Random Learnings #67
If we know anything about National Socialism, it's that for the first time in German politics human stupidity has been successfully and completely mobilized. -Kurt Schumacher, SPD member of Weimar…
Scary Times, Predicted
I'm still working my way through Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic by Volker Ullrich, in which he gives a riveting account of Germany's inter-war history, from World…
Constitutionality
Donald Trump's continual declaration of national emergencies that he uses to declare executive orders of dubious legitimacy harkens back to similar usage in Germany following World War I. This was…
Unexpected Continuity
From the Brittanica Book of the Year 1968, p376: Another in a series of legislative measures designed to establish the separate statehood of East Germany was passed by the People's…
Oh What A Year: 1933
[Nothing like spending a Sunday reading undigitized, bound periodicals at your local university library...] Time Magazine began 1933 by declaring Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president-elect, as Man of the Year.…
What Is Democracy?
The victorious allies met in Potsdam, Germany in July 1945 to discuss the substance and procedures of the peace settlements in Europe after V-E day. Stalin was the sole remaining…
When Name Recognition Is Not Good
The Netflix show Five Came Back: The Reference Films consists of twelve government-sponsored propaganda films. The first episode is Nazi Concentration Camps is about the well-known and appalling conditions the…
The Treaty of Versailles and Germany
The Treaty of Versailles held Germany (a.k.a Germany Empire), and Germany alone, responsible for World War I: not Serbia who planned the assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand; not the Austrian-Hungarian Empire…
Kulturpalast Dresden
The Kulturpalast Dresden is a DDR-era multi-purpose hall built in the Altmarkt Square in Dresden, Germany, the largest in the city when opened in 1969. Unfortunately, I know nothing about…
Cool Photos #7
After entering the Alte Nationalgalerie and purchasing your tickets, you ascend the stairs to the first floor where the exhibits are. On the landing to the right is an exterior…