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The German Cultural Heritage

1900-1929

Please start with the sound file. The notes below are referenced in the sound file.

Sound Files:

1. Sound File Nr. 1 (The New Century) (14 mins.) (mp3)

2. Sound File Nr. 2 (On the Way to World War I) (15 mins.) (mp3)

3. Sound File Nr. 3 (The Onset of World War I) (18 mins.) (mp3)

4. Sound File Nr. 4 (The End of the "Great War") (15 mins.) (mp3)

5. Sound File Nr. 5 (The Weimar Republic) (16 mins.) (mp3)

6. Sound File Nr. 6 (A Time of Many Chages) (17 mins.) (mp3)

1900 Death of Friedrich Nietzsche. Max Plank develops the quantum theory. Sigmund Freud develops the theory of the interpretation of dreams.	Friedrich Nietzsche
	Sigmund Freud

1901 Thomas Mann: Buddenbrooks. Arthur Schnitzler: Leutnant Gustl. Theodor Roosevelt becomes the U.S. president. Carry Nation destroys a bar in Kansas with an ax. Beatrix Potter: The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

1902 Ricarda Huch: Aus der Triumphgasse. Enrico Caruso makes his first record.

1903 Thomas Mann: Tonio Kröger; Rainer Maria Rilke: The Book of the Hours. In Russia there is a split between the Russian Workers Party between Lenin and Trotzki. The Wright brothers make their first flight. Marie and Pierre Curie get the Nobel Prize. The first world series in baseball is played in the U.S.A. Bernard Shaw: Man and Superman.

1904 Hermann Hesse: Peter Camenzind. The New York subway opens. James Barrie: Peter Pan

Hermann Hesse

Rikarda Huch

1905 Heinrich Mann: The Blue Angel. The artists' group, "The Bridge" is founded. Richard Strauß: Salome. Robert Koch wins the Nobel Prize.

1906 Robert Musil: Young Toerless. 700 people die in an earthquate in San Francisco.

1907 Birth of Günther Eich. Stefan George: The Seventh Ring. There is an alliance agreed to between Great Britain, France and Russia. There is an economic panic in the U.S.A.

1908 Rainer Maria Rilke: New Poems. Gustav Mahler: The Song of the Earth. Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina. Henry Ford builds his first Model T. General Motors is founded.

1909 Thomas Mann: Royal Majesty. Frank Lloyd Wright builds the Robie House in Chicago.

1910 Gerhard Hauptmann: The Rats and The Fool in Christo Emmanuel Quint. The Union of South Africa is founded. Winston Churchill becomes the First Lord of the Admiralty. Auguste Rodin: The Thinker.

1912 Gottfried Benn: Morgue and other Stories. Arnold Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire; Imperial Parliamentary Elections--for the first time the SPD is the strongest party in Parliament. The titanic sinks. Edgar Rice Burroughs: Tarzan of the Apes.

1913 Else Lasker Schüler: Hebrew Ballads. Thomas Mann: Death in Venice. Panama Canal is opened. Wilson becomes president of the U.S.A. Albert Schweitzer builds his hospital in Africa. The first income tax is introduced in the U.S.A.; Igor Strawinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps (The first performance is in Paris.)

1914 Georg Kaiser: Die Citizens of Calais. Assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The First World War begins. George Bernard Shaw: Pygmalion.

1915 A German submarine sinks the British ship Lusitania.

1915 Albert Einstein develops the theory of relativity. Franz Kafka: The Metamorphis.

1916 Gottfried Benn: Brains. Franz Kafka: The Trial. Margaret Sanger opens a clinicin Brooklyn and is arrested. Jannette Rankin is the first woman in the U.S. House of Representatives. James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

1917 Georg Kaiser: Gas. Birth of Heinrich Böll. Revolution in Russia. T. E. Lawrence leades an arabian revolt against the Turks. Germany declares unlimited submarine warfare.

1918 Oswald Spengler: The Decline of the West. Death of Frank Wedekind. Gerhard Hauptmann: Der Heretic of Soana. Death of Manfred von Richthofen (the red Baron); General Ludendorf is dismissed. The German Kaiser abdicates. Nicholas II is executed in Russia. The first air mail service in the U.S.A. starts.

The Red Baron, an Ace of the WWI German air force, attacks a British fighter plane.

1919 Hermann Hesse: Demian. There is a national assembly in Weimar. Friedrich Ebert becomes the first president of the Weimar Republic. The treaty of Versailles is signed. Benito Mussolini organizes the faschist party in Italy. Rosa Luxemburg is murdered. Lacy Astor becomes the first woman in the British House of Commons. The RCA corporation is founded in the U.S.A. Jack Dempsey becomes the boxing champion in the U.S.A. George Gershwin Swanee. Walter Gropius founds the Bauhaus.

1920 Adolf Hitler becomes the leader (Führer) of the NSDAP. Mahatma Gandhi begins to resist the british government of India. The U.S.A. introduces the prohibition. American women gain the vote. Sinclair Lewis: Main Street.

1921 Birth of Ilse Aichinger. Birth of Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Birth of Wolfgang Borchert. The German war reparations are set at 132 billion Gold marks. Harding becomes the U.S. president. The American anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are found guilty. The BBC is chartered. Rudolph Valentino: The Sheik.

1922 Hermann Hesse: Siddharta. Mussolini leads the faschist revolution in Italy. Howard Carter enteres Tut-Enk-Amuns tomb. T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land; James Joyce: Ulysses.

1923 The great inflation is brought under control in Germany. Rainer Maria Rilke: Sonette to Orpheus, Dionysian Elegies; Martin Buber: I and thou. Hitler leads the attempted "Putsch" in Munich. Gustav Stressemann of the German Peoples' Party becomes the chancellor of the Weimar Republic. Wilhelm Marx of the Center Party replaces Stressemann as the chancellor. French and Belgian troops occupy the Ruhr Basin. Willy Messerschmitt founds his Messerschmitt company. Cecil B. DeMille produces The Ten Commandments.

1924 Death of Franz Kafka (Powerpoint on Kafka ).  Alfred Döblin: Mountains, Oceans and Giants. Thomas Mann: The Magic Mountain. Josef Stalin comes to power succeeding Lenin. J. Edgar Hoover becomes the Director of the FBI. George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue.

1925 Hugo von Hofmannsthal: The Tower. Franz Kafka: The Trial. Alban Berg: Wozzeck; Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf. Paul von Hindenburg becomes president of the Weimar Republic. Walter Chrysler founds the Crysler Corporation. F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby.

1926 Death of Rainer Maria Rilke. Franz Kafka: The Castle. Birth of Ingeborg Bachmann. Germany and the Soviet Union sign a friendship treaty. Stressemann is granted a Nobel Prize for peace. Germany joins the League of Nations. Felix Salten: Bambi. In Japan Hirohito becomes the emperor. In Chicago the Globetrotters are founded. A. A. Milne: Winnie-the-Pooh..

1927 Hermann Hesse: Steppenwolf. Charles Lindbergh flies from New York to Paris. Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs. Al Jolson stars in The Jazz Singer. Fritz Lang: Metropolis. Laurel and Hardy make their first film.

Fritz Lang

1928 Berthold Brecht/Kurt Weill: Three Penny Opera. Erich Maria Remarque: Im Westen nichts Neues; Erich Kästner: Emil und die Detektive. Anna Seghers: Revolt of the Fishermen of St. Barbara. Fleming discovers Penicillin. The U.S.S.R. develops its first 5-year Plan. Toscannini directs the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Micky Mouse is "born" in Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie. Margaret Mead: Coming of Age in Samoa. Maurice Ravel: Bolero. Amelia Earhart flies accross the Atlantic.

1929 Alfred Döblin: Berlin Alexanderplatz. Death of Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Hoover becomes the American president. Stock market crash in New York. The Lateran Treaty is signed by which the Vatican becomes an independent state. Heinrich Himmler becomes the head of the SS. Richard Byrd flies over the South Pole. The Valentine's Day massacure takes place in Chicago. William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury; Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms.