Every time I see a BMW or a Porsche pass by, I relize that it is like the Mecca of cars for me:)
BMW, Porsche, Audi, VW, and Mercedes Benz here I come:)
In a little over a month, I will be embarking on a 2 week tour of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland that will most likely include pretty mountains, fancy European art, a legally consumed Guinness, and a concentration camp.
This is an incredibly awkward and naive statement— but I don’t want to go to a concentration camp.
Not because I’m part German and don’t want to be ashamed of my ancestors. I’m part British and French as well and feel zero affiliation to the sins of my forefathers. That’s not it.
Maybe because I’ve already been to the Holocaust museum, read The Hiding Place, and I know that it was (is) bad. Really, really bad. And I don’t want to travel 6,000 miles to reach an even deeper and more tangible level of sadness (or empathy, if I’m capable of it).
I don’t want to feel bad about something I’m unable to fix.
Is it wrong to want a little bit of ignorance?
OKay, I know that the moment you read vampire and then see this picture, you really think that I have gone off the deep end.
But its true. This is a Nachzehrer.
Its a species of vampire found among the Kashubes of northern Europe and in parts of Germany.
Its able to kill its relatives through a kind of long-range sympathetic magic. While in the grave it will devour its own shroud, piece by piece, moving on to feast on its own flesh.
According to legend, the nachzehrer leaves its coffin or tomb often in the shape of a pig.
And this is my rendition of that moment of him leaving his tomb. He is more pig than man, in the middle of transformation.
- Quoted from Pictures Source.
My Reaction:
After thinking about it for a minute:
I’ve decided I’m giving up on the next generation…
Probably time to switch fandoms OTL
Like the krsnik/kudlak, the German Nachzehrer starts out as a cute little baby born still in his amniotic sac. And like the kudlak, that kid is doomed to become a vampire after death, a Nachzehrer. I did my best to figure out the German (mine is a little rusty) and the best I could do was ‘after devourer.’ If anyone out there has any more info, I’d appreciate the help. While in its grave, the Nachzehrer keeps its left eye open and holds one thumb in the other hand. The Nachzehrer has an interesting diet… even more interesting than your usual vampire fare. Before starting out of the grave to drink the blood of its family, the Nachzehrer needs a little snack, some fiber. The Nachzehrer eats its own graveclothes before it can rise. And as if that’s not enough, it also takes a bite out of… itself. A little nosh here and there gives it the strength it needs to get up and go. Once it has finished on the kinfolk, the Nachzehrer climbs the nearest church belfry and rings the bell. Anyone who hears it will die. Use garlic against the Nachzehrer, and put a pair of scissors under your pillow, with the points toward the head of your bed. This will protect you, but you’ll still need to do an exorcism ritual to get rid of it completely. - Source.
Stunning.
Monopteros by Josephine Mok on Flickr.
Swans and Schloss Nymphenburg by Josephine Mok on Flickr.
Dolly Haas in 1932’s So ein Mהdel vergisst man nicht (A Girl You Don’t Forget)
we’d never forget this girl!