Germans have a far greater and more urgent duty towards civilization to perform. ~Friedrich von Bernhardi
Germany (German:Deutschland), officially theFederal Republic of Germany, is a country in theCentral Europe. It lies between theBaltic Sea and theNorth Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 82 million in an area of 357,596 km2 (138,069 sq mi), making it the most populous member state of theEuropean Union.
The Germans, both because of their intensedemocracy and also because they were as a rule people of limitedcapital and dependent on their ownlabor and skill for a livelihood, were not favorable to the institution ofslavery.
A Twentieth Century History of Southwest Texas: Illustrated, vol. 1 (New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1907), ch. 19 (p. 193)
Well, the Germans, too, are surrounded by a “great wall.” This wall is not built of masonry, but is spiritual. Anything outside the wall is regarded with contempt. But when such a superior person goes abroad, and finds how much he has been misinformed, he is apt, unless he is a person of very stable temperament, to rush to the opposite extreme, and thence to look down upon all that he has previously venerated. That is why so many Germans who go abroad are lost to Germany. But one who, having gone abroad, remains a good German and wants to enlighten his fellow-countrymen is not understood at home and is despitefully used.
Erwin Baelz. Awakening Japan: The Diary of a German Doctor, ed. Toku Baelz, trans. Eden and Cedar Paul (Bloomington, IN, 1974). quoted in Suzanne L. Marchand - German Orientalism in the Age of Empire. Religion, Race, and Scholarship-Cambridge University Press (2009)
We Germans have a far greater and more urgent duty towards civilization to perform than the Great Asiatic Power. We, like theJapanese, can only fulfil it by the sword.
I never doubted that the victory over France must precede the restoration of the German kingdom, and if we did not succeed in bringing it this time to a perfect conclusion, further wars without the preliminary security of our perfectunification were full in view.
Otto von Bismarck,Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman, Being the Reflections and Reminiscences of Otto Prince von Bismarck, Written and Dictated by Himself After His Retirement from Office (1898)
You have given [theAustrians]carte blanche – do you realize what you have done? If the latePrince Bismarck could appear here before you, his first words would be: "How could you do such a thing, how could you transform a Germany that was the rider into a Germany that is now being ridden byAustria?"
Bernhard von Bülow, in remarks toTheodor Wolff, explaining what he would have said in July 1914 if he had been summoned to the Wilhelmstrasse (c. 1916), quoted in John C. G. Röhl, 'Germany', in Keith Wilson (ed.),Decisions for War 1914 (1995), p. 29
And now it's time for me to meet Europe's "cuddly teddybears"... theGermans. ~Jeremy Clarkson
And now it's time for me to meet Europe's "cuddly teddybears"... theGermans. Germany as a country has only been in existence for just over a hundred years. But in that time they've started twoworld wars, they've had twomilitary coups, they've been brought on the brink of starvation two times, and they've invaded almost all of their neighbours.
To no class of our population are we more indebted for valuable qualities of head, heart, and hand, than to the German. ~Frederick Douglass
To no class of our population are we more indebted for valuable qualities of head, heart, and hand, than to the German. Say what we will of theirlager, theirsmoke, and theirmetaphysics, they have brought to us a fresh, vigorous and child-like nature; a boundless facility in the acquisition of knowledge; a subtle and far-reaching intellect, and a fearless love of truth. Though remarkable for patient and laborious thought]], the true German is a joyous child offreedom, fond of manly sports, a lover of music, and a happy man generally.
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Über alles in der Welt!
Germany, Germany above everything, above everything in the world! When, for protection and defense, it always stands brotherly together. From theMeuse to theMemel, from theAdige to the Belt, Germany. Germany, above everything, above everything in the world!
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue, Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang Sollen in der Welt behalten Ihren alten schönen Klang, Uns zu edler Tat begeistern Unser ganzes Leben lang.
German women, German loyalty, German wine and German song, shall retain in the world, their old beautiful chime and inspire us to noble deeds, during all of our life. German women, German loyalty, German wine and German song! German women, German loyalty, German wine and German song!
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben,Das Lied der Deutschen (1841)
Unity and justice and freedom for the German fatherland! Let us all strive for this purpose, brotherly with heart and hand! Unity and justice and freedom are the pledge of happiness. Bloom in the glow of happiness! Bloom, German fatherland!
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben,Das Lied der Deutschen (1841)
The creation of two German states, an event unforeseen atTehran,Yalta, or even atPotsdam, was a signalCold War phenomenon. Foreshadowed by the dual occupation ofKorea, Germany’s partition in 1949 combined both real and symbolic elements as a means of stabilizingCentral Europe as well as a punishment for the Nazis’ crimes. Four-power occupation had worked inAustria—thanks to the smaller strategic stakes, amoderate socialist government, and the Allies’ Tehran decision to treat this country gently as “Hitler’s first victim”—and the country remained intact. In the more populous, resource-rich Germany, which lacked a central government, the occupiers were able to dominate the revival of local politics.East Germany became the first “workers’ and peasants’ state on German soil,” and West Germany a liberal, robustlycapitalist state. Both regimes represented not only a renunciation of the Nazi past but also the revitalization of two opposing political traditions—Marxism andliberalism—each claiming redemptive power over Germany and Europe’s future and each mirroring the Cold War itself.
Carole C. Fink,The Cold War: An International History (2017), p. 74
The union of the States of Germany into a form of government similar in many respects to that of the American Union is an event that can not fail to touch deeply the sympathies of the people of the United States. This union has been brought about by the long-continued, persistent efforts of the people, with the deliberate approval of the governments and people of twenty-four of the German States, through their regularly constituted representatives.
Thinking of Germany in the night robs me of my sleep. ~Heine
The state of Germany at thePeace of Westphalia in 1648 is difficult to describe except in biblical terms.Syria today might give us some idea. At least a third of the entire population seems to have perished, more in some areas. In 1631,Magdeburg on the Elbe,Otto the Great’s most-favoured city, had over 20,000 inhabitants; by 1649, it was 450, the rest having been mostly slaughtered in the streets. Even today, when German children sing their version of ‘Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly Away Home’, it’s not a house that’s on fire, butPomerania.
James Hawes,The Shortest History of Germany (2017)
Denk ich an Deutschland in der Nacht, dann bin ich um den Schlaf gebracht.
Thinking of Germany in thenight robs me of mysleep.
Germany never defends herself, except by a few flaming protests on the part of ourparliamentaryelite, and the rest of the world has no reason for fighting in our defense.
If the Providence has so willed that the German people cannot be spared this fight, then I can only be grateful that it entrusted me with the leadership in this historic struggle which, for the next 500 or 1,000 years, will be described as decisive, not only for thehistory of Germany, but for the whole ofEurope and indeed the whole world. The German people and their soldiers are working and fighting today, not only for the present, but for the coming, nay the most distant, generations. A historical revision on a unique scale has been imposed on us by the Creator... The next incursion against this homestead of European culture was carried out from the distant East. A terrible stream of barbarous, uncultured hordes sallied forth from the interior of Asia deep into the hearts of the European Continent, burning, looting, murdering—a true scourge of the Lord... From the time when the Movement I consisted of seven men, until we took over power in January 1933, the path was so miraculous that only Providence itself with its blessing could have made this possible...
Our enemies must not deceive themselves—in the 2,000 years of German history known to us, our people have never been more united than today. The Lord of the Universe has treated us so well in the past years that we bow in gratitude to a providence which has allowed us to be members of such a great nation. We thank Him that we also can be entered with honor into the ever-lasting book of German history!
Adolf Hitler, speech before the Reichstag (11 December 1941)
You see, it's beenour misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn'twe have the religion of theJapanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been more compatible to us thanChristianity. Why did it have to beChristianity with its meekness and flabbiness?
Adolf Hitler, as quoted inInside the Third Reich: Memoirs by Albert Speer, p. 115.
Ifthe war is lost,the nation will also perish. This fate is inevitable. There is no necessity to take into consideration the basis which the people will need to continue even a most primitive existence. On the contrary, it will be better to destroy these things ourselves, because this nation will have proved to be the weaker one and the future will belong solely to the stronger eastern nation. Besides, those who will remain after the battle are only the inferior ones, for the good ones have all been killed.
Europe has been at peace since 1945. But it is a restless peace that's shadowed by the threat of violence. Europe is partitioned. An unnatural line runs through the heart ofa very great and a very proud nation. History warns us that until this harsh division has been resolved, peace in Europe will never be secure. We must turn to one of the great unfinished tasks of our generation, and that unfinished task is making Europe whole again.
Lyndon B. Johnson, remarks before the National Conference of Editorial Writers, New York City (7 October 1966); inPublic Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966, book 2, p. 1126.
The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference. ~Ian Kershaw
There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and theCommunist world. Let them come toBerlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress.Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.
We Germans have learned from history. We are a peace-loving, freedom-loving people. For us, love of our native country, love of freedom, and the spirit of being a good neighbor always belong together.
Germany is first of all asdas Reich der Mitte (the central realm) truly central in a geographical sense; halfway between Paris and Moscow, Rome and Stockholm, London and Bucharest, Madrid and Helsingfors it is basically different from themarginal states in the European framework, as, for instance, Ireland, Portugal, Greece or Norway. The German people, not unlike the Russian, has furthermore the proclivity to think through to the bitter end every accepted thought, coming from within or without, and to deduct every ultimate conclusion from such an ideology.
Football is a simple game. 22 men chase a ball for ninety minutes and at the end, the Germans win. ~Gary Lineker
Football is a simple game. 22 men chase a ball for ninety minutes and at the end, the Germans win.
Gary Lineker, after losing the 1990 FIFA World Cup semifinal to Germany by penalty shootout, as quoted inLaurent DuBois,Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France (2010) p. 79
In the valley of the Pegnitz, where, Across broad meadow-lands, Rise the blue Franconian mountains, Nuremberg, the ancient, stands.Quaint old town of toil and traffic, Quaint old town of art and song, Memories haunt thy pointed gables, Like the rooks that round thee throng.
Germany, and the Rhine Valley in particular must be one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is perhaps that beauty which has inspired the development of your culture as manifested by the excellence of the Germans in music, literature and philosophy. Germany's post-war rehabilitation and progress is a tribute to the indomitable spirit, ingenuity and enterprise of her people.
We do not fear that the operations of time may never bring aunited Europe, with a reunited Germany at its centre. We do not know how it will happen, how this unnaturally divided Germany is to become once again. It is obscure to us, and we must take refuge in the belief that history will find ways and means of overcoming the unnatural and restoring the natural: a Germany as a consciously serving member of a Europe united in self-awareness – not as its lord and master... Let us not delude ourselves over the fact that among the difficulties delaying the unification of Europe is a mistrust of the purity of German intentions, a fear by other peoples of Germany and of hegemonic plans that its vital energy may install into it, which in their view it does not conceal very well….It is for the rising German generation, for German youth, to dispel the mistrust, this fear, by rejecting what has long been rejected and clearly and unanimously announcing their desire: not for a German Europe, but for a European Germany.
Thomas Mann, in a lecture at the University of Hamburg (1953)
In Germany, it's, let's say it's 5:59 and you're heading for the bakery or whatever and it's due to close at 6. The German will walk right up to that door and close it right in your face, they will lock it on the other side of that glass door with a shrug, like 'sorry'.
Germany was the most dangerous component of theAxis, thoughGerman forces, unlikeJapanese andItalian, did not fire a shot in anger until theinvasion of Poland in September 1939 which launched world war. The source of the German threat wasHitler. Other Germannationalists wanted Germany to reassert herself as a major state in the 1930s following years of enforced subservience to the victor states of 1918. Few Germans of any political shade had accepted the Allied demands forreparations andGerman disarmament, or been reconciled to the loss of territory toPoland and France. But very few Germans wanted to run the risk of war again. Hitler's outlook was quite different. Any account of the origins and course of theSecond World War must give Hitler the leading part. Without him a major war in the early 1940s between all the world's great powers was unthinkable.
The events of the past one and one-half years have gripped the whole German people and affected them deeply. It seems almost like a dream that out of the valley of misery, hopelessness, hate, and fragmentation we have found our way back to a German national community. The horrendous tensions in which we have lived since theAugust days of 1914 have dissolved, and out of this discord, the German soul has emerged once again, before which the glorious and yet so painful history of our people pass in review, from the sagas of the German heroes to the trenches ofVerdun, and even to the street fights of our time.
What have we now in Germany? A land of bankers and car-makers. ~Hanna Reitsch
And what have we now in Germany? A land of bankers and car-makers. Even our great army has gone soft. Soldiers wearbeards and question orders. I am not ashamed to say I believed in National Socialism. I still wear the Iron Cross with diamonds Hitler gave me. But today in all Germany you can't find a single person who voted Adolf Hitler into power.
Hanna Reitsch, as quoted in "The first astronaut: tiny, daring Hanna", by Ron Laytner,The Deseret News (19 February 1981), pp. C1+, p. 12C
Many Germans feel guilty about the war. But they don't explain the real guilt we share; that we lost.
Hanna Reitsch, as quoted in "The first astronaut: tiny, daring Hanna", by Ron Laytner,The Deseret News (19 February 1981), pp. C1+, p. 12C
Thefall of the Berlin Wall symbolizes an epochal change in the way people live. More important, it liberates the way people think. We see with new clarity thatcentralizedgovernmentbureaucracies created in thiscentury are not the wave of the future. Never again will people trust planners and paper shufflers more than they trust themselves.
Der Satan der italienischen und englischen Dichter mag poetischer sein; aber der deutsche Satan ist satanischer; und insofern könnte man sagen, der Satan sei eine deutsche Erfindung.
TheSatan of theItalian andEnglishpoets may be more poetic; but theGerman Satan is more satanic; and in this respect one could say, the Satan is a German invention.
The odd thing about modern Europe is that, if you look at the borders, you might think that Germany had won theFirst World War... TheEuropean Union and the old Soviet states are associated with a Europe that feels as if it is run from Berlin. FromScandinavia toTurkey, lorries trundle back and forth with German industrial goods; theeuro is mainly German, theDeutsche Bank dominates the eurozone.
We came here not because we wanted to attack Germany, but because Germany attacked us and invaded our territory all the way toMoscow. Later on, two worlds based on two different ideologies developed. Maybe one proved better and more successful. But we feel that we fulfilled our role here.
TheAllied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts theresponsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all theloss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by theaggression of Germany and her allies.
I sincerely wish that every member ofCongress could visit thedisplaced person's camp in Germany and Austria and see just what is happening to 500,000 human beings through no fault of their own.
Harry S. Truman, letter toWalter F. George (October 1946); as quoted inGreat Jewish Quotations (1996) by Alfred J. Kolatch, p. 463
Deutschland ist eine anatomische Merkwürdigkeit: Es schreibt mit der Linken und tut mit der Rechten.
Germany is an anatomical oddity: it writes with its left hand and acts with its right.
Kurt Tucholsky,Schnipsel, inDie Weltbühne, 3 February 1931, p. 185.
Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.
Mark Twain,A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), Ch. 22.
Under these 360 semi-independent princelings [of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806] life was easy-going, static, unadventurous. A cultured aristocracy flourished with gentlemanly inefficiency. The economic standards of living were low from our viewpoint, but really high compared with those of the earlier seventeenth century. From this mellow atmosphere, so rich with accumulated tradition, ripened the very finest fruits of German culture. Even the pettiest courts vied at attracting creative intellects. The court of the tiny Duchy of Weimar was simultaneously graced byGoethe,Schiller,Wieland,Jean Paul, andHerder. This is more cultural greatness in a feeble state of a few square miles than the whole modern German state and most modern power states can boast.
This fruitful but overripe culture was the product of the creative idleness of upper middle-class humanists dependent on aristocratic patronage from above. The patronage was forthcoming because some of the courts — enough of them to keep any Goethe orHumboldt from being slave to economic needs — were models of taste and urbane discrimination. All this was swept away by the awakening of nationalism and capitalism in the new bourgeoisie. The Germanies, the land of musicians and poets, was step by step replaced by a unified centralized Germany, a land of far greater political power and far greater economic prosperity and yet in one sense far less great.
Germany became the first team to score five goals in the first 29 minutes of anyWorld Cup game in history. It ended 7-1, but if we can summon just a touch more jingoistic national sentiment, we say fuck it, cheer for the Germans. They scrubbed America off the wrong side of the record book.
I am convinced that Germany has drawn conclusions and Europe has drawn conclusions as well. And I can say an unpopular thing. If once again Germany should risk destabilizing Europe, then there would be no division of Germany — it would simply be blown off the map of Europe. With the kind of technology that exists, with the kind of experiences we have had, there can be no other way — and the Germans know it.
If once again Germany destabilizes Europe, then Germany will be not be divided again, but wiped off the map. East and West have the necessarytechnology in order to enforce this verdict. If Germany begins again, there is no other solution.
Wilhelm II of Germany, speech (18 April 1891), quoted in Michael Balfour,The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), p. 158
I am not a man who believes that we Germans bled and conquered thirty years ago...in order to be pushed to one side when greatinternational decisions call to be made. If that were to happen, the place of Germany as a world power would be gone for ever, and I am not prepared to let that happen. It is my duty and privilege to employ to this end without hesitation the most appropriate and, if need be, the sharper methods.
Wilhelm II of Germany, speech at the launching of the battleshipWittelsbach (3 July 1900), quoted in Michael Balfour,The Kaiser and His Times (London: Penguin, 1975), pp. 158-159
In spite of the fact that we have no such fleet as we should have, we have conquered for ourselves a place in the sun. It will now be my task to see to it that this place in the sun shall remain our undisputed possession, in order that the sun's rays may fall fruitfully upon our activity and trade in foreign parts, that ourindustry andagriculture may develop within the state and our sailing sports upon thewater, for our future lies upon the water.
Wilhelm II of Germany, speech inHamburg (18 June 1901)
Variant: Germany must have her place in the sun. (Stated byBernhard von Bülow)
As quoted inGermanism from Within (1916) by Alexander Duncan Mclaren
Wilhelm II of Germany, in regard to Nazi anti-Jewish campaigns, afterKristallnacht, however this statement seems tocontradict his other statements regarding Jews. (November 1938); as quoted inOur German Cousins : Anglo-German Relations in the 19th and 20th Centuries (1974) by John Mander, p. 219
We have 500,000 reservists in America who would rise in arms againstyour government if you dare to make a move against Germany.
Arthur Zimmermann, to Ambassador James W. Gerard. Gerard: "I told him that we had five hundred thousand and one lamp posts in America, and that was where the German reservists would find themselves if they tried any uprising." Ambassador Gerard's answer. James W. Gerard,My Four Years in Germany, p. 237.Zimmermann telegram
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