t. Of course you haven’t solved the problem “League of Nations or United States of Europe?” Problems, you see, aren’t solved—just shelved—by mankind. Naturally, you have in your daily life three hundred trivial gadgets more than we had, and, for the rest, you are just as stupid, just as smart, just as we were. What of us has remained? Don’t burrow in your memory, among those things you learned in school. What has remained is what stayed by accident, what was so neutral that it made it across; of what is really great, about one half has remained—and no one gives a hoot about that, except, maybe, on Sunday morning, in a museum. It is just as if today I were supposed to speak with a man from the Thirty Years’ War. “Oh? Are you all right? Must have been pretty draughty during the siege of Magdeburg…,” and the other things one says.

I can’t even carry on a high-level conversation with you over the heads of my contemporaries, with the theme: We two understand each other, for you are an intellectual, like me. Alas, my good friend—you are somebody’s contemporary, too. Of course, when I say “Bismarck” and you have to think hard of who that was, I break out in a grin even today. You can’t imagine how proud the people around me are of that man’s immortality. Oh well, let’s drop that. Besides, you’ll want to go and have your lunch now.

So long, then. This paper has turned quite yellow, yellow like the teeth of our county judges—look, the page is crumbling between your fingers; well, it is rather old. Go with God, or whatever you call that thing now. We probably don’t have too much to say to one another, we little people. We are lived out, our essence has passed away with us. The appearance was everything.
Oh yes. I want to shake your hand. For the sake of good manners. And now you’re off.

But let me tell you one more thing: You aren’t any better than we were, or those before us. Not in the least, not in the very least…

12/08/2024

Advent, Advent! On December 7, 1917, the USA declared war on Austria-Hungary, one day after America had declared war on Germany. This broke up the Habsburg Empire and changed the landscape of Eastern Europe: Bosnia came under the control of Serbia and Western Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union, among many other changes. This also destroyed German and Austrian culture in the United States. Victor Berger, an Austrian-American socialist who opposed U.S. entry into World War I, was sentenced to 20 years in a federal prison under the Espionage Act of 1917. From prison, he ran for the House of Representatives. Although he won, he was denied the seat as a convicted felon. Those were the times!

Advent, Advent! Am 7. Dezember 1917 erklärten die USA Österreich-Ungarn den Krieg, einen Tag nachdem Amerika Deutschland den Krieg erklärt hatte. Damit wurde das Habsburgerreich zerschlagen und die Landschaft Osteuropas verändert: Bosnien kam unter die Kontrolle Serbiens und die Westukraine wurde Teil der Sowjetunion, neben vielen anderen Veränderungen. Dadurch wurde auch die deutsche und österreichische Kultur in den Vereinigten Staaten zerstört. Victor Berger, ein österreichisch-amerikanischer Sozialist, der gegen den Eintritt der USA in den Ersten Weltkrieg war, wurde aufgrund des Spionagegesetzes von 1917 zu 20 Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt. Vom Gefängnis aus kandidierte er für das Repräsentantenhaus. Obwohl er gewann, wurde ihm als verurteiltem Straftäter der Sitz verweigert. So waren die Zeiten damals!

https://berlinica.com/germans-in-america

12/07/2024

Advent, Advent! On December 6, Saint Nicolaus brings cookies and chocolate to the children who have been good ... such as myself! If fact, I have a whole table full of chocolate, cookies, and gingerbread. So, in lieu of a gingerbread recipe, you will get a recipe for chocolate love bones!

Advent, Advent! Am 6. Dezember bringt der Heilige Nikolaus den Kindern, die brav waren, Plätzchen und Schokolade ... so wie mir! Ich habe nämlich einen ganzen Tisch voll mit Schokolade, Plätzchen und Lebkuchen. Anstelle eines Lebkuchenrezepts gibt es aber ein Rezept für Schokoladen-Liebesknochen!

https://berlinica.com/the-berlin-cookbook