The Sixties in Berlin and in Hollywood: City with a Wall in Its Center—The Attempt to Erase the German Past

Berlin was the location in which most of the intelligence operations in Europe have taken place in the first twenty years of the conquest and the Cold War. In November 27, 1958, Khrushchev issued a formal letter to the Allies, demanding that the western Allies evacuate Berlin and enable the establishment of an independent political unit, a free city. He threatened that if the West would not comply with this, the soviets would hand over to the East Germany’s government the control over the roads to Berlin. In the coming months Moscow conducted a war of nerves as the last date of the end of the ultimatum, May 27, 1959, came close. Finally the Soviets retreated as a result of the determination of the West. This event reconfirmed the claims of the West that “the US, Britain and France have legal rights to stay in Berlin.” According to Halle: “These rights derive from the fact that Germany surrendered as a result of our common struggle against Nazi Germany.” (Note 2) The Russians have done many attempts to change Berlin’s status. In 1961 Berlin Wall was constructed, almost without response on the part of the West, and by so doing, the Soviets perpetuated the status quo that had been since 1948. In July 25, 1961 Kennedy addressed the Americans on television, saying that “West Berlin is not as it had ever been, the location of the biggest test of the courage and the will power of the West.” (Note 3) On June 26, 1963, Kennedy went out to Berlin, which was divided by the wall, torn between east and west, in order to announce his message. In his speech outside the city council of West Berlin, Kennedy won the hearts of the Berliners as well as those of the world when he said: “Ich bin ein Berliner”, I’m a Berliner. The sixties were years of heating of the conflict with the Soviet Block. In 1961 the Berlin Wall was constructed. Then Kennedy came into power, there was the movement for human rights and the political tension between whites and blacks in America. The conflict increase as the Korean War started, and afterwards when America intervened in Vietnam. There was also the crisis in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, which almost pushed the whole world into a nuclear war and catastrophe. During the 28 years of the Berlin Wall, 13.8.61-9.11.89, this was notorious as an example of a political border that marked the seclusion and freezing more than freedom of movement, communication and change. At the same time there was the most obvious sign of the division of Germany after WWII and the division of Europe to East and West by the Iron Curtain. The wall was the background of stories by writers from east and west. The writers of espionage thrillers were fascinated by the global conflict between east and west and the Cold War with Berlin as the setting of the divided city. Berlin presented a permanent conflict that was perceived as endless, or as Mews defined it: “Berlin is perfect, a romantic past, tragic present, secluded in the heart of East Germany.” (Note 4) The city presented the writers with a situation that demanded a reassessment of the genres and the ideological and aesthetic perceptions of this type of writing. This was the reason that the genre of espionage books blossomed in the sixties, mainly those with the wall. The wall was not just a symbol of a political failure, as East Germany could not stop the flow of people escaping from it. The city was ugly, dirty, and full of wires and lit by a yellow light, like a concentration camp. A West German policeman says: “If the Allies were not here, there would not have been a wall. He expressed the acknowledgment that the Western powers had also an interest in the wall as a tool for preventing the unification of Germany. But his colleague answers: If they were not here, the wall would not have been, but the same applies for Berlin. (Note 5) Berlin was the world capital of the Cold War. The wall threatened and created risks and was known as one of the big justifications for the mentality of the Cold War. The construction of the wall in August 1961 strengthened Berlin’s status as the frontline of the Cold War and as a political microcosmos, which reflected topographical as well as the ideological global struggle between east and west. It made Berlin a focus of interest, and this focus in turn caused an incentive for the espionage literature with the rise of neorealism with the anti-hero, as it also ended the era of romanticism. (Note 6) The works of le Carré and Deighton are the best examples of this change in literature. Both of them use the wall as the arena of events and a symbol in their works. Only at the end of the fifties, upon the final withdrawal of McCarthyism and the relative weakening of the Cold War, there started have to appear films with new images about the position and nature of the Germans and the representations of Nazism in the new history. The films of the Cold War presented the communists as enemies or saboteurs. Together with this view about the Soviets, developed the rehabilitation of the German image. Each part of the German society was rehabilitated and become a victim instead of an assistant of the Nazis. The critic Dwight MacDonald was impressed by the way in which the German population” has changed from a fearful assistant of one totalitarian regime to the hero opponent of another totalitarian regime”. (Note 7) This approach has to be examined, and how it influenced the development of the German representation, since many films I have investigated demonstrate a different approach of the German representation.

Comprehension of the national past in the West Berlin music culture in the 1980s

Статья посвящена роли популярной музыки в процессах осмысления и проработки нацистского прошлого в Западной Германии в 1980-х гг. Популярная музыка рассматривается на примере музыкальной сцены Западного Берлина, а именно группы «Einstürzende Neubauten». Рассмотрены политический, экономический и социальный контекст функционирования сцены Западного Берлина, проанализированы различные способы репрезентации национального прошлого в музыке «Einstürzende Neu-bauten». Сделан вывод о том, что в музыкальной культуре Западного Берлина происходило восстановление преемственности разных периодов немецкой культуры и вписывание проблемного прошлого в публичный исторический нарратив. The article is focused on the role of popular music in the processes of comprehension and dealing with the Nazi past in West Germany in the 1980s. Popular music is examined on the example of the music scene of West Berlin, namely the band «Einstürzende Neubauten». The article considers the political, economic and social context of the West Berlin music scene, analyzes different ways of representing the national past in the music of «Einstürzende Neubauten». The conclusion is made that in the musical culture of West Berlin the continuity of different periods of German culture was restored and the troubled past was incorporated into the public historical narrative.

If You Want to Say Something—Speak in the Language of the Language: Ewa Partum's Model of Conceptual Art

The artistic practice of the Polish-born Ewa Partum can be divided chronologically into Polish (1965–1982), West Berlin (1982–89) and transnational / global (from 1989) periods. This essay focuses on the specificity of the conceptual art developed by Partum and her self-historicization as a conceptual artist. At the same time, it regards the local and global historicization of conceptual art as fragmentary and contradicting processes. The study examines local genealogy of Partum's conceptual strategies as part of a localized reflection on the geopolitics of knowledge; it considers a specific position of cultural production that is characteristic of Central and Eastern European neo-avant-gardes. It examines Partum's model of conceptual art in relation to Polish and Western practices. It is argued that Western conceptualism was only a point of reference for Partum's art. Works such as Presence / Absence or Luncheon on the Grass realized by Partum in years 1965–1972 formed a basis from which the artist responded to knowledge of the transnational conceptual movement that was disseminated through Mail Art and Fluxus networks. Analysis reveals Partum's model of conceptual art to be contrapuntal, as it is not subordinate to either its western inflection or local (Polish) cannons and protocols.

The Music in Berlin: Spaces and Places

In a complement to the networks and styles of the previous chapter, this chapter offers a detailed analysis of the spaces that frame the Berlin klezmer scene. It draws on the influence of British cultural studies to locate this scene within the characteristic fluidity and bricolage aesthetics of the city’s wider street-level musical culture—brought to life here through description and analysis of the sonic profusion of Mauerpark’s weekly “mini-festival.” The chapter then moves on to explore in depth ways in which we might understand “Jewish space,” including the important role of music in the mediation of German-Jewish space. The majority of the chapter then looks in detail at the official/unofficial spatial spectrum that frames several characteristic klezmer venues in the city: a long-running and appealingly shabby club/bar; a contemporary arthouse theater program; a well-established, friendly yet surprisingly formal dance night; and the lively space of a West Berlin kosher cafe. It then discusses in depth the three klezmer jam sessions that take place in the city, considering each of these sessions as its own version of a wider “scene,” with reference to the work of Will Straw and others. The last part of the chapter discusses how several unofficial spaces that have developed recently point to a possible paradigm shift in the presentation and reception of Yiddish musical culture in the city, seen in the ground-level complex of Yiddish cultural activities established over the last six years in the Neukölln district. Once again, the solid theoretical underpinning is brought to life by strong ethnographic description and interviews.

Toward a New Communal Future

The changing musical practices of the Jewish community in West Berlin are traced through the later 1980s, only to look again at Berlin at large and its two communities side-by-side. In spite of ideological differences, the East and West Berlin communities came closer, and generally music and culture mirrored the political rapprochement. In the final years of Divided Germany, a Jewish-music festival culture emerged on either side of the curtain, which reveals commonalities and differences between the Berlin communities. If the image of the Iron Curtain suggests a strict East–West separation, the Wall as its physical manifestation had begun to crumble with contacts between the Jewish communities across borders. Indeed, small parts of the Wall fell long before the significant date in history in a slow process that began in the early 1980s and reached a pivotal point in 1989.

The Anniversary Year of 1971 and the Dawn of Détente

In 1971 the Jewish communities of East and West Berlin celebrated their three-hundredth anniversary. The anniversary year coincided with a juncture during which the two halves of the divided city sought greater proximity and thus was framed by noteworthy political and cultural events. East Berlin’s anniversary celebrations were intertwined with two commemorations. These publicly and very visibly perpetuated the image of Jews as victims of fascism. In parallel, East Berlin saw the premiere of the long-awaited local production of Fiddler on the Roof. On the other side of the Wall, the Jewish community had reached a comfortable and high plateau with regular cultural events in its community center. It offered an ever-expanding cultural program, with a broad variety of concerts and recitals. In clear contrast to East Berlin, the West Berlin community offered a rich array of anniversary events that displayed the community’s alliance with Israel, the United States, and West Germany.

The Establishment of the Jüdische Gemeinde von Groß-Berlin

In the aftermath of the purges of 1952/1953, the Jewish community in Berlin was divided into East and West constituencies. This chapter traces the trajectory of the East Berlin community from this division until 1971. Against all odds and in the midst of turmoil, communal life in East Berlin continued, centered around its only synagogue, which was rededicated in 1953 as Friedenstempel. Rykestraße Synagogue became a cultural hub. It instigated a series of synagogue concerts and opened its doors for the annual commemorations of the November pogroms. Given the dearth of cantors, the community also maintained contacts with West Berlin, which regularly freed its cantors from their duties so that they could assist, especially for funerals at the Weißensee cemetery and for special events. The continual presence of cantors from West Berlin was most significant. It gave way to a mobility of musical practices both in Kultus and concerts.