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17aus63: Der C.H.Beck-Fragebogen
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Unsere Autor:innen
Autor:innen treffen
17aus63: Der C.H.Beck-Fragebogen
Klassiker und Werkausgaben
Sachbuch
Neuerscheinungen
Specials
Published
Current Material
Damned and Destroyed
Hermann Parzinger
In 2015, the global public looked at Palmyra in disbelief - the ancient ruined city had fallen into the hands of the terrorist organization IS. The ancient temple of Baal, the sacred center of countless cultures, was blown up. But cultural destruction is not an invention of the 21st century. Such events can be found repeatedly over the last millennia. Hermann Parzinger tells the story of destroyed cultural treasures and makes a brilliant plea for the protection of human heritage and artistic freedom in our days.
The deliberate destruction of culture can be found in almost all epochs from the ancient times until today. From the Roman destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD to the iconoclasm of the Reformation and the French Revolution to the devastation of European colonialism and the rupture of civilisation under National Socialism. The deliberate devastation and plundering of cultural assets have always been mainly an expression of a new claim to power. Iconoclasms were driven by solid financial interests besides political, ideological and religious reasons. Robbery and expropriation often proved to be systematic redistributions of wealth. Hermann Parzinger gives a well-founded and vivid account of the different historical backgrounds and dynamics of cultural destruction.