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HIST 2509 A History of Germany

HIST 2509 A History of Germany. Lecture 11-2 Bourgeois Society and Culture. Today’s Main Themes. Authoritarianism and everyday life. Middle-class values, respectability. Goal: placing the novella in context. I. The 1870s: a shift in priorities. a struggling economy

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HIST 2509 A History of Germany

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  1. HIST 2509 A History of Germany Lecture 11-2 Bourgeois Society and Culture

  2. Today’s Main Themes • Authoritarianism and everyday life. • Middle-class values, respectability. • Goal: placing the novella in context.

  3. I. The 1870s: a shift in priorities • a struggling economy • from liberal support to “rye and iron” • anti-clericalism and the Kulturkampf • Anti-Socialist Laws

  4. II. A Special Path for Germany? • 1920s historiography of causes of WW I • post 1945, extended debate to Nazis • Fischer’s thesis -German war aims and culpability -German aggression originated in 1860s-1880s -society and politics reflected authoritarianism d.Sonderweg: search for continuities -continuity between 1870s and 1945

  5. II. A Special Path for Germany? e. Blackbourn, Eley and the “revisionists” -focus on daily life -liberal values and middle-class mores present in society -- but complicated -not just dupes or puppets but actors -nuance needed

  6. II. Sites of Middle-class Power -Bildung and Sittlichkeit -sociability: clubs and associations -the family, gender roles, and “morality” -law, order, discipline: crime and police -the new military ethos: the uniform -masculinity and the duel -consumption, status, and wealth

  7. 1) Bildung and Sittlichkeit The Garden Cottage, 1853-1944 -no talk of politics, religion, crime, or divorce

  8. 2)sociability: clubs and associations *shared values the Museum Society lunch at the Ratskeller professional associations

  9. 3)the family, gender, and “morality” *the timelessness of “natural differences” -the BGB or Civil Code 1900 -separate spheres and calm domestic influence -moderation but double standard -- Effi Briest -social welfare Magdalenenheime (homes for fallen women)

  10. 4)law, order, discipline -class justice and crime -growth of police and institutions -alles Verboten! -poverty as crime -- workhouses -degeneration = preventative policing -blind obedience to rules Heinrich Mann, The Subject “In England, everybody is a citizen; In Germany, everybody is a subject”

  11. 5)new military ethos a) the uniform -aping the aristocracy: Queen Victoria and Wilhelm II -militarization of society -not just for boys: postal workers,police, customs officers, mine officials, railwaymen and foresters Matrosenkleidung or soldier’s suits

  12. b) education system -attendance, truancy police, drills, authoritarianism Heinrich Mann’s, Professor Unrat -made into 1930 film The Blue Angel with Marlene Dietrich

  13. c) respect for authority The Captain of Köpenick (1906) Wilhelm Voigt -conformism, exclusion, and military virtue -rank and privilege -reserve officer corps

  14. 6) masculinity and the duel: satisfaction

  15. satisfaction

  16. 7) consumption, status, wealth -bummeln == to promenade Kurfürstendamm in Berlin -the predilection for titles and ennoblement -- “von” -from spartan to overstuffed homes

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