Inventing Berlin: Architecture, Politics and Cultural Memory in the New/Old German Capital Post-1989 (The Urban Book Series)

This book comprehensively examines post-1989 changes to the symbolic landscape of Berlin – specifically, street names, architecture, urban planning and monuments – and links these changes to concepts of contested cultural memory and national identity in Berlin and Germany in the post-Wall period. The core of the book is made up of an analysis of built space changes in the eastern half of the city before and after the Berlin Wall, flanked by an introduction to the theoretical underpinnings of the topic and a wider interpretation of the events in Berlin in relation to other geographic and historical contexts. It furthermore offers an explanatory model for the phenomenon of the "symbolic foreigner" whereby former citizens of the GDR feel disenfranchised and excluded from today's German society. This book is a valuable resource for researchers, students, and also appeals to a wider, non-academic audience with an interest in both cultural memory and Berlin. Preface 7 Contents 9 About the Author 12 Abbreviations 13 List of Figures 14 List of Tables 19 1 Introduction 20 Abstract 20 1.1 Introduction 20 References 25 2 Spatial Symbolism and Politics 26 Abstract 26 2.1 Spatial Symbolism and the Cultural Landscape 26 2.2 Semiotics as an Empirical Entry Point 28 2.2.1 Peirce, Saussure and the Sign 29 2.2.2 Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Axes 30 2.2.3 Greimas’ Semiotic Square 31 2.2.4 Denotation, Connotation, and Orders of Signification 31 2.3 Reading the Cultural Landscape: Decoding Spatial Symbolism in the Built Environment 32 2.3.1 Spatial Signifiers: Monuments, Street Names, and Buildings 32 2.3.2 Spatial Syntagms: Positioning and Presenting Spatial Symbols in Cities 34 2.4 Space as a Political Good: National Spaces, National Narratives 36 2.4.1 The Politicization of Symbolic Space 36 2.4.2 National Symbols: Cultural Landscapes of the Cold War East 39 2.5 Post-socialist Symbolism: Nation-Building After 1989/1990 42 References 45 3 The Politicization of Berlin’s Urban Landscape, 1945–1989 48 Abstract 48 3.1 Establishing Berlin’s Division Through Politics and Architectural Leitbilder 50 3.2 Destalinization and the Shift Toward Functionalism 59 3.3 After the Wall: The Development of the City Center and the “Housing Question” 64 3.4 Berlin’s 750th Jubilee: Staging the Post-modern City 77 3.5 The Politicization of Housing in Divided Berlin 80 3.6 Discussion: Architecture and Identity in Divided Berlin 83 References 87 4 Identity, Politics, and the Creation of Consensus 89 Abstract 89 4.1 Setting the Stage: Unification and Administrative Restructuring 89 4.2 Power, Legitimation, and the Key Actors 92 4.3 Technocratic Neutrality: Expert Commissions, Architectural Competitions, and the Stadtforum 96 4.4 Media and Discourse: Normalizing the Narrative 98 4.5 Delegitimizing Dissenting Voices 100 4.6 Summary 102 References 102 5 The Cultural Landscape of the Berliner Republic: Undoing the Socialist Past 104 Abstract 104 5.1 Street Renaming: Remediating the Toponymic Landscape 107 5.2 Alexanderplatz: From Socialist to Capitalist City Center 116 5.3 Planwerk Innenstadt: Breaking the Central Ensemble 122 5.4 Critical Reconstruction: From Modernism to Historicism 129 5.5 The Palace of the Republic and the Prussian City Palace: The Fight for Berlin’s “Heart” 133 5.6 Conclusion 148 References 148 6 Putting It All Together: Spatial Symbolism, Cultural Memory, Nation-Building, and Berlin’s Urban Development After 1989 151 Abstract 151 6.1 Synthesizing Myriad Changes: The Remediation of Berlin’s Socialist Built Space and Cultural Landscape 152 6.1.1 Temporal Analysis 153 6.1.2 Spatial Analysis 159 6.1.3 Syntagmatic Analysis 161 6.1.4 Strategic Analysis 165 6.1.5 Conclusion 171 6.2 “Demokratie Als Bauherrin:” Berlin’s Cultural Landscape and the German National Narrative Post-1990 172 6.2.1 East Berlin as a Post-socialist City 173 6.2.2 The “Wall in Our Heads” 175 6.2.3 German National Identity Post-1990 as Seen Through the Lens of Architecture, Memory, and Identity in the New/Old Capital 179 6.2.4 Lieux de Mémoire Perdu and Those Who Long for Them 181 6.2.5 Conclusion 184 References 185 7 Conclusion: Current Outlook, Recent Developments, and Wider Relevance 188 Abstract 188 References 196 Appendix I: Street (Re)naming in Mitte, Friedrichshain, and Prenzlauer Berg, 1947–1995 198 Index 210 Front Matter ....Pages i-xxiii Introduction (Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse)....Pages 1-6 Spatial Symbolism and Politics (Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse)....Pages 7-28 The Politicization of Berlin’s Urban Landscape, 1945–1989 (Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse)....Pages 29-69 Identity, Politics, and the Creation of Consensus (Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse)....Pages 71-85 The Cultural Landscape of the Berliner Republic: Undoing the Socialist Past (Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse)....Pages 87-133 Putting It All Together: Spatial Symbolism, Cultural Memory, Nation-Building, and Berlin’s Urban Development After 1989 (Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse)....Pages 135-171 Conclusion: Current Outlook, Recent Developments, and Wider Relevance (Mary Dellenbaugh-Losse)....Pages 173-182 Back Matter ....Pages 183-197