Model of the Goethe House before the renovation in 1775
bombed out Altstadt Frankfurt, 1944
Creating the most pain was an elegant 5-storey building that had been the cradle of German culture, home of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). Goethe had recalled it was to Goethehaus that he owed his literary passion, where he’d learned to love Italy, antiquity and nature; where he wrote some of his most famous works including Faust.
This house had been bombed in 1943 by the British but the blaze was contained. Luckily prisoners of war ensured a temporary roof protecting the house. The next British bomb in 1944 was much worse when nothing was left except the cellar, foundations and one fragile wall. The German press exploded with anger, describing the bombing as terrorism. Rhein-Mainishe Zeitung claimed that in destroying this part of the civilised world, the Allies committed an outrageous assault on the German soul that demanded revenge.
This house had been bombed in 1943 by the British but the blaze was contained. Luckily prisoners of war ensured a temporary roof protecting the house. The next British bomb in 1944 was much worse when nothing was left except the cellar, foundations and one fragile wall. The German press exploded with anger, describing the bombing as terrorism. Rhein-Mainishe Zeitung claimed that in destroying this part of the civilised world, the Allies committed an outrageous assault on the German soul that demanded revenge.
Ernst Beutler and colleague
sitting in the rubble of Goethehaus
Ernst Beutler (1885-1960), historian, Goethe researcher and Goethehaus Director, had already foreseen the danger, and began safeguarding the house in 1939 by moving paintings to safety. By 1943 the entire library had been crated & shipped. Beutler was as careful with the building, having detailed architectural drawings prepared and photographs taken.
Once the Free German Foundation, which ran Goethehaus, had given its approval in Apr 1944, Beutler launched an awareness campaign: leaflets, newsletters and volunteer lists. Having devoted much of his career to Goethe’s memory, reconstruction seemed mandatory.
Alas others thought differently. Post-war Germany, now occupied and divided, was no longer the nation it had been. As people struggled to come to terms with the Third Reich, guilt began to grow. Though most were anxious to put the Nazi years behind them, it was a rare person who didn’t value Germany’s cultural past.
Post-war, Eugen Blanck & Werner Hebebrand were appointed Frankfurt City Planning Office’s new chiefs. Committed modernists, they focused on affordable housing, determined to rebuild Frankfurt along functional, egalitarian lines. Anticipating a bitter struggle within the City Council and with Beutler, they created a survey of leading architects who opposed reconstruction, and started a new press campaign
Even Germany’s most prominent writers and artists, who shared a deep admiration for Goethe’s works and referred to his Frankfurt years with pride, were concerned about what rebuilding Goethehaus would mean post-war. Poet Reinhold Schneider saw hero-worship. A leading anti-war figure, Schneider’s works were banned by the Third Reich and he became the Conscience of the Nation. He detected in Beutler’s plan a cultish hint, like the adulation piled on Hitler. If West Germany was to rise from the ashes, Schneider thought it vital to rescue the German spirit from itself.
Modernist architect Otto Bartning said Beutler’s promise of a faithful reconstruction was a devious commitment. Since Goethe’s father remodelled it, building methods had changed, new materials were introduced and regulations were tightened. Even with a large budget, Beutler could only produce an imitation. Lack of authenticity made Beutler’s plan a giant lie, deceiving the public with a false image of the past. Given all that Germany had experienced since 1933, this was the opposite of what was needed.
Many worried about costs. Philosopher Dolf Sternberger struggled to justify spending money so many were homeless. Since history was less valuable than the lives of ordinary citizens, they should have erected a simple Goethe memorial on the rubble. What might I have said, had the Melbourne Shrine or Sydney Harbour Bridge been bombed?
Beutler thought it easiest to go behind the Planning Office! But when he heard Blanck and Hebebrand, it was clear that a sneaky approach was inappropriate. So he began writing to politicians, writers and scholars for support. His appeals were elegant and charming, different from his opponents’ rants. They succeeded! Within weeks Beutler received help from industrialist Richard Merton, Social Democratic politician Kurt Schumacher and novelist Ernst Wiechert.
The most important backing came from Hermann Hesse. With his friend Thomas Mann, 1929 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature, Hesse dominated German literature. Hesse’s novels won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. Though he remained in Swiss exile, Hesse had devoted his career to exploring the individual’s quest for authenticity. But he was not an uncritical Goethe fan. Goethe was the blight of Hesse’s intellectual life, boring, pompous and drunk, even though he regarded Goethe as an important writer for the post-war era. Hesse was acutely aware that there were other more pressing needs in Germany but he was still convinced that Beutler’s plan was a vital enterprise. It wasn’t just that Goethehaus had represented the loss of something beautiful. Rather it was so important in its potential to force present/future people to think critically.
Goethehaus today
Hesse’s intervention was decisive. In Apr 1947 Beutler won City Council approval to re-build Old Goethehaus. Blanck and Hebebrand were horrified. 3 months later André Gide (French Nobel Prize winner in Literature 1947) presided over laying the foundations. Mayor Walter Kolb saw the house as a place of peace and spiritual understanding between nations. 2 years later, Goethehaus triumphantly reopened.
Goethe's library rebuilt
Beutler received the 1960 Goethe Prize for rebuilding of Goethehaus. He died in Frankfurt that year.
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12 comments:
Only personal connect I have with the city, my son landed there as he was going to Cairo
The rebuilt version is beautiful, I am so glad that happened.
After 1945, there was a major debate about the usefulness of reconstruction. City planning director and head of the planning office Werner Hebebrand and city building inspector Eugen Blanck rejected the reconstruction of the Goethe House, as did the Catholic publicist Walter Dirks . A survey conducted by the German Werkbund Hessen among architects and art historians in 1947 produced the same result, and the first issue of the magazine ” baukunst und werkform ” published the following basic requirement for reconstruction: “The destroyed heritage must not be historically reconstructed; it can only be created in a new form for new tasks.”
The “reconstructionists” included the Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse , the philosopher Karl Jaspers and the industrialist Richard Merton, who had returned from exile . They argued that not only parts of the building but also the historical furnishings of the house had been preserved, and that these, presented neutrally in a modern museum, would never have the same effect as in the original setting. In addition, the very good documentation prepared before the destruction made it possible to rebuild the building as faithfully as possible, using authentic materials and original craftsmanship wherever possible. Ultimately, the supporters of reconstruction prevailed. Reconstruction was completed in 1951.
It looks a good building in your photo Hels. Interesting to read about that time too.
peppyl
I too knew quite a lot about Berlin, Munich and Cologne, but had never visited Frankfurt. My late son was a travel agent, so I relied on him quite a lot.
River,
Goethe was so important to German literature and culture, it was unthinkable to let the rubble remain, post WW2. The more the original house was restored, the better.
Our Frankfurt Mission,
I agree with your reconstructionists. Authentic materials and original restores not the minute heritage but the importance of Goethe to German culture and history.
Margaret
And what an amazing era it was! Imagine if a McDonalds opened on Goethe's land, and tourists never visited the centre of his literary passion again.
It is very unlikely that Goethe would have supported Hitler. I don't know if this was true, but Geothe was called a hero of humanism, universalism and freedom. His cosmopolitan world view clearly opposed vigorous nationalism and racial hate. This would have made Goethe a likely target for Nazi rage.
Deb
the difference between individual freedom, nationalism and humanism must have been very great, comparing the late 18th century with the mid 20th century.
And another thing. Goethe really did believe in the importance of individual freedom etc. But he also recognised the dangers of unchecked individualism and prmoted harmonising personal liberty with collective responsibility.
The Casa di Goethe library is a publicly accessible reference library with c8,500 volumes at present on the Goethe era; the tradition of journeys to Italy; German and Italian literary and intellectual history; and the cultural relationships between the two countries. Many books are also being used for exhibition purposes, in particular bibliophilic treasures. In addition, there is an extensive stock of illustrated editions of contemporary-modern provenance in the library.
Thank you. Casa di Goethe library in Rome is extremely impressive, yes.
The library and his father's art collection are in Goethe House Frankfurt as photographed above, more personal but open to the public nonetheless
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