Week 1: January 20, 2005

The Great War and the German Revolution 1918-1919

[Assigned Reading from Weimar Republic Sourcebook]

I. A New Democracy in Crisis

The Legacy of the War [pp. 5-6]

1. Ernst Simmel: War Neuroses and "Psychic Trauma" (1918) [pp. 7-8]

2. The Treaty of Versailles: The Reparations Clauses (1919) [pp. 8-9]

3. Count Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau: Speech of the German Delegation, Versailles (1919) [pp. 9-12]

4. Ernst Troeltsch: The Dogma of Guilt (1919) [pp. 12-15]

5. Paul von Hindenburg: The Stab in the Back (1919) [pp. 15-16]

II. Revolution and the Birth of the Republic [pp. 35-36]

13. Spartacus Manifesto (1918) [pp. 37-38]

14. Heinrich Mann, The Meaning and Idea of the Revolution (1918) [pp. 38-40]

15. Rosa Luxemburg: Founding Manifesto of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) (1918) [pp. 40-46]

16. The Constitution of the German Republic (1919) [pp. 46-51]

17. Count Harry Kessler, On Ebert and the Revolution (1919) [pp. 51-52]

IV. Coming to Terms with Democracy [pp.86-87]

33. Friedrich Meinecke, The Old and the New Germany (1918) [pp. 88-89]

34. Ernst Troeltsch, The German Democracy (1918) [pp. 89-91]

35. Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation (1918) [pp. 92-96]

36. Kurt Tucholsky, We Nay-Sayers (1919) [pp. 96-100]

V. The Rise of Nazism [pp. 119-120]

45. Alfred Rosenberg, The Russian Jewish Revolution (1919) [pp. 121-123]

Pressure Points of Social Life

VIII. The Rise of the New Woman [pp. 195-196]

72. Marianne Weber: The Special Cultural Mission of Women (1919) [p. 197]

Intellectuals and the Ideologies of the Age

XI. Redefining the Role of the Intellectuals [pp. 285-286]

110. Gertrud Bäumer: The "Intellectuals" (1919) [pp. 287-288]

XIV. Cultural Pessimism: Diagnoses of Decline [pp.355-357]

138. Oswald Spengler: The Decline of the West (1918) [pp. 358-360]

The Challenge of Modernity

XVI. Berlin and the Countryside [pp.412-413]

158. Ludwig Finckh: The Spirit of Berlin (1919) [pp. 414-415]

XVII. Designing the New World: Modern Architecture and the Bauhaus [pp. 429-431]

166. Bruno Taut: A Program for Architecture (1918) [pp. 432-434]

167. Walter Gropius: Program of the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar (1919) [pp. 435-438]

XVIII. Housing for the Masses [pp. 454-455]

175. Bruno Taut: The Earth is a Good Dwelling (1919) [pp. 456-459]

XIX. From Dada to the New Objectivity: Art and Politics [pp. 474-476]

184. November Group Circular (1918)[p. 477]

185. November Group Manifesto (1918) )[pp.477-478]

186. Work Council for Art Manifesto (1919) )[pp. 478-479]

187. Wilhelm Hausenstein, Art at this Moment (1919-1920) )[pp.479-482]

188. Raoul Hausmann, The German Philistine Gets Upset (1919) )[pp. 482-483]

Changing Configurations of Culture

XXI. Theater, Politics, and the Public Sphere [pp. 530-532]

214. Leopold Jessner: To the Directors of the German Theater (1918) [p.533]

215. Siegfried Jacobsohn: Theater---and Revolution? (1919) [p. 533]

216. Siegfried Jacobsohn: Wilhelm Tell (1919) [p. 534]

Political Chronology (1918-1919) [pp. 765-766]