A Grave(s) in Berlin
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Sophienkirche in Berlin-Mitte, a hidden baroque treasure tucked away behind a row of grey 19th century houses whose walls still bear the scars of WW2.
Exterior of the Sophienkirche.
Those of you who have read my post on early modern ghost hunts will recall the fate of Sophie Luise zu Mecklenburg-Schwerin, third wife of Friedrich I., King in Prussia, from whom the church receives its name. At first, following her having been sent away from the Prussian court on account of an incident in which she, unaware of her surroundings due to her mental illness, had barged into her dying husband's bedroom covered in blood, the church was dubbed Spandauische Kirche according to its location in the Spandauer Vorstadt (Spandau Suburb) quarter. Curiously, Friedrich Wilhelm I., de facto stepson of Sophie Luise, had the name changed to its originally intended name Sophienkirche (Sophie's Church) a few years later.
Its tragic patron aside, the church can boast a few more celebrity connections: on 13 September 1964, Martin Luther King preached in the church on a surprise visit to East Berlin.
Interior of the Sophienkirche, viewed from the altar room.
But while I am always one for the particular charm of Prussian baroque architecture, another object of interest is located in the former churchyard.
The grave of Leopold (1795–1886) and Clara (1808-1871) von Ranke and their youngest son Albrecht (1849–1850) is easy to miss, seeing as it is located in a part of the former church grounds that has in recent history been converted into a playground for the church-owned kindergarten (am I a tad jealous that my run of the mill kindergarten did not have a playground with historic monuments in it? Absolutely.) and quite overgrown, which is a shame, considering the significance of Leopold and Clara.
Leopold von Ranke was a leading historian of the 19th century, often credited with shaping history as a scholarly discipline as we know it today and his wife Clara (Helena Clarissa, though she seems to have preferred the nickname Clara) was a leading salonnière in mid-19th century Berlin.
Having grown up academically in the shadow of Leopold, it is Clara who has captivated my interest. Helena Clarissa von Ranke, née Graves, was a member of the family I research and sometimes post about among the more light-hearted content. For those of you who do, suffice to say that Clara's great-great-grandfather Henry "Claymore" Graves and Admiral Samuel Graves's (the man around whom most of my research revolves) grandfather James John Graves were brothers.
Born in Dublin in 1808, Clara met Leopold von Ranke in Paris in July of 1843. They married the same year and moved to Berlin together, where the Rankes were renowned for their salon, visited by foreign and domestic intellectuals alike, two of the most famous of whom may have been the Brothers Grimm.
Historically, most of the historiography concerning the von Ranke family has mainly focussed on Leopold, and Leopold's work; which seems natural enough, given his importance to history as a modern academic discipline, but leaves out Clara's equally important role as her husband's equally academically-versed aide (among other things, she was competent in the use of 20 languages, half of whom she spoke fluently and sometimes did translations of Leopold's work into English) without whom a lot of his work would not have been quite so easily possible, an influential salonnière, and most importantly, a woman with literary ambitions (she was a poet, though found having her works published rather difficult), views and opinions on the politics of her time.
This is particularly vexing seeing as their granddaughter Ermentrude Bäcker-von Ranke was, according to different sources, either the first or second woman in Germany to study history and obtain a doctorate. Luckily, this changed in 2012 when Andreas Boldt's The Clarissa von Ranke Letters and the Ranke-Graves Correspondence 1843-1886 was published, allowing for a greater insight into Clara's everyday life as an integral and beloved part of the extended von Ranke family, her political opinions and friendships with influential people such as, to give only one example, Florence Nightingale.
While the Rankes were politically on a conservative spectrum in Germany, Clara maintained a keen interest in Irish politics and expressed her desire for a peaceful coexistence of Catholics and Protestants in the country.
The grave of Leopold and Clara von Ranke, viewed from a flowerbed on the other side of the fence.
I wish I could enclose a better picture of the von Ranke grave; alas, it now being situated in a kindergarten playground, there was no way to access it; a lovely lady who I believe was of the church's friend's association was however so kind as to, after checking for the keys to the gate and not finding them, give me the telephone number of the parish office, with whom a closer look at the grave might be arranged. A few pictures on Wikipedia indicate that they occasionally let people visit the premises, so I am hopeful that I might be lucky. Next time I am around, I might try and call them- stay tuned!
