The Germans
The Germans
ISBN: 9780452006225
定价: 30.00
内容简介
Introduction
The first time I saw Germany was in 1935??? when [ went there at the
end of my junior year in college to do research for the senior thesis that I
was expected to submit in the spring of the following year. The subject
that I had chosen for this piece of work was \"The Rise and Fall of the
Weimar Republic???\" for that ill-fated experiment in democracy had
ended in failure two years earlier??? and it was??? in my view??? high time that
someone wrote the definitive account of its collapse. There was no doubt
in my mind that a few months in Germany would enable me to uncover
all the materials necessary to supply this felt want.
My naive expectations were in fact to be disappointed??? for??? although
the essay was completed and accepted??? my examiners showed no indi-
cation of believing that it was the last word on the subject. On the other
hand??? my time in Germany had brought its own rewards. It had given
me an opportunity to see a good part of Germany and Austria--Munich
most of all??? where I attended courses in the university??? the western lands
from Cologne to Freiburg in Breisgau??? Vienna??? still in a state of shock
after the February fighting and the abortive Nazi Putsch of the pre-
vious year??? Nuremberg and the walled towns of Mittelfranken??? and the
cities of Saxony and Prussia. I had seen Albrecht Dilrer s \"Four Apos-
tles\" in Munich s Old Pinakothek??? become an admirer of the work of
Cranach the Elder after a day in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Ber-
lin??? and wondered at the treasures of the Green Vault in Dresden. I had
heard my first Marriage of Figaro in that same city??? the whole of The
Ring of the Nibelungen??? with Frida Leider and Wilhelm Rode??? in Mu-
nich??? and The Magic Flute and Der Freiseht~tz in the Staatsoper on
Unter den Linden in Berlin. I had??? despite my plodding German??? puz-
zled out the plot of GOtz von Berlichingen and Heinrich yon Kleist s The
Broken Jug??? had been caught up in the rapt silence of the crowded
Fountain Courtyard in the Munich Residenz as Elly Ney played Schu-
bert??? and??? in Salzburg??? had been overwhelmed by Max Reinhardt s pro-
duction of Faust.\" Part One.
These masterpieces of high German culture made a deep and lasting
impression on me??? but no more so than the many examples that I
encountered of abuse of culture and??? indeed??? of inhumanity and barbar-
ram. Munich??? where I spent most of the early summer??? was a beautiful