Figaro illustré: Berlin 1907

A portrait and moral image of the capital of the German Empire from a French perspective.

With the victory over France in 1871 and the re-establishment of the German Empire, the capital Berlin became the scene of breathtaking urban development. To this day, it has been fated to "always become and never be" (Karl Scheffler, 1910). As a young student of theology and philosophy, Charles Bonnefon (1871-1935), correspondent for Le Figaro, had ended up in Göttingen and finally in Berlin, where he became a profound connoisseur of cultural life. France was deeply humiliated after the lost war and the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. The economic development of the Gründerzeit, which was also made possible by the reparations payments, and the advances in science and technology in Germany commanded respect, but the uncouth behavior and growing militarism were perceived as a threat. Published in German for the first time, this bilingual edition juxtaposes the text with the French original in order to honor Bonnefon's dense, expressive, and deliberate language. In addition to explanatory footnotes, the text is supplemented by a biography of the writer, who took an anti-Prussian stance at the outbreak of the war and wrote a frequently published history of Germany. The booklet was illustrated by Moritz Coschell (1872-1943), a Viennese painter who enriched Berlin's cultural life after 1900. He made a name for himself as a society portraitist, and his studio even received imperial visitors. With the outbreak of war, he joined the Austro-Hungarian army as a war painter. Afterwards, he was no longer able to build on his successes. Persecuted as a Jew, he died lonely and ill in Vienna. His striking works, characterized by a spherical expressionist style, are in need of rediscovery. The text and illustrations contribute to our understanding of the Wilhelmine era and the unleashing of the war through their external perspective.