Jasper Willi - Lusitania: the cultural history of a catastrophe

First published in English by Yale University Press in 2016

English language translation copyright 2016 Stewart Spencer

Originally published under the title Lusitania: Kulturgeschichte einer Katastrophe by Willi Jasper 2015 by be.bra verlag GmbH, Berlin

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jasper, Willi, author. | Spencer, Stewart, translator.

Title: Lusitania : the cultural history of a catastrophe / Willi Jasper ; translated by Stewart Spencer.

Other titles: Lusitania. English

Description: New Haven : Yale University Press, [2016] | Originally published: Jasper, Willi. Lusitania : Kulturgeschichte einer Katastrophe. Berlin : be.bra verlag GmbH, 2015. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016010335 | ISBN 9780300221381 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Lusitania (Steamship) | World War, 19141918Naval operationsSubmarine. | World War, 19141918--Moral and ethical aspects.

Classification: LCC D592.L8 J37 2016 | DDC 940.4/514dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016010335

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Contents

Ship Owners and Admirals

The Myth of the Titanic

The risk fleet

Were sailing off to Eng-e-land

The Tragedy of the Lusitania

The Queenstown Graves

Gospel in New York

Thomas Mann did not shed a tear

Erich Mhsam: Horror raised to its highest pitch

Karl Liebknechts Leaflet

The End of the U-20

The Turning Point of the War and Myths about the War

Nonpolitical Reflections and the Germans special path

German Men of Letters

War Artists and Artists Protests

1 The Old Head of Kinsale and its prominent lighthouse.

2 Memorial in Cobh recalling the victims of the Lusitania disaster.

3 British shipping companies traditionally dominated the transatlantic passenger routes. Cunard Line poster from 1875.

4 At the time of her maiden voyage on 7 September 1907, the Lusitania was the largest passenger liner in the world. Measuring 787 feet in length, she could accommodate 2,000 passengers and 850 crew members.

5 The interior of the Lusitania rivalled that of any luxury hotel. Contemporary illustration of the first-class dining room.

6 My field is the world. The German Imperator was not only a passenger liner designed for peacetime, but also a symbol of aggression.

7 Kaiser Wilhelm II steering the ship of state. A postcard from the First World War. The caption reads: Dear Fatherland, you can rest at peace. / You never need despair. / You have the rightful steersman / In these difficult days.

8 The new wonder weapon was intended to bring about the longed-for change in the fortunes of war: German U-boats in Kiel harbour, 1914.

9 The Submarine: an idealized depiction of submarine warfare from the Illustrierte Kriegszeitung.

10 A band of brothers: following their successes in the autumn of 1914, the crew of the U-9 pose for a photograph in which they strike a heroic attitude.

11 Max Valentiner was famous as a U-boat commander and as the author of money-spinning adventure stories. Like most of his surviving comrades, he continued his career under the National Socialists.

12 The success of the submarine war was measured in tons: a German propaganda poster from 1918 indicating that, in the first half of 1918, Germany had built new vessels weighing 270,000 tons, while simultaneously sinking enemy ships weighing 630,000 tons.

13 The U-9 under Captain Weddingen in convoy with other ships belonging to the German ocean-going fleet. Photograph from 1914.

14 Captain Walther Schwieger, the commander of the U-20. Following the sinking of the Lusitania, he was awarded the order Pour le Mrite.

15 Captain William Turner took command of the Lusitania in March 1915, only weeks before the vessel was sunk.

16 Advertisement placed in American newspapers by the German government warning against crossing the Atlantic in British ships.