Alexandrowka - The Original Russian Colony in Potsdam

Alexandrowka Haus1 : Russisches Restaurant und Teestube

Potsdam, the Hauptstadt of Brandenburg, is no stranger to Russian residents. Stalin himself stayed in a villa nearby (at Babelsberg) when he attended the Potsdam Conference at Cecilienhof between 17th July and 2nd August 1945. In the division of Germany hacked out at that conference, Soviet Russia took a large chunk that included Potsdam itself. The Russian army had quickly moved into the former Nazi barracks at Krampnitz on the north of Potsdam, whilst the army's officers and their families turned the Neuer Garten area into a Soviet Forbidden City where the KGB had their German HQ and a terrifying prison on Leistikowstrasse. The Russian military left after German unification, but it is still not at all unusual to hear locals chatting in Russian.

But these weren't the first Russians to live here. On 29th October 1685 Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, proclaimed the Edict of Potsdam in which he offered to give asylum to protestant Huguenots fleeing for their lives from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by King Louis XIV. Not just asylum, but a plot of land, a business start-up grant, a tax-break, and the assurance that they could set up their own schooling system.

Friedrich Wilhelm was a canny bloke, and invited the immigrants in the hope that they would kick-start the Brandenburg economy after the disaster of the Thirty Years War had flat-lined the population and agriculture of Brandenburg. Potsdam became the place to be in Europe if you wanted a degree of religious freedom, and as well as the persecuted protestants of France, Holland and Bohemia, Russians also flocked here.

But the most lasting impression of Mother Russia in Potsdam (if you discount the Soviet occupation after the war) is the totally charming Russische Kolonie Alexandrowka. Its origins go back to 1812; Prussia had been conquered by Napoleon, and a forced alliance was uneasily forged between France and Prussia against Russia. More than a thousand Russian prisoners of War were brought back to Potsdam, but if you know the background to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture you will know that Napolen's Russian campaign ended in disaster, and the badly damaged Grand Armée was forced to withdraw.

Sixty Two of the Russian prisoners of War remained in Potsdam, and from these a choir was formed for the amusement of the King (Friedrich Wilhelm III) and the Prussian First Foot Regiment. Prussia and Russia then allied against France in Spring 1813, and Tsar Alexander I allowed the remaining Russian prisoners to be incorporated into the Prussian Foot Regiment. The choir was allowed to keep on going as entertainment, and to make up for the loss to the regiment, the Tsar supplied Russian Grenadiers to make up the shortfall.

On the death of Tsar Alexander I in 1825, only twelve of the Russian choir remained in Potsdam. In memory of the deep bonds of friendship that Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia had made with the dead Tsar, FWIII resolved to create a colony in Potsdam for the Russian choir and their families to live in. Twelve farms were built to the north of Potsdam, in an area shaped like a horse racetrack, intersected with two roads forming a saltire of St Andrew (apart from Scotland, St Andrew is also national saint of Russia (and Greece)). At the intersection of the cross, a Sergeant's House was built.

Each farm was furnished with a purpose-built wooden block-house after the Russian style, and a large orchard garden, and a cow. The farms were legally bound not to be sold, leased or sublet, and to be passed down the male line of each family.

Orchards at Alexandrowka

More orchards at Alexandrowka.
It's just like something by Chekov!

A Russian Orthodox church dedicated to St Alexander Nevsky (Tsar Alexander's patron saint) was built on a hill nearby.

Alexander-Newski-Gedächtniskirche

The church is a small, exotic, rather pink building designed St. Petersburg court architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov with neo-classical additions by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. It is well worth the haul up Kepellenberg to visit (and afterwards you might as well continue further up the hill to the Bellevue with its magnificent views over Potsdam and the Havell). Apparently this little church still administers to the spiritual needs of a thousand Russian Orthodox believers in the area; I just hope they don't all turn up for a service at once.

Alexander-Newski-Gedächtniskirche

Alexander-Newski-Gedächtniskirche

In 1861 the last singer in the choir died. In 1927, a hundred years after the founding of the colony, only four of the original families were still living there, and by then the colony was the private property of the House of Hohenzollern (i.e. the Kaiser). At the time of the Soviet land reform (die Bodenreform of September 1945, when all private property over 100 hectares were taken by the state and redistributed as publicly owned estates or  Volkseigene Güter - VEG), there were only two families who were direct descendents of the original singers.

Nowadays, only the family Grigorieff lives in Alexandrowka, the rest of the houses being in private ownership.

The colony has been much restored and should be on the itinerary of  any trip to Potsdam. Especially recommended is the Russian restaurant and Teestube at Haus 1 where you can eat Russian snacks or meals, washed down with Russian beer, vodka, or a samovar of tea.

In the tea / beer garden at Alexandrowka Haus1

Russian tea, beer, and assorted biscuits!

Freundschaftsinsel Potsdam - The Island of Friendship

„Wer Träume verwirklichen will, muss wacher sein und tiefer träumen als andere“ - Karl Foerster

"Those who want to fulfil their dreams, must be awake and dream deeper than others"

I think that many visitors to Potsdam will arrive at the Hauptbahnhof and jump on a tram to take them to the Old Town centre, or a bus to Sansoucci Park. That is a shame, because they will be missing out on one of Potsdam's little gems, the by turns inspiring and relaxing public park on the Freundshaftsinsel, or Island of Friendship.

This lies in the middle of the Havel, and is accessible by a wide green Westerly path from die Lange Brücke - the busy main road over the bridge into Potsdam town centre.

The island gets its name from a guest-house that used to be on the island 150 years ago. It became a garden showcase through the work of the garden philosopher and perennial grower Karl Foerster, who set up teaching gardens here between 1937 and 1940.

It was restored for the 2001 Bundesgartenshcau (BUGA), and with the restoration of the Nikolaikirche and Altes Rathaus, as well as the rebuilding of the Stadtschloss as the new Brandenburg Parliament Building, it is being further developed and growing in beauty.

Here are some photos taken there on a sunny Saturday in May.

Sculpture dedicated to Karl Foerster, with the inscription
„Wer Träume verwirklichen will, muss wacher sein und tiefer träumen als andere“

Beltane Biking in Brandenburg

It's May Day at last! The sun is out and the skies are blue, the lark's on the wing, and we're on our bikes.

This beautiful Beltane morn we took a Regional Express North West out of Berlin to Paulinenaue, with the plan of cycling to Rathenow and catching the train back again. Most of the cycling was done on the Havelland Radweg; it was created on the former route of a light railway, so mostly straight and flat.

One of our stops was the picturesque village of Ribbeck, famous for the minor gentry von Ribbeck family who were squires of hereabouts and lived in the Schloss at the heart of the village.

Schloss Ribbeck
l-r the flags of Germany, Brandenburg, and Havelland

Built in 1893 in neo-Baroque style to replace a one-storey cottage, this was the Herrenhaus of the von Ribbeck family until 1943 when it was occupied by the Luftwaffe (there is still an airfield nearby at Bienenfarm). So began the persecution of the Ribbeck family, whose head Hans von Ribbeck was an outspoken critic of the Nazis and ended his life murdered at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

Schloss Ribbeck

During the DDR times the Schloss was knocked around a lot, and was used as a nursing home from 1956 to 2004. It is now in the ownership of the district of Nauen and houses a museum to the life and works of Theodor Fontane as well as having a fine restaurant.

Entrance to the Schloss Restaurant and Museum

( I say fine restaurant, and for sure adults can choose dishes such as 'gebratene Kalbsleber Ribbecker art mit sautierten Birnen - fried calf's liver Ribbeck style, with sauteed pears (€13,80) or Lammcarree an Prinzessbohnen mit Salbei-gnocchi und schwarze Johannesbeer-jus - rack of lamb on green beans with sage gnocchi and blackcurrent sauce (€16,20). But on the Kinderkarte the children get to choose from such things as Hänchennuggets mit Pommes Frittes und Tomatenketchup - chicken nuggets with chips and tomato ketchup (€6,50) - and Kartoffelpuffer mit Birnenmus - fried potato patties with puréed pear (€4,80). There is, needless to say, no vegetarian menu.)

Sculptures at Schloss Ribbeck

The Schloss has a number of pear trees planted around it (you can see the white-painted trunks in the photo above), which are gifts from each of the Federal States of Germany. Also some peculiar reclining nude statues.

Sculptures representing the River Havell

These apparently represent the River Havell - sort of like the Rhine Maidens of Wagner's 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' I suppose. There are plaques embedded in the brick river naming major towns along the way.

Adjacent to Schloss Ribbeck is a memorial to the fallen of the First World War, quite nicely executed for a change, and without the almost obligatory eagle. I don't know why but I always look to see if there are any Gilmours recorded - funnily enough, I've never seen one yet.
(I don't really. The chances of a Scottish Gilmour turning up in early Twentieth Century Brandenburg are very very slim).

First World War Memorial

Also on the village green is the Alte Schule cafe:

View towards the Alte Schule

This was built by the squire of Ribbeck in 1841, the Old School now serves home-made cooking below the old linden (lime) trees.

Alte Schule - Unter den Linden
Like your yellow trousers there mate. Not.

No village green is complete without an old church, and Ribbeck has a pretty salmon-pink one. A church was first built here in the 14th Century, but what you see is an extensive renovation from 2002.

die Alte Dorfkirche

That church again

Next to the church is the old Wash-house (laundry). In the 1920's it was converted into a garage to house the new-fangled cars for the von Ribbeck family, and later several families lived here. Since 2008 it has housed a craft shop and small cafe, where you can buy pear tarts (Birnentorten) and drink coffee surrounded by bloomers drying on the washing line.

Kaffee und Hofladen im alten Waschhaus

Old Laundry. The pears on the tree to the right there are tied onto the branches with string!

Behind the wash-house is the former Gutshof - estate farm is the translation I guess - a large open square with a small stand of chestnut trees in the centre. Here there is an impressive cow shed and grain barn, and signs for a Barfußpfad, a path along which you can experience the senses through your bare feet. As our feet were sensing the cobble stones of theGuthof through our shoes well enough thank you, we gave it a miss. It was delightful standing there in the sun watching house martins soar in and out of those ventilation holes in the wattle and daub walls of the giant barn.

Old Barn and Bare-Foot-Path

It was all very idyllic, and conjured up a care-free time when Germans lived off the land in small communities like this, a huddle of estate farms attached to a Schloss and watched over by a benevolent squire. It is a rose-tinted glasses view of the past of course, but comforting to the spirit on a peaceful May Day.

Ribbech Guthof

The only sign of the encroachment of the Industrial Revolution on this village is the Alte Brennerai, built in 1850. At one time it produced 114,000 litres per year of distilled potato alcohol. Now, freshly renovated, it produces pear vinegar and pear liquor. I hope they let the storks finish nesting on top of that chimney before they start the distilling, otherwise the storks will be overcome with hot, boozy fumes!

Alte Brennerei, Ribbeck

It is clear that the village has had a lot of money pumped into it since re-unification. A lot of this has come from the surviving members of the von Ribbeck family, who whilst not being lords of the manor any more, have returned to the village and built a home in 1998 in the former coach house and stables. Actually, the money has come partly from a settlement with the State over a reparations claim for having their property seized by the Nazis.

A memory of the von Ribbecks is kept alive by a small family cemetery south of the Schloss. It was created with the death of three children aged four, five and eleven years in 1893. Their three small crosses bear witness to the effects of diphtheria which took the lives of Werner, Margaret and Ernestine. They were children of Hans Georg von Ribbeck Henning and his wife, whose grave stone is in the center of the cemetery. They were also brothers and sisters of the last Lord of Ribbeck, Hans Georg Karl Anton von Ribbeck.

Der Familienfriedhof

There is a granite stone memorial to Hans Georg Karl Anton von Ribbeck, who was murdered at Sachsenhausen by the Nazis:

Memorial to the last Squire of Ribbeck

Gravestone of Marie-Agnes von Ribbeck
Also the last resting place of Hans?

Anyway. Does somebody keep mentioning pears around here? And why is there a museum to the life and works of Theodor Fontane in the Schloss? The answer is because there is a famous poem called 'Herr von Ribbeck auf Ribbeck im Havelland' by the 19th Century German poet and novelist Fontane. He was himself very famous for his picturesque travelogue ' Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg', and you can't move in Brandenburg without bumping into references to him (even the weekly Brandenburg TV news-magazine programme is called Theodor).

The poem 'Herr von Ribbeck auf Ribbeck im Havelland' tells the tale of a gentle and generous Squire von Ribbeck from Ribbeck who often gave away pears from his pear trees to passing young boys and girls (clean your thoughts at the back there!). He knows his son and heir to be a bit of a Scrooge though, so when he feels his time has come, the squire asks that a pear be put in his grave. This occurs, and from the seeds in the pear a pear-tree quickly grows, and continues providing free pears to children.

You can read the poem in translation here.

And in the church-yard you can see ...

Not Herr von Ribbeck's pear tree.

Well no, that isn't the actual pear tree sprouting from the grave of Herr von Ribbeck; that tree was sadly destroyed by a storm on 20 February 1911. This pear-tree was planted in its place in 2000.

Nice story though, and with it we continued on our 45km route to Rathenow.

And how far approximately were we from Berlin on our journey? Oh, about 60km according to this milestone! (That's my new bike from Christmas by the way. We bought each other one for presents, and because of the rotten weather we haven't rid them very far yet!)

60 km bis Berlin