Rhenish millennium celebration

The Allied occupation of the Rhineland after the First World War

The Rhenish Millennium Celebration (also the Rhineland Millennium Celebration ) in 1925 took place in the Rhineland which was occupied after the First World War . In many cities and communities in the German Rhineland , a demonstration of the "national sentiment" and a. Organized exhibitions, parades, demonstrations and church services.

background

As a result of the First World War, Allied occupation troops from France , the United Kingdom , Belgium and initially also from the USA were stationed in the Rhineland (see Peace Treaty of Versailles ).

The population performed u. a. passive resistance (e.g. in the form of strikes ) against the occupation of the left bank of the Rhine , which had negative economic effects. People also suffered from the banishment of “unpopular families” on the right bank of the Rhine and the effects of inflation . There were also separatist efforts, especially within the framework of the Autonomous Palatinate (1919 to 1924) and the Rhenish Republic (1923). In addition, the occupation by colonial troops , also consisting of North Africans , was sometimes felt as a special humiliation (" black shame ").

The historical background for the millennium was provided by the 921 between the East Franconian King Heinrich I and the West Franconian King Karl III. concluded peace agreements ( Treaty of Bonn ). As a result, the Lorraine Duke Giselbert submitted to the East Franconian king in 925 . Lorraine was thus incorporated as the fifth tribal duchy of the East Franconian Empire (the later Holy Roman Empire ).

Celebrations

The prelude was a festive meeting of the Rhenish provincial parliament on February 4, 1925 in Düsseldorf . As part of the other celebrations, 40,000 people demonstrated in Saarbrücken in the Saar area on June 19, 1925 for belonging to the German Reich .

The historian Wilhelm Levison gave the official lecture The meaning of the Rhenish millennium 925–1925 in Cologne for the millennium that the Rhineland belonged to the German Empire .

On June 28, 1925, a forest service was held at the entrance to the nightingale valley as the beginning of the local parade for the millennium, and a stone altar table was erected for it.

In particular, social democratic and left-wing parties criticized the millennium as “German-national hype” or “nationalist swamp”.

Further development

The three zones of occupation were evacuated by the Allies as planned by June 1930. The nationalism was again deepened by the millennium, what a sustained difficult time of democratic cared and left-wing political groups. So the Saar area came back to the German Reich after the clearly failed Saar vote in 1935 . In 1936, soldiers of the Wehrmacht were stationed in the demilitarized Rhineland by the Nazi government as part of the occupation of the Rhineland .

See also

• German-French enmity
• Case of Nathusius (1924/25)
• Rouzier case (1926)

literature

• Hans Bellinghausen (arr.): Coblenz. On the occasion of the Rhenish millennium . On behalf of the Lord Mayor Dr. Russell. 1925.
• Gertrude Cepl-Kaufmann ( Ed. ): Millennial celebrations and liberation celebrations in the Rhineland - On the political festival culture 1925 and 1930 ( Memento from February 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Klartext Verlag, Essen 2009, ISBN 978-3-89861-443-6 .
• Ludwig Linsmayer: Cultural National Celebrations. In: Saarland history - an anthology. (= Saarland Library # 10), Röhrig Verlag, St. Ingbert 1995, ISBN 3-86110-054-1 , pp. 273-283.
• Franziska Wein: The Rhenish Millennium Celebration 1925 . In: Germany's electricity - France's border. History and propaganda on the Rhine 1919–1930 . At the same time: Dissertation University of Düsseldorf, 1991. (=  Düsseldorfer Schriften on the latest state history and the history of North Rhine-Westphalia . Volume 33 ). Klartext Verlag , Essen 1992, ISBN 3-88474-371-6 , p. 123-142 .

Web links

• June 20, 1925. 1000th anniversary of the Rhineland in Koblenz
• The Rhenish Millennium Celebration 1925 in Ratheim

Individual evidence

1. ^ Linsmayer: national cultural celebrations. 1995, p. 276.
2. ↑ ^{a b} The Rhenish Millennium Celebration 1925 in Ratheim
3. ↑ Hans-Joachim Heinz ( Ed. City of Germersheim): Revolver Republic on the Rhine - Separatists in Germersheim. In: 725 years of city rights (1276–2001) . (= Series of publications on the history of the city of Germersheim. Volume II). Germersheim 2001, ISSN  1618-9663 , pp. 177-191.
4. ↑ So said Reich President Friedrich Ebert in a speech on February 13, 1923 in Darmstadt, “[d] that the use of colored troops of the lowest culture as overseers over a population of the high intellectual and economic importance of the Rhinelander is a challenging violation of the laws of European civilization [...] ". Quoted from Christian Koller: 'Massacred by savages of all races'. The discussion about the use of colonial troops in Europe between racism, colonial and military policy (1914–1930). Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, p. 324.
5. ↑ Sandra Maß: The other man: African soldiers as a mirror of white masculinity and femininity (1870–1923). 2008, accessed December 17, 2014 . 
6. ^ Gerhild Krebs: Blieskastel: Regional historical context. 2009, accessed December 17, 2014 . 
7. ^ Comment by the Saarbrücker Zeitung on the millennium celebration of the Rhineland on June 23, 1925. In: Jürgen Hannig u. a .: The Saar region. Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-425-07225-0 , No. 59, p. 82f.
8. ^ Wilhelm Levison : The meaning of the Rhenish millennium. In: Alsace-Lorraine Yearbook. Volume 4, 1925, pp. 1-34.
9. ↑ Klaus Breuer: The nightingale valley - a regional specialty. In: Beautification Association for the Siebengebirge : Nature Park Echo , Volume 11, No. 1, January 2011, pp. 10–12. ( online )
10. ^ Linsmayer: national cultural celebrations. 1995, p. 279.
11. ^ Linsmayer: national cultural celebrations. 1995, p. 280.