"Take honour from me, and my life is done." - Shakespeare, King Richard

Loss of honor has been a favorite motive for German authors. So long as honor was more important than life itself, then the loss of honor was considered life's greatest tragedy.

We have seen this in several stories that we have read this semester, including "The Criminal of Lost Honor," "Michael Kohlhaas," and even "The Jew's Beech." It has also been seen in the ancient tale "Das Nibelungenlied," through cruel demands, as when Hildebrand must fight his own son or when Rüdeger must fight his Burgundian friends.

In Schiller's story "The Criminal of Lost Honor," instead of giving moral instruction, history serves to satisfy our curiosity. In order for the reader to profit from history, they should not only see what the criminal does, but why he does it. When we see their thoughts and causes, and not strictly their actions and consequences, we can begin to sympathize with the criminal instead of scorning or damning them.

In "The Criminal of Lost Honor," we have Christian Wolf, whose ugliness repulses girls. Trying to compensate for this, he turns to poaching to support a lifestyle who otherwise could not. After being caught three times, he is eventually sent to three years of hard labor. During this time he is corrupted by the other inmates, and once he is released, he finds himself ostracised once more. Despair and shame have robbed him of his ambition and he no longer tries to pass as a man of honor.

After fleeing from the scene, where he killed the man who has caused him so much misery, he joins a gang of robbers and outcasts. He is chosen as their leader, and he is in a position of honor, even if it is among thieves. He soon tires of this life, and tries to win a pardon for his actions by enlisting in the Seven Years War. He is eventually detained enroute by a customs official, where he professes his identity and is later executed.

Schiller's advice that a narrator needs to describe the criminal's act, along with his prior thoughts and feelings is best described in "Michael Kohlhaas." This is a story that depicts the psychological factors that can change a righteous person into a terrifying man of his time. Kohlhaas is offended after two of his best horses are wrongfully detained and then are allowed to be maltreated and worked close to death. Kohlhaas seeks justice by all the legal means available to him. When it is refused he sets out to attack the Tronka castle to get justice.

After learning that the guilty party is not there, he declares a feud on anyone or any city that gives him refuge. Kohlhaas is persuaded by Martin Luther to submit his case to the law, but once again justice is seen as corrupt. Kohlhaas's actions can be attributed to his love of justice. Kohlhaas has priveleges that are violated by the Trunker, and as a result, his honor is attacked.

Although justice is oftentimes mentioned, or inferred in this story, Kohlhaas is concerned with restoring his prestige or honor. If it wasn't for this idea, he would have settled for the compensation rather than insisting that his horses be returned to their previous state. Before the execution, Kohlhaas has the privelege of seeing his horses returned to their 'honorable' state once more.

Schiller's advice about portraying a criminal's motives as well as his deed was shown in Annette von Droste-Hülshoff's story "The Jew's Beech." Frederick Mergel has little honor to begin with, and because of this he guards it with a high regard. Growing up with a drunkard as a father, who eventually dies, and a mother who only has bitter memories persecuted him by the other villagers.

He, like Christian Wolf, tries to overcome his status by dressing well. He begins to brag and show off, and avoids being shamed. He is a cow-herder, which is considered a dishonorable position. He soon becomes friends with Johannes Niemand, who it is believed to be the bastard son of his uncle. Frederick's honor is put to shame after Johannes, who is seen as his protege, is caught stealing butter from a wedding. Trying to make amends and restore his honor, he shows off a watch that is the envy of his colleagues. However, at that time the Jew Aaron, humiliates him once more by demanding payment for the watch. Frederick and Aaron leave the wedding, and soon afterwards the Jew Aaron is found murdered under the Beech tree. Both Johannes and Frederick dissappeared after the ordeal. The local jews by the beech tree and carve an inscription in it , cursing the murderer to die upon his return to the beech tree.

The story ends with Johannes returning to the village. He disappears, and eventually his rotting body is found hanging from the beech tree. It is at this time, when the villagers realize it is actually Frederick who returned and not Johannes.

Due to Frederick's background he tries to maintain a certain appearance to the villagers. He has a touchy sense of honor that made him act aggressively whenever he meets the disapproval of people. He was a delinquent youth, and after his ordeal in Turkey, he began to realize his guilt.

These are just three stories that touch on the idea of honor is German literature. It is something that the author's recognized that their reader's could associate themselves with. Some people grow up with horrible backgrounds: low socioeconomic status, bad upbringing, etc. As they grow older, they want the approval of their peers and hope that, if their background is discovered, it will not bring them shame. If their background is discovered, they may feel that their honor is no longer intact. Once that happens, they may be driven to murder to avenge their loss.

Whether it is justifiable or not, the author's main strategy is to allow the reader to associate themselves witht the criminal. Letting the reader know what the criminal did and the consequences of their actions, along with the reasoning behind them that led them to that action, can help the reader profit from the tale.

Sources:
Jones, George Fenwick. "Honor in German Literature." New York: Ams Press, Inc. 1966

"Der Verdacht" - Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Friedrich Dürrenmatt was a Swiss playwright and dramatist. He achieved prominence after World War II in both Switzerland and Germany.

"Der Verdacht," or Suspicion is the second installment of the Detective Barlach series. Here we find the detective bedridden with terminal cancer. After looking at a picture on the cover of a magazine, he begins to suspect that a respected doctor, Emmenberger, is really a Nazi war criminal, Dr. Nehle. Dr. Nehle is a sadist who operated on Jews in concentration camps. It sound harmless, however, all of these procedures were done without any anesthesia.

Trying to prove his suspicion correctly, Barlach lets himself become a patient of Emmenberger, and eventually his prisoner. After confirming his suspicion, Emmenberger reveals that he is indeed Dr. Nehle, but he has no fear of being found out, because he plans on killing Barlach by performing a surgery without anesthesia. Barlach is saved by a Jew named Gulliver, who managed to survive a horrible operation performed by Dr. Nehle in a concentration camp. We also learn that he is the one who snapped the picture of Dr. Nehle and submitted it to the magazine.

In this story we get a change of roles. Gulliver, who once found himself as the victim, now is the murderer when he kills Emmenberger.

Dürrenmatt wrote, "Wir können als einzelne die Welt nich retten, das wäre eine ebenso hoffnungslose Arbeit wie die des armen Sisyphus; sie ist nicht in unsere Hand gelegt, auch nicht in die Hand eines Mächtigen oder eines Volkes oder in die des Teufels, der doch am mächtigsten ist, sondern in Gottes Hand, der seine Entscheide allein fällt." (from Der Verdacht)

Sisyphus' punishment was set forth by the greek God Zeus, because of his arrogance that he believed he could outsmart Zeus. Sisyphus reported the indiscretions of Zeus to the river God, Asopus, and as a direct result Zeus punished him to an eternity of frustration. He was punished for eternity to roll a huge boulder up a hill, and just as he was about to reach the top of the hill, it would roll back down, forcing him to begin all over again

This is interesting, because through several of the stories, we talked about revenge. In our first story, "Der Verbrecher aus verlornere Ehre," we had a man who was a victim to his society and sought his revenge by killing the man who caused him this anguish. In "Michael Kohlhaas" we have a man who tried to seek revenge for the wrongs done to him, by seeking help from the legal justice system. When they legal system failed him, he, too, sought his own revenge. In the above example about Sisyphus, we have a God who punishes a person as his revenge.

Dürrenmatt said that it is not in our hands, and that it is in the hand of God alone, in which the decision falls. But now we have a sample of a God who is seeking revenge as well.

In an article entitled “Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Chaos and Calvinism,” by Edward Diller, he poses why Dürrenmatt, as a man of the twentieth century, should not assume that man has the power or capacity to improve on the world, or even aid in his own redemption. The reason behind this is that to believe so, would strip God of His power and His glory, and assume that man has the ability of salvation. Diller proposes that the question pressing on Dürrenmatt is “How God can be glorified in an age that rejects the whole question as ridiculous?”Man robs God of His glory, then, by ignoring his existence or by rebelling.

Diller, Edward. "Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Chaos and Calvinism." Monatshefte. Spring, 1971. Retrieved from JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30156508?&Search=yes&term=%22Der+Verdacht%22&term=Friedrich&term=D%C3%BCrrenmatt%27s&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DFriedrich%2BD%25C3%25BCrrenmatt%2527s%2B%2522Der%2BVerdacht%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3DFriedrich%2BD%25C3%25BCrrenmatt%2527s%2B%2522Der%2BRichter%2Bund%2Bsein%2BHenker%2522%2B%2BGluttony%252C%2BVictory%252C%2BAND%2BJustice%2BFriedrich%2BD%25C3%25BCrrenmatt%2527s%2B%2522Der%2BVerdacht%2522%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&item=1&ttl=8&returnArticleService=showArticle&cookieSet=1. Pp. 28-40

Der Letzte Sommer - Ricarda Huch

People, today, kill for various reasons. Oftentimes they kill for vengeance, an argument gone wrong, gang killings, political reasons, and sometimes even because they have to.

With a lot of our stories we have read thus far, vengeance or revenge has been a centralized theme. People killing because of a wrong done to them, and they feel that the only way to get even is to take the law into their own hands and kill those who wronged them.

Growing up near Minneapolis, I heard a lot of gang related killings on the news. Gangs fighting each other for no reason, other than to simply kill each other. Sometimes they are fighting over turf, and sometimes new members are required to kill someone as an initiation.

Sometimes, people have to kill in their profession. Soldiers and officers are a couple of the professions where they are required to carry a weapon. Soldiers are required to kill others in the line of duty. In certain situations, it may be necessary for officers to take the life of another. As an officer, we have the power to not only take a person's rights away from them, but we have the tools necessary to take a person's life. Once a shot is fired, it cannot be taken back. At that point, an officer is accountable for every action he or she makes. That is why it is necessary that they have a reason to fire their weapon.

"Der Letzte Sommer," or "The Last Summer," was written by German author and poet, Ricarda Huch. Here is a link to a site that gives a brief biography of Huch: http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/HuchRicarda/

"The Last Summer," is a novel about a government minister who shuts down a University due to unruly riots and protests. Instead of considering the value that this University has, he makes the eventual decision to shut it down. His own children begin to protest the shutting down of the University, and eventually they seek education elsewhere.

One of the important things I feel that Huch is trying to convey in this story is, whether or not it is necessary to kill for one's political beliefs. Huch writes a story about how Lju kills the minister, Jegor, by connecting a bomb to the "J" key on his keyboard. As with many assassination attempts, or successes (if you can call them that), there are often casualties. In this case, we have Lusinja, who, unfortunately, was killed as well.

I understand that people have opinions - strong opinions - on issues today. But does that give a person the right to take the life of another simply because they do not agree? I believe strongly in standing up for what you believe in and sticking your ground. However, it is hard for me to imagine killing in order to get my point across. If everyone went around killing whenever someone opposed their beliefs, it would wreak havoc in the world.

But, then there is a problem of how do you solve the issue. When it is simply between two people, a mediator can get involved and help resolve an issue before it escalates. When it comes to two countries with opposing view points, it becomes more difficult to solve. You can't just call a meeting of the minds and make everything better. It is on a much bigger scale, with planning between government officials, and oftentimes, the results are not immediate.No matter what is decided, there is going to be someone angry at the outcome. Which then leads, once more, to the killing for your own beliefs.

Is it justifiable to take another life for what you believe in? It is a difficult decision for some to make, however, in my opinion, I believe that nobody should be able to take another person's life unless it was absolutely necessary. Killing for self defense or when your life is in jeopardy...then yes, do what you can to protect yourself. But to kill simply because you don't see eye to eye with some...no, find another way to solve your issue or simply agree to disagree.

In the Penal Colony - Franz Kafka

“In the Penal Colony,” by Franz Kafka, we have a story about a soldier who is to be punished for not following orders. An outsider is brought into this penal colony to see the practices that are employed when it comes to punishment. We have four characters: The Officer, The Soldier, The Explorer and The Condemned man. The explorer is a visitor to the colony and is sent by the Commandant to watch the execution of the accused man, while the officer eagerly describes the apparatus designed for execution.

Through this discussion I will talk a little about the following: the apparatus, judicial procedure, justice and judgement, suffering, and tradition.

The Apparatus:
It was designed by the Commandant to write a commandment on the body of the condemned man. This is very complicated and illegible. The commandment ‘written’ on the condemned’s body is the one he is guilty of, and it is inscribed by a slow rotation of the body against various needle. This is designed to “enlighten” the prisoner, who slowly feels the commandment being etched in his skin.

Judicial Procedure:
In our society today we have a set judicial procedure for those accused of a crime. In the United States we have set standards that our government has to follow when dealing with criminals, and these are set forth by our Constitution. In the penal colony, the accused is not aware of his sentence beforehand, and his is not given a trial in order to defend the charges against him. In the penal colony, it is presumed that the condemned is guilty. In our story, The Condemned Man was accused of insubordination, and without trial he will have “Honor Thy Superiors” written on his back.
In the U.S., according to the 5th Amendment:

No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and shall not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without the due process of the law. We can not deprive a person of these things, unless, a person is found guilty. We also have the 6th Amendment as follows:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

The 6th amendment guarantees us the right to a trial by an impartial jury, and to be informed of the accusation against us.

When it came time for executions in the penal colony, children were allowed to watch. At an execution in this day in age, there is no way that any child would be allowed to watch it. I believe it is just the family of the accused, and the family of the victim, plus various lawyers and doctors that are allowed to be.

Here is a picture that depicts children watching an execution in the penal colony:




Justice and Judgement:
This sort of relates back to our judicial procedure. “In the Penal Colony,” there is a rather unique idea of justice and punishment. It is based on the idea that “guilt is never to be doubted.” The accused are not given an opportunity to defend themselves, and often times do not know what they have done wrong. Instead, they are put through a tortuous, 12 hour long, ordeal where they inevitably die. The Explorer wholeheartedly finds the execution process as unjust and inhumane. Yet, the officer reveres it as the highest kind of justice.

Suffering:

The apparatus designed for execution is designed to inflict pain and suffering of the accused. As the machine slowly writes the punishment on the body of the accused, they are said to have this ‘enlightenment,’ to learn something from through the pain he otherwise could not learn. I do not know if I would go as far as saying the accused is enlightened. Rather that he has this sense of defeat, which he realizes there is no opportunity for escape and that death is inevitable.

Traditions and customs:

In this story, the officer is strongly attached to tradition, and in particular, to the execution of justice, which has been established by the old Commandant. As the colony leaves behind the traditions set forth by the old Commandant, the officer continues to hold onto them and is soon the only one left defending them. In an attempt to win over the opinion of the Explorer, who is a foreigner to the colony, he realizes that the tradition needs to end. The traditional justice system is seen as barbaric and inhumane.



Throughout the story, we learn about this penal colony that was founded by an old Commandant. As rules were set, the whole colony stood behind them. Throughout the years, the members of the colony shied away from the traditions, perhaps they realized how unjust and inhumane they were. As time goes on, there is only one person who truly believes that the whole justice system is right and just and that there is no need to change it. It is not until he gets an outsider’s view that he realizes that the old ways are dying out.

As with any sort of justice system, there is a beginning. We start with an idea, and as we progress as a society, we can recognize what is working and what is not. The greatest challenge is to not only be able to recognize what is not working, but being able to accept it and try to change it, instead of trying to hold onto the old ways simply because that is the traditional way.

Source:
"In the Penal Colony." Schmoop. http://www.shmoop.com/penal-colony/

In the Penal Colony

Here is a link to the video that we watched in class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StwAGxbPxlU

Here are some suggestions that could have been done differently in my opinion:

1. I was not impressed with the machine. I had this image as I was reading the story about the machine. From reading I thought it was suppose to be a bed of cotton on the ground, and the man was stripped naked and place on his stomach while the harrows enscribed the message on the man's back.

2. The script could have been better. There were a lot of details that were left out. I understand it was a low budget film, but some of the information they leave out is pertinent to the story line.

Ideas from "Die Judenbuche" (The Jew's Beech) by Annette von Druste-Hülshoff

“Die Judenbuche,” tells the story about Friedrich Mergel, son of Margreth and Hermann Mergel. The body of Hermann Mergel, the town drunkard who beats his wife, is found after freezing to death while intoxicated. He is taken under the wing of his uncle, Simon Semmler. After the death of Brandis, the forester, Friedrich suspects Simon, however, no justice is done. Around the age of twelve, we meet Friedrich’s double, Johannes Niemand (Nobody), who is believed to be the illegitimate son of Simon.

The villagers of the B consist of a drunkard, a wood thief and a murderer (Simon), a woman, who is disillusioned after she realizes that she cannot control her abusing husband and her son leaves, a feeble-minded youth who appears as Friedrich’s double, and then Friedrich, himself. A young, influential boy who grows up in these surroundings can easily fall ‘victim.’

After being confronted about money owed to the Jew Aaron, Friedrich is embarrassed in front of the whole village during the wedding. Three days later, the body of the Jew Aaron is found and Friedrich, suspected of his murder, is nowhere to be found.
28 years later, a stranger shows up in the village of B and takes refuge with local villagers. It is learned that this old, stranger is in fact Johannes Nobody. While running an errand, Johannes does not return and eventually his body is found hanging from the beech tree. Once the body is taken down, it is learned that the person really hanging from the tree is Friedrich Mergel. In the bark of the tree is an inscription ” If you approach this place, you will suffer what you inflicted upon me.” It is concluded that Friedrich killed himself over his guilt for killing the Jew Aaron.

After our class discussions, I realized that there are several various ideas that can be discussed about „Die Judenbuche.“ To begin with, there is the idea of whether this story fits the criteria of a novella. With following the classification of a Novella, one can determine that the “falcon” or “die Falke” of the story is the beech tree. This is where they find the murdered body of the Jew Aaron and eventually the body of his accused murderer, Friedrich.

We also talked about the symbolism of the tree. One interesting idea is that a tree is often seen as the symbol of life. The irony being that so much death is seen around the main tree in our story. Or how, today, our ancestral heritage is often seen in family trees. The first death by the beech tree was Friedrich’s father, Hermann and the last death in this story was Friedrich’s. The other two deaths, Brandis the forester and the Jew Aaron, were committed by members of the same family, Friedrich’s uncle Simon and Friedrich, respectively.

There is another interesting aspect of the Doppelgänger, or ghostly double of a person. It is believed by some that somewhere in the world, there is a person who is just like us. Whether you believe this, or not, is up to you. However, this concept is apparent in “Die Judenbuche.” Friedrich meets his own double, Johannes, who it is believed to be the illegitimate son of Simon. This would make it Friedrich’s cousin, and, therefore, the resemblance between the two is no real coincidence. After what is believed to be Johannes’ body is removed from the beech tree, one person is able to identify it as Friedrich based on a scar. The boys were so much alike that it was only a small scar that helped a villager distinguish between the two.


Sources:
Coenen, Frederic E. The "Idee" in Annette von Droste-Hulshoff's Die Judenbuche. The German Quarterly. Vol. 12, No. 4 (Nov., 1939), pp. 204-209. http://www3.northern.edu:2105/stable/pdfplus/400421.pdf

Karlsen, Kathleen. „The Symbolism of Trees.“ 19. March 2010. http://www.livingartsoriginals.com/infoforests.htm

Eine kurze Biografie von Jeremias Gotthelf:

Das wohl bekanntes Porträt des Dichters


http://www.gotthelf.ch/Geschichte/Lebenslauf.htm

Jeremias Gotthelf war der Künstlername von Albert Bitzius. Er war 4. Oktober, 1797 geburt und 22. Oktober, 1854 gestorben. Er war der Sohn des Pfarrers Sigmund Bitzius und seiner 3. Ehefrau, Elisabeth. Sein Vater war nach Utzenstorf im 1805 versetzt. Albert und sein Bruder war von ihrem Vater unterrichtet. Albert hat seine Bildung im Berlin beendet. Im 1831 er ging als Mitarbeiter des Pfarrer von Lützelflühs und war sein Nachfolger bennante. Er hat drei Kinder: ein Sohn der Pfarrer auch war und zwei Tochter, die beide einer Pfarrer geheiraten.

Seine Werke:

1836 Der Bauernspiegel

1840 Ueli der Knecht

1842 Die schwarze Spinne

1848 Ueli der Pächter

1859 Die Käserei in der Vehfreude

1852 Zeitgeist und Berner Geist