Jochen's Concise Untold
Recent History of Germany
Contents
I. Age of Benevolent Repression - The German Empire (period ending 1914)
II. Age of Irresponsibility - The Weimar Republic (1918 - 1932)
III. Political Correctness Turning Into a Nightmare - National Socialism (1933 - 1945)
IV. The Old and The New in Parallel - Post WWII (1945 - mid 1960s)
V. Search for a Consciousness of Freedom (1965 - mid 1980s)
VI. Polarization - Nie wieder Deutschland, Alternative für Deutschland, Pegida (1990 - present)
I. Age of Benevolent Repression: The German Empire (period ending 1914)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1926, Street Scene
Emil Nolde, Marschlandschaft mit Bauernhof und Heudiemen (1930), Bauernhaus in der Marschlandschaft (1930)
Emil Nolde, Bildnis von zwei Frauen (1940-45), "Im Alter" (1918)
Authoritarian state, collective consciousness. You must comply with societal rules cast in iron, otherwise your future is at stake ("alone you are lost, behave as you are told"), war is made ad libitum at aristocracy's whim, the population at large has no influence on fate of state, of society,
I. 1 Films:
II. Age of Irresponsibility - The Weimar Republic (1918 - 1932)
Liberation into anarchy, discernible rules retreated into background, concept of freedom has not been filled with new meaning, uncertain what you can achieve, can get. Life is determined by need (the more you grab, the more you'll have), fierce competition for necessities of life, strife for superiority in all domains - also societal and political, the concepts of liberty and responsibility are not nearly filled with life, German mentality (in Oppenheimer's words): "angry, bitter, sullen & discontent".
II.1 Films:
III. Political Correctness Turning into a Nightmare: National Socialism (1933 - 1945)
Fusion of
Relapse into collective consciousness ("No matter what I do, nothing changes. So I might as well give in to orders, experience the Joy of Duty.")
III.1 Film:
Sophie Scholl"
IV. The Old and The New in Parallel - Post WWII (1945 - mid 1960s)
"God grant that not only the love of liberty, but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say "this is my country." These are Benjamin Franklin's words engraved in a wall at the entrance of the Berlin Kongresshalle, a gift of the US to Berlin in 1955 providing a "forum of the free exchange of ideas" (https://hkw.de/en/hkw/geschichte/benjamin_franklin_stiftung/Benjamin_Franklin_Stiftung.php)
"I believe in the inviolability and the human dignity of each individual. I believe that God has given all men the same right to freedom. I promise to resist all attacks on freedom and tyranny, wherever they may occur." This is engraved into the Freiheitsglocke in the tower of the Rathaus Berlin-Schöneberg, where Kennedy spoke in 1963. This Liberty Bell was given to the people of Berlin in 1955 by the people of the US. Prior to its installation in Berlin the bell was shipped through the US, Americans signed the dedication and donated the money necessary to make this gift. A book with the original signatures is exhibited in a room next to the bell.
The bell rings every day at noon and every sunday at noon on Radio Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB, the former RIAS Berlin, i.e. the Rundfunksender Im Amerikanischen Sektor von Berlin). On the RBB the above cited words are spoken while the bell rings.
We speak of freedom and liberty, and at the same time do not really understand their meanings and the deep responibilities that come with freedom. But we youngsters adore the US (Raymond Cartier "48 mal Amerika"), listen to the AFN (e.g. to its 7 pm broadcast "Music in the Air"), love Jazz -perhaps more so than do the Americans among us- and
|
|
... read books in the Amerikahaus or the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek, fascinated by the fact that you are allowed to walk through the shelves and browse. I rent films from the USIS branch in the Amerikahaus, get a certificate that allowed me to run a 16 mm movie projector, and show the USIS movies in my dormitory Internationales Studentenheim Eichkamp. |
IV.1 Films: Wolfgang Staudte:
V. Search for a Consciousness of Freedom (1965 - mid 1980s)
Violent breaking with Nazi tradition (student riots, teach-ins, e.g. Vietnamkongress 1968 in my university (TU Berlin)), seeking and finding advice from philosophers (Horkheimer, Habermas, Adorno: Frankfurter Schule). Compared with the movement in US there is little flower power here.
Peter Stein and his Schaubühne ensemble eliminate traditional forms of theatrical speech and gesture (expressionist, NAZI-barock), thus allowing theater to address human rights in a broad sense. With their help and liberation we found a tolerant way to active political engagement. Our culture becomes ready for Willy Brandt.
V.1 Films:
VI. Polarization: Nie wieder Deutschland, Alternative für Deutschland, Pegida (1990 - present)
Socio-political convergence leads to cultural impoverishment. This is exploited by forces and powers in society. Marianne and I are seeing a lack of tolerance, a prominent dogmatism and a reluctance to freely discuss critical developments. We think similar deficiencies have been described in Russia:
VI.1 Film:
Documentaries portraying similar developments in the US:
New trends in Germany:
Version: 2 January 2016
