“Zerborstene Zeit” is the name of a new book about Germany from 1918 to 1945. Is there a need for a book like this after many others that have already been published?

The author Michael Wildt, Professor of Contemporary History at the Humboldt University in Berlin, asked himself the question: "Does it really have to be reported again that Heinrich Brüning became Reich Chancellor in 1930?" Aren't "new German stories" needed in which did "unusual, unfamiliar perspectives" open up?

Well, of course such books are welcome.

But what does the author mean by this?

Among other things, he would like to avoid looking back and instead focus on contemporary perceptions.

That's actually what one hopes for in any historical work.

But Wildt wants to make a special advantage of it, so diary entries, often quoted in detail, play a major role.

However, long citations of sources do not relieve the author of the task of taking a stand, classifying and evaluating the sources.

Contemporaries perceive many things and very different things.

How aptly do they observe, how representative are their impressions?

Wildt praises the revolution in Munich for having triumphed "in a coup de main with determination, daring and luck".

But he also quotes Oskar Maria Graf, the "anarchist bohemian": the revolution "was boring, it was harmless, it was unbearable.

They were a posse, and a bad one at that," the revolutionaries "like a blustering veterans' club."

What is the reader supposed to make of this quote?

Does it speak the powerful,

but not necessarily the wise opinion of an “anarchist bohemian”?

Or did this describe the weakness of the Munich revolution?

The author holds back, the reader doesn't know what to make of it.

You can call it rich in perspectives, but there is a moment of weakness in judgement.

Camaraderie practiced, difficult and beautiful things experienced

And Wildt does not really keep his promise to validate the views of the actors at the time.

In December 1918, Friedrich Ebert greeted the returning marching columns "with a grand gesture": "Never have people achieved and suffered greater things than you."

Doesn't the superiority of those born later break through here, who see the germ of coming misfortune in the fame of military probation?

The insult caused by the defeat in 1918 meant an enormous burden on the young republic that is not easy for us to understand today.

In his famous diary on February 19, 1919, Harry Graf Kessler lets the “submarine sailor Willy” have his say.

When asked why he was so depressed, "he finally shyly admitted that he could not get over the surrender of the fleet.

On the submarine they (. . .) practiced comradeship, experienced difficult and beautiful things and it was always (. . .) said: 'Be courageous after the difficult hours!'" He still has a photograph of the submarine, "At least you couldn't take that away from him."

Kessler summarizes that the "almost thoughtless desperation of the poor brave boy (. . .) is also part of our folk tragedy".

Or remember that when her surviving son returned home, Käthe Kollwitz once again hoisted the black, white and red flag of the German Empire, “the dear German flag” – with a red pennant.