The essence of Austria is not the center but the periphery

Of course, it is the Slovenes, the Polish and Ruthenian Galicians, the caftan Jews from Boryslaw, the horse traders from Bacska, the Muslims from Sarajevo, the Maroni crickets from Mostar who sing our national anthem 'Gott Erhalte.' But the German students from Brunn and Eger, the dentists, pharmacists, hairdresser's assistants, art photographers from Linz, Graz, Knittelfeld, the goiters from the Alpine valleys, they all sing 'Die Wacht am Rhein.' Austria will perish for this loyalty to the Nibelung, gentlemen! The essence of Austria is not the center but the periphery. Austria is not to be found in the Alps, where you find chamois, edelweiss, and gentians, but hardly any trace of a double eagle.

J. Roth, The Emperor's Tomb (1938), loc. 168

Yet the deepest longing of Germans at the time ... was for the restoration of their national pride and recognition in the eyes of the world.

My family’s involvement with Nazism – their first excursion into any kind of politics – was not inspired by hatred of Jews, but by the vision of national revival that Hitler held out to them. ‘You have no idea what a terrible mood of disillusion and defeat there was in Germany before Hitler appeared on the scene and how he turned that round to one of optimism and hope,’ was my mother’s overriding memory of those days. Hitler had an uncanny instinct for touching the button of the innermost yearnings of the German heart. He promised most groups in society – an unhappy society, with a suicide rate three times that of Britain’s at the time – the things they craved: jobs, prosperity, security. Yet the deepest longing of Germans at the time, one that was apparently shared by most of the population, including my mother, was for the restoration of their national pride and recognition in the eyes of the world.

K. Fitzherbert, True to both my selves (1997), loc. 595

True to the most basic of German instincts ... I was drawn to Italy

True to the most basic of German instincts and thus following in the footsteps of the Teutons, Hohenstaufen emperors, and Deutschromer art worshippers, I was drawn to Italy, my ultimate destination being Palermo, where I had felt so at home in my childhood dreams as a squire or falconer for Frederick II and a member of Konradin's retinue when the Staufers went under.

G. Grass, Peeling the onion (2006), tr. M.H. Heim (2007), 314

Ulrich von Hutten was my idol, the Pope and his clerics my enemies

I tried to work up the requisite hatred for the reputed blue-bloods, but in fact I was torn. From the period of my mental excursions into the dark corners - and enlightened ones - of German history I had retained my admiration for the Hohenstaufen line of Emperors; I would have been only too happy to serve as a squire to Frederick II in thirteenth-century Palermo. And when it came to the Peasant Wars  a few centuries later, I was not only a fan of Thomas Muntzer's, I also sided with the upper-class ringleaders of the insurrection, men with noble names like Franz von Sickingen, Georg von Frundsberg, and Gorz von Berlichingen. Ulrich von Hutten was my idol, the Pope and his clerics my enemies. 

G. Grass, Peeling the onion (2006), tr. M.H. Heim (2007), 90-91

Its two main outside threats, the Turks and the French

Emperor Leopold I was seen mostly as a clumsy but reasonable and mild figure, the antithesis of a war hero, who nevertheless stood between the Empire and its two main outside threats, the Turks and the French. This reputation deviated from the heroic imagery of court spectacle, but was probably nearer to the mark.

J. Duindam, Dynasties: a global history of power (2016), 276-7

The engine room of European culture for the first third of the twentieth century ... had ceased to exist

The intellectual condition of post-war Western Europe would have been unrecognizable to a visitor from even the quite recent past. German-speaking central Europe – the engine room of European culture for the first third of the twentieth century – had ceased to exist. Vienna, already a shadow of its former self after the overthrow of the Habsburgs in 1918, was divided like Berlin among the four allied power. It could hardly feed or clothe its citizens, much less contribute to the intellectual life of the continent

T. Judt, Postwar (2005), 203

I had witnessed the last parade in my lifetime in which German soldiers would goose step

Goose-stepping, grey-uniformed infantry, the unhappy heirs to the Prussian martial tradition, seemed keen to demonstrate their superiority over any other European infantry. I retreated to a café after half an hour to write in my diary: 'When the Wall comes down, as it must, the thoughts of all this Prussian military tradition married to West German economic power is extremely disturbing' (7 October 1989). Happily, I was wrong: after reunification the quietude of the West German military quickly infected the former East German military; I had witnessed the last parade in my lifetime in which German soldiers would goose step.

R. Bassett, Last days in old Europe (2019), 143

Louis II ‘the German’ hanged so many criminals that the archbishop of Mainz was forced to institute special measures to stop the corpses becoming a health hazard

Death sentences were passed far more frequently than they were implemented, because medieval kings could gain prestige from commuting them as an act of clemency, though this became less common under the Salians and Staufers. Lesser lords and commoners were always treated less favourably. Louis II ‘the German’ hanged so many criminals that the archbishop of Mainz was forced to institute special measures to stop the corpses becoming a health hazard

P.H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire (2016), 615

Codification and other efforts at standardization proceeded quite slowly

Codification and other efforts at standardization proceeded quite slowly. It took 52 years to dismantle the tariff barriers between Austrian provinces after 1775, while even after the impact of Napoleon, Baden still used 112 different measurements of length, 92 measurements for square measures, 65 for dry goods, 163 for fruit, 123 for liquids, 65 for alcohol, and 80 separate definitions of a pound weight.

P.H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire (2016), 540

All other German towns [controlled] only 100 square kilometres or less

Italy, where around 25 cities each controlled at least 1,000 square kilometres, with Florence possessing 12,000 square kilometres by 1400, while Venice amassed nearly three times that across 1339-1428. By contrast, only Nuremberg came close, with 1,650 square kilometres, while Ulm had 930 square kilometres and all other German towns only 100 square kilometres or less.

P.H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire (2016),  518

The Empire is a multicoloured patchwork of dynastic territories compared to the solid blocks of colour used for other, supposedly, more centralised states

Nothing underscores the nineteenth-century interpretation more clearly: the Empire is a multicoloured patchwork of dynastic territories compared to the solid blocks of colour used for other, supposedly, more centralised states. Yet most maps produced prior to 1806 showed the Empire with clear outer boundaries divided into the Kreise, its official regional subdivisions. Territories were often named and sometimes marked, but did not dominate.

P.H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire (2016),  253-4

Small nondescript German States of which five-sixths of the subjects are Palace officials, and the rest charcoal burners or innkeepers

The millionaire thought he had once heard of Posen, but he wasn't sure; he rather fancied it was one of those small nondescript German States of which five-sixths of the subjects are Palace officials, and the rest charcoal burners or innkeepers.

A. Bennett, The Grand Babylon Hotel (1902), 19 

The offence of Russia was the existence of Russia

This Eastern policy was essential to Nazism; all other positive aims — the conquest of France or Britain — were subsidiary and incidental to it. The offence of France was its traditional policy of Eastern alliances, which had enabled it, for three centuries, to intervene in Germany. The offence of Britain was its refusal to be content with a maritime supremacy, its insistent tradition of preventing the domination of Europe by a single continental power. But the offence of Russia was the existence of Russia.

H. Trevor-Roper, The last days of Hitler (1947, 7th edn. 1995), 4-5

Outside Germany, little is known about this. Inside Germany, it is part of almost every family's history.

All in all, by 1950, between twelve and fourteen million Germans had either fled or been forced from their homes in Central and Eastern Europe. Most had nowhere to go. Outside Germany, little is known about this. Inside Germany, it is part of almost every family's history.

N. MacGregor, Germany: memories of a nation (2014), 477 

So the whole of Bismarck's career absolutely rested on the longevity of the old man

Bismarck was able to achieve all this not just because he was a shrewd politician, but because Kaiser Wilhelm lived for ninety-one years, as Jonathan Steinberg explains:

'Wilhelm I was born in 1797. Had he lived his biblical three score and ten, he would have died in 1867, before the unification of Germany. Friedrich III would have come to the throne as a youngish man and he would have fired Bismarck. He in fact did not come to the throne in 1867, nor in 1877, nor in 1887, because the old man would not die, and as long as Wilhelm I was there - he died in March 1888 at the age of ninety-one - Bismarck had a job. So the whole of Bismarck's career absolutely rested on the longevity of the old man.' 

N. MacGregor, Germany: memories of a nation (2014), 394

For they are cities free. Where Bismarck has no right to be

As late as the 1880s, even though the Hansa was long gone, it is said that children would chant: 'Hamburg, Lubeck and Bremen. No one can shame 'em. For they are cities free. Where Bismarck has no right to be.'

N. MacGregor, Germany: memories of a nation (2014), 244

Hitler, on the other hand, planned in advance to starve unwanted Soviet populations to death

As German planners saw matters, the collective farm should be used again to starve millions of people: in fact, this time, the intention was to kill tens of millions. Collectivization had brought starvation to Soviet Ukraine, first as an unintended consequence of inefficiencies and unrealistic grain targets, and then as an intended consequence of the vengeful extractions of late 1932 and early 1933. Hitler, on the other hand, planned in advance  to starve unwanted Soviet populations to death.... This was the Hunger Plan, as formulated by 23 May 1941: during and after the war on the USSR, the Germans intended to feed German soldiers and German (and west European) civilians by starving the Soviet citizens they would conquer, especially in the big cities. 

T. Snyder, Bloodlands (2010), 162

Necessity, as the Greeks knew already, is not only a blind goddess, but a cruel one too.

There was a lot of talk,after the war, in trying to explain what had happened, about inhumanity. But I am sorry, there is no such thing as inhumanity. There is only humanity and more humanity: and that Doll is a good example [a character who was instructed to shoot German wounded because it was too much effort to bring them home] What else was he, Doll, but a good family man who wanted to feed his children, and who obeyed his government, even though in his innermost being he didn't agree? If he has been born in France or America, he'd have been called a pillar of society and a patriot; but he was born in Germany and so he is a criminal. Necessity, as the Greeks knew already, is not only a blind goddess, but a cruel one too.

J. Littell, The Kindly Ones (2006) tr. C. Mundell, 589

They were refugees. We know them as "the peril from the East."

They were refugees. We know them as "the peril from the East." Fear of pogroms has welded them together like a landslip of unhappiness and grime that, slowly gathering volume, has come rolling across Germany from the East. A few clumps of them have come to rest for the time being in the East End of Berlin. A small minority of them are young and healthy, like Geza Furst, the born cabin boy. Mostly they are old and frail, if not broken.

J. Roth, 'Refugees from the East (1920)', tr. M. Hofmann, What I saw: reports from Berlin 1920-33 (2006), 37

The only discourtesies I have met with have been from Prussians

The only discourtesies I have met with have been from Prussians. The Bavarians I know have all been delightful, and as for the Tyrolese, I cannot say how much I like them. But the Prussuans see to be filled with a hatred as bitter and venomous as vitriol.

E.M. Brent-Dyer, The school at the chalet (1925), 95