Herder 1777: The Call to Arms

“Great empire! Empire of ten peoples, Germany! You have no Shakespeare. Have you also no songs of your forebears of which you can boast? Swiss, Swabians, Franks, Bavarians, Westphalians, Saxons, Wends, Prussians — have all of you together nothing? The voice of your fathers has faded and lies silent in the dust…”

Source: Ways of Seeing Disinfolklore II

The modern nation state was created after Herder’s 1777 plea to unite the 10 German tribes behind a set of stories (folklore or more accurately folksongs) typifying Germanness. The Brothers Grimm, Goethe and later Wagner answered that call. And 90 years later the first unified German state was created.

Source: Our Disinfolklore Universe (Munich Speech)

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