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The German Cultural Heritage

1930 to the Reestablishment of Germany (1949)

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

Sound Files:

1. Sound File Nr. 1 (Depression and Anger) (16 mins.) (mp3)

2. Sound File Nr. 2 (Hitler Undertakes his First Projects.) (17 mins.) (mp3)

3. Sound File Nr. 3 (On the Way to World War II) (16 mins.) (mp3)

4. Sound File Nr. 4 (The Olympics and the Hindenburg) (9 mins.) (mp3)

5. Sound File Nr. 5 (Germany Expands) (14 mins.) (mp3)

6. Sound File Nr. 6 (A true World War) (16 mins.) (mp3)

7. Sound File Nr. 7 (The End of the War) (15 mins.) (mp3)

8. Sound File Nr. 8 (The Years of Occupation) (15 mins.) (mp3)

 

1930 Robert Musil: Der Man with out Qualities. Erich Kästner: Fabian. Hermann Hesse: Narziß und Goldmund; Ina Seidel: The Desired Child. Karl Zuckmayer: The Captain of Köpenick. Parliamentary Elections in Germany--the NSDAP (Nazi) Party is the second largest party in Parliament. The name Konstantinople is changed to Istanbul. Haile Selassie becomes the emperor of Ethiopia. Grant Wood: American Gothic. The Blue Angel.

Hermann Hesse

1931 Karl Jaspers: The Spiritual Situation of the Times. Franz Werfel:The Siblings from Naples. Al Capone is arrested. The Empire State Building is built. The Star Spangled Banner becomes the national anthem of the United States. W. H. Carothers invents Nylon.

1932 Death of Arthur Schnitzler. Franz von Papen becomes the German chancellor. The Conference of Lausanne is held at which German reparations from World War I are ended. German parliamentary elections are held and the DSDAP (Nazi) Party wins a majority. Engelbert Dollfuss becomes the chancellor of Austria. Charls Lindberghs son is kidnaped. Aldous Huxley: Brave New World.

12 Years of Horror

1933 Adolf Hitler becomes the German chancellor. (Map) Death of Stefan George. Thomas Mann: Joseph and his Brothers. The Reichstag ( photo, 1990, Christo's Reichstag, 2003) burns. Hitler outlaws labor unions in Germany. Germany signs a concord with the Vatican. Germany leaves the League of Nations. Roosevelt becomes U.S. president. Joseph Goebbels becomes the Minister of Propaganca. The first concentration camps are established.

1934 Germany signs a non-aggression pact with Poland. Ernst Röhm is murdered. Paul von Hindenburg dies. Hitler assumes the titles "Fürher" and chancellor. Mao tse-tung leads the Long March. John Dillinger is shot. Elijah Muhammad becomes the head of the Black Muslims. Henry Miller: The Tropic of Cancer.

1935 Heinrich Mann: Die Youth of the King Henri Quatre. Germany and Brittain arrive at an agreement on fleet size. Germany introduces a universial military draft. The Nürnberg laws are passed (Civil rights are removed from Jews). In the USA: The Monopoly game is introduced. The Benny Goodman Trio is founded. George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess. Alfred Hitchcock: The 39 Steps. Shirley Temple: The Little Colonel. Leni Riefenstahl: Triumph of the Will. Thomas Wolfe: Of Time and the River.

1936 Stefan Andres: El Greco paints the Grand Inquisitor. The Spanish Civil War starts. The Rhineland is occupied. The Rome-Berlin Axis is established. Italy attacks Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Jesse Owens wins 4 gold metals at the Berlin Olympics. John Maynard Keyns: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Margaret Mitchell: Gone with the Wind.

The American Jesse Owens in Berlin

1937 The German airship, Hindenburg, crashes and burns in New Jersey (Original radio broadcast). John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men/ J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit.

1938 Death of Ernst Barlach. Berthold Brecht: The Life of Galileo. Austria is annexed. Munich Accord (Chamberlain, "Peace in our times!" , Chamberlain with Hitler , Chamberlain with paper). The Sudetenland is occupied.

November 9. Sigmund Freud flees to England. Chester Carlson invents xerography. Otto Hahn is the first to split the atom. Orsen Well's radio program: The War of the Worlds .

(otto Hahn and Lisa Meitner in their lab)

1939 Berthold Brecht: Mother Courage and her Children. Ernst Jünger: On the Marble Cliffs. Thomas Mann: Lotte in Weimar. Occupation of the remainder of Czecheslovakia. Military alliance between Germany and Italy. A non-aggression pact is signed between Germany and the Soviet Union. Germany attacks Poland. England and France delcare war on Germany. Chamberlain declares war. The Soviet Union and Germany divide Poland between themselves. The U.S.S.R. attacks Finland. The first German jet aircraft flies. The first American helicopter flies. Clark Gable und Vivien Leigh in: Gone with the Wind. Judy Garland in: The Wizard of Oz. John Steinbeck: Grapes of Wrath.

1940 Berthold Brecht: The Good Woman of Sezuan. Germany occupies Denmark and Norway. The air attack on Great Britain starts. Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister. Britische troops are evaculated from Dunkirk. The Soviet Union occupies Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Japan, Hungary und Rumaenia join the Axis powers. Trotsky is murdered in Mexico. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in: The Philadelphia Story; Ernest Hemingway: For whom the Bell Tolls.

1941 Rommel's Africa Corps attacks. Germany attacks Yugoslavia and Greece. Germany attacks the Soviet Union. The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Hitler declares war against the U.S.A. Rudolf Hess makes his flight to London. Ho Chi Mihn fights against the Japanese. Orson Welles: Citizen Kane.

Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox film clip

Anna Seghers

1942 Death of Robert Musil. Stefan Zweig: The World of Yesterday. Anna Seghers: The Seventh Cross. The Wansee Conference is held (the final solution is decided). The Allies land in North Africa. The Soviet counteroffensive starts at Stalingrad. General MacArthur leaves the Philipines. Gandhi is arrested. The Manhattan Project--first chain reaction. Albert Camus: The Stranger. Bing Crosby: White Christmas. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman: Casablanca.

1943 Death of Stefan Zweig. Else Lasker-Schüler: My blue Piano. Hermann Hesse: The Glass Bead Game. Capitulation of the German 6th Armee at Stalingrad. Goebbels anounces "total war". The Allies hold a summit conference in Teheran. The Allies land in Italy. Robert Oppenheimer goes to Los Alamos. Rogers und Hammerstein: Oklahoma. Jean Paul Sartre: Being and Nothingness.

1944 Angloamerican invasion of Normandy. Assasination attempt on Hitler. Rocket attacks on London. Aachen is the first German city captured by the Allies. Tenessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie. Mickey Rooney und Elizabeth Taylor: National Velvet.

1945 Death of Else Lasker-Schüler. Death of Franz Werfel. Franz Werfel: Star of the Unborn. Karl Zuckmayer: The Devil's General. Hitler commits suicide. The German army surrenders. Franklin Roosevelt dies in office. Harry Truman becomes the U.S. President.The German political parties, KPD, SPD, CDU, LDPD are founded. Potsdam Agreement. Atom bombs are dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The United Nations is founded. Japan surrenders. Germany and Austria are divided into occupation zones. Ho Chi Mihn declares the independence of Viet Nam. Werner von Braun is brought to America. George Orwell: Animal Farm.

Wernher von Braun

1946 Death of Gerhard hauptmann. Max Frisch: The Chinese Wall. The Nürnberg War Crimes Trials start. In the Soviet Zone of Germany the KPD and SPD unite into the SED. The war between Viet Nam and France begins. Winston Chruchill coins the term "Iron Curtain". Juan Peron becomes the president of Argentinia. Dr. Spock: The Commonsense Book of Baby and Child Care.

1947 Thomas Mann: Doctor Faustus. Wolfgang Borchert: Outside the Door. Death of Wolfgang Borchert. Death of Ricarda Huch. Anna Seghers is given the Büchner Prize for literature. Prussia is dissolved. The Marshall Plan is initiated. The U.N. divides Palestine into Arabian and Jewish states. The Diary of Anne Frank is published. Edwin Land invents the Polaroid camera. Jackie Robinson is the first black baseball player in the "major leagues".

1948 Berthold Brecht: Kleines Organon für das Theater. Blockade of Berlin. The Berlin Airlift.