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German Monuments in the Americas

After coming to the United States, Thomas Mann was appointed Consultant in Germanic Languages and Literatures at the Library of Congress, which has one of the largest German collections in the world. Part of his responsibilities was to present an annual lecture at the Library of Congress. This collection consists of the lectures he held there, and deals with the following topics: The Theme of the Joseph Novels; The War and the Future; Germany and the Germans; Nietzsche's Philosophy in the Light of Contemporary Events; and, Goethe and Democracy. In America, Thomas Mann was looked on as an authority figure, and was even referred to as the «Kaiser of the German émigrés», and as a latter-day Goethe. As the most influential and respected German in America, his lectures no doubt contributed to the American image of Germany, as well as of German culture in general, and are of great interest and significance as they relate to the history of German-American relations.

No century in modern European history has built monuments with more enthusiasm than the 19th. Of the hundreds of monuments erected, those which sprang from a nation-wide initiative and addressed themselves to a nation, rather than part of a nation, we may call national monuments. Nelson¿s Column in London or the Arc de Triomphe in Paris are obvious examples. In Germany the 19th century witnessed a veritable flood of monuments, many of which rank as national monuments. These reflected and contributed to a developing sense of national identity and the search for national unity; they also document an unsuccessful effort to create a «genuinely German» style. They constitute a historical record, quite apart from aesthetic appeal or ideological message. As this historical record is examined, German national monuments of the 19th century are described and interpreted against the background of the nationalism which gave birth to them.