2021-04 - Blog Posts

Busy week done! Lots of work especially on Wednesday, and helping Vent d'Est organise their mah-jong tournament on Sunday to cap it off. We were on the boat in the foreground of this photo taken a few years ago - yep, still there today. A more flattering angle for the river, at a greener time of year, below.

Palais Universitaire de Strasbourg

In 1870, a broad coalition of German nations waged a war against France. Napoleon III's Second French Empire fell swiftly, and the Second German Reich formed on the back of this victory, with a Kaiser at its head. Germany annexed Alsace and Moselle, and had particularly grand plans for Strassburg, the capital of the region. While the city centre on the island was repaired after heavy shelling, the Germans decided to develop around it. To the North, the Neustadt, "New Town", was built, with, at its core, a wide avenue with a palatial residence for the Kaiser at one end, and a University Palace at the other, the storefront of a brand new campus complex. It's still part of the university today, with classrooms and all.

Completed in 1884 in a neo-Renaissance style as a monument to Germany's newfound power, the Palace is richly decorated with statues, ranging from effigies of Germania and Argentina - no relation, the Roman settlement at Strasbourg was called Argentoratum -, and historical figures of German science and thought: below, theologist Martin Luther, mathematician Gottfried von Leibniz, astronomer Johannes Kepler and educator Johannes Sturm. Though probably not a direct response, the Eiffel Tower would provide a similar list of French greats a few years later.

France regained Alsace following World War I, and would de-germanify several buildings in the Neustadt area. The home of Germania insurances became the Gallia building, and the effigy of Germania, restored below, was removed from the University Palace. A similar process would be undertaken in 1945, after Alsace was once again be annexed by Germany in 1940 - the University Palace would need de-nazifying.

However, a few symbols remain as a reminder of the Nazi oppression. In the grand hall, called the Aula, a subtle swastika appears among the geometric patterns on the floor. It sits in a corner, as lonesome as it is loathsome. I thought I had a picture of that swastika, but looking through my folders, I don't appear to have taken photos of the interior at all. I seem to remember thinking "nah, it's weird to take pictures of Nazi swastikas". It's still weird, right?