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Germany – 150th Anniversary – Birth of Theodor Fontane
1969 G Silver 5 Mark 28mm (11.18 grams) 0.625 Silver (0.2251 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 125
BUNDESREPUBLIK · DEUTSCHLAND · 5 DEUTSCHE MARK 19 69 G, Eagle divides date, denomination below.
THEODOR FONTANE 1819-1898 +, Head on left.
Edge Lettering: DER FREIE – NUR IST TREU
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 Theodor Fontane (30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known today, only at age 58 after a career as a journalist.
Fontane’s novels are known for their complex, often sceptical view of society in the German empire; he shows different social and political parts of society meeting and sometimes clashing. Other trademarks of Fontane’s work are their strongly drawn female characters (such as Effi Briest and Frau Jenny Treibel), tender irony and vivid conversations between characters.
Fontane’s travel books about Britain include Ein Sommer in London (A Summer in London, 1854), Aus England, Studien und Briefe (From England: Studies and Letters, 1860) and Jenseit des Tweed, Bilder und Briefe aus Schottland (Beside the Tweed, Pictures and Letters from Scotland, 1860). In the books Fontane reflects both nature and the mood in Britain at that time. The success of the historical novels of Walter Scott had helped to make British themes much in vogue on the Continent. Fontane’s Gedichte (Poems, 1851) and ballads Männer und Helden (Men and Heroes, 1860) tell of Britain’s former glories. Back in Germany Fontane became particularly interested in his home province, the March of Brandenburg. He enjoyed rambling through its rural landscapes and small towns and delighted in the growth of its capital city, Berlin. His fascination with the countryside surrounding Berlin may be seen in his picturesque Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg (Walks through the Province of Brandenburg, 1862-82, 5 vols), in which he extended his earlier fascination with British history to his native land.
Wars of German Unification
In 1870 Fontane quit his job at the Kreuzzeitung and became drama critic for the liberal Vossische Zeitung, a job he held until his retirement. He had already written about Prussia’s war against Denmark in Der schleswig-holsteinische Krieg im Jahre 1864 (1866) and the Austro-Prussian War in Der deutsche Krieg von 1866 (1869). He went to the front to observe the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and after being taken prisoner at Vaucouleurs remained in French captivity for three months. He memorialized his experiences in Kriegsgefangen Erlebtes 1870 (Experiences as a Prisoner of War, 1871) and published his observations concerning the campaign in the book Der Krieg gegen Frankreich 1870-71 (The War against France, 1870-71, published 1874-76). In his observations he strongly criticized Prussian militarism: “A mere glorification of the military without moral content or elevated aim is nauseating.”
Later years
At the age of 57 Fontane finally began work on his novels, for which he is remembered best today. Fontane’s lifelong wish to be able to live from his literary works was finally fulfilled. A fine historical romance, Vor dem Sturm (Before the Storm, 1878), was followed by a series exploring modern life, notably L’Adultera (Woman Taken In Adultery, 1882), which was the first of his society novels and deemed risky for its theme of adultery.
His novels Irrungen, Wirrungen (Trials and Tribulations, 1888), Frau Jenny Treibel (1892) and Effi Briest (1894-95) yielded insights into the lives of the nobility and the commoners. His achievement in this regard was later described as poetic realism. In Der Stechlin (written 1895-97), his last completed novel, Fontane adapted the realistic methods and social criticism of contemporary French fiction to the conditions of Prussian life.
Death
Fontane was plagued by health problems during his last years but continued to worked until a few hours before his death. He died in the evening of 20 September 1898 in Berlin. As a member of the French Protestant Church of Berlin he was buried in the congregation’s cemetery on the Liesenstraße. His wife, Emilie, was buried beside him four years later. Their graves were damaged during World War II but later restored.
 Germany, officially the Federal Republic of  Germany is a federal parliamentary republic in western-central Europe. It includes 16 constituent states and covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi) with a largely temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Berlin. With 81 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state in the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular migration destination in the world.
Various Germanic tribes have occupied northern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before 100 CE. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation.
The rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states in 1871 into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918-1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic. The establishment of the Third Reich in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After 1945, Germany split into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990, the country was reunified.
 In the 21st century, Germany is a great power and has the world’s fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP, as well as the fifth-largest by PPP. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the world’s third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a developed country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled and productive society. It upholds a social security and universal health care system, environmental protection and a tuition free university education.
Germany was a founding member of the European Union in 1993. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world. Known for its rich cultural history, Germany has been continuously the home of influential artists, philosophers, musicians, sportsmen, entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors.
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