Vielfalt 10: 2020-21

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IELFALT

A MCGILL GERMAN STUDIES STUDENT JOURNAL EINE STUDENTENZEITSCHRIFT DER MCGILL GERMANISTIK REVUE ÉTUDIANTE D’ÉTUDES ALLEMANDES DE MCGILL

VOLUME 10 | 2020-21 MCGILL UNIVERSITY MONTRÉAL

Cover photo taken in Bamberg, Deutschland by Sean Hall

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IELFALT

A MCGILL GERMAN STUDIES STUDENT JOURNAL EINE STUDENTENZEITSCHRIFT DER MCGILL GERMANISTIK REVUE ÉTUDIANTE D’ÉTUDES ALLEMANDES DE MCGILL

VOLUME 10 | 2020-21

MCGILL UNIVERSITY MONTRÉAL

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Taken in Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland by Eric Storrer

Editors:

Alison Dringenberg, Anna de la Fuente, Emil Alberts, Eric Storrer, Helena Lang, Jasmine Rochereul, Louise Vuillemin, Mark Banchereau, Michelle Gu, Raphael Goldman-Pham, and Sean Hall

Contributers:

Antoine Malette, Frédérick Deschênes, Julian Stuart, Katrina Hermann, Laurie Sévigny-Couture, Mika Weissenberger, Raphaëla Sonnenschein-Blum, and Yizhang Yang

Special Thanks:

We would like to extend our thanks to the Arts Undergraduate Society, the German Students’ Association at McGill, and the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at McGill University for their generous support.

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IELFALT VOLUME 10 | 2020-21

Editor’s Note/Vorwort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Alison Dringenberg, French translation by Louise Vuillemin, and German translation by Emil Alberts

Berlin ist schön (Lovebirds). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Laurie Sévigny-Couture

Das Mädchenorchester in Auschwitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Raphaëla Sonnenschein-Blum

Zu Hause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Katrina Hermann

On Brecht’s Lehrstücke: The Value of The Measures Taken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Yizhang Yang

Kaleidoscopic Taboos and Divine-Sexual Transgression in Von Aue’s Poor Heinrich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Julian Stuart

Eine Zukunft für die Universität . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Frédérick Deschênes

The Origins of Weltpolitik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Mika Weissenberger

Traverser l’Amer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Antoine Malette

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Vorwort/Editor’s Note S

ubmitted and selected in the 2019-2020 school year, the written works to follow were almost overlooked amidst a global pandemic which put everything – even undergraduate journals – on hold. In 2021, the executive team of the German Studies Association reflected that these submissions were selected for a reason; their revision and publication should therefore be carried out.

We are thus eager to present the tenth edition of Vielfalt (or “diversity”), the annual undergraduate German Studies publication. As the name suggests, this publication aims to be diverse in both content and style, highlighting a myriad of aspects of German history, literature, and language, and converging said aspects into a single publication. The final product ought to lend credence to the value of German studies. The edition in question, we hope, fulfills this aspiration.

The journal opens with a captivating poem which transports the reader to Berlin in the summertime. A research essay follows, which details the history of the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz, and a short story written in the style of the twentieth-century German writer Hubert Fichte ensues. Next, an inquiry is made into the significance of Bertolt Brecht’s Lehrstücke (or “learning-plays”), which is then succeeded by an essay exploring the relationship between sexual transgression and ritual sacrifice in Hartmann von Aue’s Poor Heinrich through a psychological and philosophical perspective. The reader is then invited to delve into a story which brings Wilhelm von Humboldt, the founder of Humboldt University in Berlin, back to life. Second to last, a research essay probes the mind of Kaiser Wilhelm II in order to discern the provenance of his foreign policy of Weltpolitik. We close the tenth edition of Vielfalt with a beautifully written auto-fiction, a work which combines the three languages of our journal, German, English, and French, in a piece inspired by the author’s first trip to Germany and that wrenching seventeen-year-old heartbreak.

No doubt, this cursory overview has already revealed the diversity of this year’s publication; interspersed throughout this edition are photographs, almost all taken by your dedicated editing team, capturing moments in Dresden, Bamberg, Berlin, and Mannheim. We hope this variety of subject matter, structure, and form proves both engaging and informative for the reader. Lastly, I would like to thank the authors for their wonderful submissions; this journal, of course, would not be possible without you. At the end of the day, despite the publication delay, we have assembled and polished an edition of Vielfalt for the 2020-2021 year which we hope, with all our hearts, that our readers will enjoy.

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yant été sélectionnées pendant l’année scolaire 2019-2020, les œuvres qui suivent ont failli être négligées au milieu d’une pandémie qui mit tout en pause, même les journaux universitaires. En 2021, l’équipe exécutive de l’Association des Études Allemandes a conclu que ces travaux furent choisis pour de bonnes raisons; leur révision et publication devraient alors être menées à bien.

Nous sommes donc heureux de présenter la dixième édition de Vielfalt (traduit “diversité”), la publication annuelle des Études Allemandes. Comme son nom le suggère, ce journal vise à montrer une variété de contenus et de styles tout en mettant en valeur une myriade de facettes de l’histoire, la littérature, et la langue allemandes, le tout dans une seule publication.

Ce qui en découle devrait accorder de la valeur aux études germanophones. Cette édition, nous l’espérons, y parvient.

Le journal ouvre sur un poème captivant qui transporte son lecteur dans un Berlin estival. Un travail de recherche suit, détaillant l’histoire de l’Orchestre féminin d’Auschwitz, puis une nouvelle écrite dans le style de l’écrivain allemand Hubert Fichte. On peut ensuite lire une enquête sur la portée des Lehrstücke (“pièces didactiques”) de Bertolt Brecht, qui laisse après place à une dissertation explorant la relation entre transgression sexuelle et rituel sacrificiel sous un angle psychologique et philosophique dans l’œuvre “Henri le Lépreux” écrite par Hartmann von Aue. Le lecteur est, après cela, invité à se plonger dans une histoire qui ramène à la vie Wilhelm von Humboldt, fondateur de l’université Humboldt de Berlin. La pénultième œuvre de ce journal est un essai enquêtant sur l’esprit de l’empereur Wilhelm II afin de comprendre l’origine de son concept de Weltpolitik. La dixième édition de ce journal se clôt sur un travail d’auto-fiction qui combine les trois langues de ce journal dans un poème inspiré par le premier voyage de l’auteur en Allemagne ainsi qu’un chagrin d’amour adolescent.

Sans aucun doute, ce sommaire dévoile déjà la gamme de diversité que montre cette publication: parsemés à travers ce journal sont des photos prises presque totalement par notre équipe éditoriale qui capturent des moments dans les villes de Dresde, Bamberg, Berlin et Mannheim. Nous espérons que cette variété de sujets et formes se montrera engageante et informative pour nos lecteurs. Enfin, je voudrais remercier nos auteurs pour leurs merveilleuses soumissions; ce journal, bien sûr, n’existerait pas sans vous. Malgré ce délai de publication, nous avons assemblé et peaufiné une édition de Vielfalt pour l’année 2020-2021 que, nous espérons, nos lecteurs vont apprécier.

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ingereicht und ausgewählt im Schuljahr 2019-2020, wurden die folgenden Werke inmitten einer globalen Pandemie, die alles auch die Studienzeitschriften - auf Eis legte, fast übersehen. Im Jahr 2021 hat sich das Vorstandsteam des Germanistenverbandes überlegt, dass diese Beiträge nicht ohne Grund ausgewählt wurden; ihre Überarbeitung und Veröffentlichung sollte daher erfolgen.

Wir freuen uns daher, Ihnen die zehnte Ausgabe von Vielfalt, der Jahreszeitschrift für Studierende der Germanistik, präsentieren zu können. Wie der Name schon sagt, soll diese Publikation sowohl inhaltlich als auch stilistisch vielfältig sein und eine Vielzahl von Aspekten der deutschen Geschichte, Literatur, und Sprache beleuchten und in einer Publikation zusammenführen. Das Endprodukt soll den Wert der Germanistik unterstreichen. Die vorliegende Ausgabe erfüllt, so hoffe ich, diesen Anspruch.

Die Zeitschrift beginnt mit einem fesselnden Gedicht, das den Leser in das sommerliche Berlin entführt. Es folgt ein Recherche-Essay, der die Geschichte des Frauenorchesters von Auschwitz beschreibt, und eine Kurzgeschichte im Stil des deutschen Schriftstellers Hubert Fichte. Es folgt eine Untersuchung der Bedeutung von Bertolt Brechts Lehrstücken, gefolgt von einem Essay, der das Verhältnis von sexueller Transgression und rituellem Opfer in Hartmann von Aues “Der arme Heinrich” aus psychologischer und philosophischer Sicht untersucht.

Anschließend wird der Leser eingeladen, sich in eine Geschichte zu vertiefen, die Wilhelm von Humboldt, den Gründer der Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, wieder zum Leben erweckt. Der vorletzte Beitrag beleuchtet den Gedankengang von Kaiser Wilhelms II. und geht der Frage nach, woher seine Weltpolitik kam.

Wir enden in der zehnten Ausgabe von Vielfalt mit einer wunderschön geschriebenen Autofiktion, einem Werk, das die drei Sprachen unserer Zeitschrift, Deutsch, Englisch und Französisch, in einem Stück vereint.

Dieses Stück ist inspiriert von der ersten Reise des Autors nach Deutschland und jenem schmerzhaften Herzschmerz, den er mit siebzehn Jahren hatte.

Sicherlich hat dieser kursorische Überblick bereits die Vielfältigkeit der diesjährigen Publikation verdeutlicht: Überall in dieser Ausgabe sind Fotos eingestreut, die fast alle von Ihrem engagierten Redaktionsteam aufgenommen wurden und Momente in Dresden, Bamberg, Berlin und Mannheim festhalten.

Wir hoffen, dass diese Abwechslung in Thema, Struktur und Form für den Leser spannend und informativ ist.

Abschließend möchte ich mich bei den Autoren für ihre wunderbaren Beiträge bedanken, ohne die diese Zeitschrift natürlich nicht möglich wäre. Am Ende des Tages haben wir trotz der Publikationsverzögerung eine Ausgabe der Vielfalt für das Jahr 2020-2021 zusammengestellt und aufbereitet, von der wir uns wünschen, dass sie unseren Lesern gefällt.

May 17 th, 2021 Alison Dringenberg Le 17 mai 2021 Louise Vuillemin 17. Mai 2021 Emil Alberts

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Berlin ist schön (Lovebirds) This spoken word album was released in July 2019. It features 10 songs, each of them having a text assigned either in French, English or German. All texts and audio available at https://laurey.bandcamp.com/album/lovebirds.

by Laurie Sévigny-Couture

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ch lief auf die Straße Und dachte an dich Ein Mann fragt nach meinem Namen Und ich sag Laura, weil es einfacher ist Hier die Nächte machen mir Angst Und die Sonne, mag ich nicht Ich will einfach nur alleine sein Und dann weinen für nichts Das Auto fährt viel zu schnell Und ich wollte nur sitzen Er sagt, dass ich süß bin Ich sag Arschloch und geh los Wir badeten im See Und du sagtest Wie dein Leben danach langweilig wird Ich lachte, wir lachten Das Fenster war offen Und ich rauchte eine Zigarette Die Blumen waren noch da Und dein Gesicht nicht weg Ich erinnere mich an deine Stimme Als ich fahr durch Kreuzberg Wie es war, wie es weg Wie es war, wie es weg Berlin ist schön Doch es könnte schöner sein (Berlin ist schön, Track 7)

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Das Mädchenorchester in Auschwitz The Womens Ochestra of Auschwitz “The Women Who Brought Josef Kramer to Tears”

Published in memory of Raphaëla Sonnenschein-Blum. To honor her, this text is in its original form and has not been edited.

by Raphaëla Sonnenschein-Blum

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as Mädchenorchester von Auschwitz The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz was the brainchild of Maria Mandel. Its purpose was manifold. It was created to both entertain the Nazi SS after selections at the end of the day, and to keep the marching beat when prisoners were marching to and from work. They were also used upon cattle car transport arrivals, to give the aura of a pleasant camp, and as such, the music and musicians were used as a form of control, torture, and subterfuge.

This paper will discuss conductor Alma Rosé and members Fania Fénelon, Anita LaskerWallfisch, and Rachela Olewski-Zelmanowicz.1 Briefly mention which songs were favoured by the Nazis and a timeline of events. I will opine in my conclusion that we have a responsibility to both educate and never forget what occurred and that these women were exemplary heroes in the face of the horrors of the Holocaust.

Maria Mandel became SS-Oberaufseherin in October 1942, taking over the Frauen Konzentrationslager.2 She was a huge music aficionado and was especially enamored with Madame Butterfly.3 Rachela Olewski states that the orchestra was the creation of Rudolf Franz Hössler,4however, Maria Mandel, in April 1943, was in fact, the one who decreed the founding of the orchestra.5 This took place under Hössler’s command, and as her commander, he would have had to approve it.6 The Orchestra’s Kapellmeisterin (conductor) was Alma Rosé, Gustav Mahler’s niece.7 The Orchestra would have a program of which pieces they could play, and the SS would choose three or four pieces for them to play, according to Violette Ford, as told in Bach in Auschwitz - Chaconne d’Auschwitz film.8 Parisian-born Fénelon was born Fanny Goldstein on 2 September 1922. Her father was Jewish, and her mother was French Catholic. As

such, she was considered a Mishling.9 She was educated at the Conservatoire de Paris, studying piano and voice, and in the 1930s began utilizing the stage name Fania Fénelon.10 Upon arriving at Auschwitz, she was tattooed with the number 74862.11 On 23 January 1944 in the quarantine block, someone came in shouting “Madame Butterfly” searching for someone who could sing it, and thus Fania Fénelon survived Auschwitz.12 Fania was thrilled that the piano provided to play was a Bechstein.13 She sang Puccini’s Un bel di and Wenn es Frühling wird by Peter Kreuder.14She later recalls being ill with Typhus at the Revier (clinic) and Dr. Josef Mengele after inquiring as to who she was and being told she was from the Kapelle (The Orchestra), left her alone.15 There was a strict order in place at the Revier that it was forbidden to send orchestra members to the crematorium.16 Fénelon was asked by Rosé to orchestrate Suppé’s Lutspiel, a favorite of the SS officers. There was no manuscript or lined paper; lines had to be drawn with a ruler, and only pencils were available, no ink nor pens.17 Fénelon had a secret amusement arranging Josef, Josef, a well known foxtrot by a Jewish composer; the SS had no clue. They also adored banned Jewish composer Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor. One Sunday they played for Dr. Mengele’s mentally ill patients, who had been driven crazy by the experiments they had been subjected to.18 It was incredibly difficult for them as they knew they would play for them in the morning and the patients would be gassed in the afternoon.19 Sunday concerts consisted of Antonín Dvořák’ Viennese Waltzes (which was forbidden music). Brahms’ Hungarian dances, Schubert’s Lilac Time, some Tosca, Whitehorse Inn, Song of the Volga and The Nightingale by Alabieff.20 The SS loved the music but had no clue as to what they were listening to.21 One day they were obliged to play for Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler; they opened up with a medley

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from the Merry Widow, followed by Peter Kreuder’s Twelve Minutes, and an aria from the Gypsy Princess.22 As witnessed by Hinda Tennenbaum, a former Auschwitz inmate and a Mengele twin experiment survivor, the executions were executed to music.23 One day, Josef Kramer, the Birkenau Kommandant, known for his cruelty, made his entrance asking to hear some music. He requested Schumann’s Träumerei, stating: “it was a marvelous heartrending piece.” He had just finished a “selection” which is where the train arrives as 1100 of the 1200 arrivals get selected to go to the crematorium to their deaths, and fifty men and fifty women would become inmates of the camp. It was also described how he had just bashed in a woman’s skull to her death. They played the requested song and Kramer’s eyes welled up with tears,24 and he cried.25 Over the course of his time at Auschwitz, Kramer gassed twenty-four thousand.26 Alma Rosé, violinist and conductor, was Mandel’s protégé. When Alma fell ill, Mandel arranged that Alma be given a private room even though she was Jewish.27 Alma died on 4 April 1944 in block 4. Rumor is that she was poisoned by the Kanada commando Frau Schmidt, whom Alma had dined with the night before she got sick.28 Mandel even held a funeral for her, a Jew, and all were obliged to attend.

After Alma’s death Sonia Vinogradovna, a Russian female paratrooper, pianist, and singer, became Block-älteste (Block Senior) and Orchestra conductor.29

By April 1944, as Germany started losing the war, the transports increased and so too did the concerts. There would be two or three every Sunday, and every day the SS required that they play for them. Upon liberation Fania was asked to sing by the BBC and sang the Marseillaise, God Saved the King and the Internationale.30 Fania Fénelon’s autobiography, “Playing for Time,” was made into a CBS TV movie starring Vanessa Redgrave as Fénelon.31 Arthur Miller penned the screenplay.32 Redgrave’s casting incited outrage amongst many, including Fénelon, especially as Redgrave was a supporter of the PLO.33 In her book, Fénelon claims that Alma would punish the musicians if not perfect and justified herself that “in Germany, it is traditional for the conductor to mete out corporal punishment to his musicians.”34 This upset many of the Orchestra members as they found the statement exaggerated

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or untrue. Rosé’s family responded by publishing a biography showing her in a kinder light.35 It is both unfair and impossible to know the truth, as Alma is not alive to defend herself.

Fania Fénelon, née Goldstein, passed away at the age of seventy-five on 19 December 1983.36 Rachela Olewski née Zelmanowicz, born on 8 October 1921 in Bendzin, Poland was deported on 3 August 1943 to Auschwitz. Upon her arrival she was tattooed with the number 52816 on her left arm; her mandolin playing saved her life, as she was encouraged by her brother’s girlfriend, Rozka Rembiszewska, to join the women’s orchestra of Auschwitz in A Lager, Block 12.37 Rachela recalls playing Sarasate, Vittorio Monti all types of czardas, Beethoven’s Für Elise, and Strauss Waltzes.38 The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz were frequently forced to perform in tandem accompanying torture sessions performed on prisoners.39 Rachela passed away after a five-year battle with cancer on 17 August 1987.40 Anita Lasker, born in Breslau on 17 July 1925, was the cellist in the orchestra.41 While she was having her head shaved and arm tattoed with the number 69388,42she mentioned that she was a cellist. She does not know what made her say that she played the Cello, but it saved her life.43 Alma Rosé joyfully told Anita that she would be saved because she played the cello. Her audition piece was the slow movement of the Boccherini Concerto, which she passed with flying colours.44 In October 1944, the female musicians were moved to Bergen-Belsen and on Sunday, 15 April 1945, at approximately five o’clock in the afternoon, the British liberated Bergen-Belsen.

Lasker was amongst those that testified against Franz Hössler at the Belsen Trial in Lüneburg in September 1945.45 Lasker-Wallfisch then went on to become a founding member of the English Chamber Orchestra in London.46 Now retired from performing, Lasker gives lectures about her Holocaust experiences to ensure that what occurred is never forgotten.47 German papers are keen to publish her story, and German schools are legislated to teach about the Holocaust.48 In her testimony to the Shoah Foundation, Lasker-Wallfisch explains that one of the privileges of the Women’s Orchestra which the Men’s Orchestra did not experience was that members of the Men’s Orchestra were obliged to go out to work on top of their musical duties at Auschwitz, whereas the women did not.49

In conclusion, the atrocities of Auschwitz, endured at the hands of the Nazis, is unfathomable.

They experienced constant terror, fear, hunger, subjugation, and torture; the torture, not only physical, as some might assume, but mental and emotional as well. The sights, sounds, and smells remained with the survivors for the rest of their lives. Those that survived did whatever they needed to do in order to live. The memories and experiences not only haunted their lives but affected future generations.50 The standard whitewashed narrative speaks of predominantly Jews being in camps and having their heads shaved, arms tattooed and doing forced labour. The reality is much more gruesome. Imagine if you will, the daily reality of sleeping in the cold, on lice-infested straw bedding crammed together with other strangers. Minimal bathing, feces, and urine overwhelm with their fetid stench, fighting for a piece of bread. Imagine. That was their daily reality, for years, if they were fortunate enough to survive. Their “work” at times was shoveling dead bodies, and sometimes coming across their loved ones in the process. I know it is frightening and people try to whitewash and sanitize it, so as not to frighten, however, it is imperative that our present and future generations know, honestly, what occurred. The German Government has legislated that all schoolchildren be taught about the Holocaust. The rest of the world would do well to follow suit.

For these women, their skill and musical talent saved them, but the sense of guilt and shame plagued them evermore. They were treated better than other female inmates in Auschwitz.

However, they endured mental torture every day; often multiple times a day they would play when transports arrived, in order to give the illusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY Ancestry.com. Associated Press, Name Card Index to AP Stories, 1905-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Associated Press File Drawers of National, International, News Feature Name/Subject Cards, 1937–1985. Microfilm. Associated Press Corporate Archives, New York, NY. https://search.ancestry.ca/cgi bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=50018&h=3645877&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=xlk2 1&_phstart=successSource.

to the new arrivals that Auschwitz was a good place. After all, an orchestra was greeting them, how bad can it be? All the while being forced to smile knowing full well the arrivals were marching to their deaths; knowing that they were forced to be part of the subterfuge. Then when playing the marches every morning and evening, forcing the exhausted prisoners to step it up and march quicker to the beat, making them cohorts in the physical torture and abuse of prisoners. Yet they had no choice, as not to comply, would mean their certain extermination.

They all did what was necessary to survive, and I stand in awe of their fortitude and sheer will to live.

I think it is so important to know about these brave women and to know that the atrocities permeated every facet of life in Auschwitz. That evil managed to subjugate music and use such a positive for evil and torture. To know that in their own way they resisted and made the political statement that they could by sneaking in the odd Jewish-penned piece such as Josef, Josef, unbeknownst to the Nazi audience, utilizing their ignorance to their advantage. Little things like that gave them the strength to endure until liberation.

I believe it crucial to include their story in the curriculum when teaching music history. So that the younger generations, some of whom are desensitized to violence through media and videogames, understand and try to imagine themselves in that position in order to comprehend their heroism. That everything, including music, is a powerful tool. So that the next time they hear Träumerei, they should know not only its beauty but that it was loved by “The Angel of Death” - Dr. Josef Mengele and brought Josef Kramer to tears.

We must never forget.

Bach, Johann Sebastian. Chaconne, Partita No. 2 BWV 1004.

Chaconne was written between 1717 and 1720.

Bach in Auschwitz Chaconne d’Auschwitz. Directed by Michel Daeron, Ronin Films, 106 minutes, 2000. https://concordiaca. kanopy.com/video/back-auschwitz. Accessed March 8, 2019.

Bejarano Esther and Birgit Gärtner, Wir leben trotzdem. Esther Bejarano--vom Mädchenorchester in Auschwitz zur Künstlerin für den Frieden. [We Live Nevertheless] Bonn: Pahl-Rugenstein Verlag, 2004.

C. Bechstein Pianoforte Aktiengesellschaft. “Bechstein Tradition, 1850-1855 & 1930-1945.” Accessed 29 March 2019. https://www. bechstein.com/en/the-world-of bechstein/tradition/1850-1855/.

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Eytan, Edwin. “Fania Fénelon Dead at 75.” Daily News Bulletin.

December 23, 1983, 3. https://www.jta.org/1983/12/23/archive/ fania-fenelon-dead-at-75.

Fénelon, Fania. “Nach Mord Schumanns Träumerei.” Stern 33 (1980): 41, quoted in Juliane Brauer. “How Can Music Be Torturous?: Music in Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps.”

Music & Politics X, no. 1 (Winter 2016): 24. doi:10.3998/mp.9460447.0010.103.

Fénelon, Fania. Playing for Time. Translated by Judith Landry.

New York: Atheneum, 1977.

Gilbert, Shirli. Music in the Holocaust: confronting life in the Nazi ghettos and camps. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Interview with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch. Royal College of Music.

Published on May 8, 2015. https://youtu.be/RUPoJ8npt-Q. Jewish Survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch on the Auschwitz Camp Orchestra. USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education. Published on March 2, 2016. https:// youtu.be/9A5dCX487J4.

Knapp, Gabriele. Das Frauenorchester in Auschwitz. Hamburg: von Bockel, 1996. Langbein, Hermann. People in Auschwitz.

Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.

Lasker-Wallfisch, Anita. Inherit the Truth: A Memoir of Survival and the Holocaust. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. Originally published as Sursis pour l’orchestre. Paris: Stock, 1976; German translation: Das Mädchenorchester in Auschwitz. Frankfurt am Main: Röderberg 1980.

Music and the Holocaust – “Anita Lasker Wallfisch.” HolocaustMusic.ORT.org. n.d. http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/ death-camps/birkenau/anita-lasker-wallfisch/.

Music and the Holocaust, HolocaustMusic.ORT.org, , http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/death-camps/birkenau/fenelonfania/. Newman, Richard. Alma Rosé: Vienna to Auschwitz. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 2000.

---. “In the Shadow of Death,” The Strad 111, no. 1325 (September 2000): 964. The Strad is a UK-based monthly classical music magazine about string instruments, including cellists, violinists, and violists for amateur and professional musicians.

Playing for Time. Directed by Daniel Mann. Written by Arthur Miller. Featuring Vanessa Redgrave. Aired September 30, 1980, on CBS. https://youtu.be/H1U0gFWLtvI. Posted by HAS – Holocaust Social Archive. dll?indiv=1&dbid=1356&h=8349&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_ phsrc=xl k21&_phstart=successSource.

Riebsamen, Hans. “Mädchenorchester von Auschwitz: Das Cello rettete ihr Leben.” Frankfurter Allgemeine. September 13, 2011 – 22:47pm. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein main/frankfurt/ maedchenorchester-von-auschwitz-das-cello-rettete-ihr-leben 11167321.html.

Rosen, David, comp. The Boston Jewish Advocate Index to Obituary Notices, 1905- 2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: Jewish Advocate. Boston, MA: Jewish Advocate, 1905-2007. This data is provided in partnership with JewishGen.org. https://search.ancestry.ca/cgi bin/sse.

“SS Female Overseers in Auschwitz.” DEGOB National Committee for Attending Deportees Recollections on the Holocaust-The World’s most extensive testimonial site. n.d. http://degob.org/ index.php?showarticle=2018#_ednref5.

Stroumsa, Jacques. Violinist in Auschwitz: From Salonika to Jerusalem 1913-1967. Translated by James Stewart Brice. Edited

by Erhard Roy Wiehn. Konstanz: Hartung-Gorre Verlag, 1996.

Wikipedia contributors. “Kinderszenen.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed February 27, 2019. https://en.wikipedia. org/w/index.php?title=Kinderszenen&oldid=877973021.

Xan Rice, Xan. “The Cellist of Auschwitz.” New Statesman. 31 October 2015. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.

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Zelmanowicz Olewski, Rachela and Jochevet Ritz-Olewski.

Crying is Forbidden Here! A Jewish Girl in pre-WWII Poland, The Women’s Orchestra in Auschwitz and Liberation in Bergen-Belsen. Edited by Arie Olewski and Jochevet Ritz-Olewski.

Based on her Hebrew testimony. Recorded by Yad-Vashem on 21 May 1984.

Ra’anana, Israel: Open University of Israel, 2009.

APPENDIX I

Illustration 1: Women’s orchestra, AuschwitzBirkenau, drawing by Mieczysław Kościelniak, 1944. Retrieved from: http://denktag2006. denktag-archiv.de/typo3temp/pics/4f904e3a1e. jpg.

APPENDIX II

NOTES There were approximately forty-five members of the Orchestra, although not all at once, as some passed on. 2 FKL is an acronym for Frauen Konzentrationslager, which is German for the Women’s Concentration Camp. “SS Female Overseers in Auschwitz,” DEGOB National Committee for Attending Deportees- Recollections on the Holocaust-The World’s most extensive testimonial site, n.d., http://degob.org/index.php?showarticle=2018#_ednref5.

3 Fania Fénelon, Playing for Time, trans. Judith Landry (New York: Atheneum, 1977), 61. 4 Rachela Zelmanowicz Olewski and Jochevet Ritz-Olewski, Crying is Forbidden Here! A Jewish Girl in pre-WWII Poland, The Women’s Orchestra in Auschwitz and Liberation in Bergen-Belsen. Edited by Arie Olewski and Jochevet Ritz-Olewski. Based on her Hebrew testimony, recorded by Yad-Vashem on 21 May 1984. (Ra’anana, Israel: Open University of Israel, 2009), 28.

5 Laks, Szymon, Music of Another World, trans. Chester A. Kisiel (Evanston, III.: Northwestern University Press, 1989),119-129, cited in Shirli Gilbert, Music in the Holocaust: confronting life in the Nazi ghettos and camps (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 179.

6 There is no paper trail confirming whose signature was on the final order, as once the Germans knew they had lost the war, began destroying all evidence.

7 Fania Fénelon, Playing for Time, trans. Judith Landry (New York: Atheneum, 1977), 29. Originally published as Sursis pour l’orchestre (Paris: Stock, 1976); German translation: Das Mädchenorchester in Auschwitz (Frankfurt am Main: Röderberg 1980).

8 Bach in Auschwitz Chaconne d’Auschwitz, directed by Michel Daeron, Ronin Films, 106 minutes, 2000. https://concordiaca. kanopy.com/video/back-auschwitz. Accessed February 27, 2019. Ford was a band member. Chaconne refers to a Johann Sebastian Bach composition - Chaconne, Partita No. 2 BWV 1004. Chaconne was written between 1717 and 1720.

9 Mishling is a term used by the Nazis to denote one of mixed blood; specifically, one who is of half-Aryan and half Jewish ancestry.

10 Music and the Holocaust, HolocaustMusic.ORT.org, http:// holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/death camps/birkenau/ fenelonfania/.

11 Fania Fénelon, Playing for Time, 20.

12 Ibid., 9.

13 Ibid, 27; C. Bechstein Pianoforte Aktiengesellschaft, “Bechstein Tradition, 1850-1855 & 1930-1945,” last modified March 29, 2019, https://www.bechstein.com/en/the-worldof-bechstein/tradition/1850-1855/. The Bechstein piano was manufactured by C. Bechstein Pianoforte AG - a German manufacturer of pianos, established in 1853 by Friedrich Wilhelm Carl Bechstein.

14 Peter Paul Kreuder (18 August 1905 – 28 June 1981) was a German-Austrian pianist, conductor and composer. Wenn es Frühling wird is a pretty jazzy melancholy piano piece.

15 The Revier was a clinic from whence patients were usually sent to the crematorium.

16 Rachela Zelmanowicz Olewski and Jochevet Ritz-Olewski, Crying is Forbidden Here!, 29. 17 Ibid, 52.

18 Ibid., 125.

19 Ibid., 128.

20 Ibid., 94. Alexander Aleksandrovich Alyabyev a.k.a. Albieff (15 August 1787 – 6 March 1851) was a Russian composer best known for his Russian folk songs. The Nightingale, circa 1825, was written when he was in prison and was his best known composition.

21 Ibid., 172.

22 Ibid., 183.

23 Hinda Tennenbaum, WL, P.III.h. No.1135; Shlomo Malek, YV, 1

03/9647; Sara Rat (Manschfreund), YV, 03/6927; Joseph Spira, YV, 03/6527; John Fink, YV, 069/116; Sachnowitz, Auschwitz, 98; Laks, Music of Another World, 58. Cited in Shirli Gilbert, Music in the Holocaust: confronting life in the Nazi ghettos and camps (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 176.

24 Ibid., 92.; Fania Fénelon, “Nach Mord Schumanns Träumerei,” Stern 33 (1980): 41, quoted in Juliane Brauer, “How Can Music Be Torturous?: Music in Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps,” Music & Politics X, no. 1 (Winter 2016): 24. doi:10.3998/mp.9460447.0010.103.

25 Ibid, 92-93; Wikipedia contributors, “Kinderszenen,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, accessed March 8, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index. php?title=Kinderszenen&oldid=877973021. “Reverie” refers to German composer Robert Schumann’s 1838 Kinderszenen Op. 15 No. 7 (Scenes from Childhood 7) 7. Träumerei (Reverie). See Appendix II for sheet music.

26 Music and the Holocaust, HolocaustMusic.ORT.org, http:// holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/death camps/birkenau/ fenelonfania/.

27 Hermann Langbein, People in Auschwitz (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 396. 28 Anita LaskerWallfisch, Inherit the Truth: A Memoir of Survival and the Holocaust (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), 85. Kanada was a where people’s belongings were brought for sorting, once confiscated. The goods were used as barter and those in the Women’s Orchestra were able to make requests for necessities, otherwise unheard of in Auschwitz, such as a toothbrush. It was called Kanada, because Canada was considered a land of riches.

29 Ibid., 32.

30 Ibid., 8, 9. The Internationale was National Anthem of the former Soviet Union (Russia). 31 Playing for Time, directed

by Daniel Mann, written by Arthur Miller, featuring Vanessa Redgrave, aired September 30, 1980, on CBS, https://youtu.be/ H1U0gFWLtvI. Posted by HAS – Holocaust Social Archive.

32 Fania Fénelon, “Nach Mord Schumanns Träumerei,” Stern 33 (1980): 41, quoted in Juliane Brauer, “How Can Music Be Torturous?: Music in Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps,” Music & Politics X, no. 1 (Winter 2016): 24. doi:10.3998/mp.9460447.0010.103.

33 Ancestry.com. Associated Press, Name Card Index to AP Stories, 1905-1990 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Associated Press File Drawers of National, International, News Feature Name/Subject Cards, 1937–1985. Microfilm. Associated Press Corporate Archives, New York, NY. https://search.ancestry.ca/ cgi bin/sse.

35 Richard Newman, Alma Rosé: Vienna to Auschwitz, (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press), 2000. 36 Edwin Eytan, “Fania Fénelon Dead at 75,” Daily News Bulletin, December 23, 1983, 3. https://www.jta.org/1983/12/23/archive/fania-fenelon-deadat-75; David Rosen, comp. The Boston Jewish Advocate Index to Obituary Notices, 1905-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: Jewish Advocate. Boston, MA: Jewish Advocate, 1905-2007. This data is provided in partnership with JewishGen.org. https://search. ancestry.ca/cgi bin/sse.

Zelmanowicz Olewski and Jochevet Ritz-Olewski, Crying is Forbidden Here! A Jewish Girl in pre-WWII Poland, The Women’s Orchestra in Auschwitz and Liberation in BergenBelsen. Edited by Arie Olewski and Jochevet Ritz-Olewski.

Based on her Hebrew testimony, recorded by Yad-Vashem on 21 May 1984. (Ra’anana, Israel: Open University of Israel, 2009), 9.

38 Ibid., 33.

13

Laks, Szymon, Music of Another World, trans. Chester A. Kisiel (Evanston, III.: Northwestern University Press, 1989),119-129, cited in Shirli Gilbert, Music in the Holocaust: confronting life in the Nazi ghettos and camps (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 179.

40 Ibid., 11.

41 Interview with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch , Royal College of Music. Published on May 8, 2015, https://youtu.be/RUPoJ8npt-Q. 42 Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Inherit the Truth: A Memoir of Survival and the Holocaust (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000), 71.

43 Ibid., 72.

44 Ibid., 74.

45 Music and the Holocaust, HolocaustMusic.ORT.org, http:// holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/death camps/birkenau/ anita-lasker-wallfisch/.

46 Interview with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch.

Royal College of Music. Published on May 8, 2015. https://youtu.be/RUPoJ8npt-Q. 47 Xan Rice, “The Cellist of Auschwitz,” New Statesman, 31 October 2015, 30. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.

48 Hans Riebsamen, “Mädchenorchester von Auschwitz: Das Cello rettete ihr Leben,” Frankfurter Allgemeine, September 13, 2011 – 22:47pm. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/ frankfurt/maedchenorchester-von auschwitz-das-cello-retteteihr-leben-11167321.html.

49 Jewish Survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch on the Auschwitz Camp Orchestra, USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education. Published on Mar 2, 2016. https:// youtu.be/9A5dCX487J4. The women enjoyed extra benefits, amongst which was their own toilet, being allowed a hot shower per day (whereas ordinary prisoners were only allowed to bathe once a month) and a larger daily bread ration.

50 I speak from personal knowledge. I was adopted by Holocaust survivors and grew up in a home of Holocaust survivors and as far back as I can remember, I heard the various tales from family, friends and strangers.Years later I found my biological maternal side of the family, and met my maternal grandfather, Anton Back. Profound respect is what I have for all survivors. My Zaide (Grandfather) was one of the 200 out of 3000 Zwillinge-twins who survived Dr. Josef Mengele’s experiments. He did not speak about it, except for one recording of his testimony some twenty five years ago. He internalized and suffered nightmares, as so many did. He came from a very religious Hungarian household, after watching his parents and family go up in flames in the crematorium, he became an atheist.

Who can blame him? I wish he was alive, I would have liked to ask him if he remembered the orchestra. He never mentioned it.

So many others I could have asked these past forty-some years had I known. Unfortunately, they are no longer with us. The legacy I am left with is that we must never forget.

39

14

Zu Hause

by Katrina Hermann

S

ie befindet sich an der Kreuzung von Roseville Road und Whistlebare Road, ihre Straße aus braunem, staubigem Kies. Es ist zwar kein langer Weg von der Kreuzung bis zum Haus, aber es ist gleichzeitig viel zu lang.

Also, los.

Der Wassergraben folgt der Landstraße entlang, und sie läuft zwischen den beiden. Weil es geregnet hat, ist der Wassergraben feucht vom Regenwasser.

Der dichte Duft von nassem Grase geht durch ihre Nasenlöcher und landet auf ihrer Zunge sie schmeckt diesen Duft, und er schmeckt gut.

Während sie ruhig nach Hause trottet, findet sie einen Strauß im Wassergraben: Gänseblümchen, Narzissen, leere Bierflaschen, weggeworfene Kaffeetassen mit ein bisschen Kaffee drin, Löwenzähnen, zerkrümelte Verpackungen von McDonalds, der fast 16 Minuten weit entfernt ist und wo sie das erstes Mal ohne das Wissen ihrer Mutter mit ihren Freunden hingeschlichen ist, das erste Mal, dann das zweite, dann das betrunkene dritte Mal, dann, dann, dann... und es gibt auch Kornblumen (aber sie hat nur drei gefunden) - alles zusammen macht diesen schönen Strauß.

Sie geht mühsam weiter bis sie an die Grundstückslinie ihres Nachbarn kommt. Ihre Mutter geht immer davon aus, dass zwischen den beiden Familien ein Wettbewerb besteht. „Sie haben ihren Rasen seit zwei Wochen nicht mehr gemäht.“ Sie vergleicht die beiden Rasenflächen.

Der Rasen ihrer Familie sieht wie einen Teppich aus, ein unheimlicher grüner Teppich wie der, am Haus ihres toten Großvaters.

Endlich kommt sie an die breite Asphalt-Einfahrt vor ihrem Haus an. Es knistert leise unter ihren ehemals weißen Schuhe. Sie kommt an die Garagentür, sie fast den kühlen, goldenen Türknauf an - er ist geschlossen. Wie immer. Sie muss zur Kellertür gehen. Noch elf Schritte bis zur Stufe, und zehn Betontreppen hinunter.

Der Schlüssel befindet sich unter der grauen Fußmatte voller Kies, vor der Tür sind drei weiße Streifen von Vogelscheiße. Der Schlüssel wird geholt, die Tür wird geöffnet, sie geht hinein.

Zu Hause. Oder?

An ihrer rechten Seite kommt sie an einem Feld vorbei. Mais, der in diesem Moment bis zu ihren hellbraunen geschminkten Augenbrauen hinauf reicht. Die Reihen sind so nah aneinander, man könnte da einfach verschwinden. (Vielleicht verschwand dort schon jemand).

Sie dreht ihren Kopf zur linken Seite, und schaut die Kiesgrube an, die da seit 16 Jahren langsam entstanden ist. Jetzt ist es unheimlich still geworden.

Sie hört einen schreienden Kranich, aber sie sieht ihn nicht. Die Kiesgrube hat eine industrielle Schönheit. Sie sieht die Berge von Kies, den Teich (woher das Wasser kommt, ist nicht sicher, und ob es sauberes Wasser ist, ist auch unsicher), knorrige Bäume, und hochgewachsene Gräser, die ihre Knie vorsichtig kitzeln. Die Sonne scheint schummrig hinter den Kiesbergen, und ein leiser, müder Wind erinnert sie daran, dass es bald Nacht wird.

Taken in Dresden, Deutschland by Anna de la Fuente

15

On Brecht’s Lehrstücke: The Value of The Measures Taken

by Yizhang Yang

A

s one of the most important dramatists of twentieth-century Germany, Bertolt Brecht created many unforgettable works about revolution and violence. His Lehrstücke, in particular, is a theatre form that pursues educational potentiality via breaking the fourth wall for the audience. Lehrstücke could be politically agitating in the light of its didactic nature, as this experimental art style encouraged the audience to connect their experience with the plot, as well as participate collectively in its creation. However, Brecht’s political position and achievements remain controversial. Scholar Mark Clark, for example, censured that Brecht did not support the struggle of workers despite the fact that he was aware of the oppression in the DDR; American dramatist Andrew Doe unrelentingly concluded that Brecht’s Lehrstücke was a propaganda failure; and scholar John Fuegi, for his part, compared Brecht to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, a Pied Piper who would lead thousands to doom. Indeed, one of Brecht’s controversial Lehrstücke, The Measures Taken, was criticized as an apology of massive purge and totalitarianism. This appraisal, however, was not quite objective. The shadow of the Cold War ideology battle held sway among these criticisms; the question thus emerges regarding how contemporary readers should interpret Brecht’s work. Hence, this essay will attempt to answer this question specifically in the context of Brecht’s 1930 Lehrstück, The Measures Taken.

Even though Brecht had never been to China or Japan, his fascination with Eastern cultures could be found in his works. The Measures Taken describes a revolutionary story that took place in Mukden, China: four agitators execute a young comrade for the cause of revolution. This measure taken is undoubtedly cruel and violent, however, it is also moralized. In the play, the young comrade is not a first-time offender; rather, he breaks revolutionaries’ code several times, makes “the repression against revolution exceptionally severe,” and thus disturbs the operation of revolution. Is the young comrade then executed for being the black

16

sheep of the revolution? The answer is no. Brecht imbues the young comrade’s death with a hidden necessity of victory: the readers are told that the revolution had succeeded in the prelude. The death of the young comrade secured the road to victory, rather than being eliminated as a glitch of revolution.

Moreover, the execution is proven voluntary for the young comrade by his consultation with the agitators. Some might compare his trial to Moscow Trials. However, The Measures Taken was written eight years earlier and there was no evidence but only conjecture to believe that Brecht associated it with early show trials in the Soviet Union. Thus, the execution of the young comrade should not be regarded as a demonstration of Stalin’s tyranny.

Rather, it eulogizes the young comrade’s sacrifice for the revolution, instead of the four agitators’ decisive decision. Just like a duck would not walk its own way to the grill, the authority was not benefited by praising the condemned from the purge.

In the play, the young comrade is aware of his mistakes. An uncontrollable machine was certain to be destroyed, and Brecht suggests the final execution was a “self-extinction.” Brecht spends pages describing the young comrade’s mistakes, portraying him as a regressive element in the revolution, yet the agitators allow the young comrade to be pardoned four times. It is unfair to say Brecht beautified Stalinist authority in the play as the incident depended on the choice of the young comrade. If we weighed causality more than dramatic effect, Brecht’s play tends to reflect the mistakes and self-correction of revolution. The young comrade’s death indeed ensured the victory of revolution as Brecht does not reveal any other decisive aspect of success apart from stopping the young comrade’s destructive contribution.

However, the revolution’s goal is never to eliminate itself, but to overthrow the outside repression. In fact, the young comrade’s death is a remedy, but the compensation for the loss does not help the agitators reach victory while the actual job is still left to be done. Brecht intentionally hides “what is left to be done”, only portraying the revolution as idealized and predetermined, which perhaps was

the mythological value of the play. In contrast to his previous, passionate speech, the young comrade is quite tranquil before his execution in the final scene. As previously mentioned, the death of the young comrade promises the victory of revolution, and he is also willing to die for the cause; in this way, perhaps the image of the young comrade reflects the symbolization of the Messiah. Just like Jesus saved humanity through crucifixion, the young comrade saves the revolution with his death.

Brecht was influenced by German philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) on the conception of the Messiah, who found the element of the Messiah in Brecht’s poem Household Messenger: “...like a promise which has nothing to concede to the promises of a Messiah.”. Was the young comrade a Messiah by Benjamin’s definition? In On the Concept of History, Benjamin suggests that the Messiah should break the consistency of history and promise welfare. On one hand, the young comrade accelerated the breakdown of a consistent status quo, he deliberately put an end to the oppression of the cause of revolution. On the other hand, a correlation between the young comrade’s death and the revolutionary victory is implicitly built inside the text. Since the whole play themed on the difficult decision of getting rid of the young comrade, the success of the revolution seems inevitable. The sacrifice of the revolutionary Messiah promises victory, as the character of the young comrade becomes majestic from his voluntary destruction. The resonance with the audience is therefore not the greatness of the decision makers, but the recognition of the young comrade’s self-sacrifice.

As for Household Messenger, Benjamin also commented that people always learn in a hard way.

The subtlest use of the violence interrupts the young comrade’s rebellious spirit and distinguishes it from other revolutionary plays. Benjamin affirms the didactic use of The Measures Taken in combining it with art and political idea, which could achieve an optimized expression for teaching. The art style of Lehrstücke provides an immersive experience for the audience: they understand the plot by learning every character’s social position and motivation, then collectively influence the following Lehrstücke creation by filling the questionnaires at the end of the play. Perhaps Brecht does not imply the concept of the Messiah as explicitly as Benjamin, but this serves to refute Andrew Doe’s idea of whether the revolution succeeded would determine the consistency of the play.

The reflection on violence as a measure of

mistake indeed hurt the reputation of Brecht’s The Measures Taken, as Doe criticized that Brecht could not deliver his message when he wrote. In order to understand Brecht’s discourse we can look at his other plays, He Said Yes and He Said No (1930) the predecessors of The Measures Taken, which are also a faithful reproduction of Japanese Noh opera. The plays not only weaken the cause of the boy’s sacrifice, but also omitted the element of revolution. The cause in He Said Yes has no more explanation other than the boy’s affirmation of death. This tragedy was too abstract to manifest itself so Brecht had to create a second version with an alternative ending, He Said No, in which the boy refuses death and therefore their mountaineering fails because of his return. While Brecht created Lehrstücke as an experimental theatre, he also modified his plays according to the audience’s response. From a rational perspective, He Said No was more acceptable because it at least represented some values, but in actuality it subverted Brecht’s intention, that being the discussion of mistake and correction in revolution. As a result, Brecht created The Measures Taken to drag the audience’s attention back to the mistake that happened. In contrast, The Measures Taken is more thoughtful than He Said Yes/ He Said No, the forming being a plain embodiment of custom and dogma and the latter emphasizing the boy’s rebellious spirit; in addition, The Measures Taken discusses the conflict between rebellious spirit and the success of revolution. In Brecht’s opinion, the revolution did not simply consist of idealistic rebellion, but required a changeable mind and forbearance. Just like Benjamin’s quoting of Lao Tzu, the revolutionaries should be able to accommodate to circumstances.

The young comrade’s harmful zeal on starting an immediate revolution was moral from his personal position but impractical for the status quo. His enthusiasm did not help to disintegrate the oppression. We thus do not see a necessary connection with totalitarianism or Stalinism in The Measures Taken.

Now that we have considered the possible interpretations of Brecht’s work, we should also take a look at Brecht’s opponents’ opinions. Even though Mark Clark doubted Brecht’s position on supporting people against the DDR’s oppression, he also suggested that, from contemporaries’ perspective, Brecht’s work was “a welcome or even indispensable counterbalance to the GDR’s conservative stuffiness regarding the projected socialist culture of the German nation. ” Clark’s essay was not an absolute thumb down on Brecht, as he had to admit that the

17

intellectual value of Brecht’s works remains despite the fact that the commodity value was lost over time. The “commodity value” of Brecht was known as the political strategy implied in the play, which was criticized by Doe. Doe believed that Brecht’s effort toward “the rational intent and the artistic result” led to the interior conflict of Lehrstücke, as it could neither gain popularity among his audience nor the support of authority. However, Louis Althusser holds a different idea: he believes that, like communism was Marx’s philosophical revolution, Brecht’s Lehrstücke were also a drama revolution whose experimental significance outweighed the promotion effect. Brecht’s practice valued the audience’s recognition rather than their appreciation and the joy of watching Brecht’s work was the process of recognition. Brecht’s practice broke the traditional boundary between “actor” and “audience,” rather than comparing Lehrstücke to Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen which led the audience to fight a particular target, Brecht put the sword in the hand of the audience and let them decide who to cut. Even though Brecht gave up Lehrstücke after the 1930s, dramatists such as Heiner Müller and Augusto Boal continued to develop Lehrstücke following Brecht’s path, thus it was not terminated as Doe pessimistically described. Last but not least, Fuegi’s book received much criticism from Brechtians such as John Willett and Ronald Speirs;the inappropriate comparison and materials used by him drew fierce opposition. The readers should be aware of the limitations of Brecht’s era; just like the agitators in the play, there was no way for Brecht to foresee the failure of Communism in the last century, and it was impossible for him to predict Stalin’s Great Purge when creating The Measures Taken. Brecht’s play reflects his era, and we should not jump out of Brecht’s era to judge his work.

Hannah Arendt pointed out that Brecht viewed Stalin as a good leader of the Soviet Union, however, “none of these examples suggest any unmitigated praise for Stalin,” according to Frederick D. Grab, as Stalin necessarily possessed such traits to be the leader of the most powerful Communist country in Brecht’s time. In fact, Hannah Arendt defended Brecht in What Is Permitted to Jove, in which she admired Brecht for directly discussing violence and death of revolution during the atmosphere of the Cold War. To understand the violence and the political meaning in Brecht’s work, we should lay down the bias of ideology and passion, in order to comprehensively evaluate the educational meaning of Lehrstücke. As a political drama, did it reflect the

18

power of government or the conspiracy of Brecht?

Or did it tell the complete story for an audience to critically think of its the implications? Either way, Brecht’s Lehrstücke was a significant and positive experiment of theatre because it was a forerunner of its time that prompted its audience to think further.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Althusser, Louis. On Marx and Brecht. 1968.

Bangor, Kaleigh. “Brecht’s Die Maßnahme in the Elementary German Classroom.”

Vanderbilt University.

Benjamin, Walter. On The Concept of History. Classic Books America, 2009.

Benjamin, Walter. Understanding Brecht. Verso, 1998.

Brecht, Bertolt, et al. Brecht Collected Plays: Three. Methuen Drama, 1999.

Brecht, Bertolt, et al. The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht.

Liveright Publishing Corporation, a Division of W. W. Norton & Company, 2019.

Chase, William. “Stalin as Producer: the Moscow Show Trials and the Construction of Mortal Threats.” Stalin: A New History, edited by Sarah Davies and James Harris, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005, pp. 226–248.

Clark, Mark W. “Hero or Villain? Bertolt Brecht and the Crisis Surrounding June 1953.” Journal of Contemporary History, vol.

41, no. 3, 2006, pp. 451., Doe, Andrew E. “Brecht’s Lehrstucke: Propaganda Failures.”

Educational Theatre Journal, vol. 14, no. 4, 1962, pp. 289– 296., Fuegi, John. Brecht and Company: Sex, Politics, and the Making of the Modern Drama. Grove Press, 2002.

Hannah Arendt. “What is Permitted to Jove.” The New Yorker.

October 28, 1966.

Horn, Eva. “Actors/Agents: Bertolt Brecht and the Politics of Secrecy.” Grey Room, vol. 24, 2006, pp. 38–55., doi:10.1162/ grey.2006.1.24.38.

Markell, Patchen. “Politics, Poetry, and Philosophy: Arendt on Brecht, and Others.” Western Political Science Association 2010 Annual Meeting Paper.

Raymont, Henry. Dramatist’s Praise of Stalin in Dispute. New York Times. March 28, 1970.

Speirs, Ronald. Reading Brecht, Writing Brecht. Book review on The New York Review of Books. January 12, 1995 issue. https:// www.nybooks.com /articles/1995/01/12/reading-brecht-writingbrecht-1/ Willett, John. Reading Brecht, Writing Brecht. Book review on The New York Review of Books. January 12, 1995 issue. <https://www.nybooks.com/articles /1995/01/12/readingbrecht-writing-brecht-2/>

NOTES Clark, Hero or Villain? Bertolt Brecht and the Crisis Surrounding June 1953. “...and because it illustrates that Brecht recognized the oppression in the GDR as well as his own role in that oppression.” Page 474.

2 Doe, Brecht’s Lehrstucke: Propaganda Failures. “By almost any standard Bertolt Brecht failed as a propagandist...” Page 289.

3 Fuegi, Brecht and Company. “...understand this century at all, it is essential to recognize the wholly irrational power these figures – whether Hitler, Stalin, or Brecht – exerted when they were encountered in person. Brecht is very much a part of this century of the charismatic, irrational yet effective Pied Piper powers that could, in the case of both Hitler and Stalin, lure tens of millions of supposedly intelligent beings to embrace their butchers.” Page 128.

4 Horn, Bertolt Brecht and the Politics of Secrecy. Page 45.

5 Brecht, The Measure Taken. Scene 6, page 80.

6 Brecht, The Measure Taken. Scene 8, No. 14, page 88-89.

7 Which means the trail that component of showing trials outweighed the practical significance of justice.

8 Chase, 12: Stalin as producer: the Moscow show trials and the construction of mortal threats.

9 Bangor, Brecht’s Die Maßnahme in the Elementary German Classroom.

1 0 Brecht, The Measure Taken. Page 90, article 8.

1 1 Benjamin, Understanding Brecht. Page 74.

1 2 Benjamin, On the Concept of History. Chapter 6.

1 3 Benjamin, Understanding Brecht. “The lesson or advice here is never to forget about the inconstancy and changeability of things,...Whoever wants to make the hard thing give way should miss no opportunity for friendliness. ” Page 74.

1 4 Benjamin, Understanding Brecht. Page 19, 96.

1 5 Doe, Brecht’s Lehrstucke: Propaganda Failures. “...and if the Chinese comrade is right, as the Communist critics said, then they were rejecting reason. They obviously refused to see in their philosophy any dichotomy between reason and emotion-there was only political necessity.” Page 295.

1 6 Doe, Brecht’s Lehrstucke: Propaganda Failures. “...one must deal with the necessity for making a clear distinction between what he said he wanted to create, and what he actually did created.” Page 289.

1 7 Benjamin, Understanding Brecht. “The lesson or advice here is never to forget about the inconstancy and changeability of things, and to align oneself with those things which are inconspicuous and sober and inexhaustible, like water.” Page 74.

1 8 Clark, Hero or Villain? Bertolt Brecht and the Crisis Surrounding June 1953. Page 475.

1 9 Doe, Brecht’s Lehrstucke: Propaganda Failures. Page 296.

2 0 Althusser, On Brecht and Marx. Page 26-27.

2 1 Markell, Politics, Poetry, and Philosophy: Arendt on Brecht.

Page 1-2.

2 2 Raymont, Dramatist’s Praise of Stalin in Dispute.

2 3 Hannah Arendt. What is permitted to Jove. The New Yorker.

October 28, 1966. Page 68.

1

19

Taken in Berlin, Deutschland by Sean Hall

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Kaleidoscopic Taboos and Divine-Sexual Transgression in Von Aue’s Poor Heinrich H

artmann Von Aue’s text, Poor Heinrich, embodies taboos psychologically and divinely. Within the text there are a variety of taboos at play that are connected to the central taboo of the virgin.Von Aue’s 12th century text tells the story of Heinrich, a highly beloved knight God punishes by casting leprosy upon him in light of Heinrich’s materialistic tendencies. He desperately searches for a cure, only to eventually find one from a doctor in Salerno, which is of a deeply archaic nature. This remedy is to drink the blood of the heart of a virgin of marriageable age who is willing to sacrifice herself for him.The virgin in this case, is the daughter of a peasant farmer willing to sacrifice herself for her lord Heinrich, thus becoming his sole hope for survival. Through a discussion of Freud’s essay, The Virginity Taboo, I would like to address the representation of taboo between Heinrich and the farmer’s daughter as a symbolic and psychological phenomenon. The various taboos at play include the taboo of sacrifice itself, of nakedness and its connectivity to shame, and of blood. The taboos themselves are interconnected, thereby create a kaleidoscope of taboos through their connection and unity in the erotic sacrificial act. Furthermore, I want to address that the act of religious sacrifice itself is symbolic of an erotic act, using the work of Georges Bataille and relating it to Freud’s essay.

With that in mind, Von Aue transgresses taboo in his text, and through that transgression there is a divine miracle effect, namely that Heinrich is cured of his leprosy and united in love with his saviour, the farmer’s daughter. I believe this transgression occurs through two dimensions: the dimension of psycho-symbolism, which can be understood from a Freudian reading of the psychological transgression of taboos (represented symbolically as opposed to literally) in the text. Additionally, the transgression and transcendence through which operates in a divine dimension will be achieved through the erotic sacrificial act itself. I will go deeper into these issues in the text in three parts, firstly by addressing the taboos themselves and outlining the ways in which they are symbolically represented by Von Aue, secondly by addressing the sacrificial act itself

by Julian Stuart and how it serves to represent a erotic act relative to the virginity taboo, and thirdly by demonstrating how the act itself serves as a psychological and divine transgression of the taboos present, especially the virgnity taboo, creating a divine transcendental effect. In understanding the text in these three dimensions, I intend to show how Von Aue’s text creates a kaleidoscope of taboos within a psychological-symbolic dimension and a spiritual one, and through the sexual act as sacrifice, creates a portrayal of transgression and miracle in relation to God. The most important and predominant of all the interconnected taboos in Poor Heinrich is the virginity taboo. The context of the cure of leprosy itself serves as a symbolic representation of this taboo, as well as the disease in and of itself, being a physical indicator of the taboo. The context of the possible cure is through the sacrifice of a virgin of marriageable age. The nature of the sacrifice is where Freud’s theory on virginity becomes pertinent. The sacrifice itself is symbolic of the sexual act of deflowering, as it will become clear through many of the details of the sacrifice itself.

Through the sacrificial sexual act of transgressing the virginity taboo he will be cured, therefore the taboo is symbolized within the leprosy itself. The virginity taboo is embodied in various forms within the text, first emerging as Heinrich’s fear to undergo this sacrifice.This fear of the act can be understood through Freud’s argument that the man will fear the act of deflowering out of concern that it will unlock a state of archaic disgust in the virgin woman, which will cause her to become hostile towards him. Heinrich’s concerns and fears are moreover linked to the archaic nature of the sacrifice itself, however, the deeper issue is his fear to engage in this symbolic act, which Von Aue indicates through the abundance of innuendos in the text. Heinrich’s resistance towards the sacrificial act is characteristic of what Freud addresses as a dormant anxiety that lies within man and emerges on the boundary of dangerous situations, such as the fear of unveiling an archaic disgust in the woman following the first sexual encounter. The virginity taboo is also

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connected to that of blood, which is present in the text in the form of drinking of the blood of the virgin through the sexual act of sacrifice. Thus the fear of taboo furthermore involves the fear of blood that is frightening to men because they associate it with menstruation. Moreover, Freud attributes this fear to the belief that menstruation is symbolic of unwanted spirits having had intercourse with the woman in question. Additionally, in the act of sacrifice itself, the farmer’s daughter must be stripped naked, another taboo present within the text. The taboo of nakedness is embodied in hereditary sin, which is the inherited sin of Adam according to Kierkegaard. The Danish philosopher asserts that each individual participates in this universal sin embodied in humankind, and because Adam’s nakedness was an indicator of his shame of original sin, nakedness is historically tabooed. The farmer’s daughter, however, transgresses this shame as she bears none of it in her state of nakedness. She is in a kind of lucid state, in that despite her young age and social standing, she is highly articulate in her dialogue with the doctor, and she has nearly transgressed taboo towards the divine as she undergoes the act of sacrifice. Furthermore, the act of sacrifice itself is a taboo in and of itself, and by this virtue it is another transgression.

The taboo of religious sacrifice, according to James Frazer, is mediated through the performer of the sacrifice itself. The performer of the sacrifice serves as a mediator and communicator between man and God through offering. The nature of this sacrifice emerges as taboo due to the fact that the priest is meant to be the mediator between man and God, a role that the sacrificer supplants. In the case of Poor Heinrich, the doctor in Salerno plays this role of sacrificer, and thus undergoes a transformation from doctor to a kind of magician through the realm of religious sacrifice. Since in the text it is the doctor who performs the sacrifice and not Heinrich, and if we take the sacrifice as a sexual act, then we must discuss the factor of the “third party” relative to the virginity taboo addressed by Freud. In his essay on the virginity taboo, Freud addresses the fact that the deflowering of the virgin in many cultures is an act which is conducted through a third party. In the case of Poor Heinrich, the deflowering would occur through the doctor himself, as he performs the sacrificial act. Thus, the doctor becomes a kind of mediator between Heinrich, the farmer’s daughter, and god as well as the third party in the act of deflowering. However, due to the fact that the sacrifice is not actually performed by the doctor, and due to the divine miracle that takes place in the

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sacrificial sequence in the text, I would suggest that it is God himself who becomes the third party and completes the sexual act, a claim I will furthermore substantiate when I discuss the effect of transgression in the text. Now that I have outlined some of the taboos in the text, I will analyze the sacrificial sequence itself in an effort to demonstrate how these taboos are transgressed from a psychological and symbolic perspective using Freud, and from a divine and transcendental point of view by bringing forth the philosopher Georges Bataille.

I will first begin by outlining the sacrificial sequence in Freudian terms, through the symbols present within the text, then I will introduce the spiritual/divine domain of transgression through Bataille. The first thing to address, is the aforementioned idea of the third party, and the introduction of the phallic and vaginal symbolism within this sequence. In the act of sacrifice the doctor uses a knife as the sacrificial tool. In this case, the knife piercing the virgin flesh is a phallic device symbolic of intercourse, and retrieving the blood from the heart is equivalent to the breaking of the hymen according to Freud. However, the act itself is never truly fulfilled. The doctor has the knife ready for the farmer’s daughter as she is tied up and naked, and is about to perform the act when he is interrupted by Heinrich. The latter interrupts the sacrificial act as he looks through a hole in the door and sees the farmer’s daughter tied up and in her nakedness. Subsequently, he is overcome by her purity and beauty and bangs on the door, begging for the doctor to stop at once. In this moment, Heinrich’s sight serves as a phallus and the hole in the door as a symbol for the vagina, once again transgressing the virginity taboo. At the same moment, God enters into the picture and allows Heinrich to further transgress as he is cured of his leprosy, as he bears witness to Heinrich’s goodness and spiritual unity with the farmer’s daughter. In order to properly access the divine transgressive sphere of the text, it is now pivotal to turn to the philosophy of Georges Bataille.

Through Bataille, the text can be understood beyond its Freudian dimension and a divine element can be introduced. Bataille compares the religious sacrifice to the erotic act. In his view, the act of sacrifice establishes a divine relationship between the erotic and death. Through the sexual act, according to him, we de-individualize ourselves, detach ourselves materially, and thus transgress towards the divine. In that moment, Bataille says, we transition from finite beings to infinite beings through a relationship to the divine..

infinite beings through a relationship to the divine..

In Poor Heinrich, this transition emerges through the lucidity of the farmer’s daughter. In her intense desire to become subjected to this act, she is in a lucid state, and wants to enter into a relationship with an infinite being and the divine. Her striving towards the act doubles as her withstanding of his repulsiveness relative to the virginity taboo, and her striving towards the divine, creating a divine transcendence through transgression. With that in mind, the sacrificial act then serves not only as a transgression of the taboos themselves psychologically, but as a divine transcendence.

This serves to mend a relationship to God as the third party in the sacrificial erotic act and creator of miracles.

Now that I have outlined the taboos present in the text, and the transcendental dimension of the sacrificial act in that it brings us closer to the divine and god, let us return to the moment of Heinrich’s transgression, and this transgression’s relationship to divine miracle. At the moment, God becomes the third party in the deflowering act through Heinrich’s gaze, He consequently completes the sexual act, which unveils a divine miracle in the text. It is at the precise moment of climax and of transgression that there is a contact with the divine through God Himself, which illustrates Bataille’s perspective and the divine and transcendental dimension of the transgressive act. Following this there is further comparison to be made with Freud’s essay, in the aftermath of the act, the farmer’s daughter is incredibly upset and dissatisfied.

This is because she has not become the subject of sacrifice, thus she has not fully ascended towards the divine. Her dissatisfaction is comparable to Freud’s conception of the disappointment and repulsion towards the first sexual experience.

Another product of this transgression is Heinrich and the farmer’s daughter’s sexual bondage and marriage. Now that they have transgressed the taboo of virginity and the taboos that rest beneath this, the farmer’s daughter becomes dependent on the lord in a sexual dimension as opposed to a socio-political one, she becomes wife as opposed to servant. With this, the psychological-symbolic and divine transgression is complete, which restores the social order by curing Heinrich allowing him to be reinstated as a great man. In the sexual act and consequently the act of transgressing taboos, Heinrich and the farmer’s daughter achieve their transgression through God as the third party, and he in turn creates a miracle. This miracle is not only Heinrich being cured of his leprosy and return to

life, but the marriage between Heinrich and the farmer’s daughter, and the people’s acceptance of it despite the discrepancy of social status between them. Thus we can say that the transgression of taboo in the text is of a psychological-symbolic dimension that is connected to a divine dimension creating a transcendental connection to the divine through a sacrificial act which is symbolic of a sexual act.

Poor Heinrich is a text, which embodies interconnected taboos that are unified. Nakedness, sacrifice, and blood are all taboos that emerge through the relationship between Heinrich and the farmer’s daughter, and through the central virginity taboo. It is also a text that embodies a relationship between the psychological and the divine, between the sexual act as psychological, and the sexual act as divine. This embodiment and relationship is located in the act of transgression, which transcends into a miracle and a psychological unity of man and woman, husband and wife. The act of transgression is fundamental to relationships of all kinds, whether it be a material and earthly relationship, or a divine one. The act of transgression serves to create a kind of rebirth and allows growth and change, on the smallest scale and the largest. In Poor Heinrich it is as grandiose as God reaching down from the heavens and freeing Heinrich of an incurable disease, and as small yet profound as bringing together Heinrich and the farmer’s daughter, creating a unified tale of transgression and miracle.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Von Aue, Hartmann. “Poor Heinrich”, PP. 215-234 Freud, Sigmund, Trans. Shaun Whiteside. The Psychology of Love.

Penguin, 2010. PP. 262-278 Bataille, Georges L’érotisme. Les Éditions de Minuit, 1957.

Kierkegaard, Soren, trans. Thompte, Reider et al. The Concept of Anxiety: a Simple Psychologically Orienting Deliberation on the Dogmatic Issue of Hereditary Sin. Princeton University Press, 1980.

Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough. Macmillan, 1966 NOTES Von Aue, Hartmann, “Poor Heinrich”: pp. 215-234 Freud, Sigmund, Trans. Shaun Whiteside. The Psychology of Love.Penguin, 2010. pp.262-278 3 Bataille, Georges L’érotisme. Les Éditions de Minuit, 1957.

4 Freud, Sigmund, , pp. 270 6 Freud, Sigmund pp. 264 7 Kierkegaard, Soren, trans. Thompte, Reider et al. The Concept of Anxiety: a Simple Psychologically Orienting Deliberation on the Dogmatic Issue of Hereditary Sin. Princeton University Press, 1980. Pp. 25 8 Von Aue, Hartmann pp. 223 9 Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough. Macmillan, 1966.

Pp. 61 10 Frazer, James George. pp. 59 11 Freud, Sigmund pp. 264 12 Freud,Sigmund. pp. 264 13 Von Aue, Hartmann pp. 231 14 Bataille, Georges pp. 29 15 Bataille, Georges, pp. 100 16 Von Aue, Hartmann, pp. 232 17 Freud, Sigmund, pp. 270 1 2

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Taken in the Schwarzwald and Mannheim, Deutschland by Eric Storrer

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Eine Zukunft für die Universität

The following is an attempt to confront the educational thinking of Wilhelm von Humbolt (1765-1835) with the contemporary university reality. Wilhelm von Humboldt, founder of the Humboldt University in Berlin comes back to life 184 years after his death to examine what his University has become and to see if it shares the same Bildung’s ideals as in the past.

by Frédérick Deschênes (…) anything, and anybody, can have arête, if you live up to your full potential, or truly fulfil your core purpose. It is the same for universities.

Chris Brink, The Soul of a University

E

s passiert nicht jeden Tag, dass man sich gegenüber einer Statue von sich selbst befindet.

Und jedoch stand dort, ungefähr vier Meter hoch, seine eigene Person. Er saß auf einem Thron, ein Buch auf den Knien, den Blick in einige Gedanken verloren. Die Feinheit der geschnittenen Züge und die Höhe, mit der die stattliche Persönlichkeit die Menschenmenge überragte, gab ihrem Beobachter, obwohl es er selbst war, ein komisches Gefühl der Kleinheit. Ein gewisser Martin Paul Otto, dessen Name sehr subtil auf der rechten Seite der Statue stand, schien der Urheber dieses Werks zu sein.

Nicht weit, an der anderen Seite des Eingangs zum Innenhof, stand eine andere, sehr ähnliche Statue. „Alexander…“, dachte er liebevoll, als er seinen jüngeren Bruder erkannte. Durch den Lärm aus seiner Betrachtung gezogen, nahm er einen Moment, um zu beobachten, was um ihn geschah.

Eine Menge Leute beschäftigten sich hier und dort: einige von ihnen schauten sich lächelnd in kleine Spiegel an, andere sprachen mit sich selbst, während sie gingen. Komische Karosse ohne Pferde fuhren sehr schnell, während Menschen auf kleinen „Laufmaschinen“ von überall her herausströmten. „Was ist das alles? Bin ich wirklich auf Unter den Linden?“, dachte er, durcheinander. „Es ist ganz offensichtlich das Denkmal Friedrichs des Großen, das dort steht! Und dieses Gebäude scheint wohl die Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu sein! Aber was ist das alles? Warum zwei Statuen von mir und meinem Bruder?“ Erschüttert begann er zu merken, dass Leute um ihn herum lachten und ihm komische Blicke zuwarfen. „Wo bin ich…?“ dachte er, während ein

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Gefühl der Ungewissheit langsam seinen Körper lähmte und sein Herz immer schneller schlagen ließ. Verwirrt und in dem Wunsch, sich wieder zu besinnen, begab er sich zum Hof des Gebäudes, das er zu erkennen schien.

Schnell an den unheimlichen bronzenen Silhouetten eines „Max Planck“ links und einer Physikerin benannt „Lise Meitner“ rechts vorbeilaufend, nahm er einen Moment, um ein Datum auf der Statue von einem aufrechten und würdigen „Helmholtz“, der inmitten einer Erklärung erstarrt zu sein schien schien, zu finden. „1821 – 1894“ konnte man unter dem Namen lesen. „1894…, 1894… was soll das bedeuten?“, fragte sich der Mann laut. Er schaute sich ein letztes Mal nachdenklich um und trat dann in das Gebäude ein, auf dem sein Name stand.

• Das Innere öffnete sich auf ein geräumiges Marmorzimmer. Acht Pfeiler trennten den Eingang von einer breiten Treppe, die auf zu einem Zitat aus Goldbuchstaben führte. Man konnte darauf lesen: „Die Philosophen haben die Welt nur verschieden interpretiert, es kommt aber darauf an, sie zu verändern“. Er war mit diesem Karl Marx ziemlich einverstanden. Er dachte allerdings, dass „Interpretation“ eine persönliche Pflicht war, die unbedingt zur Veränderung vorangehen musste. Das Ziel von Bildung ist nicht nur eine umfangreiche Sammlung von Wissen zu bekommen, sondern durch eine Mannigfaltigkeit der Ansichten auf die Welt seine „eigene [innewohnende] Kraft zu stärken“.1 Es geht nicht darum, zwischen Interpretieren und Verändern zu wählen. Die Dynamik ist vielmehr doppelt; man muss „so viel Welt, als möglich [...] ergreifen, und so eng, als [man] nur kann, mit sich [...] verbinden“2 und danach muss man dem Stoff der Welt „(…) die Gestalt seines Geistes aufdrücken und beide einander ähnlicher machen“.3 Bildung kann sich nur in Beziehung mit einer Welt außer

sich vornehmen, da „(…) die bloße Kraft einen Gegenstand braucht, an dem sie sich üben, und die bloße Form, der reine Gedanke einen Stoff, in dem sie, sich darin ausprägend, fortdauern könne.“4 Aus seinen Gedanken auftauchend, sprach er eine junge Frau an, die langsam die Treppe hinaufstieg: „Entschuldigen Sie bitte, sind wir an der FriedrichWilhelm-Universität?“ Sie nahm einen kurzen Moment, um den Anzug ihres Gesprächspartners, der direkt aus dem 19.

Jahrhundert stammte, zu betrachten, und dann antwortete sie mit einem Lächeln: „Jawohl, sind wir!“ Ratlos fragte er nochmal die anscheinend amüsierte Frau: „Sind wir wirklich…?“ Nach einem kurzen Augenblick antwortete sie: „Sie wissen wohl, dass wir an Ihrer Universität sind, Herr Wilhelm von Humboldt… an der HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin!

Meine Universität…, sagte er laut und nachdenklich.

- Sie werden mich entschuldigen, aber ich muss zur Klasse zurückgehen, sagte schließlich die junge Frau.

- Sie studieren hier? fragte er überrascht.5 - Ja, Biologie…, antwortete sie, als sie wegging.“ Als er weiter die Treppe hinaufging, fragte er einen anderen Studenten, der dort vorbeikam: „Guten Tag mein Herr, können Sie mir bitte sagen, ob es viele Frauen gibt, die hier studieren?

- Was für eine Frage ist das?“, antwortete der junge Mann. Nach kurzem Nachdenken sagte er: „Hm, bestimmt ein bisschen mehr als die Hälfte unserer 35000 Studenten!6 - 35000 Studenten!? Wie ist das möglich? Wie können sie sich das alle leisten?

- Na ja, es gibt keine allgemeinen Studiengebühren zum Bachelor hier in Deutschland. Nur einen Semesterbeitrag von ca. 250 Euro…7 Ich würde sagen, dass die höchsten Ausgaben Miete und Ernährung sind. Aber die meisten Studenten arbeiten auch während ihres Studiums, also ist es nicht zu schlecht“.8

Unwissend was ein „Euro“ war, war er allerdings überrascht zu erfahren, dass die meisten Studenten auch eine Arbeit während ihres Studiums hatten.

Wilhelm setzte dann fort: „Also, Sie studieren und arbeiten? Sollten Sie nicht nur eins von beiden machen? Um sich selbst durch die Bildung zu entwickeln, braucht man Zeit, Freiheit, und Einsamkeit. Das praktische Leben kann warten; Ihre tiefe und breite Arbeit der Wissenschaft sollte sich nicht vom Streben nach einer materiellen oder wirtschaftlichen Zufriedenheit beeinflussen lassen.9 - Vielleicht damals… Tiefe und breite Arbeit der Wissenschaft ist aber nicht so gewöhnlich für die Bachelor-Studenten; die meiste Zeit gehen wir zum Unterricht, um Material auswendig zu lernen und Prüfungen zu absolvieren. Ich freue mich persönlich darauf, mit allen meinen Credits fertig zu sein. Mit einem Job, den ich mag, sowie mit einem Gehalt, wird die wahre Freiheit anfangen.“ Verwirrt von dieser Erklärung, befragte Wilhelm andere Studenten. Die Antworten drehten sich um diese unglückliche Beobachtung: Nur ein Studienbereich pro Person und völlige Entfremdung von allen anderen. Die Bildung war nicht mehr ein Ziel, sondern ein Mittel geworden.

Humboldt fragte dann einen dieser “Techniker”, wo das Oberschulamt war, und ging dorthin.

•• Als er schließlich, vor der Tür des Oberschulamts ankam, klopfte Wilhelm zweimal bevor eine junge Frau ihm die Tür öffnete: „Oh Sie sind schon da!”, sagte sie überrascht. Bitte warten Sie kurz hier.“ Sie ging dann durch das Zimmer und öffnete eine andere Tür. „Frau Müller, es ist für das 250-jährige.”

- “Jetzt schon? Schick ihn rein.“, antwortete eine Stimme. Die junge Frau winkte ihm dann mit einem großen Lächeln, zu kommen. „Guten Tag! Wir erwarteten Sie nicht so früh; die Rede für den 250-jährigen Geburtstag des Alexander von Humboldt ist erst heute Abend…

Sie ähneln übrigens mehr Wilhelm, aber sein 250-jährige Jubiläum war zwei Jahre früher. Sie werden zumindest die Zeit haben, um das zu regeln.“ Angesichts des Schweigens ihres Gesprächspartners, sprach Frau Müller weiter: „Also, wie Sie wissen, die Universität zählt heute 9 Fakultäten und 416

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Professuren. Seit ihrer Gründung wurde die Universität von großen Persönlichkeiten besucht, unter anderem Otto von Bismarck, Karl Marx, Albert Einstein und mehr als 29 Nobelpreisträgern.

10 In Ihrer Rede möchten wir, dass Sie die Betonung auf die Exzellenz-Strategie der Universität legen: ‚Bildung durch Wissenschaft. Persönlichkeit – Offenheit – Orientierung‘.“11 Den interessierten Blick ihres Gesprächspartners bemerkend, sprach Frau Müller weiter: „Also… mit dieser Exzellenz-Strategie verfolgt die Universität drei Ziele. Zuerst und verbunden mit dem Gedanken Persönlichkeit; Exzellente Rahmenbedingungen für die Spitzenforschung. Die Forschung soll nicht in vordefinierter Struktur gezwungen sein. Exzellente Forschung ist nicht das Produkt der Strukturen, sondern der Forscher, ihrer Neugierde, Intelligenz und Fantasie. Deshalb müssen wir ihnen den notwendigen Raum und Freiheit besorgen, um ihr volles Potenzial zu entwickeln.12 „Das zweite Ziel, verbunden mit Offenheit, ist Persönlichkeitsbildung und Nachwuchsförderung.

Wir glauben, dass nur Offenheit zwischen exzellenter Forschung und exemplarischer Lehre, erlaubt, junge Talente so früh wie möglich in die Forschung einschließen.13 „Das dritte Ziel, verbunden mit Orientierung, ist wissenschaftsadäquate Governance – Kultur der Ermöglichung. Hier wollen wir die Verwaltungsorganisation und Arbeitsmethoden erneuern, um die Forschung, die Lehre und das Studium zu erleichtern. Nämlich indem wir Hindernisse entfernen, die ihrer wirksamen Umsetzung schaden.14 Mit diesen drei Zielen wollen wir den Gedanken der Gebrüder Humboldt fortbestehen lassen und die Herausforderungen der modernen Universität beantworten.

Das heißt, sich weiterhin international hervorzuheben, indem wir kluge Köpfe anziehen und unseren Nachwuchsforschenden Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten anbieten.“15 Angenehm überrascht von diesen Worten, war Humboldt glücklich, zu hören, dass Freiheit und Individualität der Forscher ernst genommen wurden. Er wunderte sich allerdings, was für eine „Exzellenz“ die Strategie genau erreichen wollte.

Es schien ihm, dass Forschung von Qualität nicht das Konzept „Exzellenz“ im Bereich der Bildung monopolisierte, und es wunderte ihn, dass diese Frau über die Verbesserung und Veredelung des menschlichen Charakters nichts

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gesagt hatte. Er fragte dann direkt: „Es scheint mir, dass die Mehrheit Ihrer Studenten nur in einem spezialisierten Fach gebildet sind. Mangels einer Generalbildung inklusive, unter anderem, Sprachwissenschaft, Geschichte und Mathematik16, wie glauben Sie, wirklich „exzellente“ Menschen zu bilden? Das heißt, Menschen, die ein harmonisches Ganzes erreichen und erfüllen? Denn das ist das erste Ziel der Bildung.“17 Die Leiterin, die den Gedanken Humboldts wohl kannte, antwortete mit einem traurigen Lächeln: „Ich sehe, dass Sie gute Nachforschungen für diese Rolle angestellt haben. Aber wie Sie wissen, mein Herr, hat sich in den letzten Jahrhunderten viel für die Universität geändert. Leider hängen wir immer noch sehr von staatlicher Förderung ab,18 aber auch vom Arbeitsmarkt; ein Universitätsstudium ist heute praktisch eine Voraussetzung, um darin einzutreten. Deshalb gibt es heute eine Erweiterung des Kundenkreises der Universität und der Berufsausbildung, sowie eine Professionalisierung des Unterrichts;19 die Arbeit als Ziel ist heute für die Mehrheit unserer Studenten wichtiger als die Bildung an sich. Außerdem muss man, um etwas, das im derzeitigen Stand der Wissenschaft Wert hat, zu produzieren, sich unbedingt spezialisieren und Teile seiner Bildung vernachlässigen… Durch diese veränderte Aufgabe der Universität versuchen wir, trotzdem möglichst den Gedanken der Gebrüder Humboldt zu erhalten und zu aktualisieren.“ Ernüchtert von Frau Müllers Monolog, sprach endlich Humboldt: „Wenn das Ihre Antwort ist, fürchte ich, dass Sie meinen Gedanken nicht verstanden haben. Die Universität sollte nicht die Aufgabe haben, Menschen nützlich zu machen.20 Ich möchte Sie auch daran erinnern, dass es nicht nützliche Menschen oder reiche Sammlungen sind, die gute und tiefgehende Wissenschaft ausmachen. Dieser Luxus kann sogar „(…) den Geist abstumpfen und herabziehen“.21 Ich würde sogar sagen: „Sobald man aufhört, eigentlich Wissenschaft zu suchen, oder sich einbildet, sie brauche nicht aus der Tiefe des Geistes heraus geschaffen, sondern könne durch Sammeln extensiv aneinandergereiht werden, so ist Alles unwiederbringlich und auf ewig verloren.“22 Frau Müller, die sich persönlich von der Kritik ihres Gesprächspartners angegriffen fühlte, antwortete in ernstem Ton: „Wie ich Ihnen bereits sagte, zielt die „Exzellenzstrategie“ darauf ab, diese Ansicht zu realisieren. Es fehlt Ihnen allerdings fast 200 Jahre Geschichte… eine vollständige Rückkehr in die Vergangenheit ist unmöglich und…“

Humboldt unterbrach sie sofort: „Man kann vielleicht nicht in die Vergangenheit zurückkehren, aber man kann die Gegenwart verändern. Haben Sie Ihr Zitat von diesem Karl Marx in Goldbuchstaben nicht gelesen?“ Verwirrt von der Wendung, die dieses Gespräch mit dem Humboldtschauspieler genommen hatte, blieb Frau Müller stumm. „Um wie viel Uhr ist die Rede?“, fragte er schließlich, als er aufstand und zum Ausgang ging. „Um 18:30 Uhr.“, antwortete sie ruhig, ohne zu versuchen, ihn zurückzuhalten. ▲ Als er aus dem Büro hinausging, dachte Wilhelm schon über seine Rede nach: „Diese sogenannte ‚Humboldt-Universität‘ braucht eine Reform.

Wenn die erste nicht ganz erfolgreich war23, wird die zweite es sein. Ich bin vielleicht wieder da, um diese Aufgabe zu erfüllen… die Menschen müssen sich daran erinnern, dass „die letzte Aufgabe unseres Daseins [ist,] dem Begriff der Menschheit in unsrer Person, sowohl während der Zeit unseres Lebens als auch noch über dasselbe hinaus, durch die Spuren des lebendigen Wirkens, die wir zurücklassen, einen so großen Inhalt als möglich zu verschaffen.““24

Sturzes, sammelten sich Studenten und Lehrenden am Körper des Opfers. Nostalgische Augen waren auf ihn gerichtet, als Untätigkeit implizit vereinbart zu sein schien; Es war zu spät, um diesem alten, toten Körper wieder Leben einzuhauchen. Machtlos sahen alle den armen Mann sterben, in der gleichen Art, mit der man mit der Zeit und Notwendigkeit der Welt eine junge und unbeugsame Idee sich auflösen und verschwinden sieht. In der traurigen Stille, die dann die Halle füllte, verschwand das Gespenst Humboldts, wie es aufgetaucht war.

Einige Zeit später fand man am Humboldt-Store schon neue Ware: Haare in Phiolen, geschnitten Stücke von alter Kleidung aus dem 19. Jahrhundert und sogar Bestattungsmasken in verkleinertem Format. Diejenigen, die es liebten, Ideen aus der Ferne zu betrachten, drängelten sich, um die Reliquien zu bekommen. Für die anderen genügte der purpurrote und dunkle Fleck, der auf dem Marmorboden zurückgeblieben war. Wie das Ende einer zu langen „Forclusion“, markierte er die Integration einer Komponente mit der anderen; eine Bluttransfusion in den Arterien der Universität, die sie nicht unverändert lassen konnte. Eine ganz neue Kraft setzte dann die zerbröckelte Universität wieder zusammen und ließ sie als eine Einheit, die auf die Außenwelt einwirkt, als Folge ihres inneren und kollektiven Lebens, in Bewegung geraten.

„Sie müssen sich [auch daran] erinnern, dass exzellente Forschung nicht genug ist und, dass es gefährlich ist, all sein Vertrauen in die verantwortliche[n] Institution[en] zu setzen, [...] sein gesamtes Unternehmen von externen staatlichen Mitteln abhängig zu machen. Die Französische Revolution hat uns gezeigt, dass sogar die Institution, die die Festeste zu sein scheint, beweglich ist.25 Es gibt keine Verlässlichkeit mehr in der modernen Welt; alles um uns herum wird sich wahrscheinlich ändern. Deshalb braucht der Mensch mehr als je zuvor Bildung, um damit umzugehen.26 Während er mit bestimmtem Schritt voranging, dachte Wilhelm über die Mittel nach, die er einsetzen müsste, damit diese Reform funktionieren könnte. Sein beschäftigter Geist bemerkte nicht die erste Stufe der Treppe, die er hinuntergehen müsste. Der Sturz brachte ihn ans Ende der Treppe, und sein Fall kam mit dem Echo seines Kopfes, der auf dem marmornen Boden aufschlug, zum Ende.

Bei dem Klang und Anblick dieses tödlichen

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BIBLIOGRAPHIE MONOGRAPHIE Brink, Chris. The Soul of a University: Why excellence is not enough. 2018, UK: Bristol University Press. 408 p.

Konrad, Franz-Michael. Wilhelm von Humboldt, UTB Profile, Bern: Haupt, 2010, 114 p.

Von Humboldt, Wilhelm. „Theorie der Bildung des Menschen“, Wilhelm von Humboldt Schriften zur Bildung, Stuttgart: Reclam, 2017, p.5-12 Von Humboldt, Wilhelm. „Über die innere und äußere Organisation der höheren wissenschaftliche Anstalten in Berlin“, Wilhelm von Humboldt Schriften zur Bildung, Stuttgart: Reclam, 2017, p.152-165 ARTIKEL UND ZEITSCHRIFTEN Parchemal, B. „La place des humanités au sein de l’institution universitaire contemporaine“, 2014, Ithaque, 15, 25-49.

Spiegel. „So leben, lernen, lieben Studenten in Deutschland“, 2017, [online]: [https://www.spiegel.de/lebenundlernen/uni/ sozialerhebung-so-geht-es-studenten-in- deutschland-a-1154524. html], (Konsultiert im August 2019) WEBSITE Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. „Geschichte der HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin“, 2016, [online]: [https://www.hu-berlin.de/ de/ueberblick/geschichte/abriss], (Konsultiert im August 2019) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. „Daten und Zahlen zur Humboldt-Universität“, 2018, [online]: [https://www.hu-berlin. de/de/ueberblick/humboldt-universitaet-zu- berlin/daten-undzahlen], (Konsultiert im August 2019) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. „Gebühren und Beiträge“, [online]: [https://www.international.hu-berlin.de/de/studierende/ aus-dem- ausland/erasmus_europaweit/immatrikulation/ dokumente-zur- immatrikulation/finanzierungsnachweis], (Konsultiert im August 2019) Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. „Institutional Strategy: Bildung durch Wissenschaft, Educating Enquiring Minds, Individuality – Openness – Guidance“, 2011, [online]: [https://www.exzellenzinitiative.hu-berlin.de/en/institutional- strategy/institutionalstrategy], (Konsultiert im August 2019) MyStipendium „Kosten im Studium: Wie viel Geld braucht ein Student?“, [online]: [https://www.mystipendium.de/ studienfinanzierung/kosten-studium], (Konsultiert im August 2019).

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NOTES 1 Von Humboldt, Wilhelm. „Theorie der Bildung des Menschen“, Wilhelm von Humboldt Schriften zur Bildung, Stuttgart: Reclam, 2017, p.8-9 2 Ibid, p.6 3 Ibid, p.8 4 Konrad, Franz-Michael. Wilhelm von Humboldt, UTB Profile, Bern: Haupt, 2010, p.40-41 5 Frauen dürften nur seit 1908 an der Universität studieren (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. „Geschichte der HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin“, 2016, [online]: [https://www.hu-berlin.de/ de/ueberblick/geschichte/abriss], (konsultiert im August 2019)) 6 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. „Daten und Zahlen zur Humboldt-Universität“, 2018, [online]: [https://www.hu-berlin. de/de/ueberblick/humboldt-universitaet-zu-berlin/daten-undzahlen], (konsultiert im August 2019) 7 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. „Gebühren und Beiträge“, [online]: [https://www.international.hu-berlin.de/de/studierende/ aus-dem-ausland/erasmus_europaweit/immatrikulation/ dokumente-zur-immatrikulation/finanzierungsnachweis], (konsultiert im August 2019) MyStipendium „Kosten im Studium: Wie viel Geld braucht ein Student?“, [online]: [https://www.mystipendium.de/ studienfinanzierung/kosten-studium], (Konsultiert im August 2019).

8 Spiegel „So leben, lernen, lieben Studenten in Deutschland“, 2017, [online]: [https://www.spiegel.de/lebenundlernen/uni/ sozialerhebung-so-geht-es-studenten-in-deutschland-a-1154524. html], (Konsultiert im August 2019) 9 Konrad, Franz-Michael. Wilhelm von Humboldt, UTB Profile, Bern: Haupt, 2010, p.49 10 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. „Daten und Zahlen zur Humboldt-Universität“, 2018, [online]: [https://www.hu-berlin. de/de/ueberblick/humboldt-universitaet-zu-berlin/daten-undzahlen], (konsultiert im August 2019) 11 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. “Institutional Strategy: Bildung durch Wissenschaft, Educating Enquiring Minds, Individuality – Openness – Guidance”, 2011, [online]: [https:// www.exzellenz-initiative.hu-berlin.de/en/institutional-strategy/ institutional-strategy], (Konsultiert im August 2019) 12 Ibid, p.5 13 Idem 14 Ibid, p.6 15 Idem 16 Konrad, Franz-Michael. Wilhelm von Humboldt, UTB Profile, Bern: Haupt, 2010, p.53-54 17 Ibid, p.39-40 18 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. „Daten und Zahlen zur Humboldt-Universität“, 2018, [online]: [https://www.hu-berlin. de/de/ueberblick/humboldt-universitaet-zu-berlin/daten-undzahlen], (Konsultiert im August 2019) 19 Parchemal, B. „La place des humanités au sein de l’institution universitaire contemporaine“, 2014, Ithaque, 15, p.12-17 20 Konrad, Franz-Michael. Wilhelm von Humboldt, UTB Profile, Bern: Haupt, 2010, p.70 21 Von Humboldt, Wilhelm. „Über die innere und äußere Organisation der höheren wissenschaftliche Anstalten in Berlin“, Wilhelm von Humboldt Schriften zur Bildung, Stuttgart: Reclam, 2017, p.157-158 22 Ibid, p.155 23 Konrad, Franz-Michael. Wilhelm von Humboldt, UTB Profile, Bern: Haupt, 2010, p. 58-60 24 Von Humboldt, Wilhelm. „Theorie der Bildung des Menschen“, Wilhelm von Humboldt Schriften zur Bildung, Stuttgart: Reclam, 2017, p.7 25 Konrad, Franz-Michael. Wilhelm von Humboldt, UTB Profile, Bern: Haupt, 2010, p. 41 26 Ibid, p.42

The Origins of Weltpolitik

by Mika Weissenberger

W

eltpolitik was one of the most disastrous foreign policies in modern history.

Championed by Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last emperor of Germany, Weltpolitik was motivated out of the Kaiser’s own personal insecurities and proved to carry severe repercussions. It molded Germany into a territorially aggressive state and set it on a path of aggression that would greatly contribute to the outbreak of the First World War. One of the reasons Weltpolitik had an immediate impact was not only because it was instituted rapidly, but also because it was in sharp contrast to preceding German foreign policy. Under Otto von Bismarck, the great unifier of Germany and one of the most masterful statesmen in history, Germany employed Realpolitik. Realpolitik was, unsurprisingly, entirely different from Weltpolitik. Realpolitik emphasized stability, wide-cast alliances, and order.

Bismarck was conscious to consistently reassure his international counterparts that Germany was territorially satiated. Weltpolitik, on the other hand, sought to strengthen Germany’s position on the international stage, through ambitions both diplomatic and territorial – at the cost of stability.

In the end, this political transition between Bismarck and Wilhelm II, and subsequently, the transition from Realpolitik to Weltpolitik, strongly contributed to Germany’s involvement into World War I as a result of an aggressive foreign policy.

Before the Kaiser’s Germany embarked on a path of conquest, Bismarck championed the aforementioned Realpolitik. Understanding this policy and its structure will help underscore the dramatic shift in policy under Wilhelm II, and just how much of a departure the successor policy was to its predecessor. In order to understand Realpolitik, we must understand Bismarck.

Realpolitik embodied a much more pragmatic view of world politics than its successor policy and allowed a newly reunified Germany to enjoy a period of relative peace on the international scene.

Realpolitik was a policy firmly rooted in realism. It has two core characteristics, as explained best by Otto Pflanze: “On the one hand, it implies a particular conception of the realities of political life, and, on the other, techniques of achieving positive results in view of these realities.” Bismarck, unlike many of his contemporaries, realized that

power was the root of politics and the vehicle by which he could most effectively impose his will.

Given this knowledge, that is exactly what he did.

His priority, after dealing with massive domestic tasks such as the reunification of his homeland, was international stability. Throughout the period of 1871-1890, where he no longer had to allocate all of his attention to domestic affairs, he created multiple alliances that kept war at bay and kept peace in Europe. His foreign policy acumen was first exemplified in 1873, when he formed the Dreikaiserbund, formally allying Germany, Russia, and Austria. Not only was this desirable simply because of the obvious advantages of having two powerful empires as allies, but it served the equally important task of isolating the French. Throughout Bismarck’s reign, alliances came and went, but he managed to persistently maintain favorable arrangements for Germany and kept himself as both the international and domestic arbiter of power.

He gave himself great power, and balanced internal political structures to be reliant on him.

This system was effective, and Germany enjoyed a period of unprecedented prosperity. However, even though the system ran smoothly under a Bismarck-centric model, there was an obvious problem. Because Bismarck was so influential and apparatuses had been designed so that the monarch – who had been the subservient Wilhelm I – had absolute authority, this led to a major power struggle when the less compliant Wilhelm II ascended to the throne. Bismarck had controlled politics through the consolidation of his power as well as the reliance on the monarch. This was greatly flawed, as it heavily relied on the competence of both the chancellor and the monarch. As soon as one of those two positions was to be compromised or in disagreement, the central institution of German political power would have to shift to absolute authority under either the chancellor or the monarch. In the between Bismarck and Wilhelm II, the more culturally and institutionally entrenched figure emerged the victor: Wilhelm II. Bismarck was dismissed in 1890, and along with him his pragmatic and reasoned approach to foreign policy. The door was now open for an emboldened Kaiser to launch his problematic and expansionist Weltpolitik.

At the heart of Weltpolitik, of course, was

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Wilhelm II. Under the same logic that we needed to understand Bismarck to understand Realpolitik, we must analyze Weltpolitik through the same criteria by seeking to understand the Kaiser’s motivations. After doing so, we will use this lens to analyze the foreign policy decisions he made, almost every one of which inched his nation closer to war.

I am most primarily interested in the Kaiser’s psychological development and how that relates to his governance. The Kaiser was born in 1859, shortly before Bismarck was to unite Germany. Due to being born in the breech position, he was born with what is now known as Erb-Duchenne palsy.

Most critically for the young Kaiser, this affected his left arm. “Compared with his right arm, his left arm was cold and shorter, the difference becoming ever more visible as time went by. His left hand also remained smaller than the right, with unusually pointed fingers that curled inwards in a claw-like fashion”. This was an incurable physical disability that came to bring a multitude of consequences for the powerless young Wilhelm. For one, he was repeatedly traumatized with a myriad of attempts to fix his arm. Of course, this wasn’t possible.

When Wilhelm was six months old, he had his arm repeatedly inserted in the body of a ‘freshly slaughtered hare’. Additionally, his right arm was almost always tied to his body, which compromised Wilhelm’s balance, and served to both frustrate the young boy and exemplified the rudimentary nature of his medical care. Shortly after the beginning of his animal bath therapy, Wilhelm also began to receive electromagnetic treatment on his crippled arm, and thereafter on his neck, which was so painful that the young boy couldn’t tolerate it. While undergoing these treatments, he was subjected to further humiliation, when at the age of 4 he developed another condition which caused ‘the unharmed neck muscles on the right side were pulling his head downwards to the right, twisting his chin towards the paralyzed left side.’ To treat this, a ‘head stretching machine’ was made for the prince, which he had to wear for an hour each day. Not only was this quasi-torture for Wilhelm, but it was also entirely ineffective.

At the age of six, two years later, it was deemed necessary for Wilhelm to have an operation to cut a tendon between his collarbone and the neck muscle on his right side. Thereafter, he was subjected to extensive daily use of an arm-stretching contraption.

Throughout his childhood, Wilhelm continued to receive treatment for his disabilities, and other health issues unrelated to his arm haunted him.

Without much psychological background, one can clearly understand how this consistent humiliation

and constant reminder of his disabilities and shortcomings had a detrimental developmental effect on the young prince. Without a shred of doubt, the way in which he was doctored left a lasting psychological scar on Wilhelm, a scar which fed an insecurity that lasted a lifetime. In almost every photograph of the Kaiser, his hand is one of three discrete positions. It is either on the hilt of his sword, held by his other hand, or holding a glove in order to give the appearance of greater length.

These physical disabilities alone are enough to traumatize any child, and instilled in Wilhelm a sense that he was inadequate or broken. However, The Kaiser’s difficulties were greatly exacerbated by his mother. Crown Princess Victoria was so ashamed of her son’s ailments that she strongly supported any prospective solution, leading to the drastic aforementioned treatments. However, medically, the prince was incurable. As Röhl succinctly puts it, “With the inevitability of a Greek tragedy, these unrealisable hopes led to a vicious circle of reciprocal disappointment, which was to degenerate, on Wilhelm’s side, into hatred and rejection of his mother’s liberal ideals.” This is the root of Wilhelm’s later, extremely conservative political views – it represents the antithesis of what his mother stood for. Further on in Wilhelm’s childhood, he was put through the most academically rigorous programs available and had little to no agency over his life. Through a mix of private tutoring and later public gymnasium education, Wilhelm was forced to endure the study of subjects he had no interest in. What made this exponentially worse were the lofty expectations of our primary culprit, the Crown Princess. She expected her son to be molded, throughout his strenuous studies, into a formidable statesman. However, this only served to further embitter Wilhelm. This dynamic was visible to one of his primary tutors, who noted: “In April 1873 the ‘Doctor’ again sounded the alarm on his adolescent pupil’s development in words that speak volumes. With ‘frightening clarity’, he declared that he was staring at the difficulties that stood in the way of achieving the original aim in the face. He drew attention to the ‘very severe sacrifices’ that both parents and tutor, but above all his royal pupil, would have to make if he were to continue on the ‘high road’.” Nonetheless, Wilhelm was forced to continue down the ‘high road’. His mother’s criticisms seemed to know no bounds.

Even in letter exchanges between the two, the Crown Princess frequently reprimanded Wilhelm’s grammar and language, further instilling in her son an everlasting sense of shame and bitterness

Now that we’ve briefly explored the Kaiser’s upbringing, we must examine the product that came of this harsh upbringing, followed by the role his development played in Weltpolitik and Germany’s involvement in World War One. To no surprise, this traumatic and emotionally isolating upbringing resulted in a deeply flawed adult. Wilhelm developed a superiority complex.

As a result of the lack of control and an internalized sense of incapability, he prosecuted those he deemed inferior to himself. His mother herself said this about her son, the product of her own flawed childcare efforts: “[he is] very arrogant, extremely smug & quite taken with himself, is offended at the slightest comment, plays the injured party, & more than occasionally gives an impudent answer; furthermore, he is unbelievably lazy & slovenly”.

He was difficult to deal with, and as he became further involved in court life, he became further convinced of his gift of divine rule, a concept that was beginning to become outdated and was viewed by contemporaries as fairly backwards. The Kaiser himself proclaimed: “Something is missing in me that others have. All poetic feeling in me is dead – [it] has been killed.” Wilhelm, throughout his life, expressed an inability to self-reflect, so the fact that even he could realize this about himself speaks to the severity of his character flaws. The adult Wilhelm, who carried the oppressive burden of psychological duress as visibly as he carried his sword, was a fully formed character, and it would now only be a matter of time before he ascended to the throne.

That is exactly what happened. In 1890, Kaiser Wilhelm II took the throne. The insecure young ruler desperately sought German respect abroad, and immediately embarked on his policy of Weltpolitik. This policy was “aimed at making Germany’s presence abroad commensurate with her new industrial might”. This sentiment is a far cry from Bismarck’s declaration that Germany was, as far as expansion was concerned, satisfied. The consequences of this foreign policy were quickly felt. Bismarck had secretly signed a Reinsurance Treaty with Russia, lasting from 1887-1890, which entailed that the two respective countries would remain neutral, should the other engage in war (with a few exceptions). This was a crucial component of Bismarck’s balancing act, and was not renewed in 1890 by his Wilhemite successor, Count Caprivi.

This caused Germany to gradually lose the ear and friendship of the Russian government. Russia then, in 1894, overcame its long standing rivalry with France, and the two nations formed a military alliance. The alliance system that Germany had set in motion, naturally, had prompted the other great

powers to do the same, and the Wilhelm-led lack of caution and brashness enabled it to happen.

Wilhelm was guided by a resolute sense of his own greatness and was further emboldened as the years of his leadership went on. Wilhelm wanted nothing short of a hegemonic continental Europe, under German control. In 1896, he began to heavily involve himself with the foreign affairs office, often with brash instructions, forcing officials to attempt to placate the Kaiser. Most notably, Wilhelm unexpectedly made an appearance on Wilhelmstrasse, the central operating location of the foreign ministry. He demanded German intervention on behalf of the Boers, in an effort to undermine their British combatants. In the end, officials talked him out of what certainly would have been a damning maneuver. However, as a compromise, the foreign office sent the Kruger telegram. The telegram congratulated the Boer president on “preserving the independence of his country against foreign aggression without resorting to outside help”. This was a slap in the face to the British, who were not only enraged by the telegram, but the prospect of further antagonism from Germany. The consequences of the Kruger telegram cannot be understated – “the Kruger dispatch became a byword for the monarch’s disastrous intervention in foreign affairs, marking the beginning of the deterioration in public attitudes that was to overshadow Anglo-German relations for the next fifty years and beyond.”

In an endeavour to establish Germany as an arbiter of world power, the relentless Kaiser began to set his sights on the Middle East. Wilhelm II saw the Islamic world as one he could mobilize against his European rivals, and that belief was one that would have severe consequences in the leadup to the war.

The Kaiser proceeded to praise the Sultan, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, and assured him in a public speech that the Kaiser would be allied with them indefinitely. He expressed interest in a protectorate over a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Wherever he ventured, he ruffled feathers and caused headaches for the British, the French, and the Russians. In Africa, he championed his policy of Mittelafrika.

Mittelafrika sought to conquer the Belgian Congo, the Caribbean, as well as the Danish and Dutch islands. Wilhelm would go on to make many such foreign policy blunders, each one of them inching Germany farther away from the long-dead alliances Bismarck had labored so intensely to maintain.

A resentful Bismarck, after he left office and near the end of his life, famously predicted the impending European conflict. “One day the great European war will come out of some damned

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foolish thing in the Balkans.” To Bismarck’s credit, he was correct. In 1912, when alliances in the Balkans were being ironed out, Wilhelm II pledged his absolute support to Austria-Hungary in the face of any conflict with Serbia. This was the final demonstration of his flawed judgement – not only had he made this poor decision, but this was also the result of surrounding himself with advisers and military commanders who shared his aggressive temperament. With such a move, he pitted himself against French and Russia, two powers he could seldom afford to combat. He also personally grossly underestimated the length and brutality of any potential conflict. Wilhelm II, by honoring this agreement after the fateful events of July 1914, provided the final thrust in the nail he had been unintentionally driving into the coffin of the German Empire since his ascension to power.

Taking into account the circumstances surrounding Wilhelm II’s childhood and environment, we can come to understand his motivations much more clearly. Whether or not he is entirely responsible for the devastation he brought about to his country and his continent is a complicated question, one that delves both into the degree of psychological responsibility of an individual in the face of such an upbringing, as well as the influence of the contemporary state of politics and the government he was entrusted with. With this in mind, it is impossible to determine for certain whether or not he carries sole responsibility for Germany’s involvement in World War One. However, it is apparent that he significantly contributed, or accelerated, and overall decline in European affairs with his brash Weltpolitik policies. This contribution of his, once again, can be understood through the lens of his disability and the way in which his care and development were so harshly bungled – it elicits a degree of sympathy for Wilhelm II. Careless parenting, for a lack of a more academic diagnosis, brought the German Empire to a rapid conclusion.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Hull, Isabel V. The Entourage of Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1888-1918.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. 21.

Mann, Tara L. World War I. New York, NY: Britannica Educational Publishing in association with the Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2017.

MacDonogh, Giles. The Last Kaiser: the Life of Wilhelm II. New York: St. Martins Press, 2003.

Pflanze, Otto. “Bismarcks Realpolitik.” The Review of Politics20, no.

4 (1958): 492–514. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0034670500034185.

Röhl John C. G., and Sheila De Bellaigue. Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1859-1941: a Concise Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.

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Traverser l’Amer

by Antoine Malette

M

ein Herz gehört dem Kopf - ein leerer Kopf voll Zitaten und halb-vergessenen schlechten Erinnerungen.

I know that I shall meet my fate somewhere among the clouds above; those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard, I do not love. ...riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s from swerve of shore to bend of bay… ...from self-assured to abandoned being.

Ceci est une mise à nu. L’allemand m’a souvent été antagonique. Langue apprise pour séduire qui finit par me réduire. Enthousiaste, j’ai couru à ma fin.

J’aurais dû savoir, alors, que la saveur que la langue capte le mieux, c’est l’amer. „Komm’ doch zu mir. Ich vermiss dich. Du kannst bei mir bleiben.“ Ich war einfach zu jung. Ich wußte nicht was es bedeutete, dich zu lieben. Hätt’ ich es gewusst, lernt’ ich dich wahrscheinlich überhaupt nicht zu kennen. Du warst der Sturm und ich der Drang.

Je l’ai donc traversée, la mer, pour aller bredouiller (as if climbing the Tower of Babble) les quelques mots que je connaissais. „Ich hab’ dich lieb – Ich bin verloren - Wo sind die Toiletten?“ Mais mes mots n’ont pas pesé assez lourd. Ton cœur appartenait aussi à ta tête. Tu en as rencontré un autre et ça a été ma fin pour un bout. „Wir machen Party am Freitag Abend. Tu veux venir? He’ll be there as well. I can introduce you to him. Er spielt Gitarre auch, wie du.“ Ich habe dann das Verb sterben zum ersten Mal wirklich geschrieben und ich fing an zu verstehen, dass wir sich im Imperfekt immer konjugieren würde.

During that painful trip to Turkey, where you ate as many Kebabs as parts of my heart, I sunk into the

Black Sea of what-could-have-beens. We had fresh cheese in the morning and dead sheep for dinner.

Nightmares populated my nights and for weeks I dreamed of you more than I slept.

Ich hab’ ein äußerst rares Gesicht gehabt.

Ich hatt’ nen Traum - ‘s geht über Menschenwitz, zu sagen, was es für ein Traum war. Des Menschen Auge hat’s nicht gehört, des Menschen Ohr hat’s nicht gesehen, des Menschen Hand kann’s nicht schmecken, seine Zunge kann’s nicht begreifen und sein Herz nicht wieder sagen, was mein Traum war.

De retour chez mes parents, des mois plus tard, ma mère ne me reconnaissait plus, « enkilosé » par trop de Weißwurst et de Hefeweizen. Mais, malgré le poids en plus, j’étais rentré délesté de quelques ambitions. Dreams are sometimes like jokes taken too seriously. They can hurt.

Juste quand je me croyais bon pour la dompe, mort-né d’une amourette trop-tôt-trop-forte, je suis tombé sur les mots. Par hasard, me suis enfargé dans la beauté de ceux et celles qui de déchets firent des chef-d’œuvres, ceux qui ont bien dit ce que j’avais mal vécu.

I kept reading Faust „mit heißen bemühn“, knowing deep down that I too, had been at the center of a heavenly bet between God and the Devil, die alte Schlange, the ancient serpent. My German got better. My memories grew paler. And I eventually came back to life, saved by words I had read, by words I had written.

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