Last year I received a small book as a present, which I read only briefly, but then with increasing interest several times. It was about `Berlin painters poets’. Günther Bruno Fuchs and also Günther Grass are represented in this booklet. But it was especially the story of the Reldiez Museum by Hans-Joachim Zeidler that perhaps only a few know. And since then, my biggest wish had been to get to know this museum. And a few weeks ago, I was fortunate that the road led me to Berlin. And of course my first thought was to visit that museum.
But since Hans-Joachim Zeidler also mentioned the arsenal of the Schrebergärten and the Boulettenmuseum, I decided, as a cultural starter, to look at these two sights, first. But there were two disappointments here. Despite eager searching and stubborn questioning, I could not find the arsenal of the allotments. The last Urberliner, who could have told me, was unfortunately, like the Neanderthal, extinct. Although I found the Boulette Museum, it now belongs to the McDonalds chain, so I decided not to visit it.
After all, it succeeded me, and that was my main concern, too
Locate the Reldiez Museum. Even if it had not been so easy. Because only in Kreuzberg, I found an old Turk, who showed me the way to the museum in his new German and against a good baksheesh.
I did not ask myself or the old Turk why he knew about it. Apparently, Allah’s ways, in fact, are unexplorable.
Well, I do not want to go into more detail about what Hans-Joachim Zeidler has already described in detail in’Berliner Malerpoeten’, and thus the
Reldiez Museum has spread far beyond the borders of Alt-Reinickendorf, where it is located. However, I would like to mention that I had the good fortune and the honor to see Ignaz von Reldiez, the great collector and art patron, only from afar, but personally. Although he is still very sprightly, according to the circumstances, it is not to be overlooked that the tooth of time, which unfortunately still could not be drawn, had gnawed at him.
Even though criticism is a thing of the past, I would like to express my surprise that neither Hans-Joachim Zeidler nor a newspaper has reported that the museum has been expanded. In fact, it was possible to use a few intermediate spaces that were previously unknown and to make the still unknown rarities, which until then had been under dust, accessible to the public. In order to make this part of the museum better known, I would like to briefly report on it. As far as empathy and style go, I fall far short of the report by Hans-Joachim Zeidler. Incidentally, the Reldiez Museum is still excluded today from any state and municipal subsidies. Which is not a good sign for Berlin.
When I entered the museum, I was, as far as I could tell, the only visitor. However, I was credibly assured by the museum servant, which I will discuss later, that this is the exception rather than the rule.
The new rooms were rather purely practical aspects, furnished for the collection. On the walls were shelves that did not tower above a man’s height. In the middle, in each case, a large table on which lay a multitude of various objects, each with an information leaflet. And despite trying to give a good overview, there seemed to be more items than the museum could handle. As soon as I entered the first room, I almost stumbled upon an object that turned out to be a section of Jacob’s Ladder. Also, in a corner, a few impatient queues were of considerable size. And it took a long time for the eye to get used to the variety of things.
Despite the inscriptions, the museum servant with his explanations was a big help for me. So, among other things, when I looked at the clappers of Schiller’s bell, I learned that shortly after they were completed, they were melted down again and poured into a cannon that had been used to shoot sparrows. The museum servant added that it was not “ Fat Bertha ”. It is indeed difficult to say which were the most interesting objects; although some immediately caught the eye. So the egg of Columbus, which, what was new to me, was fried by mistake. Next to it were a few pieces of music by Johann Sebastian Bach and the broken jug, which, well, you know it yourself. Another version is that it is Kleist’s broken jug,
Despite the fairly good overview, the objects were not divided into subject groups and this made the attraction of the exhibition. There were, for example, beside the pearls that had been thrown before the sows, but now cleaned, stuffed white mice, the drinkers had seen in delirium. And this was surrounded by a vicious circle that you can not get out of.
Speaking of drinkers; on a large picture, which took up an entire wall, was a coffin, with a few beer and Schnappsfahnen half mast left and right to see. I noticed the museum servant drying his damp eye and secretly taking his daily medicine from a small bottle. In the vernacular, these things are called, as far as I am informed, flask men. The museum servant, by the way named Gustav, must have known this person.
To mention is also the record collection. Although small, it is very interesting. On one of the already scratched disks, in the dust-covered grooves, was the three-time scream of the rooster after Peter had betrayed the Lord. As well as his bitter weeping as he went out. On another disc, the latest fad was heard. Whether from Paris or Rome, faithful Gustav could not tell me that. There was also a march that someone had blown.
Especially honored was the record, with the hour that beats us all once. With a personal dedication Hemingways.
On one of the tables, our two classics from Weimar were also represented. I immediately recognized Goethe’s Faust; defying and Prometheus clenched. Next to it lay a glove that, according to Schiller, a knight of a noble damme had thrown in his face instead of handing it over to Minneart.
Of course, such a tour is too tired, because you can not absorb everything with equal intensity. But I was compensated by the third and last room on the Greatest. Right next to the front door was the small photo department. And the pictures there were really a rarity.
There was, for example, the photo of the world champion in the fling, as he stands in victory pose, on the podium. Besides two pictures that were both artistic and up-to-date. The first showed a great prospect of better times; the second, that there will be none. There was also a picture of Marcel Proust; In Search of Lost Time. I wanted to ask Gustav something, but he was a few steps behind me and took another sip of medicine from his small bottle On a shelf in a box lay a mayfly, which had reached the biblical age of three days. Then I noticed a meat grinder, which caught my attention. I asked Gustav what this item meant, because no explanatory note had been made. He raised his left shoulder, and explained to me that this wolf allegedly made Rotkäppchen and her grandmother. He himself does not believe it, because the Brothers Grimm had reported none of it. Next to the meat grinder, lay the Hans sausage; cut in slices.
What else should be mentioned? Yes, several stones that had fallen from the heart, along with a broken foot. In a box next to the already heavily rusted Nibelungen Ring lay the scales of Heidegger’s cleaning lady, who had fallen from her eyes when she finally understood Master.
Well, here I will quit, with my list, although there is still much to report. For Ignaz von Reldiez is a Great Collector before the Lord. Known and recognized in the professional circles of the whole world. May this collection go beyond the borders of Alt-Reinickendorf.
When I was outside again, I was not surprised that the old Turk was still waiting for me and offered to show me more sights. Unfortunately, I had no time for that and promised to use his services the next time I came back to Berlin. And after another luscious bakshish, we parted, each thinking well his part. Even the museum servant Gustav, who had been so helpful, gave his baksheesh so he could buy his daily medicine. I hope that this little story will help to make Berlin even more interesting. If one of my dear readers went to Berlin; visit the Reldiez Museum so it will not be forgotten. Even if it should be difficult to find it. But someone is there to help. And be it an old Turk