A radical and exciting history of a city – its culture, its people and its politics – that refreshes our image of Europe’s past and of the writing of history itself.In Berlin, history is tangible. The sense of the past – of Europe, of Germany, and in particular of the twentieth century with its myths, depravities, idealism and horror – hangs in the air around the old Hinterhofs and deserted railway stations. No other city has played such a part in the tides of twentieth-century European affairs.Faust’s Metropolis is a rich and inspiring history of this city, a breathtaking portrait of its people and a thorough evaluation of its achievements and errors. From the revolutionary fervour of its teeming slums, the insufferable pomp of Imperial Berlin, and the frantic modernism of Weimar to the brutality of the Nazis and the symbolic defeat of communism as the Wall came down, Berlin has played host to all the movements that have uplifted and afflicted German and European history. Alexandra Richie writes superbly of its role as a crucible of change.Full of humour and with an inimitable personal view of the modern capital of reunited Germany, Faust’s Metropolis also offers a scholarly, thematic analysis of the ways in which the city has reinvented itself through the ages, the tensions which historically existed between Berliners and other Germans, the crucial role which Berlin has played in shaping the political and cultural life of Europe. In drawing together the complex strands of its actual and imagined past, Alexandra Richie reveals herself as an extraordinary new talent in her field.
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Alexandra Richie. Faust’s Metropolis: A History of Berlin
FAUST’S METROPOLIS. A HISTORY OF BERLIN. ALEXANDRA RICHIE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
CONTENTS
PREFACE
LIST OF MAPS
INTRODUCTION
I History, Myth, and the Birth of Berlin
II The Capital of Absolutism
III The Emerging Giant
IV From Revolution to Realpolitik
V The Rise of Red Berlin
VI Imperial Berlin
VII The Road to the First World War
VIII The Bitter Aftermath of War
IX The Golden Twenties
X The Betrayal of Weimar
XI Nazi Berlin – Life Before the Storm
XII The Second World War
XIII The Fall of Berlin
XIV The Berlin Crisis and the Cold War
XV Flashpoint Berlin
XVI East Berlin
XVII The Walled City – West Berlin
XVIII The New Capital
If you enjoyed Faust’s Metropolis, check out these other great titles by Alexandra Richie
NOTES
INDEX
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Отрывок из книги
For Władysław Bartoszewski
TITLE PAGE
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The overlap between history and politics has persisted in a unique manner in Germany and in Berlin.59 Historiography during the Cold War was largely determined by politics. This was particularly true of the GDR, where German history, including the Second World War, was rewritten as propaganda to justify post-war Soviet policies.
When the Wall fell there was an immediate sense that this poisonous heritage should be exposed. It was a time of great hope and optimism in Germany and in Berlin. Old history textbooks were thrown out, hard-line East German teachers were barred from schools, official museum displays were changed and the history of both Soviet and East German crimes against its citizens was investigated – in November 1990, for example, a library dedicated to the victims of Stalinism was opened on the Hausvogteiplatz with the support of prominent ex-GDR activists, including Bärbel Bohley, Lew Kopelew and Jürgen Fuchs. But the mood did not last. East Berlin was the very core of the old GDR. It was the centre of government, of the Stasi and of the party. Every seventh East Berliner had been employed by the state and around 100,000 people were members of the SED elite, ranging from high-ranking security personnel to top party functionaries. It was they who had profited from the old regime with their subsidized flats, their access to western goods and their exercise of power. Suddenly a number of eastern Germans began to reject the new western orientation and to hanker after lost days of prestige and influence in the cosy world of the SED or the Stasi. Self-examination has never been a strong feature of old, corrupt and criminal elites. Only two years after the collapse of the state some began to call for a return to the ‘values of the old GDR’ and the defunct state was presented as a wonderful place which had cared for its people and given them fulfilling lives. A growing number of ex-GDR citizens began to exhibit those destructive traits which have plagued Berlin in the past: self-pity, sentimentality and a tendency to gloss over the worst aspects of their history.
