Berlin

Precisely because nation-states have lost some of their clout, however, national identity, expressed partly in terms of patriotic symbolism, remains important. For obvious reasons, expressions of patriotic sentiment have been difficult for the Germans during the past fifty years. In an effort to find an acceptable alternative to traditional flag-waving patriotism, the West German philosopher Jürgen Habermas once proposed a “constitutional patriotism”—reverence for the ideals expressed in the Grundgesetz. But this is a rather bloodless concept, incapable of generating much popular enthusiasm. Germany may not be able to act as a fully “normal” nation for the foreseeable future, but with time it will have to evolve a viable sense of national patriotism distinct from chauvinism. With the fall of the Third Reich now over a half-century in the past, it is reasonable to expect that the Germans might become more comfortable in their own skins. Of course, a transfer of capitals cannot alone accomplish this coming to terms with the national self. Nonetheless, it might just be that Berlin, the city where the Germans have experienced the peaks and depths of their national experience, can help to show the way.

NOTES

Introduction

"Siamese city": The term is employed by Peter Schneider in his seminal novel of divided Berlin, The Wall Jumper (New York, 1983), 5.

"abuse of power": "‘Parvenu Polis’ and ‘Human Workshop’: Reflections on the History of the City of Berlin," German History 6:3 (December 1988), 242.

"born in Berlin": Quoted in Jules Huret, Berlin um Neunzehnhundert, translated by Nina Knoblich (Berlin, 1987 [1909]), 13.

"months in Berlin": Ibid., 14.

from the Hanseatic League: "700 und 50 Jahre Berlin. Zur Geschichte einer deutschen Metropole," in Thomas Ludwig, ed., Berlin. Geschichte einer deutschen Metropole (Munich, 1986), 277.

"first duty": Ibid., 278.

"king has betrayed us!": Quoted in Günter Richter, "Zwischen Revolution und Reichsgründung," in Wolfgang Ribbe, ed., Geschichte Berlin’s. Zweiter Band. Von der Märzrevolution bis zur Gegenwart (Munich, 1987), 615.

"air of the world city": Alberti quoted in Gordon A. Craig, The Germans (New York, 1982), 274.

lack of historical memory: Laurenz Demps, "Von der preussischen Residenzstadt zur hauptstädtischen Metropole," in Werner Süß and Ralf Rytlewski, eds., Berlin. Die Hauptstadt. Vergangenheit und Zukunft einer europäischen Metropole (Berlin, 1999), 17.

"merciless progress": Arthur Eloesser, Die Strasse meiner Jugend (Berlin, 1987 [1907]), 7.

"dreams of the Twenties ": Quoted in Wolf von Eckardt and Sander L. Gilman, Bertolt Brecht’s Berlin. A Scrapbook of the Twenties (Lincoln, Neb., and London, 1993), xi.

Chapter 1

"a Weltstadt”: Lord Frederick Hamilton, My Yesterdays (Garden City, N.Y., 1930), 13.

"your own devices": Quoted in "Die Mauer in den Herzen," Die Zeit, Jan. 31, 1992.

"for a patriotic heart": Rudolf Vierhaus, ed., Das Tagebuch der Baronin Spitzemberg (Göttingen, 1960), 127.

"turmoil so calmly": Quoted in Ruth Glatzer, ed., Berlin wird Kaiserstadt. Panorama einer Metropole (Berlin, 1993), 32.

"never forget this day": Quoted in Hannah Pakula, An Uncommon Woman. The Empress Frederick (New York, 1995), 290.

"thrice as wide as Broadway"; "has ever seen": Quoted in ibid., 289–290.

"view of the Pariser Platz"; "was truly astounding": Glatzer, Berlin wird Kaiserstadt, 28, 31

domination of national life: Reiner Pommerin, Von Berlin nach Bonn. Die Allüerten, die Deutschen und die Hauptstadtfrage nach 1945 (Cologne/Vienna, 1989), 4–5.

"this old Prussian lady": Ludovica Hesekiel, Von Brandenburg zu Bismarck. Roman aus der Gegenwart, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1873), II, 260. Quoted in Katherine Roper, German Encounters with Modernity: Novels of Imperial Berlin (Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1991), 44.

"the same as unhappiness": Theodor Fontane, Briefe in zwei Bänden, 2 vols. (Munich, 1981), II, 130.

matters of the soul: See Klaus Bergmann, Agrarromantik und Grossstadtfeindlichkeit (Meisenheim am Glan, 1970).

"metropolis of the German spirit": Quoted in Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron. Bismarck, Bleichröder, and the Building of the German Empire (New York, 1979), 500.