PALACE OF POTSDAM

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 240, 11 July 1928, Page 3

PALACE OF POTSDAM

THE KAISER’S IMPERIAL HOME Dominion Special Service. (By Nellie M. Scanlan.) Berlin, May 14. When Kaiser Wilhelm left his Palace at Potsdam in August, 1914, to direct his armies in the 'field, he expected'to return to it in triumph, the conqueror of Europe. . The Kaiser never returned. As .he drove out proudly that day, he took his last 'look at his Imperial home—his last look on earth, for he will never be permitted to return. The Kaiser made/many .mistakes,' but in German eyes he made two unpardonable ones. He deserted his army in the field before the end of the war, and went to seek sanctuary in Holland, afraid to face his own people, a vanquished monarch. Even that they might have forgiven. They might have deemed him illadvised. But his second marriage sealed his fate. Even dead, many will be reluctant to see him brought. back for burial. <

The Kaiserin had been a good woman. For 39 years she had been his. wife, and beloved by the people. She died in exile with him at Doorn in 1922, and the German people brought her home. But the Kaiser was not even permitted to cross the German border to accompany her. Alone she returned, brought in solemn state for burial in the Mausoleum in the Palace grounds. Ten months later,’the Kaiser married again—married an old sweetheart of his, H German Princess, and for that supreme indignity, that final indiscretion, the people will not pardon him. Potsdam is about 36 miles from Berlin, and practically an island, as the Havel River arid a chain of lakes surround it. .It is quite a large town, with a population of, about 58,000 people. The great barracks of the horse guards and hussars, the Kaiser’s crack regiments, where before the war 10,000 men were quartered, are now practically deserted. Only two or three hundred ■ soldiers now remain. Potsdam was the cradle of the Prussian army, and the foundation of its fairie and splendour was laid by Frederick the-Great. : '' • To-day the great-palaces are empty, the rooms are silent, save when a trial of tourists tramp the dust' of many nations into the polished floors. The palaces are show places, of , the new Republic, and may be viewed on the pajrinent of one mark (Is.). The old war-time hate is dead. After ten years one has 5 a clearer vision,; a truer perspective. . Yet memories of those years would rise to-day as I stood in .the Palace of Potsdam. To-day in Germany one talks quite coolly and dispassionately about the war. The Germans bear us no ill-will; there is no rancour. Indeed, of Continental countries, they appear the most courteous, the most kindly. Potsdam!! How we hated the name. And now, as a curious spectator I walk through its gaudy halls, its, gracious gardens with its lilac and. pale, new leaves, painting a picture of spring, of hope. How different. To reach Potsdam one takes a motorcar down the UnterDen Linden, through the Brandegburg Gate, along the Charlottenburg Chausse, a wonderful road through the Tiergarden. The Tiergarden is a park of 500 acres in the very heart of Berlin,' with paths and pools, and flowers and statuary.Later wc picked up the Bismarck Strasse, a magnificent road 24 miles long. We did not .traverse the whole length. Long before the end of it we had deserted the car for a motor-boat, and continued the journey to Potsdam along the Havel’s winding course. It took us through lake-like stretches, by the Grunewald (Green Wood), a forest of firs and pines, and the lacey new green of chestnut and elm, and an occasional poplar tree. Splendid homes looked but through the curtain of pines, and many private launches and yachts were tugging at their moorings. An hour and a half sailing, and the towers of Potsdam held, up . their heads above the trees. The glory that is Potsdam owes its conception to Frederick the Great. He built for his summer residence the Palace of San Souci. A singular - palace this, a long building, just one ctory high,. feumouijted by a

dome. It is built upon rising ground. One side looks out through a semi-cir-cular colonade of. Corinthian pillars. From this eminence the ground drops away suddenly to ■ a great basin and fountain below, and ■ rises again to the site of the artistic water tower across the narrow valley. The great windmill, which was here before- the palace and which the owner refused to sell to Frederick, still survives. ’ ’ On the other side, San Souci looks out upon a flight of six wide terraces, with trees and gardens, and the front of each terrace is glassed in with vines. At the foot of the terraces is a great basin in which goldfish swim, but the fountain no longer plays. . • ■ Voltaire was a great friend of Frederick the Great,.and was his guest at San Souci .for six years, and most of the shelves in, the library are filled with Voltaire’s works. For his distinguished French guest, Frederick had ■ a special room prepared, and to-day it remains as in those the deep cream walls garlanded in fruit and flowers, parrots and monkeys, all ca wed ■ in' wood and painted in natural colours. For his guest he also had- a specially beautiful set of toilet china made. Knowing his guest’s weakness — an aversion to water and a love of powder —he ordered a very tiny basin and a powder box as large as an entree dish. Frederick the Great was very fond of dogs, and all -his hounds and his favourite horse are buried outside San Souci, at one end of the terrace. It was his wish to be buried on' the opposite side, but his successor though it undignified for so great a monarchs to have equal burial with his hounds. . So they buried him in the church of St. Nicholas, where-his father liss. When Napoleon visited San Souci fie asked that-, the lid might■ be removed from the vault,' that he. might look upon the remains 'of Frederick the Great. . In this church where the Kaiser regularly attended service, sitting with his sons in the gallery, while the Kaiserin and her ladies sat below, hang all the flags of the now disbanded German regiments. The carving under the altar is a helmet and crossed swords, and around the nulnit also the decorations are more military than spiritual in significance, and a carved eagle surmounts the end ot each pew. ' , ' J The' object that , struck, me most was a giant Iron Cross hung upon the wall. This, however, was not made of iron. Into it had been driven thousands of black or silver nails. The whole surface had been symmetrically studded at one time. I understand that this patriotic task cost a mark —a mark to drive a nail. But the band of silver which had been .filled with silver nails, is now but a series of perforations. The silver nails have - been withdrawn, to melt down, so I was told, to help the poor. Kaiser Wilhelm never lived at San Souci, with its'7oo acres of park,, its fountains and its statuary. He'preferred the New Schloss (Palace) nearby, which was built by Frederick the Great after the Seven Years’ Prussi n War. Frederick has been dead long enough for the guide to make sly allusions to his fancy for the cook, a buxom lady, whose portraits by famous artists - hung .in several of the rooms. A monarch must be very dead before gossip becomes history. ■ There are two hundred rooms in the New Palace at Potsdam, most of-them mere shells of gilt and tapestry, ornate chandeliers, and a few priceless pieces. Much of the furniture, which bad belonged to the Kaiser personally, had been removed to soften his exile in Holland. He could not strip the walls of their silver and silken tapestry, nor denude them of the Watteau, the Reubens, the Van Dyke, and'all the art of France, Holland, and Italy, which had been collected by his great predecessor. We were given huge felt slippers for the voyage through several-rooms of magnificent parquet floors, and over the polished surfaces we sailed —floors inlaid with wonderful woods, and always a note of black in the design. There were tables of lapis-lazuli, of tortoiseshell and silver. Massive wood carvirfgs were painted in silver or gilt, while fruit and flowers were stained to natural colourings. And there was a private theatre, in crimson and gold, where command performances were given. Most palaces are alike, but at Potsdam there was one singular room —the chell room. Large and square, with a low

vaulted ceiling, the walls- were cement with silver dust, and inlaid with sea shells. There-were“shells.of everykind and from every country, the flat ones used as jnosaic/ the ornate ones arranged in clusters.' . ... ■ x Twelve fountains, set amidst statuary, in half-moon pools - around the walls, glittered -under the brilliant lights bn festive occasions. In audition to the, shells, there was a wide border of semi-precious stones, metals, great uncut blocks of amethyst, smoked-opal, petrified wood like amber, and lapis lazuli, and a dozen other rare and beautiful stones. The wonderful blue of the lapis,. the 1 pieces often eight or ten inches across, shone like vivid blue eyes from dim- corners. These stones were just set roughly in cement, like the old broken china craze of ye 3 ? B ago, and formed a border, breast high, around the entire room. It was interesting, but grotesque, this room, and do one but a . fish could possibly feel at home in it. Everywhere id the park lilac was bursting into bloom, lilac of every shade. All, was neatness and order, vet no - armv of gardeners was risible. And in the big detached kitchen, where the favourite of Frederick the Great cooked his splendid meals, and many a roval banquet had been prepared for ■the ex-Kaiser’ Wilhelm, . the sister of Isadore' Duncan now teaches dancing..