Monday, September 25, 2006
Thought of the Day
Wenn ich Kultur hoere...entsichere ich meinen Browning.
Hans Johst in his play Schlageter, written in honor of Adolph Hitler's birthday 1933
Usually translated as:
Whenever I hear the word culture I reach for my revolver.
But is more accurately translated as:
Whenever I hear [the word] culture, I unsafe [release the safety catch on] my Browning.
And of course the Browning pistol referred to is not a revolver but an automatic pistol manufactured in Belgium (designed by American mormon gun super genius, John Browning), probably the 1903 or 1910 model, as the masterpiece 1935 model (the High Power) wasn't made until two years after the words were first uttered.
I still don't know what the quote means though. Is culture something we need to arm ourselves against? Did the Nazis think it was a dangerous force? Just weird.
Hans Johst in his play Schlageter, written in honor of Adolph Hitler's birthday 1933
Usually translated as:
Whenever I hear the word culture I reach for my revolver.
But is more accurately translated as:
Whenever I hear [the word] culture, I unsafe [release the safety catch on] my Browning.
And of course the Browning pistol referred to is not a revolver but an automatic pistol manufactured in Belgium (designed by American mormon gun super genius, John Browning), probably the 1903 or 1910 model, as the masterpiece 1935 model (the High Power) wasn't made until two years after the words were first uttered.
I still don't know what the quote means though. Is culture something we need to arm ourselves against? Did the Nazis think it was a dangerous force? Just weird.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:03 AM 
Comments:
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I'm not completely certain, but the Nazis* certainly used "Deutsches Kultur" to mean something like "authentically German culture, without the 'dilution' of 'impure' elements". "Kultur", without modification, might be construed by an apparatchik as corrupted, foreign culture.
Of course it might be just stereotypical disdain of an "artist" for everything done before five minutes ago. I know artists like that.
* NSDAP, National Socialist German Workers' Party, a party of the left. Yet another gift** from militant socialists to the world.
** Gift: German for poison (really).
Of course it might be just stereotypical disdain of an "artist" for everything done before five minutes ago. I know artists like that.
* NSDAP, National Socialist German Workers' Party, a party of the left. Yet another gift** from militant socialists to the world.
** Gift: German for poison (really).
Yeah, but Kultur, mit oder ohne Deutsches, is nothng to fear and prepare your gun to fire upon. It just isn't. So why is this quote famous? As I've stated on this blog a lot, learning the NAZIs were lefties was a turning point in my political thinking, that is, my thinking about politics got a lot better and clearer after I knew the truth.
"So why is this quote famous?"
Good point. I suspect that argues for my second suggestion. There's been no paucity of pompous artists (or perhaps "artists") since 1933.
Good point. I suspect that argues for my second suggestion. There's been no paucity of pompous artists (or perhaps "artists") since 1933.
Ironically, I was advised by NPR this morneing--honestly I don't know how my radio was tuned to the station--that several of Adolph Hitler's water colors that he painted during WWI are to be sold @ auction in England.
# posted by 
: 9:05 AM
: 9:05 AM
I hate to say this because of several reasons, but despite the fact that art critics say Hitler was a terrible artist, I've liked everyting I've seen of his. Had he been a better success as an artist...well, my mind can't comprehend how different (and better) our world would be.
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