On the ‘Stadtbild’ debate

How one word ignited Germany’s deepest debate on identity.

Photo by Hasan Tayyar Besik on Unsplash

Dear Reader,

I recently started reading A History of Germany in the 20th Century, a 1,200-page doorstopper by historian Ulrich Herbert. The first chapter explores the extraordinary speed of change that swept through German cities in the three decades before the First World War. Mark Twain, visiting Berlin at the tim…