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Tore’s Tuesday-April 28

Tore’s Tuesday, once again on obscure stuff.

I recently purchased a huge and heavy patriotic frame, made of cast iron with a copper wash finish. Inside is a portrait of Kaiser Wilhelm II with a quote and signature. Framed by a renowned photographer from Baden. So far so good, a standard patriotic item from the “iron year” 1914.

The handwritten text reads: “Ich kenne keine Parteien mehr, kenne nur noch Deutsche”, I no longer know any (political) parties, I only know Germans.

Now, the obscure part this Tuesday is not about the frame itself or the Kaisers signature, but rather the context it is part of. Namely the strange tale of the SS Berlin.

Originally the Berlin was a large passenger liner, built in 1909, but commandeered by the German navy at the outbreak of war and fitted with cannons and mine laying equipment. Her mission was to disrupt trade and lay mines. And off into the North Sea she went with 462 men aboard.

At first all went well. She deployed mines and one of her mines actually sank the British navy’s most modern ship, the HMS Audacious. But, her efforts at disrupting trade did not go well, she was caught in terrible weather off the coast of northern Norway and after struggling in that weather for a long time, her coal stores almost depleted, there was no other option than to enter neutral Norwegian waters.

She passed the neutrality watch at Agdenes fort undetected, which was a huge scandal and led to the commander of the fort being relieved of his command. All of a sudden, on November 16th 1914, a German warship came to Trondheim, in violation of Norwegian neutrality. As soon as the Norwegian authorities recovered from the initial shock, the Berlin was boarded and taken into internment. She was stripped of weapons and munitions and was sent to anchor in Hommelvik.

In Hommelvik her crew were given a friendly reception. At first only her officers were allowed on land after solemnly pledging not to attempt escape. However several did escape via Sweden. The local policeman had his hands full chasing fugitives, rounding them up and getting them back to the ship. The fugitives were generally friendly when apprehended, but for the local policeman it must have felt like herding cats. As time went by the crewmembers were allowed on land too, at first organizing sports, and they were allowed to work locally and were a much needed labor force, so relations stayed friendly. Several of the families of the crew relocated to Norway to be with their men, and were also welcomed into the community at Hommelvik.

In 1917, following a spy-scare, the Berlin was moved to Lofjorden, a very remote location, to limit possibilities of espionage. However, there as well, the crew were allowed to work on local farms.

In June 1919 the SS Berlin finally hoisted anchor to begin her return journey to Germany, 4,5 years after she had limped into Norwegian waters. They gave three long signals with the ships steam whistles and fired a 21 round gun salute to honor the Norwegian flag as they passed it, to thank Norway for the hospitality. Thus their long uninvited stay ended.

This frame came out of Hommelvik. Sadly those who know who gave it to whom are all dead so an important part of that history is lost, but it is definitely tied to the voyage of the SS Berlin.