THE TIME
The Stand
took place where once the legendary Varus battle? Just in time for the 2000th Anniversary struggling against competition from Kalkriese in Lower Saxony North Rhine-Westphalia.
by Silke Hellwig
Kalkriese
The Museum Store, the world is still in order. Here are Playmobil Roman, Lavender Oil ('ancient world of plants ") and the sausage" from Harter Hermann. " The inn advertises a "Roman Evening - cena et musica". 550,000 people visit the outdoor plant per year, including only about 1,000 schools. The main attraction is the museum tower, 26 meters in height, the wind tearing at his hair to the visitors, and the view takes your fancy. Far below, on a large grassy area between wooded slopes and valleys, it should have happened - the Varus Battle. Until well into the 20th Century, it was trading as a German foundation myth: Arminius against Varus. Germans against the Romans. In nine AD. Fighting is, to date, albeit in a different occupation.
Kalkriese in the Osnabrück region might not be alone, with his claim, the site of the historic uprising of "Hermann, the Cheruscan." In particular, the adjacent Detmold envies the 850-strong village Kalkriese, area of Brampton in Lower Saxony, its glory. And because between the two rivals the border is now North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony argue against the Lipper against the Osnabrück region, scientists against amateurs.
blood flow is not, the opponents beharken itself in words. In panel discussions, with articles, books and websites. Fighting is by all means - if not published his findings, is not taken seriously, who does not is professional, is reviled as a "home Hirsch. Of deception and manipulation is the issue of historical distortion and Zitierkartellen. Finally, there is a lot: to reputation, to tourists, for funding and research grants.
The dispute has been brewing generations. More one hundred locations have been identified as a battlefield. That the dispute has now inflamed again, wondering Joseph Rottmann not - he diagnosed a rising "Arminiusfieber: In a half years, the Varus battle marks the 2000th Time and the excavations in Kalkriese speak for themselves, says the CEO of the "Battle of Varus in the Osnabrück region" GmbH. give it finds in 6000 Kalkriese, and "from year to year are new ones that makes us more" secure. Far and wide, let no man vorzuweisen of similar treasures had, "to deal with us on an equal footing."
through the museum leads a fictional investigators called Stahnke
This confidence is documented everywhere: By the museum, contemporary beefed up with multimedia resources, lead investigator of a fictitious websites called Stahnke. At the end of the tour - the trail leading along elegantly lit display cases filled with coins and militaria - Stahl comes to the conclusion: "After all these years we are now certain: Kalkriese is the site of the Varus Battle" Rainer Wiegand, head of the Research Centre Rome and Germany to. the University of Osnabrueck, the recently formulated a bit more cautious. "According to current research, the discovery site in Kalkriese be particularly well-preserved theater in the context of the Varus Battle are called" Because a sentence on any sign Place, would be drivers on the highway simply refer to the "Battle of Varus in the Osnabrück region." These same signs are Siegfried Schoppe, a professor at the University of Hamburg, Institute of Economic History, a thorn in the side.
For him, they manifest, "that is sold as a scientific result, which is only a hypothesis." Together with his two sons, the economic historian's goal that the signs be removed or provided with a question mark. "I have nothing against it, says Schoppe, find" that the visiting that has taken place in them a great battle between Romans and Germans, perhaps the biggest. " But in the Varus battle, there is no single clear note.
is now there in Schoppe trio historian, numismatist and archaeologist. The senior contests Schoppe not start: "In science it is simply a matter of logical thinking" also are not alone because the men Schoppe.. On their website they quote scientists from Tübingen, Hanover and Muenster, which - like them - follow the conclusions of the investigator from the museum Stahnke Kalkriese do not want. Officially it is
reached an agreement: between the lip and the Osnabrück region, between Kalkriese Detmold and was closed in 2009 by the Treaty of peace. Under the title Empire conflict myth put the places Detmold, Holders and Kalkriese for 13 million € a common "exhibition" to.
"annoys us how aggressive Kalkriese occurs - and without any evidence"
But the money can not fill in the trenches!. The spokesman of the circle lip remains. "What we are so angry is that we in Kalkriese the Varus battle so aggressive has claimed, without evidence have" The Lower Saxony state archaeologist Henning Haßmann again asserts the dispute "completely dispassionately to . pursue It is not surprising that in Lipperland brave resistance is offered. "Each local patriots, it is difficult to admit a mistake." On what Side of the international border of the error lies, is unique to the Lower Saxony, "lines up If you in a simple Excel spreadsheet, the arguments will be very clear that they place on their sum Kalkriese the Varus battle related"
stand And then the. irreconcilable adversaries. As a mediator, however, is the retired Peter Glüsing, once at the Department of Prehistory and Early History of the University of Münster. He was especially important, he says that progress would be to research and unearth further evidence - if she were speaking now in favor of or against the Varus battlefield in Kalkriese. And in fact, refers Glüsing, "one can imagine anything out the site of the Varus battle to be. Finally, there abgemurkst thousands of Romans and Germans, and massacred. "
THE TIME, 29.03.2007 No 14
http://zeus.zeit.de/text/2007/14/LS-Varusschlacht
