Afghanistan 1922 - Unterkunft der Deutschen

The accomodation of the Germans

In my research on this subject, I read the book "Afghan Mosaics" by Alfred Gerber. Exactly one month after my grandmother died, I finally had the book. In this book Mr. Gerber describes his trip to Afghanistan to build up the Darulaman Palace. His journey took place almost at the same time as my great-grandfather's. But it got better. Alfred Gerber described his accommodation in a homestead in which the German colleagues were housed - and from this homestead my great-grandfather had not only taken pictures, but also lived in a tower room. And Alfred Gerber described in his memories how he lived in this room. I think I'm allowed to say that one person gave the room keys to the other. Above all, Mr. Gerber counts by name the Germans who have stayed with him in this farm.

These names also appear on the captions in the photo albums. Unfortunately, my great-grandfather is not mentioned, probably he was already leaving or not yet arrived. Please take a picture of the situation at that time by seeing the story of Alfred Gerber together with the photos of Wilhelm Rieck.

"Livingrooms Rieck"

In the back the described tower

Standke

Sonnabend"

"Livingrooms

Maaß

Bünte"

"Livingroom Rieck Backyardsite"

"View from window to West"

Please move the cursor over the picture, to get a view on the buildingsite of the Tape-Taj Beg-palace.

Wohnung Rieck Fensterblick nach Südosten

"View from window to Southeast"

Wohnung Rieck Fensterblick nach Nordosten

"View from window to Northeast"

"Winter-

Landscape"

Wohnung Rieck Abendstimmungsbilder Afghanistan

"Evening-

moodpicture"

When researching this story, I often wondered, of course, what has become of the farm in which the Germans were housed. In the last wars a lot was destroyed, the Afghan houses are not built as stable as the European ones. Also, it was not exactly a building of high ethical value, which would have made a demolition relatively easy. But maybe there is still the house and maybe it is even inhabited. The only question is: where did the house stand?

The localization of the house was helped by the photos my great-grandfather had made from the windows of his apartment. These photos allowed me to circle the location using Google Earth. For this I compared the mountain silhouettes in the photos with the profiles that can be seen in Google Earth. However, the height profiles in Google Earth are not very consistent with the satellite images. On the photo (right) "Fensterblick nach Norden" you can see in the background the mountain on which the Kabul fort is located. On the mountainside on the right is Bagh-babur, where the German Embassy used to be. The path that leads past the house of the Germans, goes directly to the mountain. Also, I suspect that this relatively wide path has been developed into a road over time. This road could be the road that leads east past the former government district of Amanullah to the south. The neighborhoods are called: Doghabad and Chahar Qolba.

"View from window to Nort"

Unfortunately, it was not possible to find a point of view that agrees with all the photos. Due to the irregularities of Google Earth arise four different locations. However, the house of the Germans can be limited to the area shown below. Due to the intersection of the road and the visual axis of the hill range with the construction site Tapeh-Taj Beg-Palast and the residential building, I suspect that the northernmost point is "home of Germans> West" the most likely location. So just south of the intersection in Darulaman.

Hovering over the photos will give you the same view as shown on Google Earth.

Aussicht vom Wohnhaus nach Westen in Richtung der Baustelle des Tape Taj beg-Palastes

Links: "View from window to West"
View to West to the buildingsite of the Tape-Taj Beg-Palace.

view
> north-east

view
> west

Up:
"View from window to North-east"
The mountaine in north-east.

view
> south-east

Above: "Window view to the south-east" View across the Darulaman Plain to the south-east

view
> north

Left: "Window view to the north" Looking North towards Kabul On the ridge on the right side in Bagh-e Babur lies the German Legation.

On the left photo you can see the tower where my great-grandfather lived. This building view, with no trees, will be accessible from the street when the building is still standing. The location of the photographer is here north-east of the house.

"House Rieck"