A Nation of Victims? Representations of German Wartime Suffering from 1945 to the Present (German Monitor 67) (German Monitor,)

The re-emergence of the issue of wartime suffering to the fore of German public discourse represents the greatest shift in German memory culture since the Historikerstreit of the 1980s. The (international) attention and debates triggered by, for example, W.G. Sebald's Luftkrieg und Literatur, G??nter Grass's Im Krebsgang, J?¶rg Friedrich's Der Brand testify to a change in focus away from the victims of National Socialism to the traumatic experience of the 'perpetrator collective' and its legacies. The volume brings together German, English and Israeli literary and film scholars and historians addressing issues surrounding the representation of German wartime suffering from the immediate post-war period to the present in literature, film and public commemorative discourse. Split into four sections, the volume discusses the representation of Germans as victims in post-war literature and film, the current memory politics of the Bund der Vertriebenen, the public commemoration of the air raids on Hamburg and Dresden and their representation in film, photography, historiography and literature, the impact and reception of W.G. Sebald's Luftkrieg und Literatur, the representation of flight and expulsion in contemporary writing, the problem of empathy in representations of Germans as victims and the representation of suffering and National Socialism in Oliver Hirschbiegel's film Der Untergang. Table of Contents\*\* Introduction:\*\* Helmut SCHMITZ: The Return of Wartime Suffering in Contemporary German Memory Culture, Literature and Film\*\* 1. The Post-War Period\*\* Gregor STREIM: Germans in the Lager. Reports and Narratives about Imprisonment in Post-War Allied Internment Camps\*\* Hans-Joachim HAHN: 'Die, von denen man erz?¤hlt hat, dass sie die kleinen Kinder schlachten.' Deutsche\*\*Leiderfahrung und Bilder von Juden in der deutschen Kultur nach 1945. Zu einigen Texten Wolfgang Weyrauchs\*\* Helen WOLFENDEN: The Representation of Wehrmacht Soldiers as Victims in Post-War German Fi Introduction : the return of wartime suffering in contemporary German memory culture, literature, and film / Helmut Schmitz Germans in the Lager : reports and narratives about imprisonment in post-war Allied internment camps / Gregor Streim "Die, von denen man erzählt hat, dass sie die kleinen Kinder schlachten" : deutsche Leiderfahrung und Bilder von Juden in der deutschen Kultur nach 1945 : zu einigen Texten Wolfgang Weyrauchs / Hans-Joachim Hahn The representation of Wehrmacht soldiers as victims in post-war German film : Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben? and Der Arzt von Stalingrad / Helen Wolfenden The German myth of a victim nation : (re-)presenting Germans as victims in the new debate on their flight and explusion from Eastern Europe / Samuel Salzborn Implicit equations in constructions of German suffering / Bill Niven Dresden and Hamburg : official memory and commemoration of the victims of Allied air raids in the two Germanies / Gilad Margalit Regarding and imagining : contrived immediacy of the Allied bombing campaign in photography, novel, and historiography / Heinz-Peter Preusser Lost in translations? : the discourse of "german suffering" and W.G. Sebald's Luftkrieg und Literatur / Annette Seidel Arpaci Wahrheit und Erinnerung : die Spuren des Jahres 1945 in Texten von Christa Wolf / Odile Jansen Historicism, sentimentality, and the problem of empathy : Uwe Timm's Am Beispiel meines Bruders in the context of recent representations of German suffering / Helmut Schmitz Literary representations in contemporary German fiction of the expulsions of Germans from the east in 1945 / Stuart Taberner Der Untergang (2004) : victims, perpetrators, and the continuing fascination of fascism / Paul Cooke Table of Contents......Page 6 Introduction: The Return of Wartime Suffering in Contemporary German Memory Culture, Literature and Film......Page 8 Germans in the Lager. Reports and Narratives about Imprisonment in Post-War Allied Internment Camps......Page 38 ‘Die, von denen man erzählt hat, dass sie die kleinen Kinder schlachten.’ Deutsche Leiderfahrung und Bilder von Juden in der deutschen Kultur nach 1945. Zu einigen Texten Wolfgang Weyrauchs......Page 58 The Representation of Wehrmacht Soldiers as Victims in Post-War German Film: Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben? and Der Arzt von Stalingrad......Page 78 The German Myth of a Victim Nation: (Re-)presenting Germans as Victims in the New Debate on their Flight and Expulsion from Eastern Europe......Page 94 Implicit Equations in Constructions of German Suffering......Page 112 Dresden and Hamburg – Official Memory and Commemoration of the Victims of Allied Air Raids in the two Germanies......Page 132 Regarding and Imagining. Contrived Immediacy of the Allied Bombing Campaign in Photography, Novel and Historiography......Page 148 Lost in Translations? The Discourse of ‘German Suffering’ and W.G. Sebald’s Luftkrieg und Literatur......Page 168 Wahrheit und Erinnerung Die Spuren des Jahres 1945 in Texten von Christa Wolf......Page 188 Historicism, Sentimentality and the Problem of Empathy: Uwe Timm’s Am Beispiel meines Bruders in the Context of Recent Representations of German Suffering......Page 204 Literary Representations in Contemporary German Fiction of the Expulsions of Germans from the East in 1945......Page 230 Der Untergang (2004) Victims, Perpetrators and the Continuing Fascination of Fascism......Page 254 Index of Contributors......Page 270 The re-emergence of the issue of wartime suffering to the fore of German public discourse represents the greatest shift in German memory culture since the Historikerstreit of the 1980s. The (international) attention and debates triggered by, for example, W.G. Sebald's Luftkrieg und Literatur, Günter Grass's Im Krebsgang, Jörg Friedrich's Der Brand testify to a change in focus away from the victims of National Socialism to the traumatic experience of the 'perpetrator collective' and its legacies. The volume brings together German, English and Israeli literary and film scholars and historians addressing issues surrounding the representation of German wartime suffering from the immediate post-war period to the present in literature, film and public commemorative discourse. Split into four sections, the volume discusses the representation of Germans as victims in post-war literature and film, the current memory politics of the Bund der Vertriebenen, the public commemoration of the air raids on Hamburg and Dresden and their representation in film, photography, historiography and literature, the impact and reception of W.G. Sebald's Luftkrieg und Literatur, the representation of flight and expulsion in contemporary writing, the problem of empathy in representations of Germans as victims and the representation of suffering and National Socialism in Oliver Hirschbiegel's film Der Untergang. The Return of Wartime Suffering in Contemporary German Memory Culture, Literature and Film; Germans in the Lager. Reports and Narratives about Imprisonment in Post-War Allied Internment Camps; 'Die, von denen man erzählt hat, dass sie die kleinen Kinder schlachten'. Deutsche Leiderfahrung und Bilder von Juden in der deutschen Kultur nach 1945. Zu einigen Texten Wolfgang Weyrauchs; The Representation of Wehrmacht Soldiers as Victims in Post-war West German Film: Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben? and Der Arzt von Stalingrad