(photograph © Kiwidutch) (Wellington, New Zealand)
I have a confession to make: I have a photographic fascination with some rather weird themes.
Doors, Door-knockers and letterboxes you already know about, now its time to ‘fess up to another one:
Manhole covers.
I already know I need life, (that is clear by now), but I seem to have some sort of magnetic attraction to the different patterns that appear on manhole covers, if my camera is in my pocket then I can not resist the urge to take a photo.
Therefore I totally “get” why my six-year-old son simply can’t walk around a puddle.
It’s like a siren song… and once you’ve taken your first manhole cover photo or jumped in your first puddle, it’s hooks are in you and you can never just let the next one pass by without a small indulgence…
I was in for a treat whilst visiting friends in Münster , Germany one weekend early last year… not only are there an array of different manhole covers that feature commemorative plaques of different sorts, but while gazing at my feet I noticed that they have also placed little brass plaques into the cobbles of the street in memoria to former Jewish citizens who lost their lives during the second world war.
They are tiny (not more than 6 cm/ 2 inches across) but movingly beautiful.
Psst … wanna see my manhole cover collection? (oops, that’s didn’t sound right did it?) Would it be more politically correct to say Please review my “sanitation, aqua transportation and disposal safety inspection receptical protection system devices? Yep… catchy and non-gender specific, …perfect!
If you wish in indulge my insanity, I have a collection of “safety inspection receptical protection system devices” for your viewing…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch) (Spain)
The Münster Collection:
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
A close-up…. as far a I can tell it says: “Here lived Hedwig Feibes, (Born:Cohn) Date of birth (?) 1895, Deported 1942, Theresienstadt (=street name) until 1943 in Auschwitz.”
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Wow I never knew some of them have intricate designs, better check tomorrow all the man holes along my walking route.
Comment by rsmacaalay — August 10, 2011 @ 7:30 am |
Kiwidutch,
I don’t see any reason to be ashamed of this mania of yours. These are beautiful! Especially with so many of them set among old cobble stones. What a great collection! I bet NO ONE ELSE has collected so many manhole cover photos. Good for you!
Comment by Matt — August 11, 2011 @ 5:01 pm |
Also, “tot” means “died” or “dead”.
Comment by Matt — August 11, 2011 @ 5:05 pm |
ah ha… I was confused because in Dutch “tot” ,means “up to” or “until”.
Comment by kiwidutch — August 11, 2011 @ 8:27 pm |
I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Hedwig Feibes (geb Cohn) was my mother’s mother, ie the grandmother I never met. I have the extensive Feibes (& Itzig) family tree going back to 1792 – it’s a hand quilled scroll over 40 feet long. I know the street address where she and my grandfather and my mother (and other members of the family lived; I know when and where they were married. I have photos of her, etc etc. This is the first time I’m finding anything about her on the web. I have no information on the Cohn side of the family and I am hoping this will start to fill in a mystery.
Comment by Danila Szekely — January 15, 2012 @ 4:35 am |
additional information from the post I just made: Hedwig Marta Trude Cohn was born on July 28, 1895 in Attendorn. She married Fritz Heinrich Feibes on November 12, 1925. They had one daugher, my mother – Eleonore margarita johanna Feibes, born on January 30, 1925. The last time she saw her mother Hedwig was sometime in June 1939, before she was sent on a kindertransport to England.
Comment by Danila Szekely — January 15, 2012 @ 4:44 am |
6. correction to someone’s comment: Theresienstadt was not a street! Common knowledge that Theresienstadt was one of the concentration camps. It was the first camp my grandmother was sent to, before Auschwitz.
The street she lived on was Salzstrasse 3/4, which is also where the JM Feibes family business was for several generations.
It was through administrative red tape that she did not leave, and the Feibes brothers had to cancel the steamship tickets they had purchased for Hedwig and her father in law Julius Feibes (my grandfather’s father). I have all the documentation and correspondence in this matter.
Thank you to whoever had the gold memorial plaque made and set in the cobblestone street.
Comment by Danila Szekely — January 15, 2012 @ 5:11 am |
[...] the patterns / manhole cover etc geek that I am http://kiwidutch.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/new-287/ I also delight in seeing that the manhole covers here are also in the Art Deco Style, as are the [...]
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