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East German Balloon Escape
On 16 September 1979, eight people from two families escaped from East Germany by crossing the border into West Germany at night in a homemade hot air balloon. The unique feat was the result of over a year and a half of preparations involving three different balloons, various modifications, and a first, unsuccessful attempt. The failed attempt alerted the East German authorities to the plot, but the police were unable to identify the escapees before their second, successful flight two months later. Background East Germany, then part of the Eastern Bloc, was separated from West Germany in the Western Bloc by the inner German border and the Berlin Wall, which were heavily fortified with watchtowers, land mines, armed soldiers, and various other measures to prevent illegal crossings. East German border troops were instructed to prevent defection to West Germany by all means, including lethal force (Schießbefehl; "order to fire"). Peter Strelzyk (1942–2017), an electrician and f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bad Lobenstein
Bad Lobenstein is a spa town in the Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany with a population of about 6,000 inhabitants. Until 2005, the town was named Lobenstein. The town, grouped round a rock, upon which stand the ruins of an old castle, is exceedingly picturesque. It contains a spacious parish church, a palace (until 1824 the residence of the princes of Reuss-Lobenstein-Ebersdorf), and a hydropathic establishment. Local industries include dyeing, brewing and cigar-making. Geography The town is located in the Thuringian Highlands between Thuringian Forest and Franconian Forest, south-westerly of the large Saale, Saale river dams at Hohenwarte and Bleiloch near Gräfenwarth. History The high medieval castle of Lobenstein lies above the center of the town on the right side of the river Lemnitz on a mountain dome. It was used to monitor traffic on the route from Leipzig to Bamberg. Lobenstein was first mentioned in 1250 as the seat of a knight. It was probably a fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernalillo County. Founded in 1706 as ' by Santa Fe de Nuevo México governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, and named in honor of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque and List of viceroys of New Spain, Viceroy of New Spain, it was an Old Town Albuquerque, outpost on Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, El Camino Real linking Mexico City to the northernmost territories of New Spain. Located in the Albuquerque Basin, the city is flanked by the Sandia Mountains to the east and the West Mesa to the west, with the Rio Grande and bosque flowing north-to-south through the middle of the city. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Albuquerque had 564,559 residents, making it the List of United States cities by population ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Stern (magazine)
''Stern'' (, German for "Star", stylized in all lowercase) is an illustrated, broadly left-liberal, weekly current affairs magazine published in Hamburg, Germany, by Gruner + Jahr, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann. Under the editorship (1948–1980) of its founder Henri Nannen, it attained a circulation of between 1.5 and 1.8 million, the largest in Europe's for a magazine of its kind. Unusually for a popular magazine in post-war West Germany, and most notably in the contributions to 1975 of Sebastian Haffner, ''Stern'' investigated the origin and nature of the preceding tragedies of German history. In 1983, however, its credibility was seriously damaged by its purchase and syndication of the forged Hitler Diaries. A sharp drop in sales anticipated the general fall in newsprint readership in the new century. By 2019, circulation had fallen under half a million. History and profile Journalistic style Henri Nannen produced the first 16-page issue (with the actress Hildegard Knef [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Moskvitch
Moskvitch or Moskvich () (also written as ''Moskvich'', ''Moskvič'', or ''Moskwitsch'') is a Soviet/Russian automobile brand produced by AZLK from 1946 to 1991 and by OAO Moskvitch from 1991 to 2001. Production later resumed in 2022. The current article incorporates information about both the brand and the joint-stock successor of AZLK. OAO Moskvitch is the name of a privatized venture given to the former factory to avoid legal issues after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since the factory had no assembly branches outside Russia after 1991, its name is largely used today to refer to the building located in the lower eastern part of Moscow. The word ''moskvich'' () itself translates as "a native of Moscow, a Moscovite". It was used to point out the original location of the cars manufactured there. History Early history The Soviet Union initiated a series of five-year plans in 1928 under the rule of Joseph Stalin. The goal of the plans was to rapidly industrialise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Jump Start (vehicle)
A jump start, also called a boost, is a procedure of starting a motor vehicle (most commonly cars or trucks) that has a discharged battery. A temporary connection is made to the battery of another vehicle, or to some other external power source. The external supply of electricity recharges the disabled vehicle's battery and provides some of the power needed to crank the engine. Once the vehicle has been started, its normal charging system will recharge, so the auxiliary source can be removed. If the vehicle charging system is functional, leaving the engine running will restore the charge of the battery. Motorists may carry jumper cables and other equipment in case of accidental discharge of the vehicle battery (for example, by headlights, interior lights or ignition switch left on while the engine is not running). Safe procedures for connecting and disconnecting cables are given in the vehicle manual. Jumper cables Jumper cables, also known as booster cables or jump leads, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Trabant
Trabant () is a series of B-segment, small cars produced from 1957 until 1991 by former East Germany, East German car manufacturer HQM Sachsenring GmbH, VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. Four models were made: the Trabant P 50, Trabant 500, Trabant 600, Trabant 601, and the Trabant 1.1. The first model, the 500, was a relatively modern car when it was introduced. It featured detachable duroplast body panels on a galvanised steel unibody chassis, front-wheel drive, a transverse two-stroke engine, and independent suspension. Because this 1950s design remained largely unchanged until the introduction of the last model, the Trabant 1.1 in 1990, the Trabant became symbolic of the former East Germany's stagnant economy and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in general. Called "a spark plug with a roof", 3,096,999 Trabants were produced. Older models have been sought by collectors in the United States due to their low cost and fewer restrictions on the importation of antique cars. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
MZ Motorrad- Und Zweiradwerk
Motorenwerke Zschopau GmbH (formerly MZ Motorrad- und Zweiradwerk GmbH) is a German motorcycle manufacturer located in Zschopau, Saxony. The acronym MZ since 1956 stands for ''Motorenwerke Zschopau'' GmbH (German language, German for Zschopau engine factory). From 1992 to 1999 the company was called MuZ, an acronym for ''Motorrad und Zweiradwerk'' (German for motorcycle and two-wheeler factory). Timeline * 1906 Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen (Denmark) buys an empty cloth factory in Zschopau * 1907 engine supplier, producing engines for bicycles, Motorized bicycle, motor-assisted bicycle * 1917 Rasmussen invents the steam-powered car (Dampf-Kraft-Wagen), also known by its trademark DKW * 1920 Release of the Two-stroke engine, 2-stroke engines for motorcycles * 1923 Company is renamed DKW#Motorcycles, DKW * 1924 DKW Typ P, DKW buys Slaby-Beringer * 1927 Company starts racing activities * 1928 DKW takes over the Audi factory at Zwickau * 1929 60,000 motorcycles leave the Zschopau factory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ziegenrück
Ziegenrück is a town in the Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in southern Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, 22 km east of Saalfeld, and 35 km south of Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in .... Ziegenrück is Germany's 5th smallest town with 640 inhabitants (2020). Tourism Ziegenrück is primarily a tourist destination with several hotels and guesthouses located in the town and an annual overnight visitor count of more than 35,000 visitors per year. The area's hiking paths offer tourists views of the Saale Valley. The town is also visited by mountain biking enthusiasts and canoeing is also a popular pastime. Also a popular activity in Ziegenrück is the rental of paddleboats and rowboats, which can be rented at the Saalepromenade. There ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Liquid Propane
Liquid is a state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. Liquids adapt to the shape of their container and are nearly incompressible, maintaining their volume even under pressure. The density of a liquid is usually close to that of a solid, and much higher than that of a gas. Therefore, liquid and solid are classified as condensed matter. Meanwhile, since both liquids and gases can flow, they are categorized as fluids. A liquid is composed of atoms or molecules held together by intermolecular bonds of intermediate strength. These forces allow the particles to move around one another while remaining closely packed. In contrast, solids have particles that are tightly bound by strong intermolecular forces, limiting their movement to small vibrations in fixed positions. Gases, on the other hand, consist of widely spaced, freely moving particles with only weak intermolecular forces. As temperature increases, the molecules in a liquid vibrate more intensely, causing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sheet Metal
Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are considered foil (metal), foil or Metal leaf, leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 in) are considered plate, such as plate steel, a class of structural steel. Sheet metal is available in flat pieces or coiled strips. The coils are formed by running a continuous sheet of metal through a roll slitting, roll slitter. In most of the world, sheet metal thickness is consistently specified in millimeters. In the U.S., the thickness of sheet metal is commonly specified by a traditional, non-linear measure known as its Sheet metal gauge, gauge. The larger the gauge number, the thinner the metal. Commonly used steel sheet metal ranges from 30 gauge (0.40 mm) to about 7 gauge (4.55 mm). Gauge differs between ferrous (Iron, iron-based) metals and nonferrous metals such as aluminum or copper. Copper thickness, for example ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Gera, Germany
Gera () is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cities consisting of the six largest Thuringian cities from Eisenach in the west, via Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar and Jena to Gera in the east. Gera is the largest city in the Vogtland, and one of its historical capitals along with Plauen, Greiz and Weida. The city lies in the East Thuringian Hill Country, in the wide valley of the White Elster, between Greiz (upstream) and Leipzig (downstream). Gera is located in the Central German Metropolitan Region, approximately south of Saxony's largest city of Leipzig, east of Thuringia's capital Erfurt, west of Saxony's capital Dresden and 90 km (56 miles) north of Bavaria's city of Hof (Saale). First mentioned in 995 and developing into a city during the 13th century, Gera has h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Jena
Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a population of about 110,000. Jena is a centre of education and research. The University of Jena (formally the Friedrich Schiller University) was founded in 1558 and had 18,000 students in 2017 and the Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena serves another 5,000 students. Furthermore, there are many institutes of the leading German research societies. Jena was first mentioned in 1182 and stayed a small town until the 19th century, when industry developed. For most of the 20th century, Jena was a world centre of the optical industry around companies such as Carl Zeiss AG, Carl Zeiss, Schott AG, Schott and Jenoptik (since 1990). As one of only a few medium-sized cities in Germany, it has some high-rise buildings in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
