Faust’s Metropolis

A History of Berlin

Alexandra Richie

• Publisher: William Collins
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780006376880
• eBook ISBN: 9780007455492
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

A radical and exciting history of a city – its culture, its people and its politics – that refreshes our image of Europe's past and of the writing of history itself.

In Berlin, history is tangible. The sense of the past – of Europe, of Germany, and in particular of the twentieth century with its myths, depravities, idealism and horror – hangs in the air around the old Hinterhofs and deserted railway stations. No other city has played such a part in the tides of twentieth-century European affairs.

Faust's Metropolis is a rich and inspiring history of this city, a breathtaking portrait of its people and a thorough evaluation of its achievements and errors. From the revolutionary fervour of its teeming slums, the insufferable pomp of Imperial Berlin, and the frantic modernism of Weimar to the brutality of the Nazis and the symbolic defeat of communism as the Wall came down, Berlin has played host to all the movements that have uplifted and afflicted German and European history. Alexandra Richie writes superbly of its role as a crucible of change.

Full of humour and with an inimitable personal view of the modern capital of reunited Germany, Faust's Metropolis also offers a scholarly, thematic analysis of the ways in which the city has reinvented itself through the ages, the tensions which historically existed between Berliners and other Germans, the crucial role which Berlin has played in shaping the political and cultural life of Europe. In drawing together the complex strands of its actual and imagined past, Alexandra Richie reveals herself as an extraordinary new talent in her field.

NOTES

INTRODUCTION

1 Goethe visited Potsdam and Berlin between 15 and 23 May 1778. At that time Prussia was in turmoil; there was threat of another war of succession due to the extinction of the main line of the Wittelsbach dynasty in Bavaria, and Frederick the Great was preparing to intervene to prevent Austria from seizing Bavaria. Goethe arrived in Berlin at the height of mobilization and was ‘nauseated’ by the way ‘the great and lesser and the small figures behave among themselves’, like something ‘out of a circus’. See Richard Friedenthal, Goethe: His Life and Times (London, 1965), p. 277. It was this impression which found its way into Goethe’s greatest work, as Faust’s metropolis. The translations of Faust for the chapter headings throughout the book are taken from Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Faust Parts I and II (Birmingham, 1988), with the exception of the opening lines of the Introduction, which are from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, trans. Walter Arndt (New York, 1976).

2 The Zitadelle is an extraordinary testimony to the skill of Italian architects. Built on the site of the old Slavic fortress, it was started in 1560, probably to the plans of Italian master builder Franciscus Chiaramelle de Gandino. It was completed by Rocush Guerrini in 1594. It served as a prison for centuries; many of the 1848 revolutionaries were imprisoned there and during the Second World War it was used as a laboratory for the creation of chemical weapons.

3 The Wannsee Conference of 20 January 1942, at which the Final Solution was formalized, was held in number 56–58. It was chaired by Reinhard Heydrich and attended by SS and government officials, including Adolf Eichmann and Roland Freisler. Protocol of the Wannsee Conference (Nuremberg: International Military Tribunal), Document NG 2586 F (6).

4 Elias Canetti, Die Provinz des Menschen: Aufzeichnungen, trans. Joachin Neugroschel as The Human Province (London, 1986), p. 37.

5 Friedrich Nietzsche, Die fröliche Wissenschaft (1882), trans. Walter Kaufmann as The Gay Science (New York, 1974), p. 344.

6 Maximilian Harden, Die Zukunft, vol. 37, 12 October 1901. This was written before the attempt on his life on 3 July 1922 which forced him to flee Berlin for Holland.

7 The Berlin production consisted of fragments of Faust Part I arranged by Prince Anton Henry Radziwill at Schloss Monbijou; the first complete performance of Faust Part I took place in Braunschweig on 19 January 1829. The Berlin production was performed to Prince Radziwill’s own musical score, and it made theatrical history not least because of the sets designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel; this was the first time a room with three walls and a ceiling had ever been created on a stage. The famous set was the scene for Gretchen’s room. See Helmut Börsch-Supan, Karl Friedrich Schinkel: Bühnenentwürfe – Stage Designs (Berlin, 1990); Athanasius Graf Raczynski, Geschichte der neueren deutschen Kunst (Berlin, 1841).

8 Anonymous, Berlin für Kenner, Berlin – Wie dem Fremden Berlin gezeignet wird – Wie der Fremde sich Berlin ansehen soll, reprinted in Jürgen Schutte and Peter Sprengel (eds.), Die Berliner Moderne 1885–1914 (Stuttgart, 1987), p. 95.

9 ‘Die Bilanz des Jahrhunderts’, Berliner illustrirte Zeitung, no. 52, 1899.

10 The legal change in Berlin’s status is outlined in Presse- und Informationsamt des Landes Berlin, Hauptstadt im Werden (Berlin, 1966), pp. 15–25.

11 Dieter Hoffmann-Axthelm believes that Berlin’s true ‘essence’ lies in its eighteenth-century block structure, which was destroyed not so much by the Second World War as by modernist developments in the twentieth century. It was this contempt for the past which saw the erasure of cultural landmarks, entire streets, parks and intimate spaces in favour of characterless housing estates and streets and parking lots. Dieter Hoffmann-Axthelm, ‘Hinweise zur Entwicklung einer beschädigten Grossstadt’, Bauwelt, 82, 1991, p. 565.

12 Eberhard Diepgen, ‘Vortwort’, in Berlin Press- und Informationsamt des Landes Berlin, Berlin kurzgefasst (Berlin, 1995), p. 1.

13 Georg Hermann, Kubinke (Berlin, 1910); Paul Scheerbart Glasarchitektur (Berlin, 1914); Conrad Alberti, Wer ist der Stärkere? (Berlin, 1888). Speer outlines Hitler’s plans for Berlin in Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich (London, 1970), pp. 195–266. See also Hans J. Reichardt and Wolfgang Schäche, Von Berlin nach Germania: Über die Zerstörung der Reichshauptstadt durch Albert Speers Neugestaltungsplanungen (Berlin, 1984).

14 The Adlon re-opened its doors on 23 August 1997; Bundespräsident Roman Herzog was the guest of honour at the extravagant celebrations.

15 Advertisement for the DB Projekt Knoten Berlin, Deutsche Bahn Gruppe, June 1997: ‘Berlin hat den Bogen Raus – weiter geht’s – 15 Juni – 31 August 1997 – Schaustelle Berlin. Wenn eine Stadt neue Spannungsbögen bekommt, dann ist es Zeit, auf ArchitekTour zu gehen. Berlin bewegt. Verpassen Sie nichts.’

16 The Financial Times, 2 September 1994. The topping-out ceremony for the new dome took place on 18 September 1997; Sir Norman Foster and the President of the Bundestag Rita Süssmuth watched as the new cupola, trimmed with garlands and ribbons, was erected.

17 Daniel Libeskind became increasingly frustrated by Berlin’s new planning regulations and moved his office from Berlin to Los Angeles. Alan Balfour (ed.), World Cities: Berlin (London, 1995), p. 113.

18 Wolf Thieme, who was a cook at the Weinhaus Huth on Potsdamer Platz from 1929 to 1939, provides an account of the historic significance of this area in Berlin’s history. Wolf Thieme, Das letzte Haus am Potsdamer Platz – Eine Berliner Chronik (Hamburg, 1988).

19 Daniel Libeskind, in Balfour, World Cities, p. 113.

20 Jean-Paul Picaper, ‘Berlin, le chantier du siècle’, Le Figaro, 19 August 1997.

21 For the debate preceding the referendum to decide the Berlin-Brandenburg merger see Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin und Brandenburg – ein Land? (Berlin, 1996), a collection of essays with contributions by, amongst others, Wolf Jobst Siedler, Kerrin Gräfin Schwerin, Lothar de Maizière, Volker Schlöndorff and Matthias Koeppel.

22 Spiegel Special, no. 6, 1997. For an account of the growing antagonism between ‘Ossis’ and ‘Wessis’ after 1989 see Anne McElvoy, The Saddled Cow. East Germany’s Life and Legacy (London, 1993), pp. 219–47.

23 The Economist, 21 May 1994.

24 Balfour, World Cities, p. 33.

25 Speech by Dr Wolfgang Schäuble, leader of the CDU/CSU, during the ‘Capital City Debate’ in the Bundestag, 20 June 1991.

26 Emnid poll of 24 May 1993; the poll also revealed that 71 per cent of Germans favoured delaying the move from Bonn to Berlin by ten years. Quoted in Michael Müller, ‘Berlin – jeder zweite denkt dabei an Hauptstadt and Regierungssitz’, Berliner Morgenpost, 25 February 1993. According to Jean-Paul Picaper, by August 1997 80 per cent of Germans remained hostile to the transfer. Picaper, ‘Berlin, le chantier du siècle’.

27 Walter Benjamin, Reflections, trans. Edmund Jephcott (New York, 1978), p. 146.

28 Anonymous, ‘Berlin, die Stimme Deutschlands?’, Die Grenzboten, no. 51, 1892.

29 George L. Mosse, The Crisis of German Ideology. The Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich (New York, 1981), p. 23.

30 Heinz Knobloch, Im Lustgarten (Halle, 1989), p. 56.

31 Evelyn, Princess Blücher, An English Wife in Berlin – A Private Memoir of Events, Politics, and Daily Life in Germany Throughout the War and the Social Revolution of 1918 (London, 1920), p. 229.

32 Walther Rathenau, Impressionen (Leipzig, 1902), ‘Die schönste Stadt der Welt’, p. 141.

33 Felix Huby, ‘Ein Schwabe an der Spree’, Spiegel Special, no. 6, 1997, p. 10.

34 Presse- und Informationsamt, Hauptstadt im Werden, p. 6.

35 Arnulf Baring (ed.), Germany’s New Position in Europe – Problems and Perspectives (Oxford, 1994), p. 59.

36 Renata Fritsch-Bourazel, ‘The French View’, in Edwina Moreton (ed.), Germany between East and West (Cambridge, 1987), p. 74.

37 Ibid., p. 59. See also Diego A. Ruiz Palmer, ‘French Strategic Options in the 1990s’, Adelphi Papers, 260 (London, 1991); Ingo Kolboom, ‘Die ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• List of Maps
• Introduction
• I: History, Myth, and the Birth of Berlin
• II: The Capital of Absolutism
• III: The Emerging Giant
• IV: From Revolution to Realpolitik
• V: The Rise of Red Berlin
• VI: Imperial Berlin
• VII: The Road to the First World War
• VIII: The Bitter Aftermath of War
• IX: The Golden Twenties
• X: The Betrayal of Weimar
• XI: Nazi Berlin – Life Before the Storm
• XII: The Second World War
• XIII: The Fall of Berlin
• XIV: The Berlin Crisis and the Cold War
• XV: Flashpoint Berlin
• XVI: East Berlin
• XVII: The Walled City – West Berlin
• XVIII: The New Capital
• Keep Reading…
• Notes
• Index
• About the Publisher