German history 2008

On Friday morning we had a class with Stephan Anders, who had to teach us more about German history. To me this was really a lecture I had honestly looked forward to, and I definitely wasn't disappointed.Stephan gave us the choice of the history we would like to do, and of course everyone asked for the German history of the 20th century, which I, too, really enjoyed. He's really well-read on this subject and could speak with ease concerning every issue the group was interested in.What surprised me the most was the fact that Kaiser Wilhelm was the one responsible for Lenin's return to Russia (which started the Russian Revolution and the assassination of the Tsar), which indirectly helped put an end to the war between Russia and Germany. He also informed us of the so-called "brain drain" before and during the Second World War; where geniuses such as Albert Einstein, who was a Jew, left Germany to permanently live in the USA. Since I was interested in some earlier history, he did not disappoint me and took the time during the break and after class to talk with me about the things I wanted to know, like the First Reich, Second Reich, and the main characters in these various parts of history, like Barbarossa and Bismarck. He also went back to the political geography of Germany and many of us were honestly surprised by the difference in Germany's size over the past centuries. We learned, for example, that the German borders once stretched to contain many cities that we now perhaps know as Austrian, French, Polish or Slovakian cities. Examples of these would be Salzburg (Austria), Antwerp (Brussels), Prague (Czech Republic), Straßburg (France) and even Vienna (also Austria). The country now known as Luxemburg was wholly contained by the German borders! We also touched on the subject of religion in various parts, and the fact that Tübingen, for example, has been Protestant for a long time, but some surrounding parts were Roman Catholic - according to the religion of the reigning lords of that time. Understanding Germany and its inhabitants is impossible without grasping their history first, and this class was really eye-opening to the needsand feelings of the people that live around us, especially their need for peace and stability, both things that hadn't been present in this country for a long time. Until now.

by Gene Putter

Last Update (23/01/08)