March 10
Birthdays
1776: Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia
Luise Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776-1810) married crown prince Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1793 and became Queen of Prussia in 1797. She had 10 children, was well beloved by her people, and died aged 34. In 1807, already sick, Queen Louise traveled to Tilsit to speak to speak to Napoleon whose French troops had moved into Berlin in 1806. She asked for leniency for her people, though Napoleon refused.
1788: Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788-1857) was one of the most important writers of the German Romantic period. While he did write novels (Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts) and plays, he is most known for his poetry. Central motifs are night, forest, longing, home and outland, solitude/loneliness, and farewell. Many of Eichendorff’s poems have been set to music. Read some of his works (in German) in Projekt Gutenberg. Listen to the musical version of his poem “Wünschelrute” here.
1839: Heinrich Roller
Heinrich Roller (1839-1916) was a German writer and humorist, often under the pseudonym Roland vom Hochplateau. Roller improved the shorthand designed by Arends and published his system in 1875.
1873: Jakob Wassermann
Jakob Wassermann (1873-1934) was a German writer and is known for his stories based on historical documents. He wrote about Spanish Conquistador Pizarro and the Inca king Atahuallpa in “Das Gold von Caxamalco” (1923). In 1908, he published the novel “Caspar Hauseer oder: Die Trägheit des Herzens” about the ‘foundling’ Kaspar Hauser who appeared in Nuremburg in 1828 and whose heritage and death remain a mystery to this day. You can read some of his works (in German) in Projekt Gutenberg.
1927: Jupp Derwall
Jupp Derwall (1927-2007) was a German soccer player and coach. As the coach of the German national team, he won the Euro Cup in 1980 and was the runner-up in the World Cup in 1982.
1927: Paul Wunderlich
Paul Wunderlich (1927-2010) was a German painter, illustrator, sculptor, and designer. The motifs of his works were often of erotic and mythological nature. When asked in an interview whether people and society could live without art, he responded: “Yes, but it’s barely worth it.” (Ja, aber es lohnt sich kaum.) Visit his website here: paulwunderlich.de.
Death Anniversaries
1872: Mariane Bargiel
Mariane Bargiel (1797-1872) was a German pianist, singer, piano teacher, and the mother of Clara Schumann (1819-1896). She married her teacher Friedrich Wieck in 1816 and had five children by him. She divorced him in 1825, losing custody of her children, as was the law at the time. Mariane Bargiel married again and had four more children. When her husband Adolph Bargiel had a stroke in 1836, she supported the family with teaching piano lessons. Starting in the late 1830s, Bargiel had more contact to Clara Wieck, accompanied her on her concert tour, and supported her marriage to Robert Schumann.
1876: Franz Stollwerck
Franz Stollwerck (1815-1876) was a German industrialist. He started out as baker and confectioner, expanding his offerings with marzipan and chocolate. His success however came with cough drops in 1843 though it did lead to legal troubles with pharmacies. Stollwerck’s “Brustbonbons” (chest drops) made him famous and rich and earned him a medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855. In the 1860s, the focus of the company shifted to the production of chocolate.
1902: Jenny Hirsch
Jenny Hirsch (1829-1902) was a German translator, writer and journalist as well as a women’s rights activist. Though Hirsch received more education than most girls at the time, at 15 she started running her parents’ household, and took care of her father. At night, she continued her studies being able to translate texts from English, French, and Swedish into German. After the March Revolution 48/49, she opened an elementary school for boys and girls of all confessions. Hirsch eventually moved to Berlin working as a journalist and getting involved in the women’s rights movement. When John Stuart Mill’s book about the women’s right to vote, “Subjection of Women”, came out, she translated it into German with the title “Die Hörigkeit der Frau”.
1917: Hans Robert Vollmöller
Hans Robert Vollmöller (1889-1917) was a German aviation pioneer, along with his older brother Karl Gustav Vollmöller. He started building an engine-powered airplane when he was 15, learned how to fly when he was 16, and won flying competitions at 18. In 1911, Vollmöller moved to Berlin to work as a builder/design engineer and test pilot for the Rumpler company. During WWI, he worked at “Versuchsbau Gotha Ost” where they designed a “Riesen-Flugzeug” (giant airplane). During a test flight on March 10, 1917, pilot Hans Robert Vollmöller died when the plane crashed.
1978: Ingeborg Friebel
Ingeborg Friebel (1925-1978) was a German children’s book illustrator. After her studies at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee, Friebel worked as a painter and graphic designer, and made illustrations for magazines and books. She made a name for herself as an illustrator of children’s books by authors like Günther Feustel, Anne Geelhaar, and Anneliese Probst. In 1956 and 1959, books illustrated by her were named one of “Die Schönsten Bücher der DDR” (Most beautiful books of the GDR). From1957 until 1968, Friebel designed 39 stamps for the Deutsche Post der DDR (German Post of the GDR).
Seasonal Events and Holidays
2025: March 10-12 Carnival of Basel, Switzerland (Basler Fasnacht), also called die drey scheenschte Dääg (the three most beautiful days). The carnival starts on Monday at 4am (Morgestraich, morning taps) and ends 72 hours later with the Ändstraich on Thursday morning at 4am. The carnival starts later than the other carnivals because they don’t exclude the six Sundays as part of 40-day fasting, like the catholic church does.
Historical and Cultural Events
1813: King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm III instituted the war decoration Eisernes Kreuz (Iron Cross) for the Liberation Wars (1813-1815). It came in three classes: Großkreuz, Eisernes Kreuz erster and zweiter Klasse. Frederic William awarded the Iron Cross posthumously to his wife, Queen Luise who was born on March 10, 1776 (see above).
1814: Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787-1826), a German optician and physicist, discovered absorption lines in the solar spectrum; they are visible as black stripes. These lines are named after him: Fraunhofer Lines (Fraunhofer’sche Linien).
1864: King Maximilian II of Bavaria died and crown prince Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm von Wittelsbach became King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He is often called Märchenkönig, having built many palaces including Neuschwanstein and Linderhof.
1867: The first edition of the Austrian newspaper Neues Wiener Tagblatt came out. On March 11, 1938, one day before the official annexation of Austria by Germany, the editor-in-chief Emil Löbl was replaced by a NS partisan. In July of the same year, the newspaper had to be sold to a form in Berlin which was the front for a NSDAP publishing company. The last issue of the newspaper was published on April 7, 1945 when the “Vienna offense” (Wiener Operation 1945 or Schlacht um Wien) began during which the Red Army freed the city from the Nazis.
1875: The opera Die Königin von Saba by Austrian-Hungarian composer Karl Goldmark debuted at the Hofoper in Vienna (today Wiener Staatsoper). It was one of the most successful operas of the late 1800s.
1985: Katharina “Kati” Witt, figure skater from the GDR, won the gold medal at the World Championship in Tokyo.
2009: Researchers in Sipplingen (Baden-Württemberg) announced to the public that under water archaeologists had found a sandal made from bast/liber in Lake Constance (Bodensee). The sandal dates to 2900 BCE and was found in of the many stilt houses erected at Lake Constance during the four millennia BCE.
Action Days and Invented Holidays
National Napping Day: Read about sleeping in the German language and culture here.
