Description
Neil MacGregor continues his series with a week of programmes with a focus on the things which bind Germans together - ranging from the importance of the great German writer Goethe, and the significance of the Grimm brothers' fairy tales, to the long-standing history of German beer and sausages.
He begins with the story of how Martin Luther created the modern German language, through his translation of the Bible.
Luther is often, in German history, seen as the Great Divider. His attacks on his opponents were pitiless, not least his writings against the Jews. But he is also, unquestionably, a great Uniter - almost single-handedly he created the modern German language which, in the centuries that followed, proved a unifying force during times of destruction and disintegration.
Producer Paul Kobrak.
Neil MacGregor began his journey through 600 years of German history at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, and ends it at the Reichstag, seat of the German Parliament. These two extraordinary buildings, only a few hundred yards apart, carry in their very stones the political history of the...
Published 11/07/14
Neil MacGregor focuses on Ernst Barlach's sculpture Hovering Angel, a unique war memorial, commissioned in 1926 to hang in the cathedral in Güstrow.
Producer Paul Kobrak.
Published 11/06/14