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[Company name] GE108 – The Changing Face of Germany in Film and Text [Document subtitle] Abbas Adejonwo Lectures Lecture 1 – Wiederaufbau & Wirtschaftswunder 1: The Restoration of West German society (03/10/2018) NB: A lot of the content is covered on the slides on the handout Timeli...

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[Company name]

GE108 – The Changing Face of Germany in Film and Text [Document subtitle]

Abbas Adejonwo

Lectures Lecture 1 – Wiederaufbau & Wirtschaftswunder 1: The Restoration of West German society (03/10/2018) NB: A lot of the content is covered on the slides on the handout Timeline of main events is on the handout    

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Cities with population >50k: bombed Berlin: population↓30% o Approx. 16 years to clear rubble 6 out of 10 million in Eastern provinces: fled o Due to Soviet forces advancing (replicating Nazi actions) Food shortages o Black market boomed o A bishop condoned stealing food for sustenance 1947: disastrous winter prompted CARE (cooperative for assistance and relief everywhere) Shortage of men (due to war efforts) o Women  tasked w/ clearing the rubble (Trümmerfrauen) 3 issues: o Skepticism regarding masculine/military values o Distrust of older generations o F Eastern part = Soviet controlled (SBZ – Sowjetische Besatzungszone) Berlin (though in the SBZ): split into 4 NB: Germany was decentralized o Federal states had a lot more autonomy

Nuremberg Trials (die Nürnberger Prozesse)    

22 Nazi officials tried o 12 of which: sentenced to death and hanged Over 700 sentenced to death 1950: German governments are given the power to try Nazi war criminals by Allies Critics: trials were like “character cleansing” o When one is ‘denazified’: they get a certificate of ‘cleanliness’

Seminars and seminar prep Week 2 Prep

Week 3 Prep

Week 4 Prep Question 1 ‘Wirtschaftswunder’ and its implications on the book Period of economic recovery and growth in post-war Germany and Austria Term was (supposedly) first used in 1950 ‘Brot’ and its significance Bread (Brot) is effectively a metaphor/unit for measuring comfort. It takes him back to his war days and just after the war, when he was hungry

Question 2 Walter Fendrich as a character Characteristic of the Wirtschaftswunder Material gain is his main objective (Stealing and no remorse)  as long as he gains Relationship to his father Seems strained Very formal, lacking emotion (Beginning of book, telegram from father) Walter Fendrich and his job P7 “Es hatte Stunden gegeben, in denen ich mich selbst haßte, meine Arbeit, meine Hände.”   

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Walter clearly feels very strongly about it Hate is a v strong word Power of 3 o Himself, his work, his hands o Adds to the effect of his dislike for his situation (Link to Q1) Pretty much doing it just for the money

Question 3 Characterisation of Ulla and Hedwig (relates to Q4) Ulla -

She isn’t introduced until roughly 80% into the book Her first words are “Da darfst du nicht halten. Das kann dich zwanzig mark kosten” (“You can’t park there. It’ll cost you twenty marks”)

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(Not necessarily Ulla) Shows the importance of money during the Wirtschaftswunder o Basis of the contemporary value system No sort of greeting Cold (Colours) use of darker/harsher colours o E.g. red and black His fiancée, with whom he is not really in love His past, filled with moral corruption Daughter of his boss (money move?)

Hedwig -

“Ich dachte, sie sei geschminkt, aber sie war es nicht.” She’s described as a pure character His true love She somewhat represents his better future

Question 4 Colour symbolism Constant use of colour symbolism  heavy reference to red and redness P9 “Rot von Iphigenies Lippen”  repeated quite a few times 

Reference to a play by Euripides (Iphigenia in Tauris) o Romance, melodrama, tragi-comedy, escape play

If not red, then grey takes centre stage

Week 4 Seminar (1948 – Currency reform) Ulla = materialism, wealth Be careful when referring to happiness in the text itself The book reflects on materialism Walter as the first-person narrator He’s generally angry; he doesn’t express that he likes anything If you come across something completely foreign: LOOK IT UP e.g. Scharnhorst (Gerhard von Scharnhorst) e.g. Iphigenie (Kragen = collar) (Consider making a list of all things which are red/a variety of red – you’ll find you struggle to find one meaning of red) Red in the case of red lips can mean: seductiveness Red in the case of Ulla crossing through the name: death Red in the case of the jam, pudding, etc: sweetness (?)

Book/character analysis Walter -

fairly well-off, has a car, etc engaged to his boss’ daughter electro-technician middle class by German standards (frequency of changing) o Page 16: “alles immer genau für zwei Monate”

“hätte ich mir am liebsten die Decke übers Gesicht gezogen” - Dead people have covers over their face - Walter is deeply unhappy - Dissatisfied with the life he lives - Hates anything and everything - Origins lie in his early days Walter -

A very distant person

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“gleichgültig”

“preiswert”  implies that it isn’t too expensive Page 15 refers to the period where neither he nor his father could afford things Walter and his family’s poverty = relative (not absolute) Walter judges people by the way they look at valuable things and how they relate to material objects The whole novel is structured by two opposing sets of human relationship -

1: exchange (typically economic exchange) o Everything requires a payment 2: people who give without expecting in return

Walter approves of people who are selfless, and disapproves of people who relate to the world through a system of economic exchange Page 46 Walter uses bread as currency (‘what used to cost the same price as 3 loaves, now costs that of 200 loaves’) Page 32 ‘Love at first sight’ -

He’s metaphorically found the holy grail

Sight: goes back a long way in literary history -

Especially considering the separation of men and women/very little social interaction

[Social morality (Walter and Hedwig)] -

Socially unacceptable, illegal with the land-lady (pre-marital sex) Landlady could be taken to the court o Procuring/pimping

Regarding how realistic it is, it’s how plausible it is within the book itself (?) Hedwig = Walter’s saviour -

Expressed through love, rather than religion “Not too dissimilar to the conversion of St Paul on the way to Damascus” o Look into this (22/10/18) A revelatory experience (Walter meeting Hedwig)

Hedwig tells Walter to go, when he comes to her with the flowers -

She is outside of the contemporary value system She recognises he has a similar set of values

At the end, they end up in his car, as the landlady has told them to go away (car=very small space) -

They are outlaws They have no space in the materialistic society during the Wirtschaftswunder

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Does not really come to a conclusion(?)

Geißelung – lashing -

This word comes up on a couple of occasions (p101, 104) Religious connotations

Week 5 Prep Wiegen- oder Aufklärerlied Language List the Diverse registers, areas of reference, examples -

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Libby-Kuh o US food giant  Reference to how Germany was effectively controlled by Western forces (FRG)? Fenriswolf o Monstrous wolf in Norse mythology o Kills Odin in the events at Ragnarök o Had rapid growth and had to be bound by the gods  Could this relate to the fact that Germany during the Wirtschaftswunder had rapid economic growth? Nike (Greek goddess) o Goddess of victory o “Nike blind am Raume nippt”  Could the ‘sipping’ (“[sie] nippt”) refer to the small taste of victory with the German post-war recovery? Rubel o Russian currency o Soviet currency at the time

Registers1 o Mixture of technical details/examples, e.g. Rubel-Mond, Bundeskriegsminister, and colloquialisms/easy language o Could relate to the title (“Wiegen- oder Aufklärelied) Allusions2 o “Nike blind am Raume nippt” o Raum = space o Space race (up to 1959)  USSR had achieved the following:  First ICBM; first satellite; etc  USA had achieved the following:  First solar powered satellite; communications satellite; first spy orbit  “steigt und kopflos kippt”  Rises and falls, the way how the position in the race was always changing o Fenriswolf – see the notes in the previous page

1 Ask in tutorial: What exactly is meant by a register, in this respect? 2 What is an allusion, in this respect?

Content Wiegenlied – lullaby -

Purpose is to help a child sleep “Schlaf, mein Kindchen”

“Bulle-bulle, geh zur Ruh;” vs “Müde bin ich geh zur Ruh” -

Probably took inspiration from that poem (Hensel)

Aufklärung – clarification -

Informing the reader Goes beyond it just being a lullaby (It isn’t really a lullaby)

Contradiction of ‘genre’ is carried through by the fact, that it isn’t very comforting at times “Schlaf mein Kindchen, ungewollt” -

Kindchen = small child/baby UNSURE OF THE REASON WHY THEY’RE UNWANTED Followed by references to two currencies o Russian rouble and American dollar

“Papas Puschen” – papa’s slippers -

German government moving along smoothly (check the state of Germany in 1959) +6.7% GNP growth in 1959 (3.3%, a slowdown, the previous year)

“Hattu dichti-dichti macht?” -

‘Baby-speak’ Child to the father(?)

“Große Krise unterm Skalp” -

Large crisis under the scalp Covering the issues at the time Followed by “Gram und Taumel” (“sorrow and frenzy) o UNSURE

Defence minister = “Verteidigungsminister”, but in the poem, it’s “Bundeskriegsminister” -

Bundes before everything Krieg: reference to WW1 and WW2? 1956: Strauss reintroduced conscription o Possibly the reason for ‘Bundeskriegsminister’

“das tumbe Auge” -

UNSURE OF THE MEANING OF THIS

Die Scheintoten – Enzensberger Images of death and powerlessness in the poem The title: ‘Die Scheintoten’ -

Those who are seemingly dead

Lacklustre feeling -

People are lifeless in the system

Powerlessness = (die) Ohnmächtigkeit Meaning of ‘Schein’ and its presence in the poem Usually a piece of paper (in specific contexts) -

(In the poem) E.g. Totenschein (death certificate),

Double-meaning -

Seemingly, certificate

Relation between the ‘Scheintoten’ and administrative society (Relates to 5th stanza) Shows a clear distancing between the two 5th stanza Final stanza

Middle Class Blues – Enzensberger ‘Wir’? Those in society They can’t complain, as things are going ‘well’ (Wirtschaftswunder) Consumption, wealth, and economic growth “Wir essen…” (stanza 5) -

Very short sentences Makes up the entire stanza Repetition gives a feeling that there is a lack of satisfaction o Not always, but in this context ‘essen’ can be a metaphor for the consumption

‘Sozialprodukt’ = GNP -

“Das Gras wächst, / das Sozialprodukt,” o (The grass is always greener on the other side)? o GNP growth and economic growth

Stanza 6 – “Wir haben…” – focusses more on wealth The poem is very blunt -

(relation to time period) As long as there was growth and prosperity, happiness is assumed

Week 7 Prep 1) Structure of the play -

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‘Oratorium in 11 Gesängen’ (Oratorio in 11 Cantos) o A canto is a form of division in medieval and modern long poetry o This is a play, not a poem Each ‘Gesang’ is themed (von der Schaukel, vom Lager) o Like a different method of killing o “Gesang von Zyklon B” for example Oratorio: musical term for a religious and choral work (e.g. Handel’s Messiah) Personal point: o Even though some of the accused (“Angeklagte”) are referred to by their name, they continue to be called “Angeklagte” 1, 2, 3 etc. o I feel it strips the humanity from them o They are figures o Undeserving perhaps

2) The accused & witnesses 1and2 -

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Many of them were/are doctors NB: Witnesses 1&2 are for the defence Zeuge 1: o Page 128: “Sie sind heute Leiter/ eines großen kaufmännischen Betriebes“ o Leader of a big commercial business Zeuge 2: o Page 147: “Ich war Universitätsprofessor” A common theme in their defence is along the lines of “I wasn’t involved” o E.g. on page 77 “Ich habe meinen Fuß nie in das Lager gesetzt“ Some of the defences include emotions o E.g. on page 81, Zeuge 3 says “Den Arzt Dr. Flage/ sah ich mit Tränen in den Augen am Zaun stehn/ hinter dem ein Zug Kinder/ zu den Krematorien geführt wurde“ o Crying (likely) because the children are on their way to death o Some form of human emotion and sympathy being shown Personal point: Boger (Angeklagter 2) gets pressured into admitting that he shot people o Page 131 ISSUE WITH RESPONSIBILITY o After Zeuge 9 says the prisoners had to kill sometimes (page 146), the defendant (Verteidiger) says: “Die Häftlinge wurden also/ von ihren Eigenen umgebracht“ o This is countered by the fact that they were given a death threat if they didn’t comply  Was actually similar for the camp soldiers etc

3) Connection between big business and Auschwitz -

There’s a repeated mentioning of ‘IG Farben’ o This was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate o After WWII, it was split (by the Allies) into its original 6 companies

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 BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agfa, etc Often these companies used concentration camp labour  (E.g. in Der Vorleser, there’s reference to a job at Siemens, which was offered to Hanna Schmitz)

4) The Victims -

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Often the way to survive is by being of use to the Nazis o E.g. being a doctor Line breaks: o Zeuge 3, page 86 o “Wir/ die noch mit (…)” o Emphasis  evokes emotion in the reader o Often line breaks end up being punctuation Zeuge 7 (page 87) had a (seemingly) unusual escape o Sent back from the crematorium and was asked whether he wanted to live by the doctor o Said yes; left the camp Some of the survivors don’t necessarily feel that they have truly survived o Zeugin 4: page 88 „Ich bin seit dem Aufenthalt im Lager krank“ o Page 89: „Ich möchte vergessen/ aber ich sehe es immer wieder vor mir“

5) Relationship between documentary value and Weiss statement 6) Use of language -

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Clear difference of emotion (between some of the accused and the witnesses) o E.g. Angeklagter 2 shows little to no emotion or remorse  Comes across as very heartless  Shot people and did all the other atrocities with ease o Zeugin 4 is clearly stricken by her emotions  Evokes emotion within the reader  Helps/brings the reader to sympathise/empathise with the trials and tribulations faced by those in the camps Gesang 11: most emotional (imo) o The imagery o Page 186: „Sie schrien jetzt/ (…)/ aber es war nicht viel zu hören“ No mention of Auschwitz but a clear sense that it is about the concentration camps o High level of description/imagery Courtroom drama (unsure)

7) Is justice served? -

No There is no conclusion Being tried for murder? War crimes?

Week 7 Seminar -

11 cantos (3 sub-sections each) 18 accused 9 witnesses 3 representatives of the judiciary All divisible by 3

NB: ‘Die Ermittlung’ is heavily inter-textual Dante’s “Divine Comedy” -

Structured in 3 parts o Hell, purgatory, heaven o Each is 33 cantos long (except 1, which is 34, so that it totals 100)

Gesang der Jünglinge in Feuerofen  check the spelling of this Reference to the Book of Daniel -

Thrown into a fiery furnace when refusing to worship an idol in Babylon

Auschwitz as ‘Hell on Earth’ only works to a certain extent -

A secular play (no religion mentioned/involved) The absence of protection and divine intervention

Cantos 1, 10 and 11 (kind of the ones in between) -

The names of the cantos give a sense of linearity They give a storyline o From when they arrive (von der Rampe), to when they ‘leave’ (vom Feueröfen)

Survivors have no names (Witness 1, 2, 3, etc) Witness 3 implicitly and explicitly gives a political oppression -

The conscience of the play itself?

The play conflates various agendas  look into this The accused KEPT their names in the camps The survivors had their names ERADICATED at the point of entry

Zeuge 1 = station master (during the war) -

“Nein/ Ich hatte nur (…)” o “nur” diminishes the act o Suggests he was under order

Auschwitz as a factory/assembly line? ‘Modern’ factory system: -

The assembly line Isolated, limited perspective Each person (with an individual task) is not in charge o Not in control/ no overview

The worker in the machine is alienated from the product’s process -

Being used by the machine Object, not subject

NB: Peter Weiss is a Marxist when writing the play (look into this) Everybody working at Auschwitz is there voluntarily Not a single case of someone requesting a transfer and getting punishment -

Alternative option was to actively fight They all could have said no

Death squads (before 1941 roughly): often civilians -

Involved in shooting Jews for 8 hours a day All given the option to say no/go home: none did o (Reasons are complicated)

Auschwitz functions like a modern factory Allows people to go away from their responsibility in these actions -

Due to the administrative process

People function like cogs in a machine Excuses remain recognisable as excuses Continuous refusal to accept responsibility NB: the play is not just about the Holocaust, but also modern society Gesang 5 and Gesang 6 Both are for named people (Lili Tofler, victim & Unterführer Stark, perpetrator) Canto 5: act of remembrance

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Captures the anonymisation of the dead people in the machinery, but also that they are all individuals

Example: page 38/39 -

They were dehumanised Way to survive being in the machine was letting go of humane instincts (again, look into this)

The Nazis create a universe within the camp which corresponds to their view of life -

Portrays the Jews as sub-human Only way of survival (for the Jews) is to adapt to it

There are moments when there are acts of humanity shown towards individual inmates -

(Look for examples)

Boger and Kaduk(check spelling) are not cogs of the machine; they are torturers Play highlights: -The inability of civil justice which is a part of normal everyday society NB: those on trial are not on trial for killing 10,000 people; they are being tried for killing individuals The play ends with the Auschwitz commandant saying: -

They were doing their duty We should forget about it

Structure Each line can correspond to syntactic units If read very slowly, you can ‘think with the play’ NB: an oratorio is very static, such as how draining the play can feel

Week 8 Prep The Political Aesthetics of Holocaust Literature (Robert Cohen)

1 Structure How is it structured? -

5 topic areas Discourse politics; aesthetics; documentary theater; identity; ideology (in that order)

How does it open? -

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Reference to another critic’s views on the play o Lawrence Langer in the mid-1990s o The fact that he in the 1970s denied the play, then praised it 20 years later Reference to other critics o Alvin H. Rosenfeld; Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi; James E. Young o These reject the play more radically

What particular questions does he focus on? -

Those of the four afore...