Page 3 - GC-Oktoberfest-24

The German Citizen • September-October 2024 • 3
A quick guide to Munich’s history

by Martin Ederer bered as the epitome of Allied Ap‐
n some ways, Munich – peasement toward Hitler’s expan‐
München – needs little introduc‐ sion plans.
Ition. As the third-largest city in During World War II, Munich
Germany and the capital of Bavaria, became the center of student resis‐
Munich and Bavaria together have tance against Nazism through the
shaped a lot of stereotypes about White Rose Movement. The square
Germans: Everybody drinks beer, in front of the main university
every day is Oktoberfest, all Ger‐ building now commemorates the
mans wear Lederhosen and Dirndl Scholl siblings executed for their
dresses, and beer gardens and brass role in the movement. All told, Mu‐
bands abound. nich suffered 71 Allied air raids dur‐
While there is usually some ing the war. About 42% of the city
truth embedded somewhere in suffered damage. After the war Mu‐
stereotypes, there are also plenty of nich rebuilt, much of it faithful to
big exaggerations. For starters, original design. In 1957 Munich’s
there is a world of difference be‐ population passed one million.
tween Munich and rural Bavaria. th Aside from the terrorist tragedy
Munich is a major world city (with Munich in the 16 century. surrounding the 1972 Munich
heart, as the locals might say) built awarded Bavaria. His dynasty the Nymphenburg Palace and the Bavarian Soviet Republic in early Olympics, perhaps the more re‐
on a monumental scale and high end would remain in control of Bavaria Theatinerkirche. Thanks to Wittels‐ 1919. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin sent a deeming (and useful) legacy of the
everything. Munich is also a major through most of the rest of its his‐ bach diplomatic deals with Louis telegram of congratulations. 1972 games for Munich was the ex‐
industrial city, home to BMW, tory until 1918. Munich, mean‐ XIV’s France during the War of the In May 1919, elements of the cellent public transportation net‐
MAN and Krauss Maffei to name while, was handed over to the Spanish Succession, Munich ended German army and Freikorps volun‐ work (U-Bahn and S-Bahn) com‐
but a few, home to a major univer‐ bishop of Freising in all the un‐ up being ruled by the Austrian Hab‐ teers ended the Soviet experiment, pleted in time for the games.
sity, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Uni‐ pleasantness. sburgs during much of the 1700s. with loss of some 1700 lives. That Josef Ratzinger served as priest
versität, as well as world-class mu‐ When the Duchy of Bavaria was The initial deal landed badly with event set up Munich as a hotbed of for the diocese of Munich-Freising.
seums and commerce. divided into Upper and Lower the people of Bavaria who rioted right-wing politics. Included was From 1977 to 1982 he served as
It is true enough that one is more Bavaria in 1255, Munich then be‐ before being squashed. Nonethe‐ the fledgling Nazi Party, which was archbishop of Munich before being
likely to see Volkstrachten on the came the ducal residence and capi‐ less, Munich did have a short stint responsible in 1923 for the Beer called to Rome. He was elected
street in Munich than in other big tal for Upper Bavaria. Munich’s for‐ as the Habsburg imperial capital. Hall Putsch. It failed but also gave Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.
cities in Germany, but that is still tunes improved after Bavaria’s The next threat was Napoleon. the party national prominence. The
more the exception than the rule on Duke Ludwig IV was elected Ger‐ After Napoleon dissolved the Holy 1938 Munich Conference is remem‐
any normal day. And yeah, the man king and later became the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, he also ele‐
Münchner do love their beer, and Roman Emperor. He granted Mu‐ vated Bavaria from a duchy to a
the Oktoberfest is for real (but only nich – which had always struggled kingdom. A number of illustrious
in its season). All of that is sup‐ with the fact that it was landlocked kings now called Munich their cap‐
ported, however, by a rich culture of and the Isar was only barely naviga‐ ital through the 19 century: Lud‐
th
baroque and rococo Catholicism, a ble – a monopoly on salt transporta‐ wig I, Maximilian II, and (mad)
vigorous support of the arts and tion from Salzburg to the much Ludwig II, all of whom turned Mu‐
learning, and modern science and more prosperous Augsburg. nich into a monumental city and a
technology that round out the pic‐ Ludwig also got into conflicts center for art, music, literature and
ture. with the papacy, so he began to wel‐ learning. By the mid-1800s, rail‐
The origins of Munich are come major figures in what would roads had begun to connect Munich
rooted in a combination of factors become the Conciliarist movement with the wider world. The city be‐
which notably include Benedictine in the church, which attempted to gan to electrify in 1882. These new
monks who were already in the area wrest control over doctrine away means of transportation and power
since the 700s, and a church-state from sole papal authority. As a re‐ sources played major roles in secur‐
dustup between the Duke of sult Marsilius of Padua and William ing a central economic position for
Bavaria and the bishop of the much of Ockham called Munich home. the city as a unified Germany posi‐
older settlement of Freising farther William of Ockham is actually tioned itself to become a major
down the Isar, the river that also buried there. Other late medieval player in the world economy. Munich – much more than Oktoberfest. The Oktoberfest fairground
flows through Munich. Munich’s events included two fires, one in World War I brought a good (Theresienwiese) in Munich, aerial view. Photo by Stefan Weigel,
official founding date is placed at 1327 and another in 1429, and a amount of hardship to Munich, Creative Commons CC-BY-2.5
1157. At that time Duke Henry the regular number of citizen revolts. thanks to British naval blockades of
Lion of the House of Welf autho‐ The good news was that in the re‐ fuel and foodstuffs. Worse still was
rized a settlement of monks well building, the gothic old City Hall the effect of defeat. When the so‐
south of Freising to establish a mar‐ (the big new Rathaus dates to the cialist Kurt Eisner declared a
ket and to build a bridge across the mid-19 th century) and the Bavarian Republic in 1918, Ludwig
Isar River. The settlement was Frauenkirche were built. III and his family were forced to
named for them: Mönchen means In the wake of the Protestant flee Munich. After a right-wing na‐
monks in modern German, and be‐ Reformation, Munich, once again tionalist assassinated Eisner, more
came the city’s namesake. capital of a reunified Bavaria radical socialist elements declared a
The new bridge was unwelcome (1509), became a center of Catholic
news for Bishop Otto von Freising, Counter-Reformation activities; a
who had his own bridge that was spurt of growth ensued, which in‐
generating good income. As quar‐ cluded the Renaissance (Jesuit)
rels ensued, Henry the Lion tore Michaelskirche and the Hof‐
down the bishop’s bridge with the bräuhaus (1589). Although Munich
eventual blessing of the Emperor was generally spared the worst of
Frederick Barbarossa. In 1175 Mu‐ the Thirty Years’ War, it was briefly
nich was granted city status and be‐ occupied by Gustavus Adolphus of
came fortified. As things later Sweden in 1632. More devastating
turned out, however, Frederick was an outbreak of the bubonic
made Henry stand trial for failing to plague from 1634-35, which wiped
help him in a campaign in Italy that out a third of the city.
ended disastrously. Frederick had Munich bounced back nicely as
Henry declared an outlaw and even‐ Italian baroque architects flocked to
tually exiled him. In 1180, Otto I of the city for major projects such as
the House of Wittelsbach was