Alesund, Norway

[David Amicus]

<<In the night of 23 January 1904, the town was the scene of the Ålesund Fire, one of the most terrible of the many conflagrations to which Norwegian towns, once built largely of wood, have been subjected. Practically the entire town was destroyed during the night, a gale aiding the flames, and the population had to leave the town in the middle of the night with only a few minutes' notice. Only one person died in the fire, the 76-year-old Ane Heen, but more than 10,000 people were left without shelter.

Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany had often been on vacation to Sunnmøre. After the fire, he sent four warships with materials to build temporary shelters and barracks. After a period of planning, the town was rebuilt in stone, brick, and mortar in Jugendstil (Art Nouveau), the architectural style of the time. The structures were designed by approximately 20 master builders and 30 Norwegian architects, most of them educated in Trondheim and Charlottenburg, Berlin, drawing inspiration from all over Europe. To honor Wilhelm, one of the most frequented streets of the town is named after him.>>

Sometimes in the USA "Kaiser Bill" gets a bad rep but this shows that he wasn't too bad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%85lesund

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That's right. Wilhelm II loved the Norwegian Fjords.

SM Hohenzollern was anchored off Balholm (Balestrand) far into the Sogne-Fjord in western Norway and Wilhelm II visiting the artist Professor Dahl when he was told that Franz Ferdinand had been shot in Sarajevo and he had to rush back to Berlin.

Norwegian TV program, "Fotografen og keisaren", the photographer and the emperor, about a young Norwegian girl (the daughter of the Russian consul in Bergen) who holidayed alongside the emperor in Balestrand and took lots of photos of the imperial retinue: https://vimeo.com/96922960

The young girls were invited on board the Hohenzollern for balls and a ladies rowing race. The two old ladies are the daughters of the girl who took the photos (the films are probably from official Norwegian or German news sources): Magdalene Elisabeth Kroepelien Gran. NB the Kaiser himself did not dance, they danced with the young officers and members of the court.

Young miss Gran apparantly had a bit of a romance with one of the officers, Lieutenant Walter Dose, who survived the war and ended up as a rear admiral and again knocked on the door of Magdalene, by then mrs. Architect Nicolai Beer, when he came to Norway during WW2. She turned him away as the enemy, but after her husband died in 1950 they got in touch again.

They year before the outbreak of the war, the imperial visit, properly documented by miss Gran, had featured the Kaiser (and a less enthusiastic King Haakon VII!) unveiling his gigantic gift to his host country, an enormous statue of the legendary local Viking hero Fritjof: See more info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fri%C3%B0%C3%BEj%C3%B3fs_saga_hins_fr%C5%93kna#Statue_of_Fridtjof

Notice from 22:44 to 23:24 the locals watching the imperial ball in Professor Dahl's garden from behind the fence!

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A, too bad, seems like the Vimeo linkhas expired and only trailers remain on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/search?q=fotografen+og+keisaren