Value as a whole lie in telling the subjective edification of reality, which formed the collective
experience of ww1
Limits: cant tell us about the frequency with which soldiers write home, whether more was written
during stressful battle times, or less
Censorship- risky to convey fear and defeatism, as this could have had consequences. Self
censorship- people may have limited the sense of fear or anger to protect loved ones
Cant generalise about how representative the letters are of a socially diverse army
Conscritption in germany started 2nd march 1916. Anyine writing before this was a volunteer.
Hellwich was the only one who may have been conscripted
Letters were generally a safe space to convey/ ‘an outlet’ emotions and ‘to recount experiences’ an
intimate history of the front: masculinity sexuality and german.. by j crouthamel, pp6
Letters
SOURCE 1- p69 WALTER ROY, student of medicine. briefly mentions delights of childhood.
SOURCE 2- p149 KURT PETERSON, talks of the delights of the sunshine, longing for parents
SOURCE 3- p299 HERO HELLWICH, quotes hamlet, talks of how the romantic view of war differs to
reality. religious
examine why the letters collection as a whole is important- what effect do the students' letters have
together? -th fact that there are so many adds to the universality of the war, that the feelings of
resignation to death wer felt by all the youth.
examine reaction to the letters
p 99 Literature at War, 1914-1940: Representing the "time of Greatness" in Germany
By Wolfgang G. Natter
the students letters collection as a whole is important because the students speak as a whole, with
'one voice', which adds to the veracity and the grandeur and totality of the war.
p102 'the reviewer of the Sozialistische Monatshefte (1917, p. 652 was moved by "the reflective,
brooding youn men for whom the war had opened a view of new and large problems. that which
appears most humanly touching is the emerging inner tension btween natural human egotism and
devotion to the general welfare." the Deutsche Tageszeitung (February 9, 1916) praised the
"unexpected" idealism of student thought: "what strikes one at once about this generation of youth
is their renewed idealism in sensibility and desire. all pettiness and egotism, all self importance,
boredom and dissipation, all inclination for empty pleasures and enticements, have disapeared. one
experiences the enormity of things, and thatgrants the strength to resign oneself to death."'
'the letters "deliver movin and also literarily outstanding depictions of th horror of battles and the
unspeakable troubles and sufferings of trench warfare" (Propylaen Munchner Zeitrung, February 14,
1916)' the u in munchner has an umlought
, letters 'private expressions of emotion
'witkop put the book together himself and eleminated those elements of letters which did not
accord with his own views. reorganisezed the selection to reinforce the heroic image of german
students....intended to offer a politically correct view of war... time of grandeur'p178
from the great war in history; debates and controversies, 1914 to the present, jay winterm antoine
prost
nb was meant to be celebratory for when after germany had won- celebate those lost
humble- resigned to death
politics- idealists?
cultures? walks, countryside
relations, marriage
wheres the debate? -in the utility of the sources, as witkop had his own agenda in selecting these
sources
‘The collection thus represented first, “young people” and second, the intellectual elite serving their
nation. The war letters were quoted as illustration and evidence of the purported purity of the young
volunteers
the war letters frequently represented, beginning in the late 1920s, the enthusiasm, the purity of
self-sacrifice, and consequently the innocence of the German people
The war letters embodied the collective, the disappearance of the individual as part of the people as
a whole, and also offered readers opportunities to identify with individuals.
The volume was read as testimony to the subjective war experience of the letter writers; the letters
presented a moral interpretation of the war as a personal challenge, catharsis, and a test, ignoring
political assessments and questions about the causes and motives. The selection and arrangement
generated the image of an apolitical, ethical war experience’
quotes from https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/witkop_philipp
Reviewed Work(s): The Heroic Earth: Geopolitical Thought in Weimar Germany, 1918-1933
by David Thomas Murphy
Review by: Carole Fink
Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 105, No. 4 (Oct., 2000), pp. 1413-1414
experience of ww1
Limits: cant tell us about the frequency with which soldiers write home, whether more was written
during stressful battle times, or less
Censorship- risky to convey fear and defeatism, as this could have had consequences. Self
censorship- people may have limited the sense of fear or anger to protect loved ones
Cant generalise about how representative the letters are of a socially diverse army
Conscritption in germany started 2nd march 1916. Anyine writing before this was a volunteer.
Hellwich was the only one who may have been conscripted
Letters were generally a safe space to convey/ ‘an outlet’ emotions and ‘to recount experiences’ an
intimate history of the front: masculinity sexuality and german.. by j crouthamel, pp6
Letters
SOURCE 1- p69 WALTER ROY, student of medicine. briefly mentions delights of childhood.
SOURCE 2- p149 KURT PETERSON, talks of the delights of the sunshine, longing for parents
SOURCE 3- p299 HERO HELLWICH, quotes hamlet, talks of how the romantic view of war differs to
reality. religious
examine why the letters collection as a whole is important- what effect do the students' letters have
together? -th fact that there are so many adds to the universality of the war, that the feelings of
resignation to death wer felt by all the youth.
examine reaction to the letters
p 99 Literature at War, 1914-1940: Representing the "time of Greatness" in Germany
By Wolfgang G. Natter
the students letters collection as a whole is important because the students speak as a whole, with
'one voice', which adds to the veracity and the grandeur and totality of the war.
p102 'the reviewer of the Sozialistische Monatshefte (1917, p. 652 was moved by "the reflective,
brooding youn men for whom the war had opened a view of new and large problems. that which
appears most humanly touching is the emerging inner tension btween natural human egotism and
devotion to the general welfare." the Deutsche Tageszeitung (February 9, 1916) praised the
"unexpected" idealism of student thought: "what strikes one at once about this generation of youth
is their renewed idealism in sensibility and desire. all pettiness and egotism, all self importance,
boredom and dissipation, all inclination for empty pleasures and enticements, have disapeared. one
experiences the enormity of things, and thatgrants the strength to resign oneself to death."'
'the letters "deliver movin and also literarily outstanding depictions of th horror of battles and the
unspeakable troubles and sufferings of trench warfare" (Propylaen Munchner Zeitrung, February 14,
1916)' the u in munchner has an umlought
, letters 'private expressions of emotion
'witkop put the book together himself and eleminated those elements of letters which did not
accord with his own views. reorganisezed the selection to reinforce the heroic image of german
students....intended to offer a politically correct view of war... time of grandeur'p178
from the great war in history; debates and controversies, 1914 to the present, jay winterm antoine
prost
nb was meant to be celebratory for when after germany had won- celebate those lost
humble- resigned to death
politics- idealists?
cultures? walks, countryside
relations, marriage
wheres the debate? -in the utility of the sources, as witkop had his own agenda in selecting these
sources
‘The collection thus represented first, “young people” and second, the intellectual elite serving their
nation. The war letters were quoted as illustration and evidence of the purported purity of the young
volunteers
the war letters frequently represented, beginning in the late 1920s, the enthusiasm, the purity of
self-sacrifice, and consequently the innocence of the German people
The war letters embodied the collective, the disappearance of the individual as part of the people as
a whole, and also offered readers opportunities to identify with individuals.
The volume was read as testimony to the subjective war experience of the letter writers; the letters
presented a moral interpretation of the war as a personal challenge, catharsis, and a test, ignoring
political assessments and questions about the causes and motives. The selection and arrangement
generated the image of an apolitical, ethical war experience’
quotes from https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/witkop_philipp
Reviewed Work(s): The Heroic Earth: Geopolitical Thought in Weimar Germany, 1918-1933
by David Thomas Murphy
Review by: Carole Fink
Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 105, No. 4 (Oct., 2000), pp. 1413-1414
