Caroline Bland

Prussian, Rhinelander or German? Regional and National Identities in the Historical Novels of Clara Viebig

The foundation of the German Empire in 1871 required the acceptance of Prussian dominance by the other German states. The Imperial government in Berlin wished to redefine German culture and history to bring it in line with Prussian culture and history. Popular novels, especially in the fashionable historical mode, had an im- portant role to play in this consciousness-building exercise. Clara Viebig’s novels Die Wacht am Rhein (1902) and Das schlafende Heer (1904) may be seen both as part of this process and as critical reflections of it, insofar as they take the increas- ing influence of Prussia on the Rhineland and Poland as their subject matter. Al- though Viebig does portray her Prussian characters with empathy and some warmth, she is less sympathetic to Prussia’s expansionism and its effects on the lo- cal populations. It is therefore appropriate to ask whether her novels actually help to construct or to subvert a sense of national identity on the Prussian model in Im- perial Germany.

The unification of Germany after the foundation of the Empire in 1871 was the culmination of a long and gradual process of Prussian expansion- ism which had continued throughout the nineteenth century. For the new Imperial government in Berlin it was vital to build a national identity which emphasised the centrality of Prussia to Germany as a whole. 1 Al- though economic and political dominance were the key factors in produc- ing a unified state, hegemony could only be achieved if all areas of cultural life – religion, education, art and history – were imbued with and defended the values which were traditionally perceived as Prussian. Popular culture had a large role to play in this consciousness-building process. With cin- ema in its infancy, popular novels, especially in the fashionable historical mode, could help to consolidate or even create a common history, com-

1 Compare Stefan Berger: The Search for Normality: National Identity and Historical Consciousness in Germany since 1800. Oxford 1997. P. 33: “Precisely because there was too little popular national identity, because the Reich was created as an alliance of sovereigns rather than a federal state, and because anti-Prussian feelings were far from absent in other German states, the unification process had to be aided by a conscious propagation of nationalist feeling.” See also John Breuilly: Nationalism and the State. Manchester 1993. Pp. 111f. 384 memorating past events, public figures and even customs. 2 One of the most successful and prolific writers in Germany in the early years of the twenti- eth century was Clara Viebig (1860-1952). Between 1897 and 1914 alone, she published fourteen novels, nine collections of Novellen, and five plays. Not only were most of her early novels bestsellers in the bookshops, they were also a permanent feature on the lists of the most frequently borrowed library books. Viebig was generally well-respected by contemporary cri- tics, who sometimes classified her as a Naturalist and sometimes as a Hei- matdichterin. Although most of her work had a contemporary setting, she also wrote several historical novels. Two of these, Die Wacht am Rhein (1902) and Das schlafende Heer (1904), explore Prussia’s struggle to maintain its hold on peripheral territories and the impact of this policy on local people. Questions of regional and national identity lie at the heart of these texts, and are shown to take precedence over politics and economics in the decisions taken by the characters. In this article I propose to consider the historical background to the texts and to examine Viebig’s presentation of how regional identity could develop into national identity and what fa- cilitated or hindered this process. I also examine to what extent Viebig equates specific value systems and religious beliefs with regional identity. The questions of regional and national identity affected her directly, be- cause her family connections with Posen, the Rhineland, the Eifel and Ber- lin made it difficult for her to identify solely with one particular region, and she used all four areas as settings for her fiction. Her parents were originally from the Grand Duchy of Posen (Poznan) and she spent many family holidays with her relatives there. Her father came from a family of Prussian estate-owners, who felt it was their task to uphold and defend the German language and customs against Polish nationalism in Posen. Viebig herself grew up in Düsseldorf, where her father held high office in the re- gional government from 1868 until 1881. She was born in Trier, however, and finished her education there in the household of a former colleague of her father’s. During this year, she accompanied her host, a Landsgerichts- rat, when he went to investigate cases in the Eifel villages and conse- quently she came to know the area very well. After her father’s death, she and her mother moved from Düsseldorf to Berlin, where she spent most of her adult life. 3 Viebig was also concerned to address topical issues in her work. These included the effects of industrialisation on rural communities, the rapid ex-

2 An exploration of the cultural aspects of national identity can be found in Anthony D. Smith: National Identity. Harmondsworth 1991. 3 Barbara Krauß -Theim: Naturalismus und Heimatkunst bei Clara Viebig: Darwin- istische-evolutionäre Naturvorstellungen und ihre ästhetischen Reaktionsformen. Frankfurt/M. 1992. Pp. 102, 104, 110.