Friday, February 13, 2009

Prussian Virtues, Mata Hari & Germanophile

I was reading at Wiki that Prussians believed that the following virtues accounted for the rise of their country:

perfect organization
discipline
sacrifice
rule of law
obedience to authority
reliability
tolerance
frugality
punctuality
modesty
diligence

Except for a slight problem with the authority and law bits ;) I have great respect for these qualities...possibly cos some of them such as discipline -for example- are severely lacking in me!

In any case this information arose from reading up about the fascinating life story of femme fatale and suspected "double agent" Mata Hari. At one point she was involved with the German crown prince...

I'm not sure exactly why but for some reason ever since Germany infiltrated my brain, it just keeps randomly enterting my consciousness and I've become completely fascinated to just keep learning more and more about everything German related I can get my hands on! So apart from being fascinated with Nazi war films and especially propaganda films of the time (when I've never been interested in history prior), and cuckoo clocks, I've been in German everything investigation mode.

So it was interesting to find out that my birthday corresponds with two very important moments in German history...not only the Fall of the Berlin Wall marking the reunification of East and West but also that it is also the day Germany became a republic with the withdrawal of the monarchy with the abdication of the Crown Prince and his Father.

Apart from the Japanese, I've always felt a strong inexplicable sense of connection with Germans- I'm not sure whether it is because ideologically and historically the two cultures are in some way quite similar and are quite like me personally or whether it has to do with past lives...Or maybe I thought it would be cool to be a Germanophile just to counter balance G's annoying Francophile-ness.

Anway just a random tangle line of jumbled thoughts...how cool is Mata Hari...I wonder if there are still surviving blood related descendents of hers...I can't wait till 2017 when the French army will release court documents related to her trial and execution.

Sheesh who ever knew, I the rebel daughter of a former history teacher, would so many years after schooling start to actually become interested in history of my own accord...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I lived in Germany for 6 months and everything about that country revolves around order! I will say that driving on the autobahn at 140Km per hour is THRILLING!!! I loved it there but after awhile it was nice to visit other counties that were a little more relaxed... You can only imagine how much Mr. Virgo loved it there...lol...I swear he is my little Filipino with a German inside! Lucky me!

Unknown said...

hmm I am punctual and tolerant, pretty modest but that is about it. I guess I would make a lousy Prussian

Anonymous said...

No German-bashing, but Mata Hari was Dutch. I doubt or the Dutch can be proud on that fact ;)
For more info see here.

Zz... said...

Caroline, hehe yeah before too long I'm sure I'd be getting into trouble all over the place if I had to live there! I like the people though...honest, direct, sincere...serious LOL

S, yeah I think we're too in love with subversion to make Good Prussians...

E, I KNEW you would claim Mata Hari as Dutch...yeah I knew that- I love the name which I will claim as Javanese-I'm close enough in heritage LOL Mata Hari for me is one of the most captivating figures in history me thinks...surprisingly few people here know of her...I guess I'm just a sucker being such a wanna be 007 and all! LOL

miruspeg said...

Hey Mackenzie I enjoyed reading your random tangled jumbled thoughts......what an interesting mind you have!

I travelled to Paris and Eastern France last July...beautiful country and people. They were very arrogant people when I was first there in 1979, now they are friendly and welcoming.

Cheers
Peggy

Juegos said...

Great people, germans changed the world, the US history, european history, it's a very strong country.

George said...

While I am busy for an essay about Prussian Virtues,and searching for materials, surfing on the internet I found an interesting blog talking about Prussian Virtues. I guess the owner should be more interesting than the blog itself