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 The Seven Swabians - Berlin
N 52° 29.434 E 013° 18.887
33U E 385581 N 5816936
A monument of some famous Grimm Brother fairy tail characters
Waymark Code: WMZZT6
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date Posted: 01/29/2019
Views: 2
The Seven Swabians are famous/infamous characters from a German fairy tale. Although the story is generally attributed to the Brothers Grimm who included it in the second volume of their collection of German fairy tales, the story is much older. It was first recorded by baroque poet Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof in his story collection "Wendunmuth" in 1563.
The iron larger than life statue of the Seven Svabians at Berlin's Fehrbellin Square was created by sculptor Hans-Georg Damm in 1978.
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The Seven Swabians in a painting by Georg Mühlberg, 1900
Source: goethezeitportal.de
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The Seven Swabians at Fehrbellin Square, Berlin
Source: our picture |
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The Seven Swabians are seven doltish, timid characters who decide to travel around the world, carrying one long spear for protection. Along their way they first encounter a bee and later a hare. Their imagination makes them believe that these creatures are fierce monsters. Eventually, they all drown in River Mosel.
In spite of their unfavorable characteristics, the Seven are very popular all over Germany and many towns in Swabia (a South German region) hold annual parades for them.
On the other hand, the Swabians have been (undeserved) the target of many a joke about dumb people. |
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And the jokes never stop. During our visit in 2016, we noticed that behind the statue of the seven dumbest people in German literature, there was an election campaign poster by one of Germany's leading political parties, showing their seven - yes seven - leading candidates for the Berlin Senate. The poster is an original that could be seen all over Berlin. But in this particular place, it was put there by their main opposition - a very typical example of Berlin's dry humor!
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Character Type: Literature
Character originator: Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof
Internet Link: [Web Link]
Address or Location:
Fehrbelliner Platz
10707 Berlin, Germany
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