Germany -- Foreign relations; Germany -- Intellectual life; Germany -- Politics and government; World War, 1914-1918
The Southern and Western German is still to-day, as he was in the days
of Madame de Staël, artistic and poetic, brilliant and imaginative—a
lover of song and music. The Prussian remains as he has always been,
inartistic, dull, and unromantic. Prussia has not produced one of the
great composers who are the pride of the German race; and Berlin, with
all its wealth and its two million inhabitants, strikes the foreigner
as one of the most commonplace capitals of the civilized world. The
Southern and Western German is gay and genial, courteous and
expansive; the Prussian is sullen, reserved, and aggressive. The
Southern and Western German is sentimental and generous; the Prussian
is sour and dour, and only believes in hard fact. The Southern and
Western German is an idealist; the Prussian is a realist and a
materialist, a stern rationalist, who always keeps his eye on the main
chance. The Southern and Western German is independent almost to the
verge of anarchism; he has a strong individuality; his patriotism is
municipal and parochial; he is attached to his little city, to its
peculiarities and local customs; the Prussian is imitative, docile,
and disciplined; his patriotism is not the sentimental love of the
native city, but the abstract loyalty to the State. The Southern and
Western German is proud of his romantic history, of his ancient
culture; the Prussian has no culture to be proud of.
That contrast of temperament between Prussians and Germans corresponds
to a difference of race. The Prussians are not really Teutons. They
are alien intruders. The Prussians, the Pruzi or Pruteni, are
Lithuanians. The population of Brandenburg is Slav. Berlin,
Brandenburg, or Brannybor, are Slav-Wendish names. The ruler of the
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg, a State which is even more Prussian than
Prussia, and which is a strange survival of feudalism, bears until
this day the name of “Prince of the Wendes.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account