#deutsche revolution

[llegandolosrojos]

"¡El orden reina en Berlín!", ¡esbirros estúpidos! Vuestro orden está edificado sobre arena. La revolución, mañana ya "se elevará de nuevo con estruendo hacia lo alto" y proclamará, para terror vuestro, entre sonido de trompetas:

¡Fui, soy y seré!

Rosa Luxemburgo, 14 de enero de 1919.

[bauerntanz]

Anfrage

Die Geschäftsordnung des Rates #Lingen gibt die Möglichkeit, dem OB und seiner Verwaltung Fragen zu stellen. Das habe ich am Dienstag in der Ratssitzung getan. Meine Anfrage betraf die #Deutsche_Revolution, die vor genau 175 Jahren scheiterte. Lest mal:

Die Geschäftsordnung des Lingener Stadtrates gibt Ratsmitgliedern die Möglichkeit, den OB und seine Verwaltung zu befragen. Das Recht habe ich in der Ratssitzung am Dienstag in Anspruch genommen. Meine Anfrage an den OB: Der 18. März war der Tag, an dem vor genau 175 Jahren der demokratische Aufstand in Berlin zusammengeschossen wurde. Vor 175 Jahren begann die erste deutsche Reviolution.…

[diemelusine]

The Ironworks of Borsig in Berlin (1847) by Karl Eduard Biermann. Märkisches Museum.

[please-dont-pet-the-okapi]

Please pray for me. I have my last German final in about an hour and I do NOT feel prepared.

[schreibenwelt]

Für Pierre und Eugene, zwei Novizen an Bord der Baroque, geht ein Taum in Erfüllung. Der neue Pontifé Alban wählt ausgerechnet sie als seine neuen Estelles aus, die ihn im Dienste der Sonne auf das Gestein begleiten dürfen. Doch aus der Freude über die neue Aufgabe wachsen bald Zweifel, als Alban sie auf die Jagd nach dem abtrünnigen Mönch Georges in die Wildnis schickt. Während Eugene in seinem Glauben an das System festhält, droht Pierre, sich von den schönen Worten Georges' gefangen nehmen zu lassen - und damit die Baroque zu verraten.

[sebfreak]

Herbert Grönemeyer - Deine Hand (Offizielles Musikvideo)

[medusa-is-a-terf]

Wiedergefunden

[taunuswolf]

Kleiner Vorgeschmack auf meinen Geburtstag versehen mit der Bemerkung, dass es so etwas nur in abgeschwächter und gescheiterter Form in Deutschland gab. Ein kollektives Phänomen, dass bis heute nachwirkt und auch heute noch die Politik bestimmt.

Le jour où la France coupa la tête de son roi, elle commit un suicide.

- Ernest Renan (1823-1892)

The painting has served as inspiration for much, from banknotes to a cover of a Coldplay album but is most commonly associated as the definitive painting to depict the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 to light the fuse for the start of the French Revolution of 1789. Liberty Leading the People was painted in 1830 by Eugene Delacroix right after the revolutionary effervescence that had swept across Paris that same year.

Characterised by its allegorical and political significance, this large oil on canvas has become a universal symbol of liberty and democracy. Often used in popular culture to symbolise people’s emancipation from oppressive domination, it is one of the most famous paintings in Art History.

However this is wrong.

Liberty Leading the People is a painting usually associated with the July Revolution of 1830 in France. It is a large canvas showing a busty woman in the centre raising a flag and holding a bayonet. She is barefoot, and walks over the bodies of the defeated, guiding a crowd around her.

Eugène Delacroix was a master of colour and it is in Liberty Leading the People that he clearly expressed this. Carefully, Delacroix built a pulsating and dynamic scenario about an extremely current theme in his times. As he participated little in the fighting, he wrote: “If I can not fight for my country, I paint for it.”

The painting is about freedom and revolution. First, because that is exactly what it portrays. In July 1830, France rose up against King Charles X, who was extremely unpopular for, among other things, being very conservative in political terms and trying to restore an old regime that French people no longer wanted. In the artistic sense, the painting also represented a revolution – and more than that: freedom. In the time of Delacroix, painters generally obeyed the rules of the Academy of Fine Arts which stressed the mastery of drawing, disegno. Delacroix, however, put more emphasis on the use of colour in an unobstructed way.

A year after its production, the painting was bought by the French Government and but was not on display for a long time. Currently, the artwork is part of the Louvre collection.

If Jacques-Louis David is the most perfect example of French Neoclassicism, and his most accomplished pupil Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, represents a transitional figure between Neoclassicism and Romanticism, then Eugène Delacroix stands (with, perhaps, Theodore Gericault) as the most representative painter of French romanticism.

French artists in early nineteenth century could be broadly placed into one of two different camps. The Neoclassically trained Ingres led the first group, a collection of artists called the Poussinists (named after the French baroque painter Nicolas Poussin). These artists relied on drawing and line for their compositions. The second group, the Rubenists (named in honour of the Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens), instead elevated color over line. By the time Delacroix was in his mid-20s - that is, by 1823 - he was one of the leaders of the ascending French romantic movement.

From an early age, Delacroix had received an exceptional education. He attended the Lycée Imperial in Paris, an institution noted for instruction in the Classics. While a student there, Delacroix was recognised for excellence in both drawing and Classics. In 1815 - at the age of only 17 - he began his formal art education in the studio of Pierre Guérin, a former winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome (Rome Prize) whose Parisian studio was considered a particular hotbed for romantic aesthetics. In fact, Theodore Gericault, who would soon become a romantic superstar with his Raft of the Medusa (1818-19), was still in Guérin’s studio when Delacroix arrived in 1815. The young artist’s innate skill and his teacher’s able instruction were an excellent match and prepared Delacroix for his formal admission to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (the School of Fine Arts) in 1816.

To become leading figure of the French romantic school, Delacroix wished to emancipate himself from academic art’s classical ideal and canons. The subject of the painting was a contemporary one, whereas canvases of this size were generally reserved for historical paintings, at least according to the rules of the hierarchy of genres of the Academy. Delacroix stated that he has “undertaken a modern subject, a barricade, and although I may not have fought for my country, at least I shall have painted for her. It has restored my good spirits.” The painter also uses reds and blues, which result in stark contrasts, instead of the more muted colours that were used at that time.

Delacroix wasn’t much of a revolutionary himself and did not take part in the Paris fighting, but rather defined himself as a “simple stroller.” As he wrote in a letter to his brother; “A simple stroller like myself ran the same risk of stopping a bullet as the impromptu heroes who advanced on the enemy with pieces of iron fixed to broom handles.” However, he advocated for liberalism and was struck by a feeling of patriotism and pride as he observed his fellow citizens fighting.

The revolution depicted in this painting is not to be confused with the 1789 French Revolution. Delacroix was inspired by the events of the July Revolution (known as Les Trois Glorieuses” (Three Glorious Days), a political upheaval that took place between 27th and 29th July 1830. These violent demonstrations took place as the ruling French King Charles X tried to restrain the freedom of the people by executing a constitutional takeover. Parisians violently protested against the abuses of their individual rights. Rioters took hold of the city and violent fighting ensued, resulting in a high death toll. Charles X eventually abdicated and a constitutional monarchy, the July Monarchy, was established with Louis-Philippe I being made King of the French.

This uprising of 1830 was the historical prelude to the June Rebellion of 1832, an event featured in Victor Hugo’s famous novel, Les Misérables (1862), and the musical (1980) and films that followed. Anyone familiar with Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s musical can look at Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People and hear the lyrics of the song that serves as a call to revolution:

Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men? It is the music of a people. Who will not be slaves again.

Marianne, the Allegorical Muse

At the centre of the painting, the allegorical depiction of Liberty draws the eye immediately. Represented as Marianne, a symbol of the Republic, the woman coiffed with a Phrygian cap (a nod to the sans-culottes of the French revolution) is leading a group of revolutionaries. Her draped yellow dress reveals her breast and recalls the Greek goddesses of Antiquity. Her profile, a straight nose, plump lips, and a delicate chin are reminiscent of Antique Greek and Roman statues. She is a tribute to Ancient Greece, the cradle of democracy, as well as to the Roman republican tradition. However, Delacroix mixes in modern symbols as she holds the tricolour flag in one hand, and a bayonet in the other. This way, Liberty embodies both the modern struggle and Antiquity’s ideology of freedom.

The painting’s pyramidal structure heightens the fighting’s momentum. The ground is strewn with bodies and, out of the misery and pain, Liberty stands tall on the remains of a barricade, emerging strong and victorious. This rigorous composition contains and balances the painter’s impetuous brushstrokes and creates a striking lighting effect. It is a scene of chaos and energy, filled with smoke and movement, and yet Delacroix’s pyramid successfully creates a sense of order. The painting recalls Gericault’s Raft of the Medusa, that represents violence without idealising it.

The title makes it obvious, the woman represented here is the ideal of freedom. But even as an allegorical figure, the woman is more than that: her name is Marianne, which is probably the result of joining together two very common names in France at the time, Marie and Anne.

Curiously, 18 years after the July Revolution, Marie Anne Hubertine, a French activist who fought for the insertion of women in politics, was born. This is because, although the representation of freedom was feminine, women still couldn’t vote or stand for public office - although the female figure was always chosen to represent most of the allegories.

Keep reading

[the-nyanguard-party]

DDR stands for deutsche deutsche revolution

[deutsche-bahn]

Das deutsche Pendant zu Les Miserables ist ein achtstündiges Stück über die Revolution von 1848. Es hat mehr Charaktere als Krieg und Frieden and after three hours it just devolves into incomprehensible leftist infighting. Am Ende boykottieren sich alle Fraktionen gegenseitig und gehen nach Hause.

[flammentanz]

Der 09. November - Der Tag der Deutschen

Kaum ein anderer Tag vereint so viele, für unser Land historisch bedeutsame Ereignisse wie dieser

09.11.1848 - standrechtliche Hinrichtung von Robert Blum

Der republikanische Abgeordnete der Frankfurter Nationalversammlung wird, obgleich er unter parlamentarischer Immunität steht, bei Wien erschossen. Seine Hinrichtung gilt als Symbol für die Niederschlagung der Deutsche Revolution 1848/1849 durch die reaktionären herrschenden Kreise.

09.11.1918 - die Proklamation der Republik in Berlin

Während der Novemberrevolution 1918 ruft von einem Fenster des Reichstagsgebäudes aus der sozialdemokratische Abgeordnete Philipp Scheidemann die “deutsche Republik” aus. Drei Stunden später proklamiert der Sozialist Karl Liebknecht vor dem Berliner Stadtschloss die “Freie Sozialistische Republik Deutschland”.

09.11.1923 - Hitler-Ludendorff-Putsch in München

In München putscht ein bis dahin unbekannter rechtsradikaler Demagoge namens Adolf Hitler im Verein mit dem reaktionären General Erich Ludendorff gegen die Weimarer Republik. Sein Versuch, die rechtsstaatliche Ordnung analog zu Benito Mussolini in Italien durch einen “Marsch auf Berlin” zu beseitigen, scheitert vor der Feldherrenhalle am Odeonsplatz durch den bewaffneten Einsatz der bayrischen Landespolizei. Vier Polizisten, ein unbeteiligter Passant und fünfzehn Putschisten sterben. Erstmalig werden die Nationalsozialisten einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit bekannt.

09.11.1938 - Reichspogromnacht

Die Novemberpogrome mit etwa 400 Todesopfern, 1.406 zerstörten Synagogen und jüdischen Gebetsstuben markieren den endgültigen Übergang von der gesellschaftlichen Diskriminierung der jüdischen Bürger im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland zur offenen Gewaltanwendung, die schließlich im Holocaust endete.

09.11.1989 Der Fall der Berliner Mauer

Auf einer bis dahin eher langweilig verlaufenen Pressekonferenz verliest das SED-Politbüromitglied Günter Schabowski gegen 7 Uhr abends auf Nachfrage des italienischen Journalisten Riccardo Ehrmann einen neuen Entwurf über Reisemöglichkeiten für DDR-Bürger.

Der etwas umständliche Wortlaut ist folgender: “Privatreisen nach dem Ausland können ohne Vorliegen von Voraussetzungen (Reiseanlässe und Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse) beantragt werden. Die Genehmigungen werden kurzfristig erteilt. Die zuständigen Abteilungen Pass- und Meldewesen der der Volkspolizeikreisämter in der DDR sind angewiesen, Visa zur ständigen Ausreise unverzüglich zu erteilen, ohne dass dafür noch geltende Voraussetzungen für eine ständige Ausreise vorliegen müssen. Ständige Ausreisen können über alle Grenzübergangsstellen der DDR zur BRD erfolgen.”

Der Reporter der “Bild”-Zeitung Peter Brinkmann fragt nach, ab wann dies in Kraft trete. Schabowski, der über den genauen Inhalt der neuen Regelung, die eine Sperrfrist beinhaltet, nicht informiert ist, da er bei deren Beschlussfassung nicht anwesend war, antwortet daher: „Das tritt nach meiner Kenntnis – ist das sofort, unverzüglich.“

Während das Fernsehen der DDR in nüchternen Worten über den Fakt der neuen Reisemöglichkeiten informiert, ist für Hanns Joachim Friedrichs während seiner Moderation der “Tagesthemen” die historische Bedeutsamkeit sofort ersichtlich: “Die DDR hat mitgeteilt, dass ihre Grenzen ab sofort für jedermann geöffnet sind. Die Tore in der Mauer stehen weit offen.“

Im Laufe des Abends versammeln sich immer mehr Menschen vor den Berliner Grenzübergängen und verlangen friedlich aber lautstark das ihnen neu zustehende Recht.

Eine halbe Stunde vor Mitternacht befiehlt Oberstleutnant Harald Jäger, der zuständige Leiter der Grenzübergangsstelle Bornholmer Straße, von seinen Vorgesetzten mit einer Entscheidung allein gelassen und mit den Menschenmassen vor der Grenzübergangsstelle konfrontiert, eigenmächtig, sofort alle Kontrollen einzustellen und die Schlagbäume zu öffnen. Bis Mitternacht folgen alle weiteren Berliner Grenzübergangsstellen seinem Vorbild.

Kein einziger Schuss ist gefallen, niemand wurde verletzt. Tausende einander völlig fremde Menschen fallen sich weinend vor Glück in die Arme.

[planet-gay-comic]

The Robber and the Prince

"A handsome young prince lost in the woods. Then robbers seized him, yet one of the robbers loved this prince. I love you my prince. I love you my robber. Dark and gold."

Original German text: "Ein schöner junger Prinz verirrte sich im Wald. Da packten ihn die Räuber, doch einer von den Räubern, liebte diesen Prinzen. Ich liebe dich mein Prinzen. Ich liebe dich mein Räuber. Dunkel und Gold"

These lines from the song "Der Räuber und der Prinz" by Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF) encapsulate more than just an unusual narrative. It is a poetic depiction of love and desire that challenges societal norms and expectations. Released in the early 80s, this song is emblematic of how DAF explored themes of sexuality, identity, and nonconformity in their music.

DAF, often regarded as pioneers of electronic music and the Neue Deutsche Welle, have left an indelible mark on music history. With their radical aesthetic, provocative lyrics, and minimalist synthesizer sounds, Gabi Delgado-López and Robert Görl represented an art form that consciously deviated from the commercial pop and rock music traditions of their time.

DAF's significance to the LGBT movement in the 80s cannot be overstated. At a time when LGBT rights were largely ignored or openly opposed, DAF offered a rare glimpse into queer love and desire. "Der Räuber und der Prinz" stands out for its story of unexpected and socially taboo love that defies conventional narratives.

The fact that one of the band members, Gabi Delgado-López, openly lived his bisexuality, lent DAF's music authenticity and a political dimension. Their songs were not just expressions of personal freedom and sexual liberation but also acts of resistance against the repressive social norms of the time.

DAF's influence extends beyond the boundaries of music. They helped increase the visibility of LGBT themes in the public sphere and initiated a dialogue on gender, sexuality, and identity that continues today. Their fearless commitment to individuality and nonconformity makes them icons of the LGBT movement and pioneers of a cultural revolution that began in the 80s and echoes in today's society.

"The Robber and the Prince" thus symbolizes not only DAF's artistic vision but also a moment of emancipation in the history of the LGBT movement. The song and the band itself remind us that love in all its forms should be celebrated and that music can be a powerful force for change and acceptance.

Text supported by Chat GPT-4

Base Image generated with DALL-E, overworked with SD-1.5 and SDXL inpainting and composing.

[jesawyer]

Hey did "The Peasant War in Germany" (1850) by Fredrich Engels have any impact on the story of Pentiment?

I just finished the game, and I found it refreshing that it was story mostly composed of people often sidelined by lords and popes in history: people who are often broke! And I guess for me, it seemed I found Engels and Marx on my shoulders as I saw that there are larger socio-economic forces outside of Kierau and Tasling.

I didn't read Engels' Der deutsche Bauernkrieg but I did read Peter Blickle's The Revolution of 1525 (Brady and Midelfort translators). Much of Blickle's 1975 work was an attempt to reconcile the competing schools of thought from East German/historical materialist schools and West German/err... let's say "Reformation" schools.

I do think there's a danger in being overly reductive and framing every action and movement in historical materialist terms, but I don't find most of the arguments suggesting the Reformation caused the uprising to be particularly compelling, especially considering the very well-documented changes in legal/material conditions for the peasantry that took place over the preceding century.

There was also a peasant uprising near Niklashausen only a few decades before Luther appeared on the scene. IMO it's much easier to understand the peasants as resuming earlier protests in an even harsher environment with easier lanes of communication (e.g. printing and distributing The Twelve Articles) vs. being suddenly moved into a spirit of violent rebellion by the religious reform movement that explicitly repudiated them.

That said, even if there are elements of proto-class consciousness among the peasantry and burghers, it stops there. Broadly speaking, the peasantry were not attempting to overthrow the entire social order. Though one could cynically read their appeals to the emperor as self-preservation, I think it's understandable to think of them as people with a list of demands that, if satisfied, would have allowed them return to more-or-less the status quo (with improvements). They didn't really hate the emperor; they hated the lords and clergy in their immediate vicinity who made their lives miserable.

[silent-calling]

And now time for: Echoes of History, first installment.

So I saw this tweet earlier,

- and thought "huh, that seems odd anyone might celebrate a Nazi." so, I did a little bit of digging, and found the Politico article to read for myself what the hubbub was about.

Now, I'm on principal skeptical of headlines, so I read through it, and the article details the ovation was for one Yaroslav Hunka, a 98 year old WWII veteran from modern day western Ukraine. He was heralded as a hero, not just to Ukraine, but to Canada as well, having been cited as a freedom fighter against Soviet rule.

However, at least one Jewish advocacy group took issue with this, because this man was a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier division in the Shutztaffel, 1st Galician unit (Wikipedia article, well sourced) - meaning, this man served in the Nazi party's paramilitary forces, along with a collection of men from Galicia, which can be seen below.

Pretty shocking, huh? How could we possibly honor a man who obliged to such a heinous group as the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, commonly known as the Nazis?

Well, the answer might surprise you, if you're not familiar with the history of the region.

See, Nazi Germany marched through Poland in 1939, same years as the Soviets. But what happened prior to these invasions is arguably as heinous or moreso - the Holodomor, or "terror famines," of Ukraine. Ukraine was subsumed by the USSR, and in the aftermath the farmers of fertile Ukraine would be forced to surrender nearly all their yield to the Party for redistribution, which led to the starvation of between 3.5 and 7 million Ukrainians and some of the worst famines across Europe. Those who didn't starve were often rounded up, executed or imprisoned, and their land redistributed to the comrades of the Party.

Needless to say, Ukraine and her neighbor Poland were in dire straits.

Well, here's the thing about this scenario: the terrors of the Soviet Union were largely hidden from the outside world, and would remain such until the 1960s, when we got a peek into the Iron Curtain to see what Stalin's Party was doing. And what we would learn years later was the depths of depravity the USSR had went to in order to bring forth the great revolution.

Many Ukrainians and Polish saw the Soviets are, believe it or not, worse than Nazis, because of the simple fact that the Soviets were much less discerning on who they killed and how - any opposition, no matter how small, against the Party would be a death sentence. So, they got desperate, and some would opt to side with the devil they don't know, who wasn't actively genociding them, over the devil they did. This is where the 14th Waffen Grenadier comes in.

See this unit would become disbanded and reformed before the conclusion of World War II, being renamed toward the end as the First Division, Ukrainian National Army. Further, during its formation, one of the three major concessions made by the Germans at the request of the Ukrainian-majority unit Was they would not be sent westward, but would remain in the east to fight "Bolsheviks" - the old name of the Communist Party. (citation here)

Essentially, the unit was stood up as a sort of freedom fighter against Soviet oppression.

They would then surrender to the allied forces in 1945 at the end of the war in Europe.

And that is how a man who fought under the banner of the Shutztaffel could possibly be heralded as a hero to Ukraine - because he essentially joined a group of Ukrainian men in using Nazi equipment to fight Soviet oppression.