The German youth movement of the late Kaiserreich and ill-fated Weimar Republic has been a subject of controversy since its inception. The longing for community that drove the movement, and a sense of shared experience that members found on long hikes to historic sites, has been linked to everything from a revolution in conservative thought to the rise of Nazism. But how did the youth movement see history? Why did hiking become a bridge between the past and the present? What possibilities did members feel in the drumbeat of German history?
Find out in our discussion with Robbert-Jan Adriaansen about his new book The Rhythm of Eternity: The German Youth Movement and the Experience of the Past, 1900-1933 (Berghahn Books, 2015). By examining the hiking reports of the youth movement, Robbert-Jan traces the development of historical thought among its members and how their experience of heritage became a vehicle to express hopes for the future.
Robbert-Jan Adriaansen is an assistant professor of history at the Erasmus University Rotterdam where he teaches historiography and the philosophy of history. His current research on historical reenactment is part of their interdisciplinary Research Excellence Initiative Project “War! Popular Culture and European Heritage of Major Armed Conflicts.”

Ryan Stackhouse is a historian of Europe specializing in modern Germany and political policing under dictatorship. His research exploring Gestapo enforcement practices toward different social groups is nearing completion under the working title “Policing Hitler’s Critics.” He also cohosts the Third Reich History Podcast and can be reached at john.ryan.stackhouse@gmail.com or @Staxomatix
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