The Weimar Divide

Schneidemann on 09. November 1918

The Weimar Republic, born out the German Revolution in 1918, was unified Germany’s democratic republic from years 1919 to 1933, at which time Hitler rose to power.   Post World War I, Germany was a parliamentary system of government, but unrest grew in the people of Germany.  Throughout the history of the Weimar Republic, and even before its establishment, the people of Germany were divided, not only with each other, but with the governmental powers.  A revolution broke out: on the ninth of November 1918, Kaisar Wilhem II abdicated, and two separate parties laid claim to the German government. (198)  Philipp Schneidemann, member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, proclaimed the German Republic.  Just hours later and two kilometers away, leader of the communist-favoring and parliament- rejecting Spartacus League, Karl Liebknecht, proclaimed a Free Socialist Republic.  However, power was granted to leader of the SPD, Friedrich Ebert, albeit with questionable authority.  (201)  The leftists revolted; while the nation was united, the people revolted.  

Liebkneckt in December of 1918

1919 was a year of political transitions and in 1920, the supporters of the Republic, the SPD, couldn’t gain a majority in parliament.  The survival of the Republic depended on the support of their political, and the division continued into the 1920’s, where Weimar Culture was born.  The identity of the German people continued to be dichotomous.  Schulze mentions the notion of Weimar culture, otherwise heralded as a flourishing in the humanities and sciences, was nothing particularly original or even representative of then-modern German identity; rather, Schulze argues that the idea of Weimar culture was an exaggeration at odds with itself, obsessed with the avant-garde and pseudo-intellectualism while fighting that very image.  (220-221) While Schulze critically cites the few literary successes attributed to Weimar culture, he fails to mention the grossly influential accomplishments born out of inner strife.

Walter Gropius, Monument to the March Dead (1922)

The liberal viewpoints emerging in the early Weimar years were perhaps only continuations of those found pre-World War I.  Design and architecture were again an expression not only of political beliefs but of what it means to be German.  Bauhaus, a school of the fine arts and design, was famous for the modernism and expressionism they taught, as well as the philosophy behind them.  The founder of Bauhaus and German architect, Walter Gropius, was influenced by expressionism but contributed largely to the New Objectivity movement (also referred to as Neues Bauen), indicative of the shifting German views.   Perhaps in the rejection of “old” German art, while only in advent barely twenty years earlier, German artists latched onto the clean, practical, technologically-forward styles, especially seen in the architecture of Neues Bauen.  Not limited to practical forms of design, even one of forefathers of modern expressionism, Russian painter and co-founder of German expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter, Wassily Kandinsky, developed of shift in style away from the loose and soulful expressionism toward the careful, theory-heavy influences of constructivism, especially evident during his teaching years at Bauhaus.  The German identity was progressive, not just in the arts, but in technology.

Kandinsky, In Blue (1925)

Kandinsky, Autumn in Bavaria (1908)

Heisenberg and Bohr

The Weimar era was a landmark for scientific invention.  While economic crisis fueled tension between social classes, the Weimar Republic prospered in research of physics, psychology, mathematics, and dynamic systems.   While Schulze may be critical of the pseudo-intellectualism likely prevalent post-war, some of the most influential strides in quantum mechanics were made by German physicists, even in this time where many scholars looked to the past.  (222)  It is clear, however, that it’s the very nature German physicists to look ahead and challenge the status quo, which is exactly what Max Born, Pascual Jordan, Werner Heisenberg, Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Gustav Hertz, and many others accomplished.  While their discoveries will never be hidden, there were powers working to quench such progress, even within their own fields.  Soon a time would come where brilliant minds such as Born, Hertz, Einstein, James Franck, Wolfgang Pauli, and Fritz Haber would be outcast in their homelands as the anti-Semitic Nazi regime grew to power.  Fellow German physicist Johannes Stark, who along with Phillip Lenard supported Adolf Hitler in the Deutsche Physik, remarked against “Jewish physics.”  

Cover of "Deutsche Physik," a physics text written to reject "Jewish physics," i.e., all that Einstein proved.

Whether working toward a common goal or against a common enemy, whether simply bucking tradition or desiring progress, the German people could not, cannot, and will never be tied to one identity, for positive can’t exist without negative, and light without dark. The Weimar Republic was birthed out of the fall of the monarchy, and crumbled in the division of German thought.  

Two Sides of What Became the Same Coin

As social and political unrest was growing across the world, the German lands too sought a change in power.  After the Thirty-Years War, Germany as we know it was still comprised of small principalities with their own governing bodies, the aristocracy.  Tensions grew between the mainly Catholic, conservative South and the increasingly Enlightenment-focused and Protestant north.  This division, and the growing liberalism, eventually pushed toward a unified German Nation.  This began with the rise of the Prussian Kingdom, which, according to Schulze, filled a void of power in Central Europe apparent as Northern European nations weakened (78).  Unlike other dynasties and states who attempted to enact a larger governance and shortly dissipated, Prussia, in her starkly militant nature, proved to be a worthy and lasting force in Europe.

With Kingdom of Prussia under Frederick II, whose unlikely victory in Seven Years War earned him the title of Frederick the Great, German territories experiences an influx of both militant strength and progressive philosophy.  Frederick the Great’s infatuation with the writings of Voltaire and other contributors to the Enlightenment Movement sowed the seeds of liberalism in Prussia that would later develop for the growth of the nation. The myriad German principalities inadvertently continued this push for growth in arts and thought by trying to establish stronger political forces in focusing on education (89).  In later years, this resulted in the development of renowned architecture and music which we associate as German, even while Germany was not yet a unified nation.

Like Frederick’s struggle between his love of the arts and the militant nature in his blood, so too did the people of German territories, Prussia, and Austria struggle between stubbornly holding onto their traditional ideal and aristocratic focused status quo versus acting on the principles best suited to help the German people, particularly when economic uncertainty, Pauperism, and famine were growing (121).  The rise of representation lead to a potential unification, but granted from the German National Assembly, not from the German princes whose lands were involved.  A revolution had temporarily subsided, and again we have two opposing forces vying for Germany's central power.  Against the wishes of the traditionally focused party, German lands became industrialized with accomplishments such as the first German railway line in 1835 (130).  The rapid industrialization cause decreases in unemployment and Pauperism, giving strength to progressive Prussia’s economy.

With this rapid development of Prussia’s liberal power and aggressive politics came unrest in the largely Catholic Rhineland and southern Germany (135).   Still in warring times with France, Germany’s unified identity grew out a common hatred of the enemy, and it became evident, that while opposed politically, nationally and culturally as a people, they were Germany.  When Otto von Bismarck became prime minister of Prussia, the liberal movement gave staunch opposition to his conservative policies, but had to give into the efficacy of said policies against Denmark, when a treaty was signed in 1864 (140).  Germany was unified, but opposing parties had and still do survive, as the heart of Germany is not simply described.  Germany is the workers, the aristocrats, the legislators, and the poor.  Germany is both tradition and progression, militant and academic, even Catholic and Protestant and then some.  While Germany as we know is one nation, it has lived and will live as coin with two sides.

Berlin: The Struggle of Art and War

Since the eighteenth century, Berlin has been a city that inspires progression and expression, and conversely, has worked against those very same ideals.  As the capital of Prussia, Berlin experienced a military growth under King Friedrich Wilhelm I, but when his son, later known as Friedrich the Great, came to power, focuses for Berlin began to shift to the performing arts and French Enlightenment.  This brief artistic and philosophical expansion was due to Friedrich the Great’s infatuation with philosophers such as Voltaire, with whom he corresponded with for several years.  While Friedrich II did not fully break away from his father’s warring aspirations, he lit a fire in Berlin’s heart that would not soon be extinguished.

George Grosz, The Funeral. (1918)

At the turn of the twentieth century, social and artistic movements were rising in the streets of Germany.  Born in Dresden, the German Expressionist movement took hold in Berlin and spread across Europe.  The artists credited with starting this form of modernism collectively called themselves Die Brücke, and was comprised of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Fritz Bleyl, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.  While not a movement easy to define, Expressionism just before and during the years of the Weimar Republic became an outlet for artists, musicians, and writers to criticize injustices, explore passions and sexuality, and make political statements.  Berlin at this time became a center for the expressionists, whose interest in human subjectivity and emotion and rejection of realism led them against the status quo of industrialized Germany.  Such rejection is evident in the works of Berlin’s own, George Grosz, a Dadaist caricaturist during the Weimar Republic years.  Critical of the rampant industrialism, Grosz’ iconic images depicted Berlin as home to the corrupt and scandalous.   This is especially clear in pieces such as Fit for Active Service and Made in Germany, openly criticizing the Weimar Republic’s approach to World War I, which he was subsequently fined for blasphemy and defaming the military. 

Adolf Hitler and prominent Nazi artist Adolf Ziegler
at the Degenerate Art Show, a collection with works
 from artists such as Kirchner and Beckmann.

During the years of the Weimar Republic, intellectual pursuits flourished in Berlin.  German Expressionism continued to be greatly influential in cinema and the fine arts, which also experienced elements of cubism, and as the decade went on, artists denouncing expressionism and futurism.  As the Weimar Republic experienced economic disparities and Adolf Hitler rose to power, many artists and intellectuals fled Berlin.  In the Third Reich, strict rules regarding the arts were implemented in accordance to Hitler’s position on equating classicism with his idea of Aryan purity.  This led to the creation of Reichskulturkammer, the Reich Culture Chamber, a membership group which regulated the arts shown in museums and gave approval to artists upholding their ideals.  They were notoriously anti-modernist and actively purged artworks they deemed as “Degenerate art.”  Instead, they encouraged works romanticizing war, depicting landscapes with natural colors, and classically-inspired figure and portrait paintings of ideal Germans.  Berlin, which had once been a birthplace of and home to progressive forms of art, had now become a showplace for the Nazi’s anti-Semitic propaganda, as seen in the 1940 film, The Eternal Jew.

           

Friedrich der Große statue on Unter den Linden.

As communism swept the nation, Berlin was divided into the Soviet East Berlin, capital of the German Democratic Republic, and West Berlin, the sector associated with America, England, and France but surrounded by the GDR.  In Matt Frei’s BBC documentary on Berlin, a woman who grew up in East Germany recalls the Soviet official version of Friedrich the Great.  The Soviets of the GDR, in an attempt to distance themselves as wholly as possible from Hitler and the Third Reich, perpetrated a vision of an exploitive and tyrannical Friedrich unworthy of the title “Great.”  This is mainly due to Hitler’s own infatuation with Friedrich the Great, and so to disassociate with Hitler, Berlin’s iconic statue of the Prussian king was removed in 1950.  However, the spirit of Friedrich II would transcend the Nazi association; as the Soviets were desperate to regain a symbol of German legitimacy, enlightenment, and militarism, they returned the statue in 1980.  While it may be easy to say there was a cultural and progressive stagnation in the divided Berlin, the movements of protests that eventually ended in the breaching and dismantling of the Berlin Wall could be attributed to the progressively-minded citizens who challenged their circumstances. In this regard, Friedrich the Great struggle between philosophical and military endeavors were merely the dawn of the same conflict Berlin would face time and again.

Martin Luther: Radical Divisor

Statue of Martin Luther outside St. Mary's Church, Berlin

                While not the first man to challenge the Roman Catholic Church and her abuses of power, Martin Luther, with the backing and protection of certain royals in German lands, was able to forge a groundbreaking movement we know as the Protestant Reformation.  Martin Luther, like Jan Hus and John Wyclif, argued against the papacy using heretical rhetoric.  In 1517, Luther made history by publicly calling out the Roman Catholic Church on her practices of absolution and misuse of wealth.  It was a bold move on All-Saint’s Eve to not only send a commentated handwritten copy of Luther’s The Ninety-Five Theses to the archbishop who promoted the sale of indulgences, but to also post it to the door of Wittenberg’s Castle Church to be seen by all.  Originally written and distributed in Latin, The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences was soon distributed in the vernacular German, aided by the printing press, and only increased the popularity of Luther’s ideas.  Luther’s strides in his promotion of his version of Christianity may have also discouraged a sense of unification within certain German lands.  In Germany: A New History, Schulze describes Luther’s address of “the Christian nobility of the German Nation” was not to provoke political or cultural unity.  However, according to his contemporaries, Luther may have manifested a concept of German culture or nation, even as a camaraderie grew only among German-speaking regions where Luther’s Protestantism was flourishing, but a hostility emerged from the strongly Catholic German provinces. 

Paul Thumann: Luther verbrennt die Papstbulle (1872)

With said popularity came a pursuit of Luther and his writings on behalf Pope Leo X after his demand that Luther renounce The Ninety-Five Theses.  With Luther’s unwavering refusal and continual activism came the inevitable persecution of Luther and his following, as had previously occurred to Hus.  As Luther’s teachings grew popular among some Germans, others vehemently opposed them in an anti-Reformation movement which became stronger as Protestantism grew.  Instead of unifying German lands, the Reformation divided the would-be nation.  This division attributed to Luther inspired cultural advancements on both sides of the opposition.  Protestant Germany excelled in linguistic advancements as evidenced by Luther’s translating the Bible into vernacular German and pieces of literature and propaganda produced via the printing press.  Schulze also notes that Catholic Germany flourished in the arts and architecture.  Not only were Luther’s ideas radical, but they caused a radical division spurring on cultural, political, and religious distinctions accredited to, and present in, where we know as Germany. 

Title page of Martin Luther's On the Jews and Their Lies. Wittenberg, 1543

Alongside an unintentional divisive cultural growth came an intolerance and hatred for the opponent, whom for Luther was anyone from peasants to Roman Catholics to followers of Judaism. Followers of Luther's teaching acted violently, overthrowing the Castle Church Wittenberg and slaying revolting peasants; Luther's extreme rhetoric went beyond dividing Germany, and it inspired chaos and malice. The Reformation began primarily out of Luther's vehement disapproval of the Roman Catholic Church, but they weren't the only ones receiving Luther's fury. In On the Jews and Their Lies, Luther, no longer concerned with the Jewish people's salvation, called on his followers to wreak havoc for these people whose practices Luther described as "filth," perhaps starting a "German" tradition of antisemitism. Luther's promotion of, at the very least, anti-Judaism may be sadly ironic, as he fought for freedom from the Roman Catholic Church—the freedom to choose to practice the Christianity he devised—, he'd determined the Jewish people weren't entitled to such a choice.

Albrecht Dürers Apocalypse

The Revelation of St John: Title page to the edition of 1498

                In the fifteenth century, one of, and possibly, the most notable German fine artist was Albrecht Dürer. At the time, one of Dürer’s major claims to fame was his series of woodcuts, Apocalypse with Pictures, published 1498. The historical popularity of Apocalypse shows the significance of Christendom to the German people during the Northern Renaissance. While this book of woodcuts was published pre-Reformation, there were already political and religious revolutions brewing, especially with the popular belief of nearing end-times. Initially two versions were published: Latin and German. The accessibility of the illustrations with and based on the German vernacular translation (Koberger's Bible) of selections from Revelation added to Apocalypse’s, and ergo Dürer’s, fame.

                Dürer’s Apocalypse featured fifteen woodcuts depicting scenes and ideas described in the Book of Revelation.  Stylistically Dürer breached the German Gothic form with a heavy classical Italian influence, utilizing the practices of printmaking which were particularly advanced in German lands due to demand for illustrations, even though they were seen as artistically inferior.  Dürer’s mastery of these techniques can be seen in several of his works, but one of his most striking pieces is found in Apocalypse.   “The Four Riders of the Apocalypse” is Dürer’s depiction of Revelation 6: 1-8, where John envisions the first four of seven seals opening, releasing the four horsemen: Conquest, War, Death, and Famine.  In prophetic interpretations of John’s visions in Revelation, the seals opening are signs of the impending apocalypse and ultimate judgment of humanity.

Albrecht Dürer, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Unknown artist: Woodcut from the Cologne Bible of 1479 representing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

                In Dürer’s illustration of the Four Horsemen, the riders are depicted as four facets to the same fateful occurrence, contrasting with the widely accepted belief in fifteenth-century Germany which explains the riders- the calamities they symbolize- occur distinctly.  While biblically inaccurate, this interpretation is compositionally advantageous, creating a strong sense of cohesion and direction in the piece, due to the four riders forming a line, facing the same direction.  Drawing on the trend in Italian art, Dürer incorporated kinetics of living figures while contrasting with still and traditional German imagery, such as the noble in mouth of hell.   Dürer’s Apocalypse gave the German people an understandable and thrilling representation of a future they believed was not so distant.