THE GERMANS’ LOVE OF
of 184834, was used by many writers to express their social criticisms. Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) and fellow writers of the time also embedded their political ideas in their lofty references to nature, thereby helping turn the German forests they loved into a symbol of national identity.
TREES – DOES THIS STEM FROM LITERATURE?
In most German fairy tales the sinister wood setting generates foreboding, representing superlative forces like immortality and endurance. Yet in poetry and other literature, trees symbolise hope and change, encouraging an eternal appreciation of these forests. This devotion, it seems, has been passed down over generations. Now all that’s left to do is take a Waldbad, and you’ll feel really German!
Caroline Young (WHS) The Germans are the world’s biggest tree-huggers. German ‘forest bathing’ (‘waldbaden’) is as popular as ever. And then there’s Ecosia, a booming search engine startup from Berlin, which plants trees with every search. But travel back in time and you’ll find that German literature is rife with Bäume - and this obsession stems from aminism, which evolved into treeworship back in ancient Europe. Sir James Frazer, in ‘The Golden Bough : A study in comparative religion’ (1890) relates the punishment for ordinary citizens should they dare to damage the bark of a standing tree. ‘The culprit’s navel was to be cut out and nailed to the part of the tree he had peeled, and he was to be driven round and round the tree till all his guts were wound about its trunk.29’ If that doesn’t illustrate the Germans’ dedication to their forests, I don’t know what will! This death penalty was intended to ‘replace the dead bark by a living substitute…the life of a man for a life of a tree.’
Source: The Golden Bough: A study in comparative religion, Sir James Frazer, 1890. URL: https:// en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Golden_Bough/The_ Worship_of_Trees 29
Source: DW, Love of the forests deeply rooted in German psyche, 2009. URL: https://www.dw.com/ en/love-for-the-forests-deeply-rooted-in-germanpsyche/a-3970648 30
Source: Culture Trip, 11 spots that inspired our German fairy tales, 2017. URL: https://theculturetrip. com/europe/germany/articles/11-spots-in-germanythat-inspired-our-famous-fairytales/ 31
The term ‘forest fascination’30 befits the role of trees in German culture. Fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, such as Hansel and Gretel (inspired by the Black Forest, or Schwarzwald, in Southwest Germany) use forests as the ideal setting for evil deeds. And when Snow White narrowly escapes being murdered by her step mother, she is abandoned to the forest, and embarks on a journey to the dwarves’ abode. The setting was inspired by the real 22-mile path around the Spessart mountain range, and these mountains are covered by one of the largest forests in Germany.31 Moreover, the innocent Little Red Riding Hood meets the Big Bad Wolf in a similar setting, starkly contrasting the safety of the village with the macabre, impenetrable forest teeming with wickedness.
Source: The origins of the Germans’ special relation to the forest, 2018. URL: https://www.dw.com/en/ the-origins-of-the-germans-special-relation-to-theforest/a-45613711 32
Source: Song, Joseph Von Eichendorff. URL: https:// www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/song/1121 33
Source: The forest nation: Why trees are at the heart of the German soul, 2019. URL: https:// www.deutschcentre.com/single-post/2019/08/11/ The-forest-nation-Why-trees-are-at-the-heart-of-theGerman-soul 34
Other German writers and poets, however, convey the woods in a different light, such as Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) in tribute to his birthplace, the Hanseland-Gretel Schwarzwald. In ‘Wandering: Notes and sketches’ he writes: ‘A longing to wonder tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening’, yearning ‘for a home, for a memory of the mother.’32 A century previously, Prussian poet Joseph Von Eichendorff expressed his emotional response to the woods in his poem ‘Song’ – ‘Gentle rustling in the treetops, little birds flying afar’…and mirroring Hesse, ‘tell me where my homeland lies.’33 Furthermore, poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) in ‘The book of hours’ frequently compares trees to both man and God - ‘I am sometimes like a tree…making real the dream of the one its living roots embrace,’ and ‘The branch of God’s tree… has already bloomed.’ The Vormärz’ (‘PreMarch’) movement, named after the March revolution 32
