Humanitarianism and Media: 1900 to the Present

316 Pages·2019·4.247 MB·English

by  Johannes Paulmann

Humanitarianism & Media
New German Historical Perspectives
Series Editor: Paul Betts, St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford
Established in 1987, this special St Antony’s Series on New German Historical
Perspectives showcases pioneering new work by leading German historians
on a range of topics concerning the history of Modern Germany and Europe.
Publications address pressing problems of political, economic, social and intellectual
history informed by contemporary debates about German and European identity,
providing fresh conceptual, international and transnational interpretations of the
recent past.
Volume 1
Historical Concepts between Eastern and Western Europe
Edited by Manfred Hildermeier
Volume 2
Crises in European Integration: Challenges and Responses, 1945–2005
Edited by Ludger Kühnhardt
Volume 3
Work in a Modern Society: Th e German Historical Experience in Comparative
Perspective
Edited by Jürgen Kocka
Volume 4
Popular Historiographies in the 19th and 20th Centuries: Cultural Meanings, Social
Practices
Edited by Sylvia Paletschek
Volume 5
A Revolution of Perception? Consequences and Echoes of 1968
Edited by Ingrid Gilcher-Holtey
Volume 6
Anti-Liberal Europe: A Neglected Story of Europeanization
Edited by Dieter Gosewinkel
Volume 7
Poverty and Welfare in Modern German History
Edited by Lutz Raphael
Volume 8
Space and Spatiality in Modern German-Jewish History
Edited by Simone Lässig and Miriam Rürup
Volume 9
Humanitarianism & Media: 1900 to the Present
Edited by Johannes Paulmann
Humanitarianism
& Media
1900 to the Present
Edited by
Johannes Paulmann
berghahn
N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D
www.berghahnbooks.com
First published in 2019 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
© 2019 Johannes Paulmann
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A C.I.P. cataloging record is available from the Library of Congress
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78533-961-5 hardback
ISBN 978-1-78533-962-2 ebook
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgements ix
Humanitarianism and Media: Introduction to an Entangled History 1
Johannes Paulmann
I. Humanitarian Imagery
1. Promoting Distant Children in Need: Christian Imagery in
the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 41
Katharina Stornig
2. ‘Make the Situation Real to Us without Stressing the Horrors’:
Children, Photography and Humanitarianism in the Spanish
Civil War 67
Rose Holmes
3. Humanitarianism on the Screen: Th e ICRC Films, 1921–65 90
Daniel Palmieri
4. ‘People Who Once were Human Beings Like You and Me’:
Why Allied Atrocity Films of Liberated Nazi Concentration Camps
in 1944–46 Maximized the Horror and Universalized the Victims 107
Ulrike Weckel
5. Th e Polemics of Pity: British Photographs of Berlin, 1945–47 126
Paul Betts
6. Th e Human Gaze: Photography after 1945 151
Tobias Weidner
vi Contents
II. Humanitarian Media Regimes
7. On Fishing in Other People’s Ponds: Th e Freedom from Hunger
Campaign, International Fundraising and the Ethics of NGO
Publicity 185
Heike Wieters
8. Advocacy Strategies of Western Humanitarian NGOs from
the 1960s to the 1990s 201
Valérie Gorin
9. Humanitarianism and Revolution: Samed, the Palestine
Red Crescent Society and the Work of Liberation 222
Ilana Feldman
10. Mediatization of Disasters and Humanitarian Aid in the
Federal Republic of Germany 240
Patrick Merziger
11. NGOs, Celebrity Humanitarianism and the Media:
Negotiating Confl icting Perceptions of Aid and Development
during the ‘Ethiopian Famine’ 263
Matthias Kuhnert
12. Th e Audience of Distant Suff ering and the Question of (In)Action 281
Maria Kyriakidou
Index 299
Figures
1.1 ‘Save us, for we perish.’ ‘Institution of the Holy Childhood’ booklet,
Pontifi cal Association of the Holy Childhood, 1856. 47
1.2 ‘Orphelins de la Sainte Enfance – Pékin’. Holy Childhood
Association illustrated postcard. 50
1.3 ‘Das Negerkind’, published with this front page 1912–39. St Petrus
Claver Sodality. 51
1.4a and b ‘Chine – Hongkong’. Holy Childhood Association
illustrated postcard. 55
2.1 Walter M. Holmes, ‘Nazi Bomb Kills Seventy Spanish Children’,
Daily Worker, 12 November 1936. 71
2.2 Cover, Spain: An Appeal for the Work of Th e Society of Friends and
Th e Save the Children International Union, 1937. 73
2.3 Insert, Spain: An Appeal for the Work of Th e Society of Friends and
Th e Save the Children International Union, 1937. 73
2.4 International Commission for the Assistance of Spanish Child
Refugees pamphlet, ca. 1937. 77
2.5 ‘Saved from War’s Terror’. NJC charity envelope, ca. 1938. 80
3.1. ICRC fi lms by decade, 1920s–1960s 92
3.2 ‘Germany post-war 1946–1948. Distress, cold and hungry:
famished old people.’ Screenshot from the fi lm Helft Helfen, 1948. 96
3.3 ‘Aid for Greek Civilians’. Screenshot from the fi lm Tous frères!
(All Brothers!), 1952. 98
3.4 ‘Indochina War 1947–1954. Hanoï, camp for Vietnamese military
prisoners. Visit of an ICRC delegate in the buildings for internees’.
Screenshot from the fi lm Tous frères!, 1952. 99
viii Figures
4.1 American prisoner of war Lt. Jack Taylor testifi es at Mauthausen.
American Army’s liberation footage of Mauthausen, 1945. 109
4.2 Jewish medical doctor Hadassah (Ada) Bimko testifi es at
Bergen Belsen. British liberation footage from Bergen Belsen,
shot by British Movietone, 1945. 110
4.3 Survivors at Bergen Belsen curse SS guards forced to carry corpses.
British liberation footage from Bergen Belsen, shot by British
Movietone, 1945. 111
4.4 Jewish prayer shawls taken from deportees at Auschwitz. Soviet
footage of the liberation of Auschwitz, 1945. 114
5.1 Fresh milk on the dock, Gdansk, Poland, 1946. 129
5.2 Jewish DPs receiving food at Bindermichl UNRRA DP Camp
in the U.S. Zone, Linz, Austria, date unknown (most likely 1946). 130
5.3 Children of Europe (Paris: UNESCO, 1949). 132
5.4 Leonard McCombe, ‘Berlin’, Illustrated, 22 September 1945. 134
5.5 Victor Gollancz, Is it Nothing to You? (London: Victor Gollancz/
Orion Publishing Group, 1945), cover. 138
5.6 Victor Gollancz, In Darkest Germany: Th e Record of a Visit
(London: Victor Gollancz/Orion Publishing Group, 1947),
image 14. 139
5.7 Victor Gollancz, In Darkest Germany: Th e Record of a Visit
(London: Victor Gollancz/Orion Publishing Group, 1947),
images 22–23. 140
5.8 Sargeant Wilkes, Berlin July 1945. 142
6.1 Robert Doisneau, ‘L’enfant papillon’, Saint-Denis, 1945. 168
6.2 Henri Cartier-Bresson, scene from a young pioneer camp near
Moscow, 1954. 169
6.3 David Seymour, photograph from ‘Children of Europe’. 170
8.1 City youth marching to protest world hunger, United Kingdom,
May 1971. 205
8.2 Journalist Esther Rantzen in Oxfam’s Baby Milk Campaign leafl et,
1983. 208
8.3 ‘March for the survival of Cambodia’. 211
Acknowledgements
Th e present volume originates from the Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship I
had the honour to hold at St Antony’s College, Oxford, during the academic
year 2014/15. My sincere thanks are due to the VolkswagenStiftung, which to-
gether with the Fritz Th yssen Stiftung and the Robert Bosch Stiftung fi nanced
this distinguished visiting professorship. Th e chance to be relieved of most duties
at my home institution and contribute to the academic life at Oxford by giving a
public lecture and organizing a conference proved a stimulating blend of intellec-
tual leisure and academic obligations. Th e European Studies Centre (ESC) at St
Antony’s welcomed me warmly and also provided excellent working conditions.
I am particularly grateful to Paul Betts, who was my host at the ESC and now
has contributed a chapter of his own to the collection. I am indebted to Sarah
Moran for her support and skilful planning of the events. Dorian Singh and
other friends, old and new, made my sojourn enjoyable as well as memorable,
also beyond the confi nes of 70 Woodstock Road.
I wish to thank the authors for their commitment to the volume and their
understanding throughout the time it took to put it together. Th anks are also due
to the anonymous reviewers whose critical comments were valuable in develop-
ing the book. At the Leibniz Institute of European History in Mainz, Joe Paul
Kroll, Barbara Kunkel, Anna Katharina Pieper, Corinna Schattauer and Vanessa
Wild helped to make my editorial task much easier. John Carter Wood skillfully
constructed the index. Many thanks to all of them. Th e volume received its fi nal
touches in the environment of the LabEx EHNE ‘Ecrire une histoire nouvelle
de l’Europe’ at Panthéon Sorbonne and Sorbonne Université. May it contribute
to a better understanding of European history and its relations with the wider
world – an aim that links the institutions that supported my eff orts.
Mainz and Paris, October 2018