Abstract
A profound tension developed over the course of the late nineteenth century over the ‘German forest.’ On one hand, popular depictions of the woods portrayed them as a crucial element of the national geography and history, uniting Germans in their love of nature. On the other, Germans fought contentious battles over just who had the right to walk on wooded property. The national struggle over the woods pitted competing social and economic interests against one another, revealing a far more varied and complex picture of the German passion for nature than the current literature often suggests. But how did these