The German Spirit and the Rise of the Middle Class

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Germany was not a nation, but many territories.  German referred to the language and culture.  According to Ludwig von Seckendorff in his Teutscher Fürstenstaat (“The German Principality”) a “German nation” existed politically because there were more than three hundred German principalities.  During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was a movement by educated societies to create a pure German language.  This movement was mainly in the Protestant areas.  In the nineteenth century, Jacob Grimm called Modern High German the Protestant dialect. (p.86)  

German territories in the 17th century.

                The Germans were slowly starting to see themselves as a nation.  The educated middle class in particular were experiencing a feeling of national identity.  The many territories felt united as one nation.  This happened because the monarchs and rulers wanted to know everything that was happening in their territories.  Because of their demands, the need for highly trained officials grew and the need for education grew.  The second half of the eighteenth century saw the rise of the Middle Class.  The middle class helped to develop a standard German language from the many dialects. (p.89)

                German literature, drama, and opera helped to unify the German people between all of the territories.  Writers published in German because of the high demand for German books and the strong German spirit of unity. (p.89)  “The political journalist and historian Justus Möser encouraged the Germans in 1785 to stop being “apers of foreign trends,””  He was telling them that the territories are all united and are very similar.  He wanted them to see that the territories are not foreign nations to each other. (p.90)

Justus Möser

                One reason for why Germany was not united during this time was because there were still many peasants.  Four out of five Germans still followed the old ways and did not take part in politics.  They still followed the ruling family and continued to follow their peasant traditions.  If this had not been the case more of Germany would have felt the German identity.  They did not have any national heroes that they could see.  The only national hero they had was King Frederick the Great of Prussia who had defeated the French and Russian Armies. (p.90)

                The middle class was still growing, there were only about 20,000 people who were part of the national discourse in 1770.  This small amount of people would not have had any effect on politics, which is why the German nation only existed as language and culture.  The middle class did not give up.  Communication among the educated people between territories was growing.  There was a large amount of literature including books, newspapers, and journals being published.  This started reading circles in towns, including even the small towns, which resulted in the public being more sophisticated and educated.  The Germans would debate among one another on topics of literature and culture, but they did not do much for the politics. (p.90)

"The Socializer", a moral weekly

                The German nation was born among the educated, but was not connected to politics.  The heroes of this German nation were poets and philosophers, not princes and military.  Goethe and Weimar became the center of the nation for the middle class.  The people did not interfere with the politics, they focused on their culture, theaters, and universities.  They were tolerant of the politics and rulers.  Because of the rise of the middle class wealth was more evenly distributed and the middle class.  Families were now able to own instruments and would produce their own performances in their house instead of the expensive operas and concerts performed at court. (p.91-92)   The Enlightenment was taking place throughout the world and led to revolution and murder.  The revolution and murder was seen as the downfall of reason and kept the Germans from interfering with politics. (p.93)

Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Before I watched this video, I did not know a lot about Martin Luther.  I knew about his 95 theses or complaints about the Catholic Church and that he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church.  I also knew that he was trying to reform the Church and formed the Lutheran religion.  I had only ever thought of him when thinking about religious reform, I did not realize that he played such a major role in the changing of the Holy Roman Empire and in particular Germany and Europe.

Martin nailing his 95 theses.

  

Martin Luther knew what he wanted.  He stood up for his ideas even when he knew that there was a great possibility of him being killed.  Even after Pope Leo X excommunicated him, he would not recant what he believed in.  The fury from the church helped bring him courage and made him stronger in his beliefs and spread his word even farther.  He started using the printing press so that he could spread his 95 theses across Germany.  He wrote to the Christian nobility and secular rulers to show them that Rome was a financial strain.  The pope was self indulgent and he did this was German money.  He said that every German has a stake in the Church.  He wanted to set down a whole new system of faith which them turned from reform to revolution.

Martin Luther in Worms in front of the Emperor and German princes.

His message spread across Germany and the people acted on his message.  He was able to argue his case at the Die de Worms in front of Emperor Charles V, the German princes, and an ambassador from Worms.  He closed his address with “hereI stand, I can do no other, God help me, Amen.”  This statement marks the dawn of a new era, the ordinary people started standing up against authority.  It is the beginning of a social, economic, and political revolution.  It was an unstoppable rebellion, the first steps of what would become the reformation.  The citizens started violent revolts and there were peasant uprisings.  Martin Luther told the lords to act out against the peasants this is now what he had wanted. 

Martin Luther told the people that the must pull back from their social revolution, they should be concerning themselves only with their sould and God.  Martin Luther’s ideas changed the conception of Europe, it’s no longer one Christian Europe, it becomes a global story that affects Asian, Africa, and America.  His ideas are part of the heritage of Europe, western civilization and the whole world.  Although his ideas started as religious reform they ended up changing Europe, particularly Germany socially, economically, and politically.

Assignment 2: Religion

Throughout Germany’s history religion has been prevalent in a lot of major events.  Germany had many diverse religions and not they do not all have to practice the same religion.  The religions have changed with the change of time.  This is the similar to the United States because people went to the Americas because they wanted religious freedom.  As time went on religions changed and other religions were started as the country changed and adapted to the citizens.  Religion is important because knowing the religion can show the background and traditions of the people living there.  Also, religion can sometimes show why things changed and what happens when religion is very close to the politics of the country.  For instance the religion of the ruler is usually the prominent but when ruler’s change the prominent religion usually changes.

  However, one religion that has not been held highly is Judaism.  Although Judaism was present in the late Middle Ages, the Jews did not hold many rights.  They were not able to hold most jobs.  Two of the few ways that they could earn money was through money lending and financial transactions.  Because of this Jews were not though of highly and were protested against (p.34).  These people were discriminated against because of their religion.  One example of violence was in 1519 when the Jews were forced out of Regensburg, the Jewish quarter was torn down, and their synagogue was torn down (p.41).  This shows that anti-Judaism was not only present during World War II but was present long before in the late Middle Ages.

Inside of the Regensburg Synagogue before it was demolished in 1519.

The Neupfarrkirche which was where the Regensburg Synagogue once stood.

Although the prominent religion has changed throughout time, the Christian religions have not been held with as much hatred and terrible standards as Judaism. One example of hatred against the Catholic Church was when the Lutherans accused the Catholics of fraud and extortion after they tore down the Jewish synagogue and built their own Church on the site(p.41).  The Christians were always able to hold jobs and earn a living.  Although there have been times in history when a religion was held with disregard, it has never been to the extent of the disregard felt towards Judaism. This disregard may be an example of why the hatred escalated to the extreme of the Holocaust.

Why Germany?

I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to study in Germany for 17 days.  This will be my second time outside the United States and first time to Germany.  The first time I traveled outside the United States was last December when I went to Costa Rica with the Swim Team.  This experience will hopefully be a lot different because I can speak German, although not fluently.  

My knowledge of Germany began in high school when I started taking German classes.  I am part of a large family and a lot of people asked me why I was taking German.  I had taken Spanish in grade school so most would then continue with Spanish in high school, but I was tired of learning the same thing year after year from a lot of different teachers.  Two of my older sisters took Spanish in high school, another sister took French, and my only brother was taking German.  He was probably the reason I decided to take German.  I wanted to be different and I thought it would be fun to learn a language that most of my family did not know how to speak.  My mom had taken German in college so she knew a little.  I loved taking German in high school I had an amazing teacher and I learned a lot.  I especially loved going on the field trips to German town and the German Christmas Market in Chicago.  I am really excited to be able to go to a Christmas Market in Germany instead of the one in Chicago.

Because of my German background in high school, I knew that I wanted to continue with German in college.  For awhile I was not sure if I wanted to major or minor in German.  All I knew was that I wanted to get a major in Business and take some German classes.  I finally decided that I would double major in International Business and German.  This way I will have the opportunity to travel abroad.  My senior year of high school I found out about the many opportunities for studying abroad and that was part of the reason I chose North Central College.  I really wanted to go to Germany and I found out I can go to Germany during D-Term and also I can study at a German University as well.  I am going on the D-Term trip this year and I hope to go to Heidelberg University next year.