After the emergence of modern nation-states, rituals remained as one of the indispensable political tools that can display and even construct political order as a natural matter of course. Already in the eighteenth century, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778), whose political philosophy influenced the overall development of modern educational thought, underlined the importance of the “festival” for nation-states building in his Lettre à d'Alembert sur les spectacles (Letter On Spectacles to M. D'Alembert). Referencing ancient Greece, Rousseau also recommended the Polish government to organize a patriotic ceremony in which people should gather around a monument and commemorate a great incident in the past by ceremonies and sports, so that they would become aware of the quality and ability of their country. Thus, modern nation states created national ceremonies where the participants emotionally experience the significance of the nation state. That means, if one nation state collapsed and replaced by new one, also new national ceremonies must be created.
In my presentation, using the case of school ceremonies in the Weimar Republic, I will discuss the difficulties, danger and possibilities of anchoring new political ideals though school ceremonies, which can be regarded as a state project undertaken in the period of change, uncertainty, “risk” and possibility.
After the First World War and collapse of the German Empire the new government of the Weimar Republic and supporters of republicanism and parliamentarianism tried to establish new ceremonies. While abolishing all ceremonies related to the monarchy, they introduced new republican ceremonies, for instance those commemorating the Treaty of Versailles and the new Weimar constitution. It was a political project aimed to awake patriotic feeling towards the new democratic constitution and re-unify the German people, who were deeply split in their sentiments on the new government. However, the ceremonies which aimed to unify youths under the name of the Weimar republic, faced enormous difficulties in its implementation. The students’ march celebrating the Weimar Republic, was disturbed by citizens who did not support the Republic. Some students were absent from the ceremony as their parents were worried about their children’s safety, or because they did not support the ceremony for political reasons. The problem was not only that some students missed the ceremony, but also that some students who participated in the ceremony behaved in a problematic way. According to a report of the Provincial School Council, some students said “Heil”, “Scheisse” (shit) or “Hängt die Juden auf ” (Hang the Jews) while they were marching. They also sang and whistled the Hakenkreuzlied (Swastika Song), the song which was composed for National Socialist Workers' Party in 1923. When they passed by houses decorated with the Weimar national flags some students became unruly and cried “Fahne nieder” (down the flag). Moreover, during the ceremony, after participants chanted “Deutschland soll blühen” (Germany should bloom), one student said “aber nicht unter dieser Verfassung” (but not under this constitution). Not only students miss the event or misbehave, the speeches of the school principals did not always reflected the democratic and pacifistic ideals of the Weimar Republic. Instead of commemorating the Treaty of Versailles and treasuring peace, some school principles described the Treaty of Versailles as “the shame of German people.”
On the other hand, however, in contrast to the German Empire, in which only a small group of Gymnasiumstudents were allowed to take part in official state ceremonies, the political ceremonies in the Weimar Republic managed to involve a larger number of students from different types of schools.
