Maxwell Planck was born in the midst of what
would later be seen as a golden age of Germany. By the time he
died, the once great country would be laid to ruins, ravaged by
two world wars and the economic depression, political extremism,
and international disdain that followed them.
But in the mid-nineteenth century, when Planck came of
age, Germany was flourishing. It was a cultural mecca for sophisticated Europeans,
a center of literature, philosophy, culture, and, most importantly
for Planck, science. The German man was held up as the epitome
of the civilized human being. No group benefited more from these
heady times than the scientific community.
German science led the nineteenth century charge to discover
the fundamental workings of the universe. German physicists were
second to none, and scientists from all over the world came to
study at Germany's prestigious universities. The country's days
of glory continued into the early twentieth century. German science,
and the reputation of the country as a whole, received a huge boon
when Albert Einstein came on the world scene with his theory of
relativity. Soon Einstein was the toast of Europe, and Germany
came along for the ride. This success was–thanks in part to Planck–closely
followed by another, as German physicists led a revolution in physics, developing
the new field of quantum mechanics.
But the golden era could not last for long. In 1914, Germany entered
into the World
War I. As the aggressor, Germany stormed the battlefield,
fighting what it believed to be a devoutly righteous cause. Planck
joined thousands of his fellow countrymen in loudly singing the
praises of the fatherland, certain of triumph, and he joined them
four years later in surprised defeat.
Suddenly the Germany of Planck's youth was gone. In its
place was a war-ravaged, poverty-filled country, plagued by inflation, overproduction,
anti-Semitism, and a populace wary of science, technology, and
foreigners. The new Weimar government was ineffective, weakened
from the start by their acceptance of the humiliating Treaty of
Versailles. The treaty put Germany on unequal footing with the
rest of Europe. The country, once supreme, was now isolated and
looked down upon by its neighbors, and it would be forced to claw
its way back to its former greatness.
Planck believed that the best way for Germany to win back
its former supporters would be for it to excel to such a degree
that no one would be able to deny German excellence, and thus no
one would be able to deny a place on the world stage. But he was
never able to carry out his plan, as another German visionary had
a far more powerful one. In 1933 Adolf Hitler, the head of the Nazi
party, capitalized on the discontent of the German people and swept into
power. The Germany Planck knew and loved, damaged by the World
War I, was heading toward a far worse fate.
Germany had been riddled by anti-Semitism in the years
following World War I, but with Hitler in power, the ugly discrimination spun
out of control. Jews in all industries were fired for the crime
of being Jewish, and, as a result, fields dominated by Jews, such
as theoretical physics, were decimated. Once the other countries
of the world realized what Germany was doing, they recoiled in
disgust. Isolated by its neighbors, insulated by its distrustful,
ultra- nationalist, foreigner-hating attitude, Germany soon became
alienated from the European civilization it had once led.
The country was on a collision course toward war. In 1939
the war arrived. The next several years would see the well-known
horrors of World War
II, on the battlefield and in the concentration camps.
By the time the war ended, Germany had become a bitter enemy of
much of the world, and, for many, it became the personification
of evil. Even now, over fifty years later, it struggles with the heavy
legacy of those dark days.
