Bodies and Ruins: Imagining the Bombing of Germany, 1945 to the Present

289 Pages·2017·7.054 MB·English

by  David F Crew

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Bodies and Ruins
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Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany
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Bodies and Ruins
Imagining the Bombing of Germany,
1945 to the Present
David F. Crew
University of Michigan Press
Ann Arbor
Revised Pages
Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2017
All rights reserved
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher.
Published in the United States of America by the
University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
c Printed on acid- free paper
2020 2019 2018 2017 4 3 2 1
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Crew, David F., 1946– author.
Title: Bodies and ruins : imagining the bombing of Germany, 1945 to the present / David F.
Crew.
Description: Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2017. | Series: Social history, popular
culture, and politics in Germany | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2016043290| isbn 9780472130139 (hardcover : alk. paper) | isbn
9780472122387 (e- book)
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1939– 1945— Destruction and pillage— Germany. | Bombing,
Aerial— Germany— History— 20th century. | World War, 1939– 1945— Campaigns—
Germany. | World War, 1939– 1945— Aerial operations. | World War, 1939– 1945—
Influence.
Classification: LCC d810.d6 .c74 2017 | DDC 940.54/213— dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016043290
The University of Michigan Press has no responsibility for the persistence of accuracy of URLs
for external or third- party Internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee
that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
The author has made every effort to track down the copyright for each of the individual images
reproduced in this book. In some cases, it has been impossible to discover the relevant copyright.
If readers possess information about undiscovered copyrights, they are requested to inform the
author and/or the publisher.
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For my granddaughter, Maya
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Acknowledgments
In the process of writing this book, I have accumulated debts to a number of
institutions and individuals. It is a pleasure to be able, finally, to express my
thanks in print. The financial assistance that made the research for this book
possible was provided by The University of Texas at Austin (UT-A ustin) in the
form of a Faculty Research Assignment (Fall Semester, 2007) and by the De-
partment of History at UT- Austin in the form of several Scholarly Activity
Grants (SAG). As a Fellow of the Institute for Historical Studies in the History
Department of The University of Texas at Austin during the academic years
2010– 11 and 2013– 14, I not only received valuable release time from teaching
but also benefited greatly from the extraordinary intellectual exchange that
took place in the Institute’s weekly research seminars. I want to thank my col-
league Julie Hardwick, the energetic first director, who has helped to make the
Institute such a success.
The interlibrary loan service of Perry- Castaneda Library at UT- Austin de-
serves special thanks for its relentless pursuit of the large number of local publi-
cations that are the foundation of this study. I am also indebted to the staffs of the
following archives in Germany for their patient and professional assistance:
Sächsische Landesbibliothek-S taats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden,
Bundesarchiv/Berlin- Lichterfelde, Bundesarchiv- Film Archiv/Berlin- Wilmers-
dorf, Bildarchiv preußischer Kulturbesitz-B erlin (BpK). At the BpK (now known
as the Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte), where I have been working
for several summers on another related project, Norbert Ludwig and Hanns-P eter
Frentz (the director) have been exceptionally welcoming and helpful.
The organizers and sponsors of several seminars, lectures, and confer-
ences gave me the opportunity to present installments of my research and to
benefit from thoughtful responses and criticisms. At an early stage in the devel-
opment of this project, a workshop on “Memories of Catastrophe” at Virginia
Revised Pages
viii Acknowledgments
Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia (March 30– 31, 2007), gave me my first chance to
air some preliminary ideas and arguments. A conference on “From Perpetra-
tors to Victims? Constructions and Representations of German Wartime Suf-
fering” at Leeds University, United Kingdom, June 29–J uly 1, 2007, helped me
to move my thinking along, as did a lecture I was asked by Alf Lüdtke to pres-
ent at the University of Erfurt, Germany, June 3, 2008. Finally, I want to thank
Georg- Wagner Kyora and Axel Schildt for inviting me to the conference on
“Wiederaufbau der Städte:Europa seit 1945/Rebuilding European Cities: Re-
construction Policy since 1945,” in Hamburg, Germany, September 23–2 5,
2009, sponsored jointly by the Faculty of Philosophy of the Leibniz University
Hanover, the Research Institute for Contemporary History–U niversity of Ham-
burg, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, which gave me the opportu-
nity to present an earlier version of chapter 4 of this book.
As I was writing this book, I enjoyed the exceptional good fortune of being
able to turn for advice to four longtime colleagues. Each read the original manu-
script closely and carefully, and each gave me many pages of suggestions about
how to improve the final version. For more than a quarter of a century, Adelheid
(Heidy) von Saldern has been an intellectual partner and a good friend. Whether
at the dinner table in Göttingen or, more recently, on one of our trips to Poland,
Lithuania, Ukraine, or Bulgaria, Heidy and I have talked endlessly about German
history. I have profited immensely from these conversations. Heidy read every
word of the manuscript of this book with great care, close attention to detail, and
astute insight. So, too, did Uwe Lohalm in Hamburg, whom I first met in 1988
when I was working on the research for a previous book in the Hamburg Staat-
sarchiv. In Austin, Sabine Hake and Kirsten (Kit) Belgum were extremely gener-
ous with their time, knowledge, and insight. Both gave the book manuscript close
and careful readings and made important suggestions that I have done my best to
incorporate into the final product. I also want to thank the anonymous reader for
the University of Michigan Press, whose astute comments encouraged me to
look at the manuscript with different eyes.
Numerous other friends and colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic pro-
vided very necessary encouragement, support, and constructive criticism at
every stage in the writing of this book. I want to thank three of my former
graduate students, now established scholars: Rob Stephens and Heather Gum-
bert at Virginia Tech and David Imhoof at Susquehanna University, who con-
tinue to play an important part in my intellectual as well as personal life. In
Austin, I have benefitted enormously from my many conversations with Joan
Neuberger, who shares my interest in visual history and visual culture. I also
want to thank Bob Abzug, Chris Ernst, Steve Hoelscher, Tatjana Lichtenstein,
Neil Kamil, and Michael Stoff.
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Acknowledgments ix
Two of my (now former) graduate students, Shannon Nagy and Michael
Schmidt, took on the often frustrating task of hunting down reproduction per-
missions for pictures that originally appeared in obscure publications. I want to
thank them both for their dogged detective work.
I am indebted to Geoff Eley, the past series editor, and Kathleen Canning,
the current editor, who decided that this book belonged in the University of
Michigan Press series on Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Ger-
many. I also want to thank Ellen Bauerle (senior executive editor), LeAnn
Fields (senior executive editor), Christopher Dreyer (editorial associate), and
Kevin Rennells (production editor), who have shepherded this book into pub-
lication with enthusiasm, remarkable efficiency, and a keen understanding of
what I was trying to accomplish.
Sharing everyday life with my wife, Sara, helped to make this book possi-
ble. For more than a quarter of a century, I have looked forward to seeing Sara at
the end of our respective working days and to talking with her about the world,
large and small, past and present. Since my last book was published, our daugh-
ter Kate has become the amazing mother of our wonderful granddaughter, Maya.
Kate’s wit and exceptional sense of humor cheered me on more than one occa-
sion when the depressing subject of this book was beginning to get to me. My
son- in- law, Aaron, has brought intelligence, patience, good humor, and a good
heart into our now expanded family. This book is dedicated specifically to my
granddaughter, Maya, but it is really meant for everyone in my family as well as
for all of my colleagues, friends, and students who made it possible.
Material in chapters 4 and 5 has been previously published in part or in
different versions in the following articles:
“Mourning, Denial, Celebration: The Visual Work of West German Re-
construction after 1945,” in Georg Wagner- Kyora, editor, Wiederaufbau
europäischer Städte.Rekonstruktionen, die Moderne und die locale
Identitätspolitik seit 1945/ Rebuilding German Cities.Reconstructions,
Modernity and the Local Politics of Identity Construction since 1945
(Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2014). Used by permission of Georg-
Wagner Kyora.
“Sleeping with the Enemy? A Fiction Film for German Television about
the Bombing of Dresden,” in Central European History 40 (2007).
Used by permission of Central European History.
David F. Crew
Austin, Texas
July 2016