Alexandra Richie > Quotes

“In our multi-ethnic, relativist world it is difficult to understand the importance placed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries on concepts like ethnic, racial or cultural ‘purity’;”
― Alexandra Richie, Faust’s Metropolis: A History of Berlin

“Frederick claimed to be tired of looking into blue eyes and encouraged not only French, German and Polish immigrants but Greeks and other Mediterraneans to come; he had an immigration office set up in Venice and considered building a mosque in Berlin to attract Turks.”
― Alexandra Richie, Faust’s Metropolis: A History of Berlin

“In 1982 the SED admitted that rock music did in fact exist”
― Alexandra Richie, Faust’s Metropolis: A History of Berlin

“It is not known what the Germanic tribes thought of the Romans who edged up to the river Elbe around the time of the birth of Christ, but for their part the Romans viewed these frightening tribesmen with a mixture of awe and contempt. Julius Caesar had incorporated the river Rhine into the empire by 31 BC but had refused to allow expansion further east; not only did he believe that the dark forests were home to fearful beasts and magical creatures like unicorns, but he and other Romans considered the Germans to be too barbaric to be absorbed into the empire. General Velleius was typical when he dismissed them as ‘wild creatures’ incapable of learning arts or laws, or said that they resembled human beings only in that they could speak.”
― Alexandra Richie, Faust's Metropolis: A History of Berlin

“For the Teutomaniacs who became the self-appointed guardians of Kultur German virgins were more virginal, German loyalty was more selfless and German culture was deeper and richer than that found in Paris or, for that matter, anywhere else.”
― Alexandra Richie, Faust’s Metropolis: A History of Berlin

“Schoolchildren were asked to collect propaganda posters and caricatures ‘for your race book and arrange them according to racial schemes’.”
― Alexandra Richie, Faust’s Metropolis: A History of Berlin