Beneath the “Culture War”: Corpus Christi Processions and Mutual Accommodation in the Second German Empire

Abstract

On a sunny day in June 1897, the Augsburg councillors Kusterer, Doll, and Martin joined the town’s main Corpus Christi procession. Given that the three men represented the Center Party, a Catholic political party in Augsburg’s liberal-dominated city council, their taking part in this most important of Catholic religious feasts was by no means exceptional, as each year thousands of inhabitants either joined the Corpus Christi procession or lined the streets as bystanders. In the local press, both liberal and ultramontane newspapers covered the event in the usual way, noting, among other things, that the town’s garrisoned military had lined the route of the procession, or that “many houses” had been decorated “with birch branches, wreaths, and images.” They also mentioned, without further ado (and without naming names), that “three councillors” had joined the procession. None of the newspapers covering the event reported that anything extraordinary, let alone improper, had happened before, during, or immediately after the procession.2