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A Brief Survey of German Culture, 1900-1914

1900

The "academic socialist" Gustav Schmoller (1838-1917) publishes his principle work, Grundriss der allgemeinen Volkswirtschaftslehre.

Friedrich Nietzsche, since 1889 mentally deranged, dies at Jena.

1901

Ernst Ruhmer invents film with photographic sound and reproduction.

The architect Richard Riemerschmid (1868-1957) designs the interior of the new playhouse in Munich, in the Art Nouveau style.

Buddenbrooks. Verfall einer Familie, the society novel by Thomas Mann (1875-1955), appears.

1902                                                                                                             to top

The Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded to the historian Theodor Mommsen.

In Hamburg the art scholar Aby Warburg (1866-1929) founds the Warburg Cultural Science Library, starting with important research works, particularly on post-antiquity life.


1903

The writer Carl Muth (1864-1944) launches the journal Hochland, the aim being "to reflect the intellectual and artistic life of German Catholicism in the light of present times."

Before 200 spectators, the first final for the German soccer championship takes place at the Hamburg-Altona drillground, the result being VFB Leipzig 7, DFC Prague 2.

1904                                                                                                               to top

First appearance of Peter Camenzind, a novel displaying autobiographical features of the storyteller and lyric writer Hermann Hesse (1877-1962).

Initial publication of the Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, the first German newspaper with no subscription but intended solely for street sale.

 1905

Birth of Expressionism in painting, including the founding of the expressionist artists' community Die Brücke in Dresden by the painters Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) and Erich Heckel (1883-1970), joined later by Otto Müller (1874-1930), Max Pechstein (1881-1955) and Emil Nolde (1867-1956). Die Brücke

Noted philosopher, cultural historian and sociologist Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911) publishes four essays, Das Erlebnis und die Dichtung. Das Erlebnis und die Dichtung

In Chicago, Carl Laemmle (1867-1939), a German immigrant, opens a cinema, the first of a chain which soon covers the whole of the United States. He later becomes president of the Universal Pictures Company.

 1906                                                                                                              to top

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) publishes Die Weisse von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke. Die Weisse von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke

Art historian Wilhelm von Bode (1845-1929) becomes director general of the Berlin museums. Their world fame is due in large part to his collecting and organizing activities.

 1907

Albert Langen (1869-1909) founds a "bimonthly journal for German culture" under the title Ma¨rz. Apart from Langen, the editors are Ludwig Thoma (1867-1921) and Hermann Hesse (1877-1962). Ma¨rz

From the Art Nouveau to neo-objectivity: the "German Arts and Crafts Society" is founded in Munich, members including the architects Peter Behrens (1868-1940) and Theodor Fischer (1862-1938). The Society is an association of artists, craftsmen and industrialists who seek "a refinement of commercial work" aimed at expediency, justice to material and form.

 1908                                                                                                                to top

Europe's first open-air swimming pool for families is opened, at the Wannsee in Berlin.

Cinema makes headway: at a meeting of the German Stage Association in Eisenach, the complaint is made that 29 private theatres had to close down in 1907, to be opened as cinemas.

 1909

The literary society "New Club" is founded, where for the first time the young Berlin generation of poets later called "expressionists," "culturists," and "cubists" will congregate.

Police introduce the first four traffic signs in Germany.

1910                                                                                                                     to top

In Weimar and later in Potsdam and Berlin, Gustav Kiepenheuer (1880-1949) founds a publishing concern. He publishes the works of, among others, Bertolt Brecht (Baal, 1922) and Anna Seghers (Der Aufstand der Fischer von St. Barbara, 1928) and also promotes political literature.BaalDer Aufstand der Fischer von St. Barbara

Painter and poet Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) paints the portrait of Auguste Forel. The same year he helps to found the avantgardist art salon and publishing house Der Sturm. Der Sturm

1911

Art dealer and publisher Paul Cassirer (1871-1926) publishes the weekly magazine Pan for the theatrical company of the same name. Pan

Poet and occasional lecturer Franz Werfel (1890-1945) publishes his first collection of poems, Der Weltfreund. Der Weltfreund

Appearance of Die Hose, a "domestic comedy" by Carl Sternheim (1878-1942) attacking the middle classes of the Wilhelminian era. Die Hose

 1912                                                                                                                    to top

The editorial staff of Der Blaue Reiter, started by Franz Marc (1880-1916) and Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), publishes an almanac of modern art, Der Blaue Reiter. Members of the Blaue Reiter group include August Macke (1887-1914) and Paul Klee (1879-1940). Der Blaue Reiter Der Blaue Reiter Blaue Reiter

With the assistance of German publishers, in Leipzig the "German Library" is established as a collecting center for German literature. By 1939 the number of books has increased to 1,600,000.

The collection of poems entitled Morgue, by the doctor and poet Gottfried Benn, appears. Morgue

 1913

The physicist Hans Geiger (1882-1945) develops the geiger counter, used to trace radioactive waves.

In Germany some 30,000 new books are published -- a number not reached again until 1967 in the Federal Republic of Germany.

1914                                                                                                                            to top

June 28: Assassination of Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo, Bosnia. On August 1 the First World War breaks out.

Franz Marc (1880-1916) paints the "Tower of the Blue Horses." He is killed in World War I, as are poet and literary historian Ernst Stadler (1883-1914) and painter August Macke (1887-1914).