Be Like Us: The Solution to Post-War Germany

Rebuilding after World War II was incredibly complicated. For a while there, it seemed like Hitler had control, especially as he spread his reign across Europe. However, on page 278, Schulze says the only reason he had to go to more countries was because he was losing allies left and right and had to keep reaching out to other countries in order to gain some back. It was also interesting that Schulze painted the Allies in a bad light at first once Hitler fell. To Germany, we and the British were “terrorists.” It’s interesting that we aren’t taught how badly we destroyed Germany in school. In reality, we were kind of terrorists. We were killing people who might have had nothing to do with Hitler’s regime and basically destroyed most of the country. Sure, we did a lot for the West Germans once the territories were split up, but the fact that we created some of the problem makes us look a little less high-and-mighty. Are we really better than what Hitler was doing?

There are also parallels between the end of the war, and the end of the Occupation which is interesting. On page 283, Schulze says, “Such is the nature of totalitarian regimes, however, that they cannot be brought down by ordinary citizens but only those within the power structure itself.” Upon reading this, I immediately thought of the Berlin Wall. The only way the wall fell was because the people in charge made a damning mistake during a press conference. The people took it out from there. But if it had not been for the accidental slip, it probably would have been a bit longer before the wall finally came down. The same thing happened with the fall of Hitler. He was losing support from other countries and it took his death to finally bring down his regime. He would not have been able to be conquered had his plan not started falling apart.

I also found it incredibly ironic that once American and the Allies had control over part of Germany that they tried to impart their government systems and other things they already were using in their own countries, and it didn't work. It reminds me of what we’re trying to do today with Iraq and Afghanistan and many other countries. We keep trying to force ourselves into situations that maybe we shouldn't be a part of and it never seems to work out. This is incredibly ironic, since it doesn’t seem to be working out in our own country! But we do it anyway! On page 292, Schulze says the idea of popular government failed—it’s still failing in the U.S. Also says a few pages earlier that we took drastic measures in order to ensure Germany could never threaten another country again. Yet look at what has happened. Germany is a great advocate for all sorts of issues (like the U.S. spying scandal) and now we are the ones terrorizing other countries. We spied on Germany and Brazil for no reason. We invaded Iraq because we decided they needed us. We think we’re responsible for Iran. I just find it so funny that we were afraid Germany would be this global terrorist yet no one is stepping in to stop us from doing exactly what we were afraid of them doing. That says something about what Germany has learned during war, and what we haven’t. 

Founding Germany on Culture

The founding of a single German nation seemed to be inevitable looking back at its history. So many of the regions in the Holy Roman Empire were German speaking that a unique culture was bound to form. Also with all the turmoil that was happening within “Germany,” it made sense that people were ok with breaking off and becoming their own state. However, the most interesting aspect is that Germany culture existed before Germany was founded. Composers had a German style, there were German intellectuals meeting—all without actually belonging to a German state.

von Seckendorff

                Germany did not come to geographical existence for years even though it basically existed in an intangible sense. Schulze explains that Ludwig von Seckendorrf, a political philosopher, said that “a ‘German nation’ existed in the political sense, but conceded that it was difficult to describe and that many other nations existed within it on lower levels” (Schulze 86). So there was a German culture established in politics yet it was not a single nation for a long time. This is interesting because having one German language helped give way to this phenomenon which resulted in uniquely German academia and art. Schulze says, “Pan-German literature, drama, and opera created a unified opinion and taste that extended across the borders of the German territorial states” (Schulze 89). With a common language and culture, what else would happen next but an official country forming?

                My whole life I’ve had a passion for music. During the period of peace called “Biedermeier,” art really took off. Music especially grew into the German legends we know and love today. Of course I’ve always known a little about Ludwig van Beethoven but I was not aware he was popular when Germany was not even officially a country yet. Also, Schubert and Mendelssohn who are immensely popular composers today over 200 years later.

Beethoven

Schubert

Mendelssohn

Architecure also took off (and I expect we will see some of this in Germany) which is also interesting. The way Schulze describes the style makes it even more intriguing: “In architecture, the classical style was exemplified in the clear forms and proportions […] although already threatened by an antiquarian approach that saw beauty in anything that looked old and had a whiff of history about it” (Schulze 114). This had many buildings restored as well. But how interesting that history in architecture was already valued in a time we deem to be history itself?

                Between the conflicts and the hunger, the language and the art, all arrows pointed towards Germany coming into geological and official existence. It is amazing that a culture already existed with a patriotic air without Germany being founded for a few more decades. All the pre-existing culture and single language only create a more unique identity for Germany today, though. What we consider “German” now was just inklings of what was to come back when it was started. That knowledge is not realized by many even though it is incredibly important to German identity because without it and the work of those who created it all, there would be no “German.” 

Berlin: "A New City Coming to Terms with Its Past"

I like the theme that Berlin has always been a new city just trying to figure out where to go. As sociology major, I find it fitting to begin with Karl Marx who is considered one of the fathers of my field of study. There’s an interesting juxtaposition which they touch on in the film. On the one hand, Marx’s ideas were where the conflict in Berlin began. He laid down the principles for communism, urged rebellion against the elite. Yet there are streets named after him, monuments idolizing him and can be connected to the reason the wall fell. I wish they would have gone more in depth on Marx’s influence and what his exact teachings were in the film, but they did hit the main points. He wanted a “Red Berlin” and urged the proletariat or working class to rebel against those above them. Hitler forced his way in to power that way, and the government post-WWI had to work very hard to keep the people from protesting as well. But in the end, it is Marx’s idea of the lower class overcoming the upper class that caused the fall of the GDR and the wall. It began with the government losing its grip on the people as they emphasized in the last part of the film, and then the people finally rising up against their leaders and reclaiming their community. So perhaps it is not ironic after all that they memorialize Marx for being such a beginner of war and as well as the initiator of freedom.

The women’s role in Berlin was also especially interesting. I did not realize they really were the ones that held down the fort in all the bad times. When the city was bombed, of course they were the only ones around while the men fought to protect them. Therefore they were left to clean up and try to maintain the sense of community in a city that wasn’t more than a pile of bricks and dust. Yet in spite of being heroes of their city, they were also victims of war crimes. I was surprised at the brutality of the Russians in their acts of rape but then again, it was war, wasn’t it? The story that touched me the most was the man who spent his life thinking he was American and when he finally set out to find his father found out his mother was raped by a group of Russian soldiers. No longer did he feel like the son of a hero but the son of the criminal. Yet his mother gave him up in an effort to continue her own life with the shame of the war. It absolutely amazes me that these women could go through such horrible day to day fear and violence and continue to work to try to make some normalcy in their lives.

The relationship between the East and the West compared to modern day Berlin is strange and ironic. The film mentioned that the West did not exist according to the East, yet they built a wall around it. They destroyed any remains that were reflections of the ideals of the West which basically is admitting that it is there. Then after the wall the West destroyed the structures of the East. I think it is just a little funny that the goal of the Nazis in the East was to make everything huge and better than anything else around it. The airport that is now deserted is one of the biggest buildings in Europe. The TV tower loomed over everything else in the state. Doesn’t this sound a little like America? “Everything is bigger in Texas!” supersize French fries, enormous mansions, obesity! Things we in America are all used to and look for in our TVs, homes, and cars. Now that does not make us like the Nazis but it sure sounds like we are trying to be better than everyone else just as they were. When it comes to East Berlin though, I think the most interesting question was posed by Matt Frei, can we appreciate the buildings and art left by the Nazis? Should we? I think Berlin may be past the wall and the Nazi regime but after all these years they still are trying to answer that question. I expect we will see these all over the city when we are there.

Let's All Learn from Luther

Martin Luther is one of the underappreciated great leaders of history. Of course everyone knows him for creating a new faith, but not many knew how much deeper his story went—I included until I started taking German.

Martin Luther

Culturally he created a new way of thinking. He made a huge impact in German speaking areas because he brought everything that was going on in the Holy Roman Empire down to their level. As they said in the movie he showed them how to “believe freely” by attacking the Empire and the Pope and showed everyday Christians that they could stand up to Rome. We talked about this in my Landmark Discoveries in Science last year. Before revolutionaries like Luther, most printed items were written in the “elite” languages like Latin and Greek which uneducated peasants could not understand. Luther brought the elite problems to those average people and gave them a sense of empowerment that lead to the eventual break away from the Empire and Church.

The printing press helped Luther communicate to everyone in a language they understood

As a leader I think Luther was a genius. Like I said, he brought the problems of the elite down to peasant level, but he did so with humor and wit so that he attracted an enormous audience of followers. He was incredibly effective when it came to getting people interested in his movement. I believe if he were around in the present-day he would be outcast not only for saying such caustic and crude things about high-up people, but also for refusing to apologize and insisting more people listen to him. With things like the “Occupy Movement” and the protestors of current issues, I think leaders should take some political advice from Martin Luther in how to attract and appeal to larger audiences to actually make their movements happen. They mentioned near the end of the film that his movement spread to the world including the pilgrims in America who moved for religious freedom. If only we could go back to his ideals and use them to make a difference in the things that matter today.

Maybe if they read up on Luther they could learn how to be effective so they don't have to!

At the end of the day, Luther was quite the mover and shaker. But like many things, his ideas were twisted and he got far too involved with his own cause. I think it’s sad he became depressed and even a little crazy after he was excommunicated and even sadder that his movement was twisted into something violent and out of hand. While his building blocks were great for the rest of the world to begin with, he spent the end of his life trying to fix something he was not even responsible for and had to watch his dream turn into a war between those in charge and those being ruled over—kind of a funny ending for a theologian who just wanted people to be allowed to live more freely, but under a religion more fitting to average people.

From Europe to America: History Repeats Itself

"Regions" seems to be one of the most important words in these first chapters of Schulze's book. "Regions" made up the Roman and Germanic Empires and it was regions that gained their independence from the Church. Looking at Germany today, there are very obvious traces of this type of thinking holding true. Many Germans identify as being from a region despite being from a state. On pg. 58, Schulze talks about how the word “patria” (meaning fatherland) was used but not in reference to the nation of Germany but to the place one feels they are most attached to whether its their hometown or principality. This picture of old Europe is one of modern day Germany and even the US. Do you think of yourself as American or from Chicago? Are you from Georgia or just “Southern?”

These types of ideals also caused major changes. The Thirty Years War was sparked by conflict between the Catholic and Protestant regions. The aim was to restore the unity of Europe in Catholicism and resulted in major divisions within the empires. Sound familiar? The US in the Civil War also consisted of regions fighting regions. While the Civil War lead to unity, the Thirty Years War lead to revolutions of different kinds. Martin Luther introduced his new religion. Out of that it was eventually decided that religion in the regions would be based on the preference of the ruler. The European Empire was to be equally represented by Protestant and Catholics and the central government was split among nations in the middle of the continent. Once again, sound familiar?

It’s funny how history repeats itself. When Europeans arrived on US soil to begin their life in a new land, the same events and issues occurred. I wonder if it ever occurred to those settlers that this is where their ancestors had to go through as well. 

It’s funny that I chose to take German as a language. When I first started last year, I was in it because I loved learning about World War II, especially what happened in the European Theater. But sometime over winter break I learned that my great-great grandparents on my father’s side spoke fluent German because they lived on the Poland-Germany border. My mother’s great grandparents actually are from Weimar and

also Austria as well. After being informed of all this, suddenly my passion for world history became a passion for my family’s history. Instead of just learning a language for fun, I feel like I have a purpose in learning it and about the country.

Taking this trip next year not only means I will finally get to see a world outside of this country/culture, but also is going to be a chance for me to see first-hand many of the things I have only read about or seen in documentaries about the war. I expect it to be especially moving because my grandfather was in the US military as navigator on a B-24 plane that was responsible for bombing many parts of Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Since Germany still has many buildings it ruins, it will be strange and yet fascinating and sad to see what is left and know my grandpa was a part of it. His involvement in the war is a huge reason I developed such a passion for learning about it.

I’m hoping this trip will teach me more about the everyday effects of war. How people lived weather was in concentration camps during WWII, regular life on the street, or on the East Side while the Berlin wall was still standing. Hopefully I learn a little about traveling as well. My whole life I’ve been bound to road trips around the US to probably three-quarters of the states and one trip to Canada and have never had the chance to experience a truly foreign country. As a German student, I especially am excited to be immersed in the culture and language and have the opportunity to practice my own language skills and test what I think I know.

It did not take much thought to realize Germany is the best place for me to go on my first step to becoming a world traveler! I just hope I can remember everything I learn and can absorb it as much as I can before we leave.