The German Wall: Fallout in Europe

263 Pages·2011·3.449 MB·English

by  Marc Silberman

Studies in European Culture and History
edited by
Eric D. Weitz and Jack Zipes
University of Minnesota
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, the very meaning of
Europe has opened up and is in the process of being redefined. European states and societies
are wrestling with the expansion of NATO and the European Union and with new streams
of immigration, while a renewed and reinvigorated cultural engagement has emerged be-
tween East and West. But the fast-paced transformations of the last fifteen years also have
deeper historical roots. The reconfiguring of contemporary Europe is entwined with the
cataclysmic events of the twentieth century, two world wars and the Holocaust, and with
the processes of modernity that, since the eighteenth century, have shaped Europe and its
engagement with the rest of the world.
Studies in European Culture and History is dedicated to publishing books that explore
major issues in Europe’s past and present from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives.
The works in the series are interdisciplinary; they focus on culture and society and deal with
significant developments in Western and Eastern Europe from the eighteenth century to
the present within a social historical context. With its broad span of topics, geography, and
chronology, the series aims to publish the most interesting and innovative work on modern
Europe.
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The German Wall: Fallout in Europe
edited by Marc Silberman
The German Wall
Fallout in Europe
Edited by
Marc Silberman
THE GERMAN WALL
Copyright © Marc Silberman, 2011.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-11216-2
All rights reserved.
First published in 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-29431-2 ISBN 978-0-230-11857-7 (eBook)
(cid:39)(cid:50)(cid:44)(cid:3)10.1057/9780230118577
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The German wall : fallout in Europe / edited by Marc Silberman.
p. cm.—(Studies in European culture and history)
1. Germany—History—Unification, 1990—Influence. 2. Germany—
History—Unification, 1990—Social aspects. 3. Germany—Social
conditions—1990– 4. Berlin (Germany)—History—1990– 5. Political
culture—Germany. 6. Mass media—Germany. 7. National
characteristics, German. 8. National characteristics, European.
I. Silberman, Marc, 1948–
DD290.26.G474 2011
943.08798—dc22 2011001466
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: April 2011
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Acronyms xi
List of Contributors xiii
Introduction: Where Is Germany? 1
Marc Silberman
Part I Re- Viewing the Berlin Wall
One Germany 1989: A New Type of Revolution? 11
Konrad H. Jarausch
Two The Different Aesthetics of the Berlin Wall 37
Olaf Briese
Three Politics, Culture, and Media before and after the
Berlin Wall 59
Henning Wrage
Part II Re-N ewing Berlin in Unified Germany
Four Re-C apitalizing Berlin 79
Janet Ward
Five Interim Use at a Former Death Strip? Art, Politics, and
Urbanism at Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum 99
Karen E. Till
Six J ugendweihe: Revitalizing a Socialist Coming- of- Age
Ceremony in Unified Berlin 123
Barbara Wolbert
vi / contents
Part III Re-S ettling Berlin’s Others
Seven Neither Eastern nor Welcome: The Confused Lives of
Berlin’s Balkan Migrants, 1950–2000 145
Isa Blumi
Eight Class of 1989: Who Made Good and Who Dropped
Out of German History? Postmigrant Documentary
Theater in Berlin 165
Katrin Sieg
Part IV Re-N egotiating Europe’s Center
Nine On Italian Bridges: Navigating Rocks and Hard Places in
Post- Wall Europe 187
Lina Insana
Ten Breaking Down the Walls: The European Library Project 205
B. Venkat Mani
Works Cited 227
Index 247
Illustrations
2.1 Berlin, East Side Gallery (2010), © Olaf Briese 52
2.2 Berlin, East Side Gallery (2010), © Olaf Briese 53
2.3 Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Strasse (2010),
© Olaf Briese 54
2.4 Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Strasse (2010),
© Olaf Briese 55
3.1 Gewissen in Aufruhr, shot in summer 1961, shows in the
background the still open Brandenburg Gate, probably for
the last time in television before 1989. DVD capture 67
3.2 One, Two, Three (shot compilation): Piffl’s ride toward the
Brandenburg Gate (2a, 2b) and the beginning of the chase
after he has crossed the border (2c). DVD capture 68
3.3 Die Mauer: a film of the Berlin Wall being built in 1961
is screened on the Wall’s remnants in 1989, revealing the
source of reproduction (the projector) and its reception
(the audience). DVD capture 72
3.4 Herr Lehmann constructs the second-order televisual
representation of the fall of the Wall and of a
West Berlin audience. DVD capture 73
4.1 Reichstag dome, Berlin (1999). Designed by Foster +
Partners. © Janet Ward 87
4.2 Renata Stih & Frieder Schnock, excerpt from “Hänsel &
Gretel and the Gold in the Reichsbank,” competition
entry (1999). © Stih & Schnock, Berlin / ARS, NYC 89
4.3 Chancellery, Berlin (2001). Designed by Axel Schultes and
Charlotte Frank. © Janet Ward 91
4.4 The Brandenburg Gate under renovation, draped in
Telekom’s publicity (2001). © Janet Ward 92
5.1 Viewing platforms of the New Berlin as the Palast der
Republik is “environmentally deconstructed.”
© Karen Till, 2007 100
viii / illustrations
5.2 Turn It One More Time © Folke Köbberling and Martin
Kaltwasser, 2007, Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum,
“Parcella” series. Photograph by Folke Köbberling © 2007 101
5.3 Glühbirne/Lightbulb © Philip Horst, Skulpturenpark
Berlin_Zentrum, “Inventory” series, 2006. Location: Block
between Kommandantenstrasse, Seydelstrasse, and Alte
Jakobstrasse. © VG Bild- Kunst, 2006 108
5.4 Single Room Hotel Berlin © Etienne Boulanger, 2007–2008,
Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum, “Spekulation” series.
Corner of Kommandantenstrasse and Neue Grünstrasse.
© Etienne Boulanger, 2007, courtesy of
Association Etienne Boulanger 110
5.5 U nd er kommt nicht allein © Valeska Peschke, 2007–2008,
Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum, “Spekulationen” series.
Photograph by KUNSTrePUBLIK, e.V. ©
VG Bild- Kunst, 2007 111
5.6a R estgrün © Ulrike Mohr/VG Bild- Kunst, 2005. Photograph
by Ulrike Mohr / © VG Bild- Kunst, 2005 112
5.6b N eue Nachbarn/New Neighbors © Ulrike Mohr, 2008,
Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum, “Spekulationen” series.
Photograph by Skulpturenpark Berlin, e.V. © 2008 113
6.1 Jugendweihe in the multipurpose hall of the youth center
“Come- In” in Berlin- Adlershof, 1994. © Barbara Wolbert 129
6.2 J ugendfeier in the Friedrichstadt palast in Berlin- Mitte, 2009.
© Gabriele Groschopp. 133
6.3 “Days for you: Jugendweihe 2009.” Fashion show in
Linden- Center, a shopping mall in Berlin- Hohenschönhausen.
© Daniel “classless” Kulla 135
9.1 Trans- European transport network: priority project No. 1
(Rail axis Berlin—Verona/Milano—Bologna—Napoli—
Messina—Palermo). © European Commission, 2005;
administrative boundaries © EuroGeographics, 2001 191
9.2 “La Sicilia fugge” [“Sicily is escaping”] © Franco Donarelli 195
Preface
This anthology began as an idea during a year-long collaboration between
Marc Silberman and Venkat Mani, whose brainstorming in 2008 led to
the plans for a conference to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. The
forty-second Wisconsin Workshop took place on November 5–7, 2009, in
Madison under the title “The Wall Came Down: On the 20th Anniversary
of the Fall of the Berlin Wall,” where initial drafts of the essays collected
here were presented and discussed. We wish to thank the following orga-
nizations and agencies at the University of Wisconsin for their generous
funding of the conference: the Anonymous Fund in the College of Letters
and Sciences; the Center for German and European Studies (CGES); the
Center for European Studies (CES), the Center for Russia, East Europe
and Central Asia (CREECA); the Center for the Humanities; the depart-
ments of German and History; as well as the program in Global Studies. In
addition, we are grateful to the Consulate General of the Federal Republic
of Germany in Chicago for its financial support. Following the confer-
ence presentations and their accompanying lively discussions, the con-
tributors began a year-long process of critiques, queries, and revisions that
have yielded the current volume. The editor is grateful to the authors for
their engagement, commitment, and patience during this process. He also
thanks the series editors, Eric Weitz and Jack Zipes, for their enthusiasm
and support in seeing this volume through to completion.