The Invention of the Germans

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The Invention of the Germans How we came to be,
what we are
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Schiller, Goethe, Dürer, Wilhelm II, Marx,
Beethoven, Hitler, Wagner, Brandt,
Droste-Hülshoff, Merkel, Bismarck, Adenauer,
Kriemhild, Friedrich the Great, Luther,
Hölderlin dancing around the black, red, gold
banner first adopted as a flag of Germany in the
early 19th century. The caricature is inspired by
a famous painting by Pieter Breugel the Younger,
Peasants Dancing around the Maypole.
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"Silesian Weavers (1824) Die schlesischen
Weber No tears in their eyes, full
gloom, Nashing teeth, they sit at the
loom "Germany, your shroud we lace, This
threefold curse we weave in place -- We
weave, we weave. "A curse on our God to whom we
prayed When winter's cold and famine stayed We
hoped and awaited in vain his aid, He mocked us,
duped us and betrayed. We weave, we
weave.
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"A curse on the king, the rich man's king. For
our misery he has no feeling. He gouged us out of
all we own, And like dogs has us shot down --
We weave, we weave. "A curse on this false
Fatherland Where degradation can expand Where
every bloom snaps premature Where rot and mold
vermin nurture -- We weave, we
weave. "The shuttle flying, the loom
cracking, We weave day and night our bodies
racking -- Old Germany your shroud we lace, this
threefold curse we weave in place -- We
weave, we weave."
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• 1816-17
• crop failures
• purchasing power sank
• bankruptcies
• Poverty
• exposed to market forces bourgois threatened

German unification 1832, just before death at
age 82, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stated that he
did not concern himself with German unification
the railways will take care of that.
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• After Karlsbad Decrees Nationalism went
  underground.
• Only the great number of German histories kept
  German nationalist flame alive
• Freiherr von Stein "Monumenta Germanae Historica"
• Hrinrich Luden "Geschichte des deutschen Volkes"
  
• many other histories in 1820s
• otherwise limited political debate
• BUT gaining broader base due to increased
  education
• Literacy Rate in Germany
• 177015
• 183040
• 185080

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Everyday life

• Production separated from home consumption and
  private sphere
• own house was rented apartments 1800 in Berlin
  1/3 were homeowners, workers and middle class.
  New authority lord of house, with house
  order/rules/ to organize Family life
• increased mobility, itinerancy
• technology briquets, linoleum, spare cook
  hearth, oil/petroleum lamps, matchsticks.
• bathrooms were rare, the toilet facilities often
  common with others in living sphere.

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• Multi-purpose rooms became purpose rooms, such as
  bedrooms, etc.
• Bourgeois private domain set up boundaries
• Workers attic, basement, alley apartments, close
  to factories
• Soon developed "Mietskasernen", rent barracks
  Six full stories, 6 back courtyards, 100 small
  apartments in Berlin Mietskasernen.
• sublet, sleep renters

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Remember City before 1820 still medieval, with
wall, gate, fields, barns. Countryside began just
outside gate Older cities before 1840 quiet,
empty, desolate - little nightlife. Dwelling,
office, trade still in same place rich/poor
lived in same areas of town
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• Shift between 1840s-1860s in neighborhoods
  according to class
• upper middle, middle, working class
• But not a unified, even development
• From pedestrian city, princely-clerical/artisan,
  patrician quality
• To factory, Mietskasernen structure
• New gate of city railway station
• For middle class real estate market stimulated
  mortgage banking

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(No Transcript)
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Frankfurt am Main, center city
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Showing location of old city walls and access
highways
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• New state, municipal offices and the general
  bureaucratization of life, functionalization
• government, finance and customs offices
• post offices
• schools/prepschools/universities
• hospitals
• law buildings
• prisons and jails
• juridification of life
• Urban-bourgeois culture industry
• Museums
• Theaters
• Concert halls
• Balls

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• Public Water supply in
• Vienna 1803
• Hamburg 1848
• Berlin 1852
• Sewers in the 1860s Berlin, Danzig, Breslau,
  Frankfurt, München
• Walls became wall streets, country roads built up
• Fashion went toward simplicity, respectability
• Daily life determined by work, leisure time took
  a humble role
• For the common folk marksman's festival, fairs,
  church anniversary (Kirchweih), Karneval, local
  common festivals

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• Leisure for the bourgeoisie
• the ball, (competition with court ball)
• coffeehouse culture
• music
• water colors
• silhouette drawing
• poetry
• diary
• intellectual conversation
• travelsomething new vacation spots, spas / 1842
  the first Baedecker travel guide for Germany

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• Eat/Drink
• 1800, riceexotic, by 1850 mass consumption.
• Less honey, more sugar
• meat extract, prepared meats (Wurst) in
  factories, industrial food production
• in cities eating was faster.
• Still petty bourgeois practice middaymain meal
• before 1850 many lived at the edge of existence,
  minimum
• coffee/potatoes introduced
• bland diet, after 1830 more schnapps, along with
  social problems
• sugar 1840-2.4kg/1873-7.3kg
• meat 1816-13.6 kg/1840-20 kg/ 1873-29/5 kg
• more pork after 1850
• 58 of household budget for basic sustenance