Into the Woods a Very Special Relationship, Germans and Their Forest

April 2019 LIFE 17 IMAGO STOCK&PEOPLE Into the woods A very special relationship, Germans and their forest civilization theory and polemics collapse of conventional patterns memorial was to be built in a heart of the German with a deep outbreak of the World War I: BY DIETER BORCHMEYER since the early 19th century. of identification during and after forest – preferably at Bad Berka – and mysterious delight. To this “The main character in Der For Germans, the forest poses World War II. and not at an historical location, day he loves to go deep into the Freischütz is, so to speak, the ardly any other German nothing short of a landscape of Despite the ideological abuse where political semantics would forest where his forefathers lived; forest, the German forest glit- myth has been cited longing, the epitome of protec- of the German forest under the surely have provoked much dis- he feels at one with the trees. tering in the sun [….] Weber’s Hand celebrated as con- tive nature – a fact frequently Kaiser, followed by a new wave pute. One could almost recite, Without a doubt, one of the mission was nationalistic – its sistently as that of the German met with astonishment by non- of chauvinist forest propaganda in a variation of the line in the foremost forest romantics was objective was freedom and inter- forest. In Jacob Grimm’s 1835 Germans. A sizable ideological – including the organization, 1914 declaration of war by Kaiser Joseph von Eichendorff (1788- national recognition for German publication Deutsche Mythologie dispute over its preservation and under the patronage of Field Wilhelm II: I henceforth see no 1857). His poetry presents the culture.” (Teutonic Mythology), the author proper use continues to this day, Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, political parties, I see only the forest as a religious landscape – Since Der Freischütz, the forest singled out the forest as the spe- as it receives a constant supply called Deutscher Wald e.V., Bund German forest! an “andächtger Aufenthalt” (pious has become ever more the sym- cific primordial site of popular of oxygen from a vigorous envi- zur Wehr und Weihe des Waldes In his theoretical magnum opus, dwelling) for the soul with its bolically superelevated venue for belief and Germanic pagan ritual. ronmental movement. The most (German Forest Association Crowds and Power (1960), Elias meditative resonant spatiality in opera – Wagner’s Siegfried (with That the myth of the forest has recent demonstrations in defense for the Defense and Consecra- Canetti compared the role of contrast to the “geschäftge Welt” the “Forest Weaving” arrange- held firm through the irrevoca- of the Hambach Forest are a clas- tion of the Forest) – Reichstag forest romanticism for the Ger- (wild world) of the city, as made ment in the second act), his Parsi- ble dissolution of most German sic example. Commemorating the parties ranging from the Social mans with that for the army: famous by Mendelssohn’s musical fal and Humperdinck’s Hänsel myths during the apocalypse that dead and the work of mourning Democrats to the far right acted The crowd symbol of the Ger- rendering of the poet’s Abschied: und Gretel and Die Königskinder, was the Third Reich can perhaps often converge in the weighty in 1924 on the proposal by Reich mans was the army. But the army “O Täler weit, o Höhen” – as well just to name a few. Even after the be credited to the fact that this symbolism surrounding forests President Friedrich Ebert to was more than just the army; it as, of course, a patriotic one. A Romantic period, “forest roman- myth is not necessarily linked to – as attested by forest cemeter- erect a (never realized) “national was the marching forest. In no classic example is von Eichen- ticism” lived on in the narrative a particular ideologically laden or ies and tree burials – while envi- memorial” for the fallen soldiers other modern country has the dorff’s poem Der Jäger Abschied literature of the 19th century and politically charged location. Even ronment pedagogy tends to seek of World War I in a forest, the forest-feeling remained as alive (Hunters’ Farewell), in which the was superseded by a poetic and National Socialism, for which the out woodlands, and includes “primordial origin” and “power as it has in Germany. The parallel religious and meditative compo- realistic depiction of the forest Ewiger Wald (Enchanted Forest, institutions such as forest kin- source” of the Germans. This rigidity of the upright trees and nents harmonize with the patri- (e.g. Adalbert Stifter’s transfor- and the title of a 1936 propa- dergartens. Since the mid-1970s, was only possible because this their density and number fill the otic. In the third and fourth stan- mation of the forest between ganda film) – along with Blut und forest dieback – often the zas, the forest, as conjured his poems Hochwald (1841) to Boden (blood and soil) – served as result of acid rain, which by the Brothers Grimm, Waldgänger (1847)). And indeed, a critical bulwark of ideology as in recent decades has is the primordial sphere in the 20th century it experi- well as an inspiration for formal been vigorously deplored Wer hat dich, du schöner Wald, Who has built you, you beautiful forest, of the legend and the loy- enced an unparalleled boom forest policy and enacted legisla- and successfully combat- Aufgebaut so hoch da droben? Up there, so high above? alty expressed within it among writers of light fiction tion, could not gravely injure this ted – has been referred Wohl den Meister will ich loben, I truly want to praise your Master, – that is, German loyalty. and sentimental films. The most myth. to all across Europe by So lang noch mein Stimm erschallt. As long as my voice shall sound. This must also manifest significant attempt to imbue the Almost two millennia hence, the German word for the Lebe wohl, Farewell, itself in active life, in the German forest once again with Tacitus described Germania as a blight: Waldsterben. Lebe wohl, du schöner Wald! Farewell, you beautiful forest! context of the Wars of a symbolic glow is Stefan Moses’ land permeated by dark forests, Forest consciousness Liberation, and thus on series of photographic portraits and cited the victory by Arminius in Germany is a phenom- Tief die Welt verworren schallt, The world below sends tangled sounds, the battle field. In this titled Menschen im Wald (People in the Teutoburg Forest as at least enon that has spanned all Oben einsam Rehe grasen, Lonely deer are grazing above. light, the forest becomes in the forest), which sought to partly due to the murkiness of the generations, social classes Und wir ziehen fort und blasen, And we go off and blow our horns, a “deutsch Panier,” or use the background of the forest woodlands, where the native Teu- as well as ideological and Daß es tausendfach verhallt: And it echoes a thousandfold: German banner. to shift the emigrants and great tons slew the Roman troops that political leanings since the Lebe wohl, Farewell, The forest is also the forbearers of German culture were accustomed to open battle Romantic period, during Lebe wohl, du schöner Wald! Farewell, you beautiful forest! chief setting for Carl into the back light of a different fields. The cult of the Hermanns- which painting, poetry Maria von Weber’s Der authenticity. Once again – and schlacht – another term for the and literature, as well as Banner, der so kühle wallt! Banner, so cool aflutter! Freischütz (The Marks- surely not for the last time – the decisive battle – became the foun- the fairy tales and legends Unter deinen grünen Wogen Under your undulations of green, man), the – at least at one forest appears there as a “German dational myth of national identity they helped revitalize, Hast du treu uns auferzogen, How you us faithfully sheltered, time – German national banner.” in the 19th century, and in this carved out a central sym- Frommer Sagen Aufenthalt! Keeper of pious legends! opera. The forest appears context it was in particular the bolic role for the forest. Lebe wohl, Farewell, at once, in the tradition of Lebe wohl, du schöner Wald! Farewell, you beautiful forest! Dieter Borchmeyer is Professor “German oak” that would develop One fruit of this phenom- Tacitus, as a locus terribili Emeritus of Modern German into one of the essential symbols enon has been the birth and as a site of redemp- Literature at the University of of this identity and of Germany’s and sustenance of a con- Was wir still gelobt im Wald, What we lent quiet praise in the forest tion. The nation’s inter- Heidelberg. From 2004 to 2013, Wollens draußen ehrlich halten, We preserve afield with honor, Borchmeyer was president of the heroic national strength. The stant that has pervaded pretation of Der Freischütz Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. German forest versus the French and still pervades German Ewig bleiben treu die Alten: Our fathers remain in ever faith: is above all as a musical In 2017 he published his 1,000- city – no matter how one may culture – an astonishing Deutsch Panier, das rauschend wallt, German banner, waving, rustling, representation of the page study Was ist deutsch? assess the consequences of this fact considering the colos- Lebe wohl, Farewell, German forest. Clear evi- Die Suche einer Nation nach Schirm dich Gott, du schöner Wald! May God protect you, beautiful forest! sich selbst (What is German? dichotomy, it represents a cul- sal upheavals in recent dence of such is a remark A nation’s search for itself). tural opposition that has defined German history and the NORA KRUG BY 2 STANZAS OF FIRST TRANSLATION by Hans Pfitzner, at the .

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