Capturing the German eye : American visual propaganda in occupied Germany

241 Pages·2009·6.01 MB·English

by  Cora Sol Goldstein

Capturing the German Eye

Capturing the
German Eye
American Visual Propaganda in Occupied Germany
Cora Sol Goldstein The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
Cora Sol Goldstein is associate professor of political science at California
State University, Long Beach.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2009 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2009
Printed in the United States of America
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-30169-3 (cloth)
ISBN-10: 0-226-30169-9 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goldstein, Cora Sol.
Capturing the German eye : American visual propaganda in occupied
Germany / Cora Sol Goldstein.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-30169-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-30169-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Germany—History—1945–1955. 2. Propaganda, American—
Germany. 3. Psychological warfare—Germany. I. Title.
DD257.G596 2009
327.1'4094309044—dc22
2008031299
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
This book is dedicated to my father, Daniel J. Goldstein

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
One American Atrocity Propaganda 21
Two American Propaganda Films 41
Three ICD’s Blind Spot: The Fine Arts 69
Four Overt and Covert American Actions in the German Fine Arts 89
Five Iconoclasm and Censorship 105
Conclusion 127
Notes 135
Bibliography 173
Index 193
Illustrations follow page 82

Acknowledgments
In the late 1990s, when I began the research that led to this book, Ameri-
can military occupations appeared to be a relic of the past, a domain of
historical studies that could scarcely be expected to provide new insights
or to have contemporary policy implications. Moreover, I approached the
issue of military occupation in an unorthodox manner, by looking at the
control of visual culture. Fortunately, the University of Chicago offered
an interdisciplinary community that encouraged me to cross intellec-
tual boundaries and allowed me to interact with scholars in a variety of
disciplines—political science, history, German studies, cultural studies,
and art history. Still, without the enthusiastic backing of Michael Geyer,
Sander Gilman, William H. Sewell Jr., and Lisa Wedeen this project would
never have survived.
I am also grateful to Michael Dawson, Gary Herrigel, John Mearsheimer,
Ronald G. Suny, and Stephen Walt, of the Department of Political Science,
who helped me navigate graduate school and always provided help when
needed. I am indebted to Kimberley Rorshack and Carroll Joynes for their
support. I profi ted greatly from the University of Chicago Workshops, in
particular the Comparative Politics Workshop, the Modern European His-
tory Workshop, and the Cultural Policy Workshop. I remember my years at
Wilder House with great fondness, and in particular enjoyed sharing space
and friendship with Elise Giuliano, Devin Pendas, and Alex Thompson.
In a sense, the origin of this project can be traced to the University of
California at Berkeley, where I took my fi rst German history and German
politics courses and became fascinated with Germany. Erhard Stölting,
then a visiting professor at Berkeley, guided me through the intricacies
of post-Nazi German politics. And during my earliest fi eldwork in Ger-
many, Erhard and Angela Stölting’s home in Berlin became my home away
from home.
I am indebted to Volker R. Berghahn, David Caute, Jeffrey Herf, Harold
Hurwitz, Christof Mauch, and Robert Vitalis, for their confi dence in me
and in this project.