Drückebergergasse
Drückebergergasse (English: "Shirker's Alley") is the popular name for Viscardigasse, a narrow, curbless pedestrian street in Munich, Germany, just over fifty metres long and paved with cobblestones throughout. The street is officially named after the Swiss Baroque architect Giovanni Antonio Viscardi, but took its nickname from the 1930s, because locals could use it to bypass the nearby Nazi memorial to the martyrs of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, thus avoiding the requirement to perform a Hitler salute to the guarded structure.[1]
Origin of the name
On 9 November 1923, Adolf Hitler's failed coup d'état, which aimed to overthrow the Weimar Republic, failed in front of the Feldherrnhalle. Fifteen of the putschists, later referred to as blood witnesses of the movement, four police officers, and one bystander were killed. In the years that followed, the Feldherrnhalle became a National Socialist memorial site. In 1933, a memorial was erected on its eastern side, facing Residenzstraße, bearing the names of the killed putschists and an inscription which translated to "And yet you have triumphed". From that time onward, parades and oath-taking ceremonies were held there. During the period of Nazi rule, an SS honour guard stood in front of the memorial day and night. All passers-by were expected to give an honour salute in the form of the Nazi salute at this location. Those who wished to avoid this could bypass that section of Residenzstraße by taking a detour through the small Viscardigasse and Theatinerstraße to the west of the Feldherrnhalle. In reference to the fact that many people avoided giving the Hitler salute in this way, the citizens of Munich at the time referred to the narrow street at the rear of the Feldherrnhalle as Drückeberger Gassl.[2]
Dismantling
After the entry of United States forces, the Seventh United States Army ordered the National Socialist memorial to be dismantled and melted down on 3 May 1945. In a historical context, the name Drückebergergasse is still commonly used during guided city tours, visits by tourists, or urban history walks to illustrate the quiet civic resistance of some residents of the Bavarian state capital to the National Socialist regime. To commemorate this, in 1995 an approximately 30-centimetre-wide bronze trail, designed by the sculptor and bronze caster Bruno Wank, was set into the cobblestone paving of Viscardigasse along the route of the detour taken at the time.[3] The work, titled Argumente, consists of an S-shaped curved line. The trail was created by replacing existing paving stones with untreated bronze cubes, which over time acquired a polished surface through contact with passers-by.[4]
In culture
The principle associated with Drückebergergasse can already be found described in 1804 in the work of Friedrich Schiller. In his play William Tell, the imperial bailiff demands that the Swiss show an act of reverence before a symbolically displayed hat. Two soldiers stand guard in front of it and converse:
Wir passen auf umsonst. Es will sich niemand
Heranbegeben und dem Hut sein’ Reverenz
Erzeigen. ’s war doch sonst wie Jahrmarkt hier,
Jetzt ist der ganze Anger wie verödet,
Seitdem der Popanz auf der Stange hängt.
(…)
Was rechte Leute sind, die machen lieber
Den langen Umweg um den halben Flecken,
Eh sie den Rücken beugten vor dem Hut.
— Friedrich Schiller, William Tell, Act Three, Scene Three[5][6]
In Alfred Andersch’s autobiographical narrative The Islands under the Wind (German: Die Inseln unter dem Winde), the possibility of bypassing the guards by taking the small alley is also mentioned.
References
- ^ Braun, Rebecca; Marven, Lyn (2010). Cultural Impact in the German Context: Studies in Transmission, Reception, and Influence. Camden House. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-57113-430-1.
- ^ Maier, Hans (2007). "Political Religion: a Concept and its Limitations". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 8 (1): 5–16. doi:10.1080/14690760601121614. ISSN 1469-0764.
- ^ Pfoertner, Helga (2001), Mit der Geschichte leben. 1: A bis H, München: Utz, p. 26, ISBN 978-3-89675-859-0
- ^ MONACO – München mit allen Sinnen entdecken. Sonderveröffentlichung der Süddeutschen Zeitung, 26 October 2019, p. 10.
- ^ Schiller, Friedrich (1990). Thalheim, Hans-Günther; Kollektiv von Mitarbeitern (eds.). Sämtliche Werke: Die Braut von Messina. Wilhelm Tell. (…). Sämtliche Werke in zehn Bänden. Berliner Ausgabe. Vol. 5.1. Volume editor: Matthias Oehme (1st ed.). Berlin/Weimar: Aufbau-Verlag. pp. 156–157. ISBN 3-351-01153-9.
- ^ Schiller, Friedrich (1966). Kraft, Herbert (ed.). Dramen II. Schillers Werke. Vol. 2. Textkritisch herausgegeben (1982 ed.). Frankfurt am Main: Insel-Verlag. p. 388. DNB 820598011.
External links
- Media related to Viscardigasse (München) at Wikimedia Commons