Card of the Day - 2025-01-07

Erdal Deutsche Hochhauser S.89
Erdal/Kwak [trade : polish : O/S - Germany] "Deutsche Hochhauser" / "German Highrise Buildings" (1928) - S.89

This card may seem out of place but it is the Borsigturm, or Borsig Tower, in Tegel, Berlin, and since it was built, in 1925, it has dominated the skyline across the Tegel area. Actually it was built as part of the August Borsig Locomotive Works, which it is often said were bought out in the early 1930s by AEG - the truth, though, is that on the death of August Borsig the works had passed to his son, who was not so well equipped to deal with the effects of the Great Depression, leading to the bankruptcy of the firm. At this point it was picked up by AEG, and they moved the train making to their own factory, at Henningsdorf.

As far as our theme for this week, after filming for "The Man Who Fell to Earth", David Bowie moved to Los Angeles, and found it hard to stay away from all kinds of temptation. He decided to move, and decided on Europe. In 1976, with his wife, he moved to Switzerland. In August 1976, but soon after relocated to West Berlin, with a friend, fellow musician Iggy Pop. 

Both immersed themselves in the local music, and this resulted in three albums, "Low", "Heroes" and "Lodger", which today are collectively known as the Berlin Trilogy. They are quite experimental, with shattered fragments of songs woven in, even parts of his former songs but played backwards, something which seems to suggest his own state of mind at that time. 

The two friends roomed together part of the time in Schoneberg, moving in and out, until one day they broke up. Both also visited other places, flying in and out of Tegel Airport. It is impossible that they would not have spotted this building as they flew, and they would almost certainly have admired the way that something which by then was fifty years old could look so modern. 

In 1987 David Bowie returned to West Berlin, still a divided city, and held a concert right in front of the Reichstag. The location was no accident, and he hoped that it could be heard across the wall in East Berlin, which, with the amps ramped up to maximum power, it could. 

His final performance in Berlin, by then one city again, was in November 2003, at the Max-Schmeling Halle, as part of his "A Reality Tour", named after his 2003 album. It was a massive tour, visiting almost every part of the globe, and playing over a hundred shows. However in June 2004 he had a heart attack, and the tour was cut short. He planned to return, but in 2006 he was advised not to tour, or to perform live, again.

This set is fascinating, and I have never seen it before. The other cards are : 

  1. Das Borsighaus (1925)
  2. Die Grossmarkthalle Frankfurt a. M. (1928)
  3. Das Kölner Hochhaus (1925)
  4. Das Chile-Haus, Hamburg (1924)
  5. Wilhelm Marx-Haus, Dusseldorf (1924)
  6. Hochhaus des Hannoverschen Anzeigers (1928)
Teuta Hochhauser

Now our building is quite a famous one, as it also appears as card number nine in another set of high buildings ,  "Hochhauser", issued by Fritz Homann with Teuta Margarine. And, many thanks to Stuart Arnold, who supplied this scan, we can see it for ourselves. Now this set is much more comprehensive, and includes not just German buildings, but ones from right across the world, including the Tower of Babel. 

He also adds some info about Teuta Margarine, and Fritz Homann, of Dissen. Now Dissen is in a place called Teutoburger Wald, or the Teutoburg Forest, and that is famous as being the site of a great battle, which is also known as the Varus Disaster. This took place over three days in September, the 8th to the 11th, in 9 A.D., between the attacking Roman forces and the native German ones. In fact the Germans had set up an ambush, and they fought off three legions of men under the charge of Publius Quinctilius Varus, hence the alternate name of the Varus Disaster. The Germans were led by a man called Arminius, or in some reports, called Hermann the Cherusker - and to explain that, it seems like Hermann was the Germanic way of pronouncing Armin [ius], and he was a Chieftain of the Cherusci tribe - however there was something very unusual about him, for he was a German who had not only taken Roman citizenship, but had received Roman military training, which he then used to defeat them in his former homeland. And it was such a rout that the Romans abandoned any plans to press on into Germany. 

What I do not know is whether something happened that altered the feelings of Arminius towards Rome - or whether it was all an elaborate plan because he felt so certain that one day the Romans would be coming for Germany.

Returning to the margarine, the brand name of "Teuta" is almost certainly a double salute to the area of Teutoberg, and maybe even a celebration and a memory of the grand battle The company also had other margarines - "Frihodi", which came from FRItz HOmann DIssen - "Homa", from the first four letters of his surname - and "Fri-homa", from part of his first and second name.

Now "Fri-Homa", whilst not issuing cards, did issue small white plastic models, in various series, and you can marvel at those courtesy of Mokarex/Fri-Homa