(no subject)

[lethargic_man]

In today's post, I continue my little tour of the lesser-known sites of Berlin with the grave of Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811), playwright, novelist and journalist. It's not often that you'll find me visiting a grave, but this one is in a cohen-friendly location.

Photo by Dennis Kornek, on Google Maps

There's a park named after Kleist in Berlin, which is how I know his name; but I think he's reasonably well-known to Germans. He had the bad luck to fall in (platonic) love with a terminally ill woman, Henriette Vogel, at a time of financial despair. The two travelled to the Kleiner Wannsee (a subsidiary channel of the River Havel), near (now in) Berlin...

Photo by Jasch Zacharias, on Google Maps

...then on the banks of the river he shot first her then himself. His grave was erected at the site:

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Photo by Wikipedia user OFTW, Creative Commons licence

The inscription on the one side reads:

Er lebte sang und litt
in trüber schwerer Zeit,
er suchte hier den Tod
und fand Unsterblichkeit.

Which means (only with rhyme and metre, which I can't (easily) translate):

He lived, sung and suffered
In a cheerless hard time.
He sought here death
And found immortality.

On the other side it reads „Nun, o Unsterblichkeit, bist du ganz mein“ ("Now, o immortality, you are completely mine").

If anyone wants to know more, here's the infoboard at the site (click through for higher resolution):

...complete with a reflection of myself to prove I was actually there.