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Traces of Germany in Lebanon

Traces of Germany in Lebanon © Goethe-Institut Libanon

For centuries, Lebanon stood on the sidelines of world history, but at the same time, it was an important point of transit and a land of great allure for many: crusaders and pilgrims, novelists and salespeople, jewel thieves and marriage scammers, terrorists, engineers and artists from Germany. Germans and their inventions helped laying the cornerstone for the country’s modern infrastructure and its booming music and film industry. 

What do Kaiser Wilhelm II, the author Karl May and the Red Army Faction terrorists have in common? They all came to Lebanon and made their mark on the land of cedars. The project shines a light on the history of German-Lebanese interactions and shows that encounters between Lebanese and German people are not a new thing, but part of a shared past.

Traces of Germany in Lebanon © Goethe-Institut Libanon

For centuries, Lebanon stood on the sidelines of world history, but at the same time, it was an important point of transit and a land of great allure for many: crusaders and pilgrims, novelists and salespeople, jewel thieves and marriage scammers, terrorists, engineers and artists from Germany. Germans and their inventions helped laying the cornerstone for the country’s modern infrastructure and its booming music and film industry. 

What do Kaiser Wilhelm II, the author Karl May and the Red Army Faction terrorists have in common? They all came to Lebanon and made their mark on the land of cedars. The project shines a light on the history of German-Lebanese interactions and shows that encounters between Lebanese and German people are not a new thing, but part of a shared past.

Film shot in downtown Beirut © 1981 Eberhard Junkersdorf

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 “Die Fälschung” / “Circle of Deceit” – Film and Reality Blend Together in Beirut

In 1980, the German director Volker Schlöndorff was at a crossroads: he had just become the first German to win an ‘Oscar’ for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ for his Bertolt Brecht adaptation “The Tin Drum” and a successful career in Hollywood awaited him.
Keys and firm name on the front of the Kaps grand piano © Goethe-Institut Libanon

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 Kaps – A Grand Piano from Dresden in the Chouf Mountains

Despite its modest size, Lebanon is a country rich in historical landmarks. One of the main attractions of the cedar state, besides the columns of Baalbek and Byblos Port, is the magnificent Beiteddine Palace, from which the Ottoman Empire ruled over Mount Lebanon. 

 
Consulate report about the Mögtling couple © GStaPK, III. HA MdA, III Nr. 14128, fasc.1

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 German consular records: Jewellery thieves and swindlers

The records of the German consulates are a real treasure trove of anecdotes and interesting little stories. Depending on when they were recorded, these are preserved in either the Secret State Archive or the Foreign Office’s Political Archive in Berlin.


 
The Orient-Institut Beirut Image courtesy of the Orient-Institut Beirut

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 German Research in the Heart of Lebanon: The Orient-Institut Beirut

Every first Wednesday evening of the month, the doctoral fellows of the Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB) hold an “Open Garden”. The popular gathering for young researchers and friends of the institute is a good opportunity to meet new people and exchange views on working and living in Lebanon. 
Hotel Gassmann in Beirut

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 “Everything Is So Clean It Gleams and Sparkles.” German-run Hotels and Restaurants in Lebanon

Blaich, Gaßmann, Unger. For anyone with an interest in German traces in Beirut, there’s no getting past these prominent family names, which were known well beyond the confines of the ‘German colony’ in the first half of the 20th century. 
Bauer film projectors in front of Metro al-Medina variety theatre © Goethe-Institut Libanon

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 Memories of the “Most Famous Promenade in the Middle East” – Bauer Film Projectors in Hamra

In the year 2002, the Saroulla closed its doors for business once and for all. It had been one of the most popular cinemas in Beirut in the 1960s, but the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) and the emergence of huge cinema complexes in its aftermath took a heavy toll on the small cinema. 
Karl May © Anonymous

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 Kara Ben Nemsi in Quarantine: Karl May Visits Lebanon

The most famous protagonist in our selection has to be Karl May (1842-1912), the author of the famous Winnetou and Kara Ben Nemsi adventure novels. May has often been accused of never having seen the landscapes that provide the backdrops for his novels himself, but rather ‘copied’ scientific travel reports and other travel writing. But this is only partly true.
Entrance tot he Baz Palace in Deir EL Qamar © Goethe-Institut Libanon

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 The Baz Family – German Nobility in Lebanon

These days, only few visitors stray into the Marie Baz Wax Museum, housed in the old Fakhreddine Palace in Deir el-Qamar. The centuries-old palace houses more than 40 lifelike wax figures, spread over several storeys. These figures are representations of the most important figures in Lebanese history. 
Ruins of the Tyros Cathedral © Goethe-Institut Libanon

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 On the Trail of Barbarossa – The Remains of the German Emperor in Tyre?

In April 1874, the Upper Bavarian church historian and politician Johann Nepomuk Sepp, along with a small group of German scholars and adventurers, embarked on an expedition to the Middle East. They were on a ‘mission for Germany’ to which the Imperial Chancellor Bismarck himself had given his blessing. 
Mugshot of the impostor Walter Schmerl Image courtesy of Political Archives of the Foreign Ministry, Konsulat Beirut, packet 86, page 18, special dossier impostors with passport, L. Buchholz-Walter Schmerl, Count of Kalkreuth

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 The Imposter of the Middle East – Walter Schmerl

This is the tale of a brazen con artist, who used a series of false identities to cause havoc throughout the entire Middle East early in the 1930s. 
The Imperial Postoffice in Beirut at the beginning of the 20th century Image courtesy of Museumsstiftung für Post und Telekommunikation

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 The German Post Office in Beirut

It’s unknown if mail coaches, which are enshrined in German collective memory by a famous folk song, ever rolled through the streets of Beirut. We also don’t know exactly where in Beirut the ‘Kaiserlich-Deutsches Postamt’ (Imperial German Post Office) was located at the beginning of the 20th century. 
Camp of tents in Baalbek Image courtesy of Wolf Dieter Lemke

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 Kaiser Wilhelm II: The ‘Travelling Emperor’ in Baalbek

It’s no secret that Kaiser Wilhelm II enjoyed travelling. In times of peace the head of state was rarely to be found in Potsdam or Berlin; more often he resided in one of the German spa towns or ventured out on extended journeys within Europe. 
German barracks on the Rayak airfield © Goethe-Institut Libanon/Christian Kirchen

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 Rayak Air Base – It Began With a Sand Runway

The Lebanese Air Force proudly presents Rayak Air Base in the Beqaa Valley as the birthplace of the Lebanese Air Force in 1949. It is widely known that the air base was under French control during the French Mandate between 1920 and 1943.
Abandoned G8 steam train fallen into disrepair in the ruins of the train station and factory in Riyaq © Goethe-Institut Libanon

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 Lebanon’s German G 8 steam trains

Perhaps the Prussian workmen building G 8 steam trains at the turn of the 20th century saw them for what they were – symbols of Europe entering the modern age and a young Germany’s increasingly significant place in it.
Keystone above the entrance to the former German parish house on campus of École Supérieure des Affaires © Goethe-Institut Libanon

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 The Johanniter Hospital in Beirut

The history of healthcare in Beirut also exhibits connections to Germany. This is because until the end of World War I, the grounds of the modern-day École Superieure des Affaires (ESA) used to be the site of the Johanniter Hospital, which was funded through donations by the Order of St. John and was inaugurated on 7 January 1867.
Ingrid Siepmann © Copyright bitte noch ergänzen

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 The Red Army Faction – Encounters with Phantoms

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the political mood in Germany was very tense. On 7 November 1968, the final day of the Christian Democratic Party congress, Beate Klarsfeld slapped German Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger in the face with cameras rolling and accused him of being a ‘Nazi’ due to lingering questions regarding his past.
Crusader © Goethe-Institut, Otto von Bodenlauben

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 The Minnesinger and the Beautiful Beatrix

It all sounds like straight out of a fairy tale: a German count – widely known as a minnesinger, the German equivalent of a troubadour – joins a crusade headed for the ‘Holy Land’ where he sweeps a young French countess off her feet (although she had already been promised to another count).
1972 Olympic Games in Munich: Silver Medal © Goethe-Institut Libanon

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 Lebanon at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich

When Mohamed Khair Tarabulsi boarded the plane to Munich in the summer of 1972, he was at his athletic peak. He had spent the past several weeks building up his strength and endurance and working on his technique. 
„The Strand“ in al-Hamra © Goethe-Institut Libanon

Traces of Germany in Lebanon
 Stranded in the Hamra District: RAF Terrorists at the ‘Strand’ Hotel in Beirut

“My name is Mahler. As a lawyer, it is my legal opinion that West Berlin isn’t part of the Federal Republic, an independent political unit, and therefore, a simple West Berlin ID card is valid.”
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