middle-term history: Germany's "special path" of national unification and
industrialization
Bismarck, Sept. 1862: "Germany looks not to Prussia's liberalism but
to her power. . Since the Treaty of Vienna [1815], Prussia's borders have
not been favorable for a healthy state life. Not by parliamentary speeches
and majority votes are the great questions of the day determined-that was
the great mistake of 1848 and 1849-but by iron and blood."
consequence:
"accident" (Betriebsunfall)
consequence:
short-term history: unique circumstances after World War I (my view)
Germany's national war victims memorial: The Neue Wache (new guardhouse),
1815-1990
1815 Prussian king needed building for the palace guard from
Schinkel,
1849 additional fortifications added
1870s-1914 ceremonial use; visits by foreign monarchs; WWI
mobilization order
1931 Memorial Site for the Fallen (of the Great War),
ded. by Pruss.Min.pres. Braun (SPD)
1933 renamed Reichsehrenmal; WWII use by Nazis as
"Valhalla" for fallen generals [with crucifix]
1945 heavily damaged in Battle of Berlin; 1948 gilded wreath
stolen; repaired 1951
1962 East German rededication "To the Victims of Fascism
and Militarism"
1969 East Germany added prismatic eternal flame, urns of
unknown camp inmate and soldier
1993 Dedication as united Germany's Memorial to the "Victims
of War and Tyrrany"