"PEOPLE" "PREPARING THE STAUFER ANNIVERSARY" "I am Decker-Hauff and a professor of regional history in Tübingen." "At the University of Tübingen we have a small department for local and regional history which deals with all problems." "Legal history:" "We deal with place names and then with the local history of villages and cities, as well as the political, and most important, the economic history." "Another quite important part is social history, especially in terms of people." "We study the structures of urban and rural populations, including historical genealogy." "The first edition is from..." " And when did Irenicus live?" "Irenicus... 1480 to 1546." "Yes, this is the first genealogy which it..." "One of the worst tragedies in the Staufer history, an arabesque on the side:" "Manfred died and the widow Helena, Queen Helena of Epirus, was sitting in Trani in the castle and waited and waited for the ship that her father wanted to send her from Epirus." "Winds kept it from docking." "The news spread that she was there." "And that's the issue..." "It would make a good film:" "If the denizens kept mum and didn't betray her, the Anjous would raise the ransom day by day." "A promise to whomever betrays her." "In the end there was a Judas who was capable of doing so." "It was the castle keeper who betrayed the poor woman and her children and then Manfred's children were imprisoned for decades." "These poor children spent up to 40 years, well into old age, in prison." "Stuttgart." "THE MUSEUM IS CLOSED FOR PREPARATION" "OF THE EXHIBITION" ""THE STAUFER PERIOD"" "WHEN?" "FROM 26 MARCH TO 5 JUNE 1977" "DAILY FROM 10 AM - 8 PM" "WHERE?" "IN STUTTGART" "IN THE WÜRTTEMBERG STATE MUSEUM" "WHY?" "CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY" "OF THE STATE OF BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG" "Why make 1977 the Year of the Staufer?" "No date exists." "People across the country are desperately searching for a reference year... 1077, 1177 to potentially use for the exhibition." "We have to tell them, there is no anniversary, no date, which we are celebrating by this overdue exhibition." "The date is not Staufer-related, it is based on the 25th anniversary of the founding of our federal state." "The director of the state museum and a guest." "President of the State Parliament Ganzenmüller, I am pleased that you have come to us today to the State Museum to learn more about the progress of the Staufer exhibition, this exhibition which is so closely tied to the 25th anniversary" "of the State of Baden-Württemberg." "Mr. Junghans, I, the President of the State Parliament, am truly interested in the progress of the preparations for this Year of the Staufer because I believe that this state celebration along with its major events on the occasion of this anniversary" "should reach out to as many people as possible." "You know that we are celebrating 25 years of unification in the southwest of Germany between the regions Baden and Württemberg, now called Baden-Württemberg." "We actually do have an occurrence in history when these two regions were united once before, and that was under the Staufers." "And if, together with this state anniversary, we add to it a Year of the Staufer," "I think it's an excellent idea which only illustrates an re-embarking on a shared history by means of reuniting, here in Baden-Württemberg." "Back then the Staufers managed to reunite the regions focusing more on power and imperialist ways of thinking." "Thank goodness, the situation is different today." "The reunification was voluntary this time, and I mean that this voluntary reunification could become a mainstay approach in central Europe by spreading the unification to other populations in Europe in the spirit of a united Europe." "I believe this also provides a backdrop in terms of the humanities for celebrating the Year of the Staufer in 1977." "My job as head curator of the Württemberg State Museum is the careful conservation of the exhibition objects during setup, provided it is the lender's wish." "In this case here, the problem was the object's size." "Initially we had problems with transportation and it seems that the problems continue to this day." "The height of the rooms was not sufficient to allow for the painting to be placed completely upright." "For this reason we had to retouch the painting at an angle." "We are currently retouching it and by using a forklift on which we have placed a homemade basket we can attempt to bridge the difference of 60 centimeters." "When we wanted to place the painting on the stretcher frame, it turned out that during the restoration work the painting had to be impregnated from behind with a mixture of wax and resin because it had stretched at least 5 centimeters." "It seemed that the stretcher frame was suddenly too small and our carpentry workshop fabricated an extension and restored the painting to the proper size." "Otherwise either the sword in the lower section or the church cross would have been lost." "It's a never-ending process." "There's always more dirt." "My name is Thomas Brune." "I'm responsible for the exhibition's academic preparations, in particular dealing with the popular Staufer legacy." "Interesting is that only a few played an important role later." "Barbarossa to name one, or even Conradine and Ernest, Duke of Swabia." "Conradine and Ernest are persons of great significance for the Weimar Republic." "They are historic figures which will be offered to the public as allegories of a time which was marked by social unrest and economic crises." "For example Conradine pieces, such as "Ernest, Duke of Swabia, a play of might and loyalty," will be performed on open-air stages." "During this time there will be a tendency, because of several poets and politicians, to focus more on the Kyffhäuser, on Barbarossa under the Kyffhäuser, whose reawaking was strongly believed." "The Kyffhäuser become a new center of a national longing... or at least should become one, set in heroic legends equal to the image of a leader which soon became a brutal reality." "It soon became brutal..." "And it became concrete..." "But it soon became a horrendous reality which ended with the so-called Operation Barbarossa." "It's no coincidence that the first key meeting of the Hitler Youth was on the Hohenstaufen." "A local paper wrote:" ""Yet the time came since the ravens soared over the dreamy mountain, since the proud German eagle soared over it." "Barbarossa's spirit lives on, taking hold of millions of true Germans." "The German has come to himself."" "And for the Day of Greater Germany in 1938" "Ioyal greetings were also sent from the Kaiserberg naturally." "The gauleiter greeted the Führer in Vienna by saying," ""If the greater German ideal has already taken root in Swabia, then it is due to the former influence from the time of the Staufer."" "My name is Ruth Grönwoldt." "I work in Stuttgart in the State Museum as conservator for textiles, costumes and wall hangings." "I've just returned from Rome where I worked on our library of art history, the "Biblioteca Hertziana," for several weeks in preparation for the Staufer exhibition." "The library in Rome is unusually well-suited for the preparations because the development of weaving and embroidery naturally also played a great role in Italy and in particular in Sicily." "As we all know, the betrothal of Henry VI to Constance, the heir of the Norman kings, helped the Staufers conquer Sicily." "This region is of huge significance to the Staufer exhibition because we've endeavored to bring together all of the robes or remaining clothing of the Staufers and their contemporaries." "Clothing in the Middle Ages, even more so than today, was an expression of class distinction, naturally making these pieces very special objects." "Only once the proper vestments were placed on him was the emperor crowned emperor." "They were naturally very special stately robes made of silk with gold embroidery and even decorated with gemstones." "In contrast to these stately robes we have also found a relic, a robe worn by St. Elizabeth, one of the most famous contemporaries of the Staufers." "And none other than Frederick was at Elizabeth's funeral..." "I found sources for that too." "Soon after her death Elizabeth was proclaimed a saint and she was entered in the Franciscan Order, practically the polar opposite of the Staufer movement." "But even Frederick revered her and was also related to her." "She was his second cousin." "But the unbelievable selflessness of this woman," "I think, it moved her contemporaries at a very personal level." "Because you can see whether the person is king, emperor or bishop by looking at his garments." "Or even a knight." "More so than today." "I mean, Willy Brandt looks like we do." "Yet in the Middle Ages it was common for clothing to show what social class you belonged to." "Turn off the light in the back on the right." "And on again." "Left side off." "And on again back there." "Yes, that's better." "At the back please." "Up there." "Excellent." "Yes, that's better." "Yes." "Yes and no." "Common knowledge says the Staufers died out with Conradine." "That's not quite true." "Conradine had brothers, nephews who survived." "Furthermore we have a number of ancestors." "If you consider that in the State of Württemberg there were patriotic people in the 1860s naming their sons Conradine without worrying that the poor guy was beheaded at a young age, it shows how strong sentiments were for the Staufers in Swabia..." "I won't say bourgeoisie, but for all those in Swabia from the previous century." "So it's quite logical for everyone to consider himself a Staufer or Ottonian descendent." "Some can prove it very credibly and clearly, the next only probably, the third not at all." "It makes no difference." "How many ancestors does one have?" "For every person alive today in the middle generation would have had 4 million ancestors in the late Staufer era." "In the time of Barbarossa that means more than 16 million." "It is this progression of 2, 4, 8, 16 that drastically increases and therefore shows that at the time of the Salian kings, every person alive today has more ancestors than there were people." "Every person alive back then appears often in a family tree." "The painting shows the emperor Barbarossa, protected by Henry the Lion from the rebellious Romans." "It was painted by the Riepenhausen brothers in 1825." "When you look at the painting, what were the restoration problems?" "There were problems caused by the size of the painting." "We rolled across the painting on scaffolding and the restaurateurs needed to work lying down." "Conference with the exhibition management" "Let's have a seat." "Should I sit there?" "Yes, it'd be fine if you were to sit there." "A multimedia expert, Mr. Fien,  wants to deal with the Staufers." "We're waiting for Mr. Franz to discuss the main issues but we can get started because Mr. Meurer and Mr. Himmelein have not been entirely informed yet." "It was funny because Mr. Fien showed us a film about a lathe made by Bosch." "A drill." " A drill, yes." "Below in the electric workshop?" " Yes." "It was the central theme." "Initially you thought it'd be impossible to make a film about a drill, but look here, he did it." "You can see it with Otto von Freising, although he is related to him, you create the conditions by adopting Barbarossa." "My name is Peter Fien." "I'm a photographer and psychologist." "I create programmes for multimedia visions." "I'm sitting here at the table as I usually do, listening because I need to assimilate a topic in order to convey something to other people." "To do so I use multimedia." "That means we use several projectors accompanied by sound" "to create an experience for viewers, if you so will." "The allure of the job is due to the medium." "You can sell a drill just as well with this medium." "You can attempt to change the viewers' behaviour as best as possible, and you can also attempt to make an apparently dull topic appeal to viewers in a highly interesting way." "I'm referring to "The Staufer Era" here." "Now there was the thought that there is an underlying topic, a historical one here which really related to us here." "Good day, Mr. Franz." "Yes, we're pretty far along." " Already done?" "No, no." "Not that." "That led to the development of differences which didn't exist earlier." "Let's say that today the..." "And it is actually..." "The museum director,  professor Siegfried Junghans." "...settlement by the Alamanni in 260 A.D." "until, it lasted for nearly a century, until the death of Constantine." "And it broke apart at that moment and was re-established only 25 years ago." "Nearly." "Nearly." "The boundaries aren't identical." " With the fates, not the persons." "You want to know what an exhibition architect does." "I don't want to start with the Staufer exhibition." "I'd like to start with the other half of the day." "It starts with the national horticultural show." "You drive there with your own car to save time." "Company cars are becoming more complicated to get." "You drive to the horticulture office." "There you need to make arrangements, for example on which colours should be used for the streetcar masts." "Or whether we should use round or square bulbs for pedestrian lights." "For you it's a question of detail." "I'm thinking now about my most recent problems." "Or how will the roof over a streetcar stop be set up such that it does not interfere with streetcar traffic." "Before they used to discuss the big picture, the spacious coherency of the landscape and pathways, and the needs of park visitors placed on the park." "Or, the visitors' expectations from the park." "I'd like to introduce myself as the Staufer exhibition architect." "My name is Egbert Franz." "I work for the State Building Surveyor Office and Building Administration Office." "A work group was put together especially for the Staufer exhibition, and I head it." "There are two interior designers and a foreman." "We, together with the academics, who formulated the exhibition's academic concept, are responsible for adapting this concept to the Alte Schloss, which was not built as a museum." "Instead it is an old building of rooms with poor layouts, etc." "Sure, without a doubt." "But it wouldn't be a bad idea to legitimize why it's here." "We cannot forget that this exhibition is only possible because Baden-Württemberg is celebrating its 25th anniversary." "If that were not the case, the funds for the exhibition wouldn't exist." "In this exhibition, I am in charge of coordinating the historical part of it." "I must incorporate the results which the academic staff of this exhibition has produced into the exhibition to the best of my abilities." "Dr. Volker Himmelein, historian." "...material to display, to exhibit." "I am personally fascinated by..." "What I find fascinating about the exhibition is, the people who played a role in history and the monuments which remain from this period." "If we tell these stories now and say we're offering a chance to identify with characters, only to deconstruct them again, we end up constantly frustrating visitors." "We don't give them the chance to say, "This is a role model, an ancestor I can identify with."" "You don't want to do that?" " Yes, I must do it, otherwise I can't tell a story." " Exactly." "I agree." "Mr. Himmelein doesn't know that." "He hasn't experienced it yet." "You used to leave an Albers movie and you wanted to pull up your pants." "...my profession and try to simply do my job well and fulfill the expectations which are placed on me." "That also belongs to being an exhibition architect." "I've done different things before, built a state criminal office, a monkeys' cage for the Wilhelmas and suchlike." "Everything was really exciting and funny." "Okay, but getting back to the Staufers now." "You can outline the breadth of what an architect's job is, starting from the detail of a keyhole, and where it is placed, to thoughts about what feelings visitors will actually have?" "I mean, of course, you must pay attention so that... well, no one will easily feel like a Barbarossa." "Hopefully not Henry VI either." "I doubt Frederick II or Conradine either." "Yet you can say that the people of southwest Germany living primarily in Baden-Württemberg today," "were last united under the Duchy of Swabia, which collapsed with the Staufers." "I can't regard the Staufers as being topical or even more so than any other family or other person who did anything convincingly and with full commitment." "A few days ago I was in Tagliacozzo on the battle field." "A swamp in the mountains, cliffs, a small decaying church." "Charles of Anjou built it in thanks, Santa Maria della Vittoria." "And now the constant reflections, a slight change in the battle course, a few detachments of riders led differently, world history would've been different, at least regarding the Staufers." "The young man definitely had possibilities, good, tangible possibilities as the last and powerless heir, thanks to the support of several Italian parishes, a few German nobles, some relatives, to regain the Staufer southern empire in Italy, something thought lost" "since the death of his uncle Manfred." "With Manfred's death in 1266 in Benevent" "Charles of Anjou, the glorious victor, began to have difficulties and the Italians and Germans took advantage of them to coax the young" "Conradine into the country." "We ask, was he just a figure head?" "He was very young, inexperienced, he wrote charming poems, and was well educated and probably very intelligent." "But life refused him the chance to prove himself or show what he could do." "In all of his..." "How did the battle turn out?" " Yes, the battle was a very odd, non-battle actually, more an attempt to block the other's path, like in chess." "Conradine came from Rome quickly after the glorious Roman victory via Terni to the south and headed for Tagliacozzo because he had 2 options there:" "to the right, westward toward Naples, Campania, or left, eastward toward Apulia, the actual heart which he wanted." "We don't know which path he wanted to take." "Charles of Anjou rushed from Foggia and marched into the Apennines." "Went up in the Apennines and blocked his path at the only point where both paths could be protected with an army." "At this spot, this turning point, the two faced off." "We don't know where Conradine would have gone had he won." "In any case Charles of Anjou took a stand at an excellent spot, but the chances weren't bad for Conradine either." "The death sentence for Conradine was proclaimed in a Naples jail." "Conradine's beheading." "There were a few messages..." "The scene is famous." "German actors were absorbed by it extensively in the 18/19th century." "He received the news while he was playing a game of chess with his friend and cousin Frederick of Baden." "Now there are different, potentially literary interpretations." "Unmoved, he finished the game, or he..." "What we know is he had his last wishes set down." "He wrote a short will." "Prayers were said." "Then he was led to the Mercato, a large square at that time, no doubt, probably with the public in attendance for the spectacle." "Not an execution befitting a stately prince back then." "They say that under Charles V it was a special privilege to be executed on red velvet without an audience." "No, Charles of Anjou wanted his rival to die in front of all." "to prevent other fake Conradines from popping up later." "A massive event, and on top of it a mass execution." "Not only was Conradine executed, but also all of his companions who'd stayed with him." "That included even... and this is very moving for us Swabians... those who stayed until the end, Count Veringen and von Hürnheim." "They were his confidants from Swabia." "The authorities and the church appear as one when viewed from below." "A little more." "Stop, just a millimetre to the left." " No, you can leave it like that." "Keep going." " All the way up." "That's enough." "And now back." " Yes, fine." "Carefully." "You can go down a little yet." "A little more." "Fine, stop." "There." "Fine." "Fine now." "Light test." "Lights out." "Down." "On." "On, yes." "12 years ago, when I was given the Eberbach history for the first time, it struck me that the seven was placed in parentheses, and I was interested in finding out why." "In the Second World War" "I was a surgeon in field hospitals." "This interest was further piqued by the fate of my native Pommerania." "In my efforts to eliminate these parentheses, as I have also already told you," "I wrote to famous historians saying the parentheses are not justified, and it even seems slightly degrading, literally." "I'll repeat it:" "Henry Vll did not deserve it." "Henry is only mentioned with a 7 in parentheses." "Yes, but not by me." "But by historical researchers he is called Henry (Vll)." "I wasn't aware of that practice because without saying anything, the seven was placed in parentheses." "But historians say Henry (Vll)." " Really?" "I didn't know that." "If you consider that there were other Staufer rulers named Henry without a number at all because they did not share kingship along with the father, you cannot apply national criteria because the princes, representatives of national affairs," "stood behind the emperor, and not Henry Vll." "When he came, they were all overjoyed and abandoned Henry Vll immediately." "I disagree." " It has nothing to do with the parentheses." ""Even after 700 years we are still awaiting the hour when Germany is formed... to whom he sacrificed his life!"" "Bones of Henry Vll" "My interest in King Henry Vll of Hohenstaufen has actually always been kept alive by the fate of the parentheses, if I may call it that." "Which I described, and now this year it was reinvigorated when a Year of the Staufer was proclaimed in Baden-Württemberg." "It would be a special delight for me, a reward even, if the parentheses were to disappear finally." "KING HENRY Vll OF HOHENSTAUFEN" "Stuttgart, November 1976." "... that they were on their way to your location,  that we will be with you any minute now." "Understood." "Over."