A musician’s model car collection was among the highlights of the “German International Month” at Hsin Tien Senior High School in New Taipei City, drawing attention to the 300 toy cars from famous German automakers.
The cars belong to Yeh Shu-han (葉樹涵), music professor at National Taiwan Normal University, a well-known trumpet player, and miniature car enthusiast who has many models patterned after the early years of automobile production or commemorating historical events.
One model was a surprise for German Institute Taipei media and public affairs officer Sven Meier: a World War II-era open-top Mercedes-Benz with figurines of Axis Power leaders Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini standing in the back as if reviewing a parade.
Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Taipei Times
The school invited Meier to give a talk on German history and culture, including Germany’s role in the war, events associated with Hitler and the persecution of Jews and other people, who died by the millions in concentration camps and prisons.
The war was a dark chapter, and the German people have learned its painful lessons, and vowed to pursue peace, and the Nazis’ swastika flag and other symbols are outlawed in Germany, Meier said.
“In Germany today, this particular miniature car could not be put on public exhibit,” he said, pointing to the swastika flags on the sides of the tiny car.
Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Taipei Times
The miniature is a model of a 1939 Mercedes-Benz 770K Grosser Offener Tourenwagen that commemorates a parade in Munich, Germany, during Mussolini’s June 1940 visit to Hitler, shortly after Italy entered the war.
Yeh said he started collecting model cars when he was 10, after his father gave him a toy car, and his hobby has become a passion.
“On my many trips abroad for music tours and concerts, I look for stores selling miniature cars,” said Yeh, who said his collection now numbers 800 cars.
As he learned about the history of car production in other countries and the aesthetics of car design, his collection reflected what he learned, he said.
School principal Chen Ying-shan (陳瑛姍) said the school organizes an international month event every year that focuses on one country.
“The aim is for students and teachers to learn different aspects of foreign history and culture, to promote mutual respect and understanding, and to enhance interaction among peoples of different nations,” she said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS