Ally Renae06
Deutsche Kultur
as seen by... "die Umlaut Grinders"
World War I ended officially on November 11, 1918. It wasn't until June 28th 1919 that the Germans signed the Treaty of Versailles. In the treaty of Versailles, "The Big Three" (Britain, France, and America) held Germany responsible for the war. Germany faced many harsh repercussions. First of all Germany was stripped of land. Alsace-Lorraine was given to France. Eupen and Malmedy were given to Belgium. Northern Schleswig was given to Denmark. Hultschin was given to Czechoslovakia. West Prussia, Posen, and Upper Silesia were given to Poland. The League of Nations also took control of The Saar, Danzig, Memel and Germany's overseas colonies. Germany's army was also reduced to 100,000 men and not allowed tanks, an air force, or submarines. Germany was forced to pay reparations and lost huge economic centers. Germany also had to admit full responsibility for starting the war; this was Clause 231 "War Guilt Clause." The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I, however, it left a mood of anger throughout Germany as it was felt that as a nation Germany had been unfairly treated. Above all else, Germany hated the clause blaming her for the cause of the war and the resultant financial penalties the treaty was bound to impose on Germany.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_of_world_war_one.htm
German-Americans in America had originally supported Germany in World War I, but after America joined the war, they were looked down upon. Germans were thought to have been disloyal, un-American, and evil. The entire world was looking down on Germany.
http://www.kindredtrails.com/German_Culture-1.html
After World War I, Germany struggled economically. Arts, music, and culture also suffered. Before World War I, Germany was one of the three musical centers in Europe. World War I stripped Germany of the motivation and the ability to be a cultural center.
The Treaty Versailles put Germany in a downward spiral economically. The people were forced to pay back millions of D-Marks that they, with fewer numbers of able-bodied men, had no way to repay. People were forced to wait in line for hours on end for one load of bread that would cost them 100 D-Marks. They had no one to help them and no way out of their situation. The currency became so worthless, that they began to burn it for heat and stuff it in their walls to use as insulation.
The German economy only started to pick up when a man named Aldof Hitler came along supplying the people with jobs building Panzers, weapons, and the autobahn. Citizens were happy and doing prosperously, without any recognition of what was to come, or what their hard work would be used for. All the people were able to see was bread and butter on the table and a man who made them feel proud to be German again. The ignorance of the people is what lead to the ultimate building of strength for the Nazi Party and its constituents.
After the most horrifying time in this modern world's history, Germany was left flattened and cent-less. Germany was split up between the Allies (USA, France, and the United Kingdom) and the USSR. The Allies were sanctioned the western side of Germany and Berlin, while the USSR was give the eastern-most quarter of Deutschland.
The Allies soon introduced Democracy to their portion of Germany, but left it up to political leaders (never associated with the Nazi Party) to establish a new system for their country. West Germany flourished under their system, and were soon on their way to re-establishing a solid economy in the West. The allies made progressive steps soon after the war ended to pull Germany out of the isolation that her former rulers had had her in for such a long time. "On 6-March-1948, after talks in Berlin, the Western powers agreed to internationalize the Ruhu region.' Allowing Germany to regain her pre-WWI prestige, is what allowed the country to get herself back up on her feet.
The USSR, however, continued to keep Germany isolated from the rest of the world, as well as imposed a communist rule upon them. The USSR took slow, calculated steps in order to shut of the Eastern side to the rest of the world entirely. The earliest documented step in such directions is on, "March, 31st 1948 Soviets, in Germany, began controlling the Western trains headed toward Berlin." The Soviets did not make a split decision to cut-off East Germany over night, but had since the war ended, planned on systematically closing the GDR.
As the power-struggle for control of Berlin continued, both America and the USSR forced German scientists to go to those respective lands to begin work on what would later become known as the, "Space Race." Most Americans believe that the cold war was against the USA and the USSR, which was partially true. Politically and in a sense of Power, the Cold War and Space Race were definitely between those two nations. However, the engineering behind the weapons and shuttle instruments, were entirely that of Germany.
When the thumb was pressed so forcefully on the East Germans that they were all fleeing to the promise of freedom, the Soviets tightened their slack. After a series of extremely calculated and well formulated plan, the GDR was officially cut off from the Western world.
The border between East Germany and West Germany was officially closed on August 13, 1961. The Soviet block was nervous about the fact that many East Germans were emigrating to the west, and closed off the border to save what was left of their economy. Immediately after the border was closed, East Berliners were in a state of panic. There was a large amount of speculation as to whether or not the border would open up again soon. Many of the East Berliners who lived in the East but worked in the West, called "Grenzgänger", were out of work the minute the border was closed, and therefore had to find work in the GDR. West Berliners were outraged at the border closure. They felt as if the Allies, who each controlled a part of Berlin at the time, should have negotiated with the Soviets in order to reopen the border. Whatever immediate impact the Berlin Wall had, the long term effects were much more important.
Closing the border between West Germany and the GDR was in violation of the "four-power" status of Berlin, which was agreed upon after the end of WWII. However, the Soviet Union didn't really seem to be worried about violating this agreement. They were happy to have the GDR as a satellite nation, because it both provided an area for possible westward expansion of the Soviet Union, but it also created a buffer zone between the West and the Soviet Union.
While popular culture from the western world flourished in West Germany , youth in East Germany protested their lack of freedom created by the Berlin wall. East Germans were obviously not allowed to go where they wanted, however their ability to move up the social ladder was also halted by the creation of the Berlin Wall. East German youths were attracted to Western culture. Though the GDR was opposed to this American "Unkultur", which they also referred to as "psychological warfare", East Germany, and especially East Berlin could not block West German TV and radio from transmitting into the East.
One of our main objectives in doing this project was to dispel a lot of the stereotypes generally associated with German culture. We decided to ask some people around campus what they thought of when we said Germany. The first thing everyone mentioned was beer, followed by cars, Nazis, and finally German food. Though most people did not believe that Germans were still evil Nazis, they were more likely to think of Nazi Germany than the Germany of today. We also asked people what they thought of when we said "World War II". Many people started by saying "Nazis, the Holocaust" etc. However, once we talked to them for a little longer, we realized that a lot of people did realize that not all Germans were Nazis, and even those who were did not necessarily want to be.
We asked some people if they thought the Holocaust was still relevant today, and I believe that the most interesting answer we received was from a girl who was discussing the Zionist movement with us. She saw the connection between the Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which many people do not. The Holocaust has influenced the entire world.
Despite all of this, it was nice to see that in general feelings towards Germany were positive.
In 1990 the most powerful thing in German history came about, it is still celebrated today every year, the Berlin Wall came down. With the demolition of the Berlin wall so came the demolition of a separate people. When the Berlin Wall came down families that had once thought they would never meet face-to-face again where able to embrace and kiss once again the ones that they love. A since of pure joy filled the area surrounding the wall for the first time in a very long time also a since of sadness, in their minds where also the thoughts of those that had lost everything including their lives because of this wall. In the years that the wall stood no less than 191 people lost their lives in the attempt to climb the wall to reunite with loved ones or just to escape what they thought was the "side" of torture. In the end the people themselves leveled the wall and put great joy into the job what might have taken years only took mere weeks to complete one can only guess that they were glad to be rid of such an eye sore.
While the removal of the wall is one amazing, the removal was the easiest part of the job the hardest part was yet to come. At this point this was the first time the world had or has ever seen the merging of a capitalist country and a socialist country, and as such large problems would happen, no guidelines where set in place, but like all new things mistakes were made and when they did they had to step back and reevaluate what they were doing.
Today Germany, while still has problems, lives with its past but does very well standing tall and showing the world that they are a changed people and willing to make its mark in the world of today.
Interesting links: