Germany [antikvár]

Joseph S. Rippier: Germany - rather personal Writing a short introduction to an illustrated book on Germany is a little like cramming three pounds of strawberries into a pound pot. It can be done of course, but only at the expense of the shape and the goodness of the fruit. All that remains is a sweet tantalising aroma. But perhaps that is the sole justification for an introduction to a book of pictures: it must attempt to whct the appetite without killing it. The pictures in this book show glimpses of many sides of Germán life and of the Germán countryside. They reflect aspects of a rich and eventful history. Photographs are, however, but impressions, caught in a fraction of a second and petrified. The traveller must search out these places and breathe life into them by seeing and experiencing for himself. Since its very beginnings, Germany has been in a state of flux, its borders expanding and contracting like an enormous lung in the middle of Europe. Having such a central position, it has been exposed to every political and cultural movement in European history, and this crosspollination of ideas has given it a heritage, in somé spheres, second to none. For the past twenty years, Germany has been re-building over the ashes of 1945. It has been subjected to world publicity at every turn, with the result that its image has become rather blurred. The generally accepted idea of any country is normally at least fifty years out of date but is very difficult to dislodge. It is interesting, though mildly distressing, to discover how unchanged certain ideas have remained, even after two world wars. What, for example, does the average Germán think of England and the English? In his heart of hearts he still sees the Englishman as a bowler-hatted figure, somewhat unapproachable, encased in a shell of rigid ideas and prejudices and shrouded permanently in the fog for which the country is notorious. For him, the Englishman has a strange sense of humour, best understood by his own kind, and a code of behaviour which may make him a perfect gentleman but a poor lover. The tremendous social changes which have taken place in England have been reported on outside the country, but have somehow not replaced older, more picturesque misconceptions. Similarly, the accepted image of Germans has remained the same, in spite of the "Economic Miracle," and tends to be a mixture of the stiff, hard-working Prussian, and the jolly, pleasure-loving Bavarian. One indication though, of how much things have changed, may