Old Lange Bridge across the river Havel in Postdam (Germany) painted by Alfred Trippel

Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen
Im hellen Mittag ein Zug
Vorn eine Trommel und hinten eine Fahn
In der Mitte einen Sarg man trug.
Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen
Im hundertjährigen Staub
Da trugen sechse einen Sarg
Mit Helm und Eichenlaub

At Potsdam under the oaks

A train in bright midday

A drum in front and a flag in the back

In the middle was a man carrying a coffin.

At Potsdam under the oaks

In the hundred-year-old dust

There were six carrying a coffin

With helmet and oak leaves

In a poem by Berthold Brech

Bridges in Brandenburg an der Havel (Germany)

Herr von Ribbeck auf Ribbeck im Havelland,
A pear tree stood in his garden,
and when the golden autumn season came
and the pears shone far and wide,
when midday rang from the tower,
von Ribbeck stuffed both his pockets
and came into his clogs
So he called out : " Boy, have a beer?"

Poem by Theodor Fontane

Glienicke Bridge over the Havel River between Berlin and Postdam (Germany)

"That's all that happens, Smiley thought; one little man walks across a bridge"

Excerpt from Smiley's People 

about the exchange of spies

during the Cold War

John Le Carré

Glienicke Bridge (Bridge of Spies) over the Havel River between Berlin and Postdam (Germany)

"Cuando me nombraron de nuevo corresponsal en Alemania, en el verano de 1996 y después de unos años en la redacción central, el puente de los espías mantenía todo su encanto y nos hizo ilusión instalarnos allí. No duramos mucho,el muro en las mentes llegó a ser tan insoportable o más que el muro de hormigón armado."

Excerpt from Diario de un Muro

José María Siles