By Romain Leick, Matthias Schreiber and Hans-Ulrich Stoldt
It was a curious procession that wound its way up the Fockeberg in
the eastern German city of Leipzig in May. The participants pushed
strange wheeled contraptions up the 153 meter (500 foot) hill, climbed
into them and shot back down again. The event was the 19th Prix de
Tacot, an annual soap-box derby that sees daredevil teams race weird and
wonderful vehicles to the delight of thousands of spectators. The race
has several events and a number of special prizes, including the "'Long
Live Yuri Gagarin' Special Award," which this year went to a team
calling itself "Stag Party." A rolling beer-garden umbrella was among
the sights.
Perhaps more interesting, however, is the venue where the Prix de Tacot
takes place. The Fockeberg wasn't created by glacial erosion or tectonic
movements. Rather, the hill was created entirely from rubble leftover
after the bombing of Leipzig during World War II. It is a soap-box derby
on the ruins of the Third Reich.
There are similar man-made hillocks in many other German cities.
Mönchengladbach, for example, has the Rheydter Höhe. Its counterpart in
Frankfurt is dubbed "Monte Scherbelino" (a faux-Italian pun meaning
"Shard Mountain"). And Stuttgart's Grüner Heiner is particularly popular
among model airplane enthusiasts.
The residents of Berlin lovingly named the piled-up remains of their
destroyed houses, factories and churches "Monte Klamotte" ("rag
mountains"). One of them, the Teufelsberg ("Devil's Mountain"), is the
second-highest point in the German capital, at almost 115 meters (380
feet) above sea level.
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