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before, Hamburg’s silhouette, with its beautiful
towers, has been preserved as if by a miracle.
Looking over the central portion of the town, one
could imagine at first sight that Hamburg was
relatively undamaged. The Alster looked about the
same as before the war. The walks along the banks,
the Jungfernstieg, with the town hall in the
background, and the Lombard bridge were still intact.
But very soon it became clear that this first
impression was just an illusion, and that the view of the
Alster was a facade which hid sad reality. Hamburg,
even when seen from the air, made a terrifying
impression.
It was the English commander, Brigadier Donald
Pender, who received us, and he did this in the
nicest and kindest fashion. During the evening we
had an interesting experience. We had the
opportunity to attend a performance, in one of Hamburg’s
theaters, of ”Peer Gynt” for the British garrisons
in the city. It was a wonderful performance
presented by the Old Vic Company of London, with the
excellent Sybil Thorndyke and Laurence Olivier as
Äse and Peer Gynt. It was the first time after the
war that I had witnessed a collaboration between
Englishmen and Germans in a cultural field. The
orchestra was German while all the actors were
British. There was not the least tension or animosity
between them and the whole performance was
received with tremendous applause.
Lübeck, where I spent a day on my journey home,
brought back many memories of the days before the
Armistice. I again saw the house where, as I
described in The Curtain Falls, I had been sitting
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