Whose Rhine is It? the Germania statue
OK. There's hubris and there's trying to explain the history of Franco-German border relations in one blog post. The place that spurred the question of the title was the Niederwald Memorial in Rudesheim, Germany, a 38-meter statue that looks out over the Rhine. In yet another post on the topic, I had pondered the angels of Germany, both on the Rhine and in the capital city . But I had never gotten to the statue of Germania that reigns above the angel of war and the angel of peace. Germania appears here as a strong woman, stout with strong arms: a working woman, not a woman of the court. Her gaze is stern, unlike the Statue of Liberty (which stands twice as high), she signals warning, not welcome. Her right arm holds up a jeweled crown--on her head she wears a wreath of oak leaves, symbols of the heroism she embodies . Her left hand grips a longsword. If you look closely, there is also an olive branch held along with the sword's pommel in her left hand. On her chest ...