The German Youth Movement and the Problem of History

Instead of the old myths of death and resurrection, of victory and twilight of the gods, which the Enlightenment removed from people’s consciousness, the nineteenth century has justified the barren idea that life moves like some sort of transportation on a straight road, and that one can increase speed or change direction. However, life never advances one-dimensionally, neither forwards nor backwards; neither upwards nor downwards – it rather breathes in space. – Georg Götsch, ‘Die Jugendbewegung als Volksgewissen’