Germany Germany above all
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles is a book by Kurt Tucholsky and John Heartfield that was first published in 1929 by the communist New German Publishing House in Berlin. The socially critical work, which contains around a hundred photo-text montages , is one of Tucholsky's better-known works. It was one of the most controversial literary publications of the Weimar Republic . To date, more than 100,000 copies have been printed.
Special shape
The full title of the book is Deutschland, Deutschland über alles: a picture book. By Kurt Tucholsky and many photographers. Assembled by John Heartfield . The title already addresses the interplay of text and image that characterizes Germany, Germany above all else : documentary photographs and photomontages are combined with (literary) texts by Tucholsky, whereby the texts often do not simply explain the images in a documentary way, but rather reinterpret or reinterpret what is depicted comment critically. The interplay of text and image can also be described using the terms montage and collage , which played an important role in the aesthetic discussion in film , literature and art at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the text-picture combinations in Germany, Germany above all (“Statistics”, “Never Alone”) can be described as early photo novels .
The literary-artistic process of contrasting photos and texts is now part of the standard repertoire of (visual) satire ; at the time of the Weimar Republic it was still relatively new. In 1930, one year after the publication of the anthology, Tucholsky wrote:
“Together with Heartfield, in my› Deutschland, Deutschland über alles ‹, I tried to use a new technique for captions, a technique that I now encounter frequently, also in illustrated sheets. [...] It is important to use the photography - and only this in a completely different way: as underlining the text, as a funny juxtaposition, as an ornament, as an affirmation - the picture should no longer be an end in itself. "
The process certainly had precursors: The art form of the (exciting) combination of image and text has been known since the Renaissance and is referred to as an emblem in literary history.
Content and topics
title
The title of the book also quotes the first stanza of the German anthem from 1841, which Reich President Friedrich Ebert set as the national anthem in 1922 . At the beginning of the book, Tucholsky critically calls Germany, Germany above all else “that line from a really bad poem which a republic forsaken by all good spirits chose as its national anthem”.
Motto (p. 9)
As a motto or preamble , the book is preceded with a satirical section from Friedrich Hölderlin's novel Hyperion (1797/99), which begins with the following sentences:
“That's how I came under the Germans. I didn't ask much, and I was prepared to find even less. I came humbly like the homeless blind Oedipus to the gate of Athens, where the grove of the gods received him; and beautiful souls met him - how different it was for me! "
Main part (pp. 10–225)
In a “preface”, Tucholsky explains what the following hundred or so photo-text compilations have in common: “But it [this book] wants to try to extract the typical from random images, from wanted images, from all kinds of photos, as far as possible. All the pictures together will then result in Germany - a cross-section of Germany. ”The book comprises a number of very different literary forms : In addition to twenty poems and chansons (“ Lockout ”,“ Start ”), the volume contains photo stories (“ Statistics ”,“ Never alone "), a drama on German justice (" resumption "), monologues (" Herr Wendriner buys ") and dialogues (" I am a murderer "), humorous captions (" The Reichtagsab MP "), parables (" Fire Brigade ") ), satirical short prose ("Idols of the Maigoto-Neger"), plus classic features ("Treptow"), culture-critical essays and theater reports ("Der Linksdenker" about an appearance by Karl Valentin ) as well as other literary and journalistic forms.
The topics that Tucholsky addresses in his book relate primarily to the political and social situation in Germany at the time. The First World War had ended in 1918, the revolution of 1918/19 had failed with its radical concerns, and German hyperinflation had only been under control again since 1923. German society was shaped by the financial and psychological effects of these events; even a really solid democracy did not yet exist in the first German republic . Wilhelmine militarism and nationalism were still the order of the day; society was divided by strong social contrasts and the persistence of class society. Tucholsky attacked the monarchist machinations and the social injustice of his time sharply. Another target of his attacks: the inhumane jurisdiction of German courts. The judiciary also tended to impose disproportionately high sentences on violent left-wing criminals, while right-wing criminals often got away with it. However, not all topics that are addressed above all else in Germany are socially critical: Relatively non-political texts on contemporary theater, literature, cabaret, architecture and leisure activities were also included.
Last chapter (pp. 226–231)
In the last chapter of the work, “Heimat”, Tucholsky pleads for a sense of homeland beyond politics and the state and above all beyond nationalistic pathos. Germany can and should be a home for people regardless of their political views.
“And here is the creed into which this book should flow: Yes, we love this country. And now I want to tell you something: It is not true that those who call themselves ›national‹ and are nothing but bourgeois-militaristic have leased this country and its language for themselves. Neither the government representative in a frock coat, nor the senior teacher, nor the men and women in steel helmets are Germany alone. We're still there too. They open their mouths and shout: 'In the name of Germany ...!' They shout: 'We love this country, only we love it.' It is not true."
History and effect
Before the publication of Deutschland, Deutschland über alles , Tucholsky had already published around fifty agitational couplets and poems in the Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung (1921–1938) together with Heartfield . Many of these poems were adopted in Germany, Germany above all else . The composition of the book is most likely to be attributed to Heartfield. Tucholsky, for example, later admitted in various letters that the controversial photomontage "Animals look at you", which shows various German generals, was included in the book by Heartfield without his knowledge.
Tucholsky had one of his greatest book successes with Deutschland, Deutschland above all ; over 12,000 copies were sold in the first ten days. The German Booksellers Association tried to enforce a boycott and refused to advertise the title. The critic Herbert Ihering attacked Tucholsky after the book was published in the magazine Das Tage-Buch with the following words:
“It seems to me to be a polemic without risk when Tucholsky repeatedly attacks the same topics, when he repeatedly attacks the same military, against the same judiciary with an often apt, very amusing, very effective naming convention. But it would be important in the book Deutschland, Deutschland to say about everything that the same features can be recognized in other countries, and to really show the social and spiritual structure of Germany and the other European countries. "
Voices on the book
“Anyone who picks up the book today will immediately realize that a state of war was the order of the day in the society it described. John Heartfield's selection of photos makes it clear: there you can see fat Prince Eitel Friedrich and those who live by dying, bellies, constricted in uniforms, in front of which a civilian who presents himself as a military man takes the parade. "
Expenses (selection)
- Germany Germany above all. A picture book by Kurt Tucholsky and many photographers. Assembled by John Heartfield . Universum Bücherei für alle , Berlin 1929 (first edition).
- Germany Germany above all. A picture book by Kurt Tucholsky and many photographers. Assembled by John Heartfield . Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-499-14611-8 (paperback edition).
- Germany Germany above all. Kurt Tucholsky: Complete Edition, Volume 12. Edited by Antje Bonitz, Sarah Hans. Reinbek near Hamburg 2004.
Left
- Full text of Germany, Germany about everything in the Internet Archive , the photos are not easy to recognize, however
- Montage by John Heartfiel for Germany, Germany above all. Heartfield online, catalog of the graphic estate in the archive of the Akademie der Künste , Berlin
- Kurt Tucholsky: Germany, Germany above everything. Entry from Kindler's New Literature Lexicon on the website of the German Historical Museum, Berlin
Remarks
- ↑ a b Tucholsky / Heartfield: Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, p. 12.
- ^ A b Kurt Tucholsky: Germany, Germany over everything. Kindlers Neues Literaturlexikon, Kindler Verlag, Munich, accessed on July 5, 2019.
- ↑ Animals look at you (turnips and dried vegetables - a “memory” from a long time). Retrieved July 21, 2019 .
- ^ Fritz Raddatz: Tucholsky. A pseudonym . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1989, p. 78 .
- ^ A b Timo Rieg: Kurt Tucholsky Germany, Germany over everything. The best state of the nation review. Retrieved July 21, 2019 .