Liberty, More Valuable Than Life

    Throughout their history, the Germans have loved and bravely defended their liberty.  But what is liberty?  Liberty is freedom from the unjust rule of another; in politics, religion, and personal life.  Political freedom is a decentralized, local government in which your ideas, desires, and decisions count.  Concerning religion, liberty is freedom to worship God according to your conscience.  Yet, in the history of the world, oppression has been more common than freedom.  Triumphantly though, Germans have overcome tyranny both in battle and through immigration.

    Have you ever heard of Hermann the German?  He had been an intelligent, well-trained Roman soldier up until he learned of the Romans’ plan to attack Germany, his homeland.  During that time of the Roman Empire’s expansion, Hermann brilliantly defeated the thus-far unconquerable Roman Legions of General Publius Quintilius Varus.  In what is known as the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, Hermann the Liberator led his desperate German army on to victory in 9AD against three Roman Legions advancing toward their homes.  Thus he preserved the Teutonic law, institutions, and way of life for more than a millennia.  A decentralized government and a local council, which consisted of only freemen, upheld that Teutonic law.  By winning the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, Hermann the German not only liberated Germany, but also renewed the German enthusiastic love for liberty!  The golden crown of liberty was thus preserved.

    The German’s second move for freedom was through immigration.  Russian promises of liberty and freedom quickly attracted many German families.  The first flood of Germans sallied forth from 1760 to 1762 because Catherine II issued a manifesto declaring that Germans could settle anywhere they wished in Russia and also could become citizens.  Furthermore, it proclaimed that if a German lacked finances, he might report to an embassy which would provide money for the journey without complaint.  Importantly, the Russians, who knew the German love for freedom, promised to forever liberate the Germans from military service and taxes.  Concerning their culture, Germans could maintain their own schools, churches, and language.  Many Germans stayed in Russia for about a hundred years, but . . . alas! after that, the Russian promises began rather rapidly to waver, and then completely dissolved.  But liberty in German hearts lived on.

    With Alexander II of Russia revoking the privileges that Germans had enjoyed for more than a century, the first wave of immigration to the United States began, because the Germans treasured liberty as much as gold.  By forcing all their male citizens to pay taxes, serve in the military, learn Russian, and follow an official state religion, the Russian Czar Alexander unwisely oppressed the German families.  Consequently, German Protestants immigrated to the Americas in large numbers.  Why America?  Because years earlier the American Colonists fought the most powerful nation at that time...England ...and were victorious.  These Colonists were mostly of Anglo-Saxon descent, who originally came from Germany!  Thus, Germans from different ages have brought the golden crown of liberty over the Atlantic, and to the United States of America.

    Through battles and immigrations, Germans have secured a treasure others have seldom known, that of the glorious crown of liberty, which has been renewed and preserved through centuries by tremendously valiant Germans. That crown was more precious than gold, much finer than silver, and more valuable to Germans than home or state. Concerning the freedom secured by Hermann, it was vital. Because Hermann had so thoroughly overcome tyranny in Germany, liberty triumphed throughout their history, even when the cost was high. Germans would say with Patrick Henry; “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?  Forbid it Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.”