Book contents
- Invisible Fatherland
- Invisible Fatherland
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1 From Kaiserreich to Reich
- 2 “Onwards over Graves”
- 3 Symbolics of Shared Hegemony
- 4 Anchoring the Nation in the Democratic Form
- 5 Political Violence and the Inversion of Gewalt
- 6 In Memoriam of Walther Rathenau
- 7 Constitutional Patriotism Avant la Lettre
- 8 Memory from Fragments
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
7 - Constitutional Patriotism Avant la Lettre
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2025
Book contents
- Invisible Fatherland
- Invisible Fatherland
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1 From Kaiserreich to Reich
- 2 “Onwards over Graves”
- 3 Symbolics of Shared Hegemony
- 4 Anchoring the Nation in the Democratic Form
- 5 Political Violence and the Inversion of Gewalt
- 6 In Memoriam of Walther Rathenau
- 7 Constitutional Patriotism Avant la Lettre
- 8 Memory from Fragments
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The seventh chapter of Invisible Fatherland examines the transformation of August 11 into “Constitution Day.” Introduced in 1921 in the form of a modest celebration, this annual commemoration of President Ebert’s signing of the Weimar Constitution became a key moment of republican self-representation. The chapter traces the expansion of the festivities during the years of relative stability in the mid-1920s and their culmination on the occasion of the constitution’s tenth anniversary in 1929. Despite its growing prominence, the holiday faced strong opposition from representatives of the far-left and far-right, who rejected the republic’s legitimacy. The chapter explores how this obstruction shaped the government’s efforts to establish an inclusive and forward-looking democratic tradition. In tying together different strands of this book, this chapter demonstrates that the republic pioneered an early form of constitutional patriotism, even before the concept was formally articulated.
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- Invisible FatherlandConstitutional Patriotism in Weimar Germany, pp. 181 - 210Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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