For past few days, the world of science has been concentrating on an amazing incident. The records of voices of two famous figures of German and European history from XIX- century have been made available. Among them, the oldest audible voice of the world- belonging to the Count Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke, who was born in 1800. He was the one, who in 1867 bought estate in Krzyżowa for his family, where during the Second World War, his descendant (great-grandson of his own brother), Helmuth James von Moltke was to organize a conspiracy against Hitler- Krzyżowa Circle.

All thanks to Edison phonograph.

-This is incredible news! - Annemarie Franke, director of “Krzyżowa” Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe doesn’t hide emotions - these records are historically priceless, also in scientific and technical dimension. Mr Wangemann (from Edison company) came specially from World Exhibition in Paris to the Krzyżowa with all the equipment to record the voice of Field Marshal- this shows how famous and popular was Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke. And together with him, his residence in Lower Silesia- Kreisau, Krzyżowa.

Records of sounds from phonograph, in which Chancellor Otto von Bismarck is also audible, come from years 1889 and 1890. Wooden box with old phonograph cylinders was found in the Library of Thomas Alva Edison on 11th September 1957. Until 2005 cylinders were lying forgotten in the archives. Then, the works of American scientist on decoding the audio material have begun. With the help of Stephan Puille, German engineer and archaeologist of sound, scientists managed to transcribe material and there is no doubt: information contained on Edison cylinders correspond to those in the newspapers of the time. Voice of count von Moltke was recorded on four cylinders. These records were made by Edison’s assistant- Adelbert Theodor Edward Wangemann on 21st October 1889 in Krzyżowa. Scientists discovered 2 cylinders on which we can hear the voice of count, who cites "Faust" of Goethe and Shakespeare.

On other Edison’s cylinders, scientists discovered also the voice of “iron chancellor”- Otton von Bismark, recorded in his residency in Friedrichsruh. The records show that he recited passages of the song "In Good Old Colony Times" and " Gaudeamus Igitur", and also the beginning of the poem "Als Kaiser Rothbart lobes" and the Marseillaise.

- Paradoxically, Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke foresaw this situation: on one of the records he says "This latest invention of Mr. Edison is really amazing. Thanks to the phonogram, you can hear once again a voice of a person who is already in grave”. (source: www.cylinder.de)- Annemarie Franke quotes words of Field Marshal - There is a place for his grave on the cemetery in Krzyżowa but, unfortunately, after II World War sarcophagus with the remains disappeared in a mysterious way. Now, it turned out that his voice has been preserved. Famous Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke talked to us.

On the New York Times' website, you can hear the voice of Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke recorded in Krzyżowa on 21st October 1889:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/science/bismarcks-voice-among-restored-edison-recordings.html