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Through the lens of five generations of Thaddens, this book tells the history of Trieglaff, the village and family estate located in what is now western Poland, from Napoleon's occupation in 1807 to the Red Army's invasion in 1945 and until the departure of the last Thaddens in 1948. At the center of this history of Trieglaff society, economy, politics, and culture is the von Thadden family, notably, Adolph Ferdinand von Thadden, the head of the pietistic revival in Pomerania, and Reinold von Thadden-Trieglaff, the founder of the German Protestant Kirchentag. It intertwines family history with the political history of Germany through its description of Otto von Bismarck's close associations with Trieglaff in the 19th century and its deliberation of the execution of Elisabeth von Thadden, arising out of her resistance to the Nazis, in the 20th century. The source material is richly supplemented by family records kept by "Trieglaffers" in America and from correspondence between Pomerania and America. The book examines the lives of individuals as well as socio-economic and cultural structures, depicting the dynamic changes that the village experienced throughout some 150 years of German and European history; it might be called world history in microcosm. As juxtaposition of formal history and remembered history, it is a serious scholarly source as well as an engaging read.
List of contents
List of Figures
Preface to the English edition
Translator’s Remarks
Genealogical Diagram of the von Thadden Family
Map of Pommern
Map of Trieglaff
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Founding Generation
Chapter 2. Bismarck’s Generation
Chapter 3. Generations in Transition
Chapter 4. The Wilhelminian Generation
Chapter 5. The Generation of the World Wars, 1912 to 1922
Chapter 6. The Generation of the World Wars, 1923 to 1945
Chapter 7. The Last German Generation
Epilogue: History Reconciled
Appendix A: Timeline and Modes of Transportation from Pomerania to Wisconsin
Appendix B: Reestablishing Bonds Between America and Trieglaff
Glossary of Terms: The Church in Germany
Bibliography
Index of persons
Index of places
About the author
Rudolf von Thadden (1932-2015) was Professor Emeritus of History at Göttingen University and co-founder and honorary president of the Foundation for German-French Cooperation at Genshagen near Berlin.
Summary
Through the lens of five generations of Thaddens, this book tells the history of Trieglaff, the village and family estate located in what is now western Poland, from Napoleon's occupation in 1807 to the Red Army's invasion in 1945 and until the departure of the last Thaddens in 1948.
Additional text
“The story [the author] tells is rich and fascinating…[He] traces very effectively the economic evolution of Junker agriculture across the generations…I learned a lot from the book.” · Jonathan Steinberg, author of Bismarck. A Life
