___Foreword

 

In painting or drawing an event from the past, we should depict everything

as though the ancient drama had occurred just yesterday!

 

Bastien-Lepage

 

An amazing archeological event occurred in the winter of 1987/88. Scientific excavations in the district of Osnabrück unearthed Roman military artifacts that were connected with the most significant event of early German history: the so-called Battle of Varus in the year 9 AD. With this amazing discovery, one of the most important historical figures of all time reappeared from out of the dark night of history. This was Arminius, Prince of the Cheruskans, the military leader and statesman whom Tacitus called LIBERATOR GERMANIAE.

 

When Rome, following its conquest of Gallien, began its military efforts to forcibly convert the free German tribes into a Roman province, it encountered unexpected opposition. This resistance culminated in the Varus Battle and the annihilation of three elite legions of the Roman governor Varus. With this great victory, Arminius liberated Germany and deprived mighty Rome of the aura of invincibility of its great armies. For the Romans this was an event of earth-shaking importance, and Arminius became one of the outstanding shapers of world history. Following the Varus battle he was not always victorious against Germanicus and Rome’s huge military superiority, but he remained the undisputed winner in the fateful struggle to decide Germany’s destiny. The heart of the German homeland was able to remain free from Roman domination, and this must be acknowledged as the incalculable accomplishment of the greatest freedom fighter of our early history. His victory fundamentally changed the destiny of that part of the world that would later be known as Germany.

 

Every year, around a million Germans make the pilgrimage to “Hermann” near Detmold, the copper-green monument rising above the landscape of the Teutoburg Forest that was created by Ernst von Bandel in 1875. Knowledge about the life of Hermann / Arminius and about the significance of his deeds is scanty, however. When I recently got into a conversation with group of 15-year-old gymnasium students and asked what they know about Hermann, they evinced a distressing ignorance. If we should pose such a question about Vercingetorix to a group of young French students, we would get very different results – and just think: Vercingetorix was a loser, whereas Arminius was a winner!

 

Arminius deserves to be remembered. For me, the fact that he was victorious was perhaps the decisive motivation in my attempt to retrieve this historical figure from the obscurity of the past. I wanted to make him truly familiar to those who now know little or nothing about him. I was inspired also by the circumstance that Armin’s homeland is my homeland as well. I am intimately familiar with the entire region. The question of precisely where the actual battle took place is of lesser significance. We still do not have a definitive answer to this question. For me it was much more important to authentically depict the battle and to be able to say that it could have happened just this way. In all probability, this is the way it occurred!

 

Perhaps this seems surprising in an age in which it is no longer fashionable to conceive of “History” in general and German history in particular as fateful and as the true teacher of mankind. At any rate, I have tried to do just that.

 

In using my skills as illustrator to lend life and color to the story of this great German champion in the struggle against tyranny, I soon became aware of the myriad difficulties involved. If we attempt to transport ourselves 2000 years into the past, we have to proceed like scientific historians. We have to consider all the known sources and proven facts, even when they are tenuous and incomplete. Above all, we have to avoid superimposing today’s attitudes, standards and ways of thinking onto those far distant times, because to do so would lead to false conclusions and erroneous depictions of historical events. We have to consider the actors of those days and judge their conduct exclusively according to the Zeitgeist or spirit of their own time, and one must never judge them according to the precepts of our own age.

 

In trying to create an authentic picture as realistically as if we had been eyewitnesses, we are constantly confronted with the question: how might it have actually looked? This forces us to consider fundamental issues, carry out basic research, and make difficult choices from among many possibilities. Despite the increased work that it entails, meticulous attention to detail has a fascinating and unique reward. We experience a sense of true gratification when we see something visual and tangible gradually developing from our investigative curiosity and scientific research. What had been vague or entirely featureless begins to develop into a distinct new phenomenon. The more deeply we penetrate into history, the more we are able to peer into the “dead-and-gone” world that was initially so nebulous and obscure, the more substantive and immediate it grows, until sometimes it can become as real as if we had been actual observers.

 

Of course, historiographical “sketches” of persons and events so distant in time can never claim to be completely true or entirely scientific. To make such a claim would obviously be presumptuous.

 

We can animate the accounts of contemporary observers that have been handed down to us, however. We can create vivid depictions through use of details of period housing, clothing, living conditions, technical development and road and bridge construction as well as ancient military paraphernalia, war fortifications and strategy that have come down to us through the ages. Obviously we want to include in these sketches as many references as possible that have been passed down from important political and military personages of the age.

 

Whoever enters the twilight of the very distant past in order to bring to light figures that are described by ancient writers of history -- figures that are surrounded by secrets, myths and sagas -- has obviously entered the realm of fiction. He must exercise extreme caution in order to avoid surrendering to his fantasy, regardless of how enthusiastic he may be. The only time we are permitted to construct an event is when nothing remains of the historical record except fragmentary or disconnected shards, or when the written record contains unbridgeable gaps, or when nothing has been handed down to us except fantastic or totally implausible accounts. Even then, invention is allowable only to the extent that historiography tolerates it. The event must be entirely logical and plausible. Every reconstructed event is an attempt to approach reality as closely as possible on the basis of known facts and/or undisputed evidence, and so it must be allowed that the event could actually have happened just as we portrayed it, even though we can never know the precise manner in which an event actually occurred 2000 years ago.

 

As for living conditions in the Germanic territories 2000 years ago, we have to keep in mind that everyday life was incredibly difficult. Our ancestors’ daily existence was a relentless struggle for survival. It was a struggle against Nature; against hunger, cold and disease; against thieves and robbers; against foreign invaders; and a struggle for Lebensraum (living space) and liberty. On the other hand there was a well established social order within and between the Germanic tribes that assured individual rights within the framework of protective kinship. There were highly developed codes of conduct, honor, and loyalty. In addition, there was a rich array of shared customs, a vigorous peasant culture and an impressive capacity for self-defense.

 

Certain practices that might have been part of their everyday life would seem cruel and unnatural to us today. However, these could have been aberrations and, at any rate, it is questionable procedure to judge them according to today’s values. We must also consider that in many instances we are dealing with mistaken observations or exaggerations, falsifications or even ancient atrocity propaganda. Transmittal of information about Germanic customs was often interrupted, and descriptions were deliberately falsified in the process of Christianization. The same was true of all pre-Christian cultures. Many ancient Roman sagas and archeological artifacts were also falsified or destroyed by the early Christian monks.

 

It was important to me, while sketching this dramatic event and its actors, to show how essential aspects of human life repeat themselves throughout history, with variations of course. The observer will recognize many similarities between persons and events in Arminius’ age and contemporary persons and events. The superficialities may have changed but the essentials remain the same. Whether we humans fight our wars with clubs, muskets, or bombs, our actions are still motivated by factors such as the noble struggle for freedom and justice versus evil motives such as messianism and the lust for power. Human aspirations have continued basically unchanged. Today our species is terrorized by fantastically amplified powers of military destruction, and we are faced with a massive exploitation of man and nature that threatens the very continuation of life itself. On the other hand we have undergone steadily increasing intellectual development, cultural enrichment and diversification in philosophy, science, art, and economics since Arminius’ day. Man’s spiritual nature -- his traits and aspirations, his capacity to choose or reject the good, the true and the beautiful -- has endured, as have the threats posed by ideological insanity, spiritual manipulation and the strivings of certain groups for absolute rule and dominion. For this reason, our major problems have remained roughly the same over the millennia, in spite of indisputable progress. Today’s predominant personages are quite similar to those of Arminius’ day. We, too, have our great betrayers, intriguers, tyrants, conquerors and fanatical messiahs opposed by freedom fighters, noble statesmen and self-sacrificing heroes.

 

The noble values for which Arminius lived and struggled have also survived, and he still has something quite specific to impart to us. It is something that remains unchanged, an ideal of great and enduring significance. It is the admonition that it is still meaningful to struggle for Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit: Unity, Justice and Freedom!

 

Ernst A. Schomer

 

[Translator’s note: Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit für das deutsche Vaterland is a line from Fallersleben’s Lied der Deutschen (1841), the German national anthem.]