1929 – People admire the sailing freighter Bremen which is enclosed by ice on the frozen Kieler Förde in Germany. Scan © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
The winter 1928/29 was extremely cold, an ‘icy winter’. In fact, it was so cold that large portions of the Baltic Sea were frozen all over, including the Kieler Förde – that’s the arm of the Baltic Sea that leads into Kiel, Germany – and the canal that connects Kiel to the North Sea. Numerous ships were enclosed by thick ice and had to to wait until it was melting again.
This original photo print is part of a small series and a real gem from this period. It shows people standing and walking on the thick ice next to the the bark Bremen, admiring its size and the fact that it is enclosed by ice. (Here is a postcard showing the Bremen in the same place.) The caption of the series reads:
Winter 1928/29 – Ships surrounded by ice in front of the locks of Holtenau
The Bremen had been built in 1902 in France (as René) and was sold in 1923 to Germany where it got renamed to Lisbeth. In 1926 the ship was renamed once again, now operating as Bremen mostly transporting saltpeter from Chile to Europe. The image in Kiel was captured during this period. Following the world economic crisis the Bremen was put out of service and scrapped after 1932. Turn to Wikipedia for more details (in German).
The Bremen was just one of the ships locked by ice in Kiel! In total, there were more than 1,000 sailors on more than 60 ships captured by the ice. All these people needed food and drinks, and for the local merchants this meant big business.
Bert Morio of apt-holtenau.de has the full story (in German).
The official site kiel.de also features a detailed write-up (in German.)
Of course, I will be sharing further images from the series over time. Please stay tuned.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | 1929 |
| Photographer | unknown |
| Location | Kiel, Germany |
| Image Source | Photo print, 4.5 x 7.5 cm |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 4191 x 7115 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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