Germany: Memoir of a Nation by Neil MacGregor

“If monuments in Germany are different from those in other countries, that is because Germany’s history is different.”

Comparing the three arches, when the Wellington Arch in London and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris look back only to moments of success, presenting a national triumph, the Seigestor in Munich illustrates both of the glorious cause of its making and the circumstances of its later destruction. Unlike the other two, its original celebratory purpose is undercut by a very uncomfortable reminder of failure and guilt.

MacGregor’s selection is highly admirable. He uses the careful juxtaposition of singular objects with their surrounding history to convey the complexities of Germany’s journey. Considering the enriching and confusingly fragmented history of Germany, it is hard to imagine a method more successful than the author’s.

An embellished Torah bag hemmed with the arms of the Holy Roman Emperor, next to a photo of leder-hosened Jewish mountain climbers, reminds us that Germany was not always anti-Semitic. Prints of Durer’s valiant knight and his soul-searching companion, Melancholia, usefully sum up the conflicted psyche of Bismarck’s newly united Germany.

 It is the sculptures that speak to us more powerfully than historian’s well-picked words.