1919: Combustible Krauts

July 17, 2020

By AHNZ

Today in history, 19 July, 1919, Mt Eden Borough Council celebrated “peace” by burning seven prominent Germans and one Bulgarian. Twice! Don’t worry though, they were just effigies designed to catch on fire to delight the citizens of Mt Eden upon their mountain top.

“…eight effigies, seven of prominent Germans and one of a Bulgarian, would be hung at the sides, about two-thirds of the way up. These would represent the Kaiser, the Crown Prince Hindenburg, Ludendorff, Von Mackensen, Von Tirpitz, Von Bissing, and King Ferdinand.”- NZH (17 June); Timespanner; Facebook

There are 7 pictures of the huge pyre that the Government built (twice) at Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. I assume the effigies were replaced after the first pyre accidentally burned down early. This was blamed on children. Being a cynical Anarchist, I suspect that the Government was making money from this little side-show and wanted to engineer a squeal. Many in the public were not impressed at their rate money going up in smoke thanks to Mt Eden Borough Council.

“All heck broke loose in the letters columns of the newspapers, criticising the council for effectively proposing to burn such a lot of money, a “wicked waste” and “a useless sin.”- Timespanner, ibid

“The main event for the public on Saturday evening was the bonfire on Mount Eden. The pile was surmounted by a sign-board bearing the word “Kultur,” and the skull and cross-bones,..” – NZ Herald (22 July 1919); Timespanner

Combustible Krauts

Nothing celebrates peace after WW1 like burning German ‘Kultur’ (culture) and their skull and crossbones!! They call it peace but it doesn’t sound very peaceful to me. It sounds like revenge and a proxy for the literal urge to wage genocide to one’s enemy’s culture and lynch its guiding mentors.

Honour Culture revels after victory.

I remember reading something years ago in the foreword to Brave New World about the Allies punishing the Germans far too harshly after the Great War. Huxley argued that the vicious humiliation that they called “peace” led directly to another war because it didn’t stop at victory but proceeded to extract pride that the Germans would necessarily have to claim back one day by blood. That’s not peace, that’s a prolonged cease fire. I had thought this was confined only to the cruel terms of the Treaty of Versailles but what happened on Mt Eden shows more.

It seems that, even here in New Zealand, we were forgetting our Homer and creating our own demons! There’s a big lesson in Homer’s Iliad about Achilles defeating his foe but then taking it too far- dragging his body around for days, parading it before Hector’s family as the corpse rotted, threatening to feed it to the dogs. If we don’t learn from our history it comes back by repeating itself to give us another chance to get it right. An earlier generation of New Zealander would have never done this. After victory a Dignity Culture warrior can be civil and shake hands. We had regressed.

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Image ref. Field Marshal August von Mackensen Von Mackensen, one of the men burnt by Aucklanders in effigy (perhaps twice over.); Colorizedhistory; Facebook

Image ref. Kultur burning; Auckland’s peace festival: the bonfire on the top of Mount Eden; Auckland Weekly News; Auckland Heritage Collections

Image ref. Peace celebrations on Mount Eden; James D Richardson; Auckland Heritage Collections

Image ref. Achilles dragging Hector’s body. Lekythos illustration. Diosphos Painter, Athens, around 490 BC J.-C. Louvre; Pintrest

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