Germany's First Democracy

Click all pictures to enlarge.

The Walther-Rathenau-Gewerbeschule (Vocational School) in Freiburg hosts an exhibition dedicated to the Weimar Republic.

It is quite natural that this school should shed light on this particular period of German history for its namesake, Walther Rathenau, a key figure of the Weimar Republic. As an entrepreneur, politician, and diplomat, he shaped the period immediately following the First World War. 

France's harsh position against loser Germany became particularly evident in 1922 at the economic conference in Genoa, where Germany and Communist Russia found themselves completely isolated. This led to the rapid signing of the Treaty of Rapallo between the two states, the preliminary draft of which had already been drawn up in lengthy negotiations. Chancellor Josef Wirth and his Foreign Minister Dr. Walther Rathenau had thus demonstrated to the world that Germany, which had been shaken to the core, was free to act, albeit to a limited extent. In response, France occupied the Ruhr region, as it now had to fear that Germany would no longer meet its obligations to pay reparations: "Germany only understands the language of violence, snorted the French right, while the communists raged: Poincaré - la guerre. 

In Germany, on the other hand, the right wing raged because the fact that a Jew, Rathenau, who had a doctorate in natural sciences, was now representing the Reich government's policy of fulfillment vis-à-vis the Allies as foreign minister was a provocation that could no longer be surpassed. So right-wing Freikorp fighters got serious with their threat: "Knallt ab den Walther Rathenau, die gottverdammte Judensau (Shoot-down Walther Rathenau, the goddamned Jew sow)."

When Rathenau was "executed" with a machine gun in his car on an open road on June 24, 1922, in despair, Chancellor Wirth exclaimed in a speech to the members of the Reichstag, turning to the right: “There stands the enemy, dripping his poison into the wounds of a people. - There stands the enemy - and there is no doubt about it: this enemy is on the right.”

The exhibition illustrates the political, economic, and social life of the Weimar Republic, from the founding of the first German democracy to the challenges that the young republic failed to face. As Red Baron showed in a previous blog, those years were not golden for most people. 

For this blog, I primarily selected pictures from the exhibition I had not seen before. For the entire history of the Weimar Republic, I refer you to my German website.

It all began with a defeat.

The war is lost and was followed by ...

... riots in Germany's capital, Berlin.

Following the Kaiser's abdication, Germany became a republic and needed a constitution.

The constituent assembly convened in Weimar at the German National Theater on February 6, 1919.

     

The key figure of the Weimar Republic, President Friedrich Ebert,
with the Mexican president on a state visit to Berlin

Vae victis. What Germany is supposed to lose

In his opening speech to the constituent assembly, Ebert reminded the assembled men and women of all that was left of defeated Germany: "Now the spirit of Weimar, the spirit of the great philosophers and poets, must once again fill our lives."

On February 11, 1919, before the delegates began deliberating the constitution's text, they elected Friedrich Ebert as the first President of the German Reich.

     

The Kaiser in exile in Holland was not amused about a harness maker being president.

Female members of the National Assembly from the Catholic Zentrum Party

As the first German democracy, the Weimar Republic created many foundations on which our societies are still based today.

    

It is done. Habemus constitution!

Inflation! In the fall of 1923, two employees of a company
pick up the daily paid wages in sacks at the Reichsbank.

Elections to the Reichstag.
Here, the poster men of various parties stand peacefully side by side.

SA marschiert and has those injured in Saalschlachten (brawls)
with the political opponent, march in front as martyrs.

Millions of unemployed gehen stempeln.
After the benefit has been paid out, an official stamps the unemployment cards.

Culture, the arts, and science flourish.
Max Liebermann paints President von Hindenburg.
From 1933 on, the Impressionist painter was ostracized as a Jew. 

Following Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of the Reich, the SA triumphantly marched through the Brandenburg Gate near his studio. At the sight of the brown hordes, the aged artist is said to have exclaimed, "Ick kann jar nich soville fressen, wie ick kotzen möchte (I can't eat as much as I want to throw up.)"

     

Bertolt Brecht, Lotte Lenya, and Kurt Weill celebrate the success
of their Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera) in Berlin.

The Zeppelin over the Brandenburg Gate

Am Tag von Potsdam, Reich Chancellor Hitler, in a lively conversation
with the son of the last emperor and a Nazi from the very beginning:
Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia.

With Him. Will he save the republic? President von Hindenburg was impressed
by the Day of Potsdam and covered up the establishment
of the Nazi dictatorship until he died in 1934.

Burning of books all over Germany on May 10, 1933

The history of the Weimar Republic is a lesson that democracy cannot be taken for granted but must be fought for and defended repeatedly.

*

Europe versus America

My loyal readers know that I have a soft spot for Sabine Hossenfelder. Her short physics-description videos on YouTube are legendary, and her books are inspiring.

  

This blog post is about a video in which Sabine highlights the differences between the New World and Old Europe, pointing out many well-known stereotypes.

The nastiness between Europeans and Americans is very old, and one of the oldest remarks about America comes from the French philosopher Voltaire. Commenting on the origins of America, Voltaire remarked, "It is said that God created the world and left America unfinished."

Somewhat later, one of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, only had terrible news about European governments, "The comparison of our government with those of Europe is like a comparison of heaven and hell."

The Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud found that "America is a mistake; a gigantic mistake, it is true, but nonetheless a mistake."

Benjamin Franklin had harsh words for the Europeans, "People in Europe talk of liberty and complain that they lack it. But they do not understand the real meaning of the word as we do in America."

To which George Bernard Shaw has a reply, "Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve." 

Two generations before Lincoln's American government of the people, by the people, for the people, John Adams castigated the European heritage, "I am no friend to aristocracy, and I am sure it is incompatible with liberty. The Europe I have seen is ruled by a few, for the few."

When George Bernard Shaw states, "The 100% American is 99% idiot.", Mark Twain rightly castigates European arrogance, "The English are mentioned in the Bible: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

Oscar Wilde, from the motherland England, about the wayward child, "America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."

Yes, English and Americans have a long love-hate relationship. At times, it goes below the belt when American stand-up comedian Jackie Mason pretends that "England is the only country in the world where the food is more dangerous than the sex."

With her stays in the States, Sabine has lived in both worlds. The remarks forwarded in her video are "scientifically" biased. Here is her most relevant text passage:

Americans just have different values than Europeans. We each have a different idea of what makes for a good life, and it makes no sense that we try to impose our values on each other.

Many Americans, for example, think of freedom as individual autonomy, being left alone by the government, and being able to say what they want without limitations. This is why they are skeptical of the idea of making health insurance mandatory, don't think much of social welfare programs, and constantly complain about censorship.

They've grown up learning that if you want to be successful, you need to take risks. They've grown up learning that failure is a normal part of life and an opportunity to learn. They've grown up learning to value independence.

Europeans, on the other hand, are more likely to associate freedom with social security. They want to be free to pursue their interests without having to worry about being in debt for the rest of their lives because they want to study physics without having to ask for donations to pay for cancer treatment or get shot at the mall in Europe.

We tend to see universal healthcare, tuition-free education, and unemployment benefits as the basis of individual liberty. We accept higher taxes and regulations as protection from systemic risks like poverty and illness, and most of us agree that one person's free speech ends when it is dangerous for another person's safety or dignity. We've grown up learning that bad fortune can hit anyone. We've grown up learning that we're stronger together. We've grown up learning to think before acting. Yes, these are terrible stereotypes.

The French would say, "Vive la difference!" and Red Baron finds that's good subscribing to Sabine's text, including the stereotypes, except for one statement. I did not learn to think before acting in high school in the early fifties. Instead, I had to make painful experiences in my life according to the principle of learning by doing wrong things.

Although I have never lived in the United States for any length of time, I once had a job offer there, and this was shortly after I joined CERN.

Together with my Norwegian boss, nearly the entire CERN Radiation Protection Group attended the 2nd International Conference on Accelerator Dosimetry and Experience at SLAC in 1969.

On our way back home, we flew through Chicago to visit Fermilab and its Tevatron accelerator, where the boss of the radiation protection group made me an offer. I remember that I impressed Miguel's secretary with my rudimentary English and my shit European accent as the exotic guy from Overseas.

Miguel invited me in his private plane and showed me the Tevatron site's splendor from above. I can only describe the scene with Matthew 4:8-9, "All this you will serve," he said, "if you will accept my offer and allow me to be your boss."

As a young father still struggling to find my position at CERN and thinking of my European wife, I declined the offer. Here comes a slide Sabine showed during her talk:

Taking everything into account, I never regretted my decision.

Years later, an Italian colleague flew across the big pond and joined the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Whenever he visited his home country, he passed by and said hello to his old colleagues at CERN. He was worried that his pension at SLAC wouldn't suffice to support him in his old days since the pension fund had lost a lot of money in the stock market. He stated, "I must work beyond my retirement," a common situation among academic staff in the States.

As a side note, when I asked for such a "privilege" at CERN, personnel simply told me in German, "Mit 65 ist Schluss."

Coming back to the initial topic. In her talk, Sabine showed a graphic that saddens me:

Europeans' sympathy for Americans is declining rapidly. We Germans, in particular, are full of angst that the transatlantic alliance Europe has relied on for decades will break.

Is it comforting that we Europeans are not the only ones who do not understand why the Americans elected Donald Trump? An American columnist also asked, "What exactly did Americans elect Mr. Trump to do? "

She continued her queries, "Did people want him to remake the government and disrupt the global financial order, or did they just want cheaper groceries? "

When looking at the outcome of our recent federal elections and regarding the present political situation in the Netherlands following their elections, I would not throw stones while sitting in a glass house as a Dutch lady does:

Germany, during years hypnotized by its Schuldenbremse (debt brake), suddenly woke up with the disturbing image of the Ukrainian president humiliated in the White House. 

In an unprecedented show of strength, the future German government, comprised of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, is whipping a one trillion-euro credit for armament and infrastructure improvements through the Bundestag (Parliament) and Bundesrat (Senate). This is only possible with a constitutional amendment requiring a 2/3 majority in both chambers. Yesterday, the Bundestag voted for the one trillion debt with a majority of 513 to 207. The Bundesrat will agree to the amendment on Friday.

Can't Germany afford higher debt?

This oversized financial shot will hopefully help Germany emerge from its stagnating economy. Will it also help to avoid a world apportioned between the USA, Russia, and China, with us Europeans as mere onlookers?

*

Modern Times

Pictures of the 1920s.

Elisabeth Voigt, The Little Drummer, 1926

This blog should have been written long ago, but the fast-moving political events have diverted my attention.

The vernissage of the exhibition Modern Times took place on September 25 last year. I tried to photograph some interesting pictures of the objects presented, but people were standing on each other's feet, so it was in vain. 

Click to enlarge

So I went to the Freiburg Museum of Contemporary Art later and had the exhibition rooms all to myself.

Modern times, everyone involuntarily thinks of the movie with Charlie Chaplin. A scene from it was also shown in an anteroom in an endless loop. 

Charlie runs after a woman with his wrench and tries to twist her skirt's buttons. Red Baron saw the movie as a student. The audience doubled over with laughter.

Walter Jacob, Prometheus 1220

Like another exhibition at Freiburg, Modern Times is on loan from the Altenburg Museums. They could not house their exhibition materials during the renovation of their premises and, therefore, loaned them for two exhibitions in Freiburg.

In the US, the 1920s are also known as The Roaring Twenties, in France as les années folles and in Italy as Anni ruggenti.

George Grosz, Vorm Schaufenster (Window Shopping) 1924

Käthe Kollwitz, Bread! 1924

In Germany, the social situation was anything but fun for most of the population, but during the Goldenen Zwanziger, the bear began to tap too, especially in Berlin.

Erich Haeckel, Zwei Verwundete (Two Wounded Veterans) 1914

The First World War ended with defeat, and Germany was humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles. The bloody war was a trauma that left its marks on people's souls and bodies. 

Gas and Hand Grenades

At a Lost Post

Maltreated Creature

Air Attack on Civilian Targets

Otto Dix, Die Kartenspieler (Cardplayers) 1920

Otto Dix's depictions illustrate the atrocities of the war.

Conrad Felixmüller, Soldat im Irrenhaus (Soldier in the Madhouse) 1918

War cripples were locked away or dominated the streets of Berlin and elsewhere as beggars.

Germany's post-war economic situation was catastrophic. Unemployment was high, money devaluation was galloping, society was torn apart, and the public was polarized, with a tendency towards radicalism. 

Käthe Kollwitz, Gedenkblatt (Memorial Sheet) für Karl Liebknecht 1919

Political murder was the order of the day.

Although it was forbidden, women of all ages who needed money due to hyperinflation prostituted themselves as an unavoidable sideline. Hans Baluscheck was fascinated by their faces and drew a portfolio of portraits of Unsocial Women in 1923.

Straßendirne (Steetwalker)

Vorstadtdirne (Suburban Prostitute)

Rummelnutte (Fairground Hooker)

Kokainistin (Cocaine Addict)

Kupplerin (Bawd)

The Weimar Republic tried in vain to improve the social situation of the population but fell into disrepute over the years.

Franz Xaver Fuhr, Café Kantore 1925

In Germany from 1924 onwards, in the Golden Twenties people lived out their individual freedom in cafés, brothels, and cabarets. Art, culture, and science flourished. 

Hanna Nagel Ein Akademieprofessor zeichnet die Maria
(An Academy Professor Draws Mary) 1931

While few revelled in unbridled wealth, many lived in abject poverty, and some enjoyed little happiness.

Conrad Felixmüller, Schichtwechsel auf Grube Gotteswort
(Shift change at God's Word mine) 1921

It was Germany's emergence into the modern age, with lofty dreams and boundless plans, but simultaneously a dance on a volcano. Because crises (Black Friday) followed one another, escalated immeasurably and, by the end of the 1920s, could no longer be controlled even with Notverordnungen (emergency decrees).

Click to enlarge

The end came in 1933, the triumph of those who despised democracy. Was the slide into the dark Nazi dictatorship avoidable?

Remember Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker who highlighted the rapid dismantling of the Weimar Republic by the Nazis warning his fellow citizens, "It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic."

For Red Baron, the Nazis' Machtergreifung (seizure of power) took only slightly longer. It began on  January 30, 1933, with Hitler's appointment as Reichs Chancellor and was completed on March 23, with the passing of the Ermächtigungsgesetz (Enabling Act). My German-reading friends may read the full stoy here.

Let the fall of the Weimar Republic be a lesson to us and a warning to recognize and prevent the destruction of freedom in good time. Although the Golden Twenties are long gone, they are still highly topical.

*

A Letter from Afterlife

Frequently Red Baron rips out a few feathers of other people in his writings but does not use them to adorn his blogs. The following, however, is an exception where I feature a translation of a letter from Napoleon to Trump. Der Spiegel author Evelin Ruhnow guided the French emperor's pen. I added some illustrations and footnotes.

Detail from the well-known painting by Jacques-Louis David
Premier Consul franchissant les Alpes au col du Grand Saint-Bernard
 with Trump in the saddle instead of Napoleon (©Der Spiegel)

In his letter, Napoleon dissuades the US president from emulating him.

Dear Mr. Trump,

For some time now, I have been following your efforts to claim the top position among history's greats with increasing displeasure. Mon cher ami, let me tell you: This place has already been taken. And although you have a reputation for incorrigible attitude, I am sending you these well-meant objections in the hope of dissuading you from your mission impossible.

"The career is open to the talented," I always say; and I am convinced of that, after all, I am living proof of it. However, I would like to express some doubts about you.

Très bien, you have made it to the presidency for the second time. That may be a more remarkable achievement than some would have given you credit for.

Napoleon's privates (©Tony Perrottet)

1. For me, it is instead a testimony to the failure of your people, who once dared to equate my severed penis with a shriveled eel and put it on public display. Quels crétins!

Nevertheless, I am surprised that this once proud nation could elevate a questionable homme d'affaires like you to office. It is often only a step from the sublime to the ridiculous.

2. I may be less familiar with today's times. Nevertheless, it seems at best risqué to me when a self-declared "king" bases his wisdom on the trials and tribulations of TV réalité. Voltaire, Goethe, Rousseau - these are the names he should be studying, Caesar, Alexander the Great and Hannibal, the heroes he should strive to emulate. And by the latter I don't mean that psychopath dérangé you so deliberately mention.

3. I cannot help but attest a lack of consistency in your foreign policy affairs that is not befitting of a truly great ruler. Take, for example, your efforts to start a tariff war. That may be a clever move to turn the nations against you, bien sur. But if it is, then please do it properly.

In my time, I set up a continental blockade that almost brought the whole of Europe - including my own empire - to ruin. If you do stupid things, they must at least succeed.

4. Success makes great men, but what notable successes may you show? The path to true greatness requires great deeds and titles.

I was First Consul and crowned Emperor. I became King of Italy and holder of the Order of the Elephant. People have erected statues of me, written books about my life and named plants after me. And you?

©dinarchronicles

So far, you have only fantasized in front of tasteless gold statues bearing your visage.

©The White House

And a patched-up picture with a crown doesn't make an aristocrat. Not everyone masters the art of declaring himself autocrat.

The fake citation (©Stephen Colbert)

5. I take particular offense at your attempt to appropriate my fame. Using a false quote and putting on your own crown, elevating your closest family members and followers to positions of power*, infiltrating the media with systematic "press work" and presenting yourself as a chosen savior - all just to emulate me? Pathétique!
*Don't run your mouth too full here, Napoleon. His older brother Joseph Bonaparte was first King of Naples and later King of Spain. Napoleon's younger brother Louis became King of Holland and his youngest brother Jérôme was King of Westphalia.

Apart from the fact that there can only be one original - and that's me - I intensely dislike being associated with your questionable practices and manners. And your attempts to reach out for things beyond your reach sometimes seem clumsy as your hand.

Finally, if my letter does not dissuade you from your fruitless efforts to climb the steps of glory, I would like to issue two warnings. They are based on painful experiences that I am reluctant to talk about.

Firstly, if you put all your trust in Russia, you may end up like me. I too, generous as I was, made a peace that the ungrateful Tsar broke only a short time later.

And secondly, the people's anger is awakening faster than you can imagine.* Your second term of office may not yet last a hundred days like mine, but I assure you: The voices wishing for your abdication can already be heard loud and clear. As soon as the luck changes, the mob will become ungrateful.

*After the lost Battle of Leipzig, Napoleon resented, "Conquests have made me what I am. Only conquests can keep me in power."

All well and good, but my Russian campaign may not have been strictly a success. Looking back, perhaps I should have been satisfied with my petty kingship on Elba (you call yours Mar-a-Lago) - but who can predict that?

And before you know it, you end up on a lonely, barren island. Alone. Quelle farce!

Last but not least: I heard you once remark during a visit to France that things didn't end well with me. But if you think you could follow in my oversized footsteps without sharing a similar fate, all that remains for me to say is: Bonne chance.

With disdainful regards

Napoleon Bonaparte (the real one)

*