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1848 - 1910 A "long" 19th Century
The diorama shows a time of high social differentiation
and an extremely dynamic political development.
A middle-class society arises;
old social barriers are more permeable, professional barriers fall entirely.
This development is accompanied by a rapid industrialization, which comes along with severe social faults.
The year 1848 has a strong symbolic character for all of Europe, being the year of democratic revolutions.
Great hopes for democratization and liberty, as well as a territorial unification of Germany,
are raised in the middle-class population.
The castle was turned into a university.
It is being renovated in the style of Historicism.
For the bourgeoisie, education becomes an important focus.
Until the 19th century, mostly men are allowed to study.
Student life is being cultivated in fraternities,
the devotion to the Middle Ages establishes codes of conduct, like discipline and courage;
here, symbolized with students fencing, the so-called measure.
At this time political quarrels become more radical.
In the year 1889, there's a quarrel between two groups behind the university:
it symbolizes the rebellions of the liberal middle-class and its students,
which are strongly influenced by England.
They have gathered in a Johannes-Brahms-Association (red-green).
They are opposing National conservative followers of future Kaiser Wilhelm II,
which are being represented by student followers of composer Richard Wagner (red-white).
On the town greens, there is a celebration of liberty after the image of the Hambach Festival -
a demonstration for freedom and democracy.
The gathering is violently ended by the military and police force.
There are elections at the town hall.
However, only wealthy men - the tax payers - are eligible to vote.
Workers don't pay taxes and are thus not allowed to vote,
neither are women, because of their gender.
The well turns into a Heinrich-Heine-memorial,
and is symbolic for a development in direction liberty and democracy.
Since the unification of the German Empire in 1871,
from a National conservative point of view, everyday life should be standardized,
in this case Prussian-German and Protestant.
This results in the discrimination of the different-minded, and people with divergent opinions and beliefs.
The Church is participating in this cultural battle.
Here, Danish people, recognizable with their flag, the so-called Danebrog, want to enter the church,
but the priest denies them admission.
Compulsory schooling gets introduced.
There's a public school for everyone.
Only the German language ought to be taught;
a little boy receives corporal punishment, at the time a common educational method,
because he wants to speak in his mother tongue.
A group of pupils gets photographed.
Photography, as part of the progress,
is spreading just as much as electricity or machines
which can generate music imprinted beforehand on a phonographic waltz
- yet, these are still rare and expensive items, not available for everyone.
A synagogue has been built as a sign for the emancipation of the Jewish town population.
A Rabbi is carrying the Holy Tora scrolls into the building.
A group watches him, not offensively hostile, but skeptical.
There is no genuine equality among the Jewish and non-Jewish population.
There is a noticeable improvement in hygienic conditions
in order to protect the population from epidemic diseases.
Canalization for fresh water supply and efficient waste elimination is developing.
There's still no health care system
Advertisement columns show posters advertising emigration to America by ship.
There is a massive migration wave from Europe to overseas,
involving several million people in the years between 1875 and 1930.
At the same time it is the dawn of advertisements as a means of mass media.
Traveling exhibition entrepreneurs present the European colonies
in overseas in so-called Human zoos.
They are celebrating the success and seeming splendor of the colonial class in Africa and Asia.
African natives and animals are being shown side by side - both are considered savage.
It is a living museum.
No one talks about the exploitation of foreign countries and people.
Workers are organizing themselves more and more.
At the same time, worker's book presses and associations are prohibited by law.
There's strict censorship.
Books and magazines demanding the
participation of workers in political and social life
are being confiscated.
Family life is coined by a sense of coexistence of parents and their children.
Children talk a walk accompanied by their governess, not hand in hand with their parents.
Individual mobility is increasing: there are the first bicycles
and a street car (pulled by horses).
There are controlled flights,
and train traffic becomes ever more efficient due to bigger and stronger locomotives.
Steel is the modern material to build bridges.
However, the only automobile with Otto-engine in owned by the factory owner.
Electric current is backing the electrification of the industry, and the first electric street lights.
Night turns into day.
The natural night-and-day cycle of humankind has been broken.
Now, working in nightshifts is possible.
The river is representing the differentiation in everyday life.
For the town, it becomes a part of leisure time with the founding of a canoe club, and for children swimming.
The industrial harbor is moving to the riverbank on the other side.
The river has no ecological value as part of nature, and is subjected to industrial pollution.
The clock at the town's gate is symbolizing time as a dynamic element of up-to-datedness.
Time is not being regarded critically - it is the promise of progression.
Tradesmen
and fire fighters are symbolizing technical advancement.
Agriculture disappears, altogether.
There is a match factory, where many accidents happen with dangerous and noxious materials.
The owner still lives in his mansion at the side of the factory.
He is obliged to care for his workers;
he regards his duties as fulfilled if he keeps them fit for work.
He's also the owner of the bakery, and he's sponsoring the school.
There are two worker's groups:
one is holding a political speech calling for a protest
against exploitation by long working hours and minimal wages.
On the other side there's a worker's education association, as professional advancement is considered possible with education, only.
The contrast between poverty and wealth becomes apparent
with the factory owner's pompous birthday party for his offspring,
and children playing on a dump site next to the factory.
Due to high unemployment rates and a lack of perspective,
many young people emigrate to New World.
The elderly and ill people stay behind.