205 ocus ON GERMAN STUDIES CONTRIBUTORS 206 CONTRIBUTORS DAVID-CHRISTOPHER AssMANN is a Graduate Fellow at the German­ Italian Graduate College at the Universities of Bonn and Florence. After completing his BA in German Studies and Social Sciences at the University of Bielefeld, he received an M. Ed. in Social Sciences and Educational Science (University of Bielefeld) and an MA in German Studies in 2008 (Universities of Bielefeld and Basilicata). His doctoral research project focuses on (re­ )descriptions and (re-)presentations of "literary business" within contemporary German literature. TILL GREITE studied German Literature, Media Studies, and Communication Science at the Humboldt University, Free University of Berlin, London Metropolitan University, and Sciences Po Paris between 2003 to 2009. He is currently a doctoral student at the Humboldt Graduate School within the PhD net "Das Wissen der Literatur." Since 2009 he has worked on his dissertation tentatively titled: "Zur Poetik des Tonbandes. Eine Archaologie des Medialen in der osterreichischen Literatur von 1950 bis 1970." He has had three articles published, the most recent is titled: ">Prozesse, nichts als Prozesse<. Thomas Bernhard: Vom Gerichtsberichterstatter zum Fall fur die Justiz." NORA HOFFMANN studied German Language and Literature and Comparative Literature at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. She graduated with a Magister Artium degree in 2006. Until September 2009 she was a doctoral student at the Eberhard Karls University, Tiibingen, where she worked on her PhD thesis entitled "Photography, Painting and Seeing in Theodor Fontane's work." Beginning in October 2009 she will be a research associate at the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz. Her research interests include but are not limited to 19th century literature, visual studies, intermediality, gender, and stylistics. She has presented numerous papers at conferences on Fontane and Hesse. Her most recent article, "Photographien in Fontanes Romanen," was published in Fontane Blatter earlier this year. DR. DES. PETER C. POHL (Universitat Bremen) was born in Weinheim, Germany. He studied Germanistik, Kulturwissenschaft and Politologie at the Universitat Bremen, the Universite d'Avignon (France) and the Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat Heidelberg. He FOCUS ON GERJ'viAN STUDIES 16 207 received a grant from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and was awarded the overall grade summa cum laude for his thesis: "Constructive Melancholy. Robert Musils Novel The Man without Qualities and the Modern Gender Discourse" (dt. ,Konstruktive Melancholie. Robert Musils Roman Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften und die Grenzen des modernen Geschlechterdiskurses"). He has presented papers at national and .international conferences and workshops. Several of his articles have been published .in volumes and periodicals on the works of Frank Wedekind, Robert Musil, Franz Kafka, and Thomas Bernhard. His primary teaching and research .interests are in 19th and 20th century literature as well as .in Cultural Theory, lntermediality, and Gender Studies. He is co-editor of a volume (pending as of this publication) on the theory of recognition together with Claudia Czycholl and Inge Marszalek. The volume is called Between Norm and Normality - Interdisciplinary Ways to the Theory and Practice of Recognition (dt. Zwischen Normativitat und Normalitat. Theorie und Praxis der Anerkennung in interdisziplinarer Perspektive) and is with Klartext-Verlag in Bochum. GUIDO SCHENKEL received a Magister Artium degree in German and English Studies from the Freie Universitat Berlin .in 2006. Since 2007, he has pursued his PhD at the Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies at the University of British Columbia. His research interests include 20th century German and Austrian literature, diasporic and post-colonial literature(s), alternate history, popular culture, film studies, gender studies, Marxist criticism and narratology. He has presented widely, most recently on various facets of post­ unification German nationalism and its .interactions with contemporary (popular) culture. This is his first publication. DANIELE VECCHIATO studied at the University of Venice where he obtained his BA with a thesis on Heinrich Boll and his MA with a thesis on Durs Griinbe.in, Marburg, and Berlin. He also attended Harvard Summer School in 2006. He co-edited Peter Weiss' Briefe an Henriette ltta Blumenthal, due in 2010, and has translated texts by Urs Widmer, Barbara Kohler, and Durs Griinbe.in .into Italian. He is currently working on Friedrich Schiller and Alfred Dahlin. His further research .interests include 208 CONTRiBUTORS 20th century and contemporary German literature, East German literature, studies on cultural memory, and intermecliality. He has published articles on Peter Weiss and Durs Griinbein as well as numerous book reviews for German and North American scholarly journals. 209 ocus ON GERMAN STUDIES ANNOUNCEMENTS 210 ANNOUNCEMENTS CALL FOR BOOK REVIEWERS T he purpose of our book review section is to introduce our readership to primary and secondary works published within the last two years. Our aim is to discuss the work thematically and stylistically and, when possible, to contextualize the work within the author's oeuvre or its respective genre. We have the cooperation of major Austrian, German and Swiss publishers and can provide review copies. Please see our website for current list of books available for rev1ew. http:/ /www.artsci.uc.edu/ german/ newsEvents/ focus/ reviewers.html If you are interested in reviewing books for Focus on German Studies, please send us the following information: (1) name and address, (2) institution, (3) area of interest, (4) topic of MA thesis or dissertation, and (5) your projected date of degree completetion. Focus also accepts recommendations for books to review. SUBMISSIONS REQUESTED S ubmit an example of your best academic work to Focus on German Studies! Focus on German Studies, a journal produced by the German Graduate Student Governance Association (GGSGA) at the University of Cincinnati, is an important voice of the next generation of scholars in German Studies. Submissions demonstrating original scholarship in any area of German-language literature or German Studies will be considered for publication. We also publish interviews with German-speaking writers. Please submit papers to the email below as a Microsoft Word attachment or on disk to the address below in Microsoft Word format. Manuscripts should be ca. 15-20 pages in length, double-spaced. They must follow the MLA style guidelines. The manuscript should be prepared so that it can be read anonymously. The deadline for submissions to be considered for the 2010 volume of Focus on German Studies is January 17, 2010. After that date, FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 16 211 Focus will accept submissions for its 2010 volume. Inquiries and submissions should be made to the address below: Focus on German Studies Attn: Marie-Luise Busch Department of German Studies University of Cincinnati PO Box 210372 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0372 USA Phone: (513) 556-2752 Fax: (513) 556-1991 fogs.editor@gmail.com SUBSCRIPTIONS One volume per year Check appropriate option(s): $ 20 Student Membership $ 22 Faculty Membership $ 28 Institution $ 5 Additional postage for subscriptions outside North America Back issue: Send Vol. Issue Total Amount Enclosed: Name: Address: All orders should be made payable in USD to: Focus on German Studies Department of German Studies University of Cincinnati Box 210372 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0372 USA Phone: (513) 556-2752 Fax: (513) 556-1991 212 FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 16 213 ocus ON GERMAN STUDIES Focus ON GERMAN STUDIES 2009 CONFERENCE 214 FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 2009 CONfERENCE CALL FOR PAPERS T he German Graduate Student Governance Association of the University of Cincinnati and the editors of the graduate student journal Focus on German Studies present the Fourteenth Annual Focus Graduate Student Conference held on October 16 - October 17, 2009 at the University of Cincinnati. Sponsored by the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center and the Graduate Student Government Association of the University of Cincinnati. KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Sabine W.tlke (University of Washington, Seatde) "Morphing Identities and the Merging of Cultures in German Literature, Language and Film" In recent years, the number of publications with 'identity' in their tides has increased significandy. With the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Wall, the year 2009 offers ample opportunity to look into the state and status of identity in united Germany. In addition to issues of East and West German identity, migrant literature, generational conflicts and gender issues further enrich the pool of 'identity research'. Group identities are as much en vogue as individual identities. A good number of authors and film makers concern themselves with quests for identity in their works. But can identity be the answer to so many different problems? Do we need to expand our approach beyond the identities we have been talking and writing about for the last 20 years? Might it even be the case that the fall of the Berlin Wall triggered the pursuit of identity research? This conference provides a platform for discussion of identity research and of addressing the possible need to find new models for making sense of the modem world and of Germany twenty years after the wall. We invite graduate students from all disciplines to submit paper proposals responding to these or similar questions related to the forming of identities (or their rejection) in regard to its representations in literature, film and culture in modern or pre-modern time periods. Possible topics include, but are by no means limited to: FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 16 215 • identity and Heimat • gender and zdentity • sexuality and identity • the significance if identity research todqy • zdentity in reunited Germarry • migrant literature and dual identity development • rejection if identity • memory and identity • new concepts if identity • bryond identity • language and identity formation Revised conference papers can also be submitted for publication in our Focus on German Studies journal. Please send an abstract of 250-300 words in either English or German as a MS Word attachment by September 15, 2009 to Marie Busch and Joshua Arnold at fogs.editor@gmail.com (ATTN: Focus on GS Conference). On a separate cover sheet, please list the proposed paper title, author's name, university affiliation and email address. Conference participants have the option of housing with UC graduate students. Marie Busch, Editor-in-chief Joshua Arnold, Book Review Editor Focus on German Studies University Of Cincinnati "ML 0372 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0372 USA Phone (513) 556-2752 Fax (513) 556-1991 fogs.editor@gmail.com fogs.bookreviews@gmail.com http:/ /www.artsci.uc.edu/ german/NewsEvents/ focus/index.html 216 FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 2009 CONFERENCE Fourteenth Annual Focus on German Studies Conference FRIDAY October 16th & SATURDAY October 17th 2009 SCHEDULE Morphing Identities and the Merging of Cultures in German Language, Literature, and Film Max Kade German Cultural Center, Old Chemistry Building 736 University of Cincinnati FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16 2009 3:00 OPENING REMARKS 3:30 KEYNOTE ADDRESS Dr. Sabine Wilke (University ofWashington, Seattle) Die Inszenierung von Bqyem als f?ybride Heimat: Werner Herzogs Herz aus Glas 4:45 PANEL I- VISUALIZING IDENTITY Moderator: Alexandra Hagen 4:45 Kimberly Aleda Singletary (Northwestern University) Black Out: U.S. Media's Role in Erasing the "Afro" From German 5:05 Regina lanozi (University of Maryland, College Park) Language, Acculturation, and the Identity Question: The Case of Russian-German Adolescents in Germany since 1989 5:25 Daniel Kline (Michigan State University) The Automated Woman 5:45 QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION 7:30 RECEPTION AT DR. GERSTENBERGER'S Focus ON GERt\1AN STUDIES 16 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17Tll 9:30 BREAKFAST IN THE KADE CENTER 10:00 PANEL II- HElMA T AND TRAVELING Moderator: Tobias Grtinthal 10:00 Everett D. Campbell (University of Cincinnati, History) 217 Digging Out, Digging Up1 Digging In: Memory and Homeland in Postwar German and Polish Cinema1 1946-19 54 10:20 Jeremy de Waal (Vanderbilt University) nDer Heimat die Treue!'�· Region and Heimat in the German Southwest 1945-1970 10:40 Barbara Wonneken Wanske (Ohio State University) Woijgang Borchert nDas Brot, n nDie Hundeblume" und nDie Kiichenuhr'�· Identitafssuche und Heimatsfindung ezner Nachkriegsgeneration 11:00 BeritJany (Ohio State University) Der Eitifluss des Zweiten Weltkriegs auf die Formung einer deutschen Identitdt in der gegenwdrtigen Reisekriegsliteratur 11:20 QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION 11 :40 LUNCH BREAK 2:00 PANEL III-WAR ON IDENTITY Moderator: Graham Hentschel 2:00 Victoria Finney (University of Maryland, College Park) The Endangered Self: Ernst Junger's Storm of Steel and the Issue of Identity in Times of War 2:20 Melda Ina Baysal (University of Maryland, College Park) Identitat im WandeL- Zivii-Identitat vs. Kriegs-Identitdt in Erich Maria Remarques Im Westen nichts Neues 218 FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 2009 CONFERENCE 2:40 Vladislav N. Rozanov (Pennsylvania State University) Vom soifa/kritischen Verstand i!'r hoffnungs/osen Identitiits/osung. Sinn/iches Emanifpieren der jiingeren Generation a/s Darste//ungsobjekt in der deutschsprachigen Literatur der Moderne und der Gegenwart (am Beispiel A. Schnir.ders Fraulein Else und]. Zehs Adler und Engel) 3:00 Katrin Polak-Springer (Rutgers, State University of New Jersey) Identity Kills; Struggling Against the Mainstream in Recent German Films 3:20 QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION 3:40 CLOSING REMARKS 218 FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 2009 CONFERENCE 2:40 Vladislav N. Rozanov (Pennsylvania State University) Vom so!'(jalkritischen Verstand i!'r hoffnungslosen Identitiits/iisung. Sinn/iches Eman!'(jpieren der jiingeren Generation als Darste//ungsobjekt in der deutschsprachigen Literatur der Moderne und der Gegenwart (am Beispiel A. Schnif:(jers Fraulein Else und]. Zehs Adler und Engel) 3:00 Katrin Polak-Springer (Rutgers, State University of New Jersey) Identity Kills; Struggling Against the Mainstream in Recent German Films 3:20 QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION 3:40 CLOSING REMARKS FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 16 219 ABSTRACTS PANEL I KIMBERLY ALECIA SINGLETARY Black Out: Erasing the Afro from German in Popular Media Imagery S ince 1989, the world has seen Germany's commitment to change. Visual media plays a major role, documenting Germany's expanding religious and ethnic diversity. Understanding today's national identity involves understanding how it addresses those not often recalled when one says, "German." "German" still is conflated with race, not national identity; this has negatively impacted Afro-Germans. I argue that the conflation is a rhetorical argument relegating Afro-Germans to Germany's colonial and wartime past, justifying the media absence of the Afro-German population despite a vocal community calling for better representation. Black American musicians, actors, politicians and athletes, however, are well represented in German TV and print mediums. The prevalence of black Americanness suggests a splintering of German identity that rhetorically locates blackness outside of the German body making blackness something from "over there." Often, popular media featuring blacks is criticized, Stateside, for emphasizing black pathology instead of humanity. How does the German media support or refute my claim as it circulates some of the same contested images? A hierarchical engagement with blackness makes it impossible to understand it through anything but difference. Germany has a long history with American pop culture, but we should not dismiss images of blackness as being "just" from America - they can carry with them damaging stereotypes that followed the black Allied soldiers, jazz musicians and movie stars, and still follow actors, musicians and politicians today. How might we read US-produced images in Germany to understand ideas on race and place? How might Germany's historical relationship to Africa and America result in differing conceptions of blackness? Using the "Du Bist Deutschland" campaign, German charity advertisements and the US/German popular media, I will examine how Afro-German identity might be impacted by visual media that replicate damaging stereotypes, solidifying a German national identity that locates blackness as foreign, not "German." 220 FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 2009 CONFERENCE REGINA IANOZI Language, Acculturation, and the Identity Question: The Case of Russian-German Adolescents in Germany since 1989 T he paper tries to examine the integration and acculturation process of Russian-German immigrants since the reunification of East and West Germany in 1989. The creation of the Soviet Union in the early 20th century coincided with persecution of ethnic Germans living within the Soviet Union. Once the geographical and political borders between East and West disappeared with the collapse of the Soviet Union, over two million Russian-Germans immigrated to Germany from the former Soviet Bloc. However, it becomes evident from examination of the lack of acculturation between the Russian immigrants and the majority of German society that cultural borders remain. The social, economic and cultural integration of Russian­ German immigrants correlates with the cultural knowledge and existence of divergent ideologies. Particularly, the adolescents within the immigrant group still face cultural and social challenges. Despite their arrival in Germany almost 20 years ago they experience an identity crisis, as even though many of them consider themselves German, their native­ born German peers reject Russian-German adolescents as being equals. They have reluctance in accepting the immigrants' culture, language and most notably their Eastern influenced socialistic ideology. Pierre Bourdieu's theory on Habitus, cultural, social, and economic capitals can be applied to the situation of the Russian-German adolescent immigrants. Studies on acculturation of Russian-Germans and Germans in Germany since 1989 indicate that a lack of acculturation between the two groups contributes to the difference in comprehension of the semantics and connotation of the German language. A negative portrayal of Russian-German adolescents in German media can be linked to hindrances to successful integration and acculturation. This paper will illustrate media's role in identity formation and communication among the Russian-German immigrants and native­ born Germans. Furthermore, the paper will demonstrate how social injustice impacts the immigrant adolescents' psychological state and its effect on integration and psychological acculturation. FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 16 221 DANIEL KLINE The Automated Woman A utomata take on female gender roles and are contrasted with living women in E.T.A. Hoffmann's Der Sandmann and Fritz Lang's Metropolis. These juxtapositions of the automatic and the organic follow in the tradition of depicting contrasting imagery of womanhood but further show the concept of womanhood as being wholly constructed and imposed on them. The use of automata is important, because they are created by men, thus removing a major attribute of womanhood. As the automata embody images of female identity, those images are also shown to be constructions from the male perspective. Gender roles attributed to the figures in these works are the mother, an ideal woman, virginity versus overt sexuality, and dependency on men to name a few. Moreover the automaton constitutes a multilayered construct of the male gaze which resorts to a base in the world be it cultural, historical, psychological or sociopolitical. The male gaze is that which ascribes the imagery and meaning to the roles embodied by the women and the automata in these two works. This paper explicates these observations on the basis of representational tensions between Clara and Olimpia, on the one hand, and Maria and the robot, on the other. As the automata are exposed, the images which they embody are deconstructed and betray the fact that they are imposed. In both cases, real women embody other images and through association one could infer that those are also ascribed to women. Through this deconstruction of the gender roles, one can further view identities as being constructed and imposed upon a person by society. 222 FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 2009 CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS PANEL II BARBARA WONNEKEN W ANSKE Wolfgang Borchert ,Das Brot," ,Die Hundeblume" und ,Die Kiichenuhr": Identitiitssuche und Heimats­ findung einer Nachkriegsgeneration W olfgang Borchert ist einer der wichtigsten deutschen Schriftsteller der unmittelbaren Nachkriegszeit und gilt als Vertreter und Sprecher fur eine ganze Generation von Menschen, die vom Krieg und seinen Folgen schwer gezeichnet wurden. Borchert interessiert der deutsche Alltag nach dem Krieg und wie Menschen ibn trotz aller Hindernisse meistern. Fur ibn sind die wahren Ereignisse, die Ereignisse die sich in den Kopfen der Menschen abspielen und er schreibt fur diese Leute, die ein Sprachrohr brauchen, urn sich tiber ihre Erfahrungen austauschen zu konnen und urn einen Sinn in ihrem Leben nach dem Krieg zu finden. In seinen Kurzgeschichten ,Die Hundeblume," ,Die Kiichenuhr" und ,Das Brot" beschreibt er genau solche, auf den ersten Blick individuellen Erlebnisse der Nachkriegszeit, die durch den Sprachstil und die stylistischen Mittel die kollektiven Erfahrungen einer ganzen Nachkriegsgeneration erlautern. Die Familie blieb als einzige Gruppe stabil wiihrend und nach dem Krieg und Borchert beschreibt in den drei Kurzgeschichten die Wichtigkeit der Familie als Heimat, sowohl als Erinnerung als auch als noch bestehende Realitat. Borchert verdeutlicht den Zwiespalt zwischen nostalgischer Erinnerung an die Zeit vor dem Krieg und der neuen Nachkriegsrealitat die die Protagonisten zwingt sich eine neue ,vom Krieg gezeichnete" Identitat zu schaffen. Die Protagonisten in den Kurzgeschichten stehen Hindernissen gegeniiber und miissen sich aus den Triimmern des Krieges heraus eine neue Existenz erschaffen. Auch die innere Welt der Protagonisten liegt in Triimmern und sie miissen neue Identitaten finden, denn auch diese wurden mit dem Krieg zusammen zerstort. Borcherts kurze und pragnante Satze stehen im Gegensatz zu den aufgeblasenen Worten der Nationalsozialisten. Genau wie Borchert auch einen neuen Schreibstil gefunden hat, muss auch die Nachkriegsgeneration eine neue Identitiit kontrar zu den Idealen der Nazis finden. FOCUS ON GERMAl'l STUDIES 16 223 In dieser Arbeit diskutiere ich inwiefern Borchert in diesen drei Kurzgeschichten Sprache als Mittel zur Identitatsstiftung bzw. zum Ausdruck der Identitat der Nachkriegsgeneration verwendet. Diese Generation hat nicht nur ihre eigene Identitat verloren und muss sich nun neu definieren, sondern sie hat auch ihre Heimat verloren (HeimatsgefUhl und materielle/atillerliche Heimat). Dieses Essay befasst sich mit Fragen der Reprasentation sowie der Findung von Identitat und Heimat der Nachkriegsgeneration des Zweiten Weltkriegs und welche Sprachstrukturen und -mittel Borchert verwendet urn diese Fragen zu bearbeiten. JEREMY DE W AAL ,Der Heimat die Treue!: Region and Heimat in the German Southwest 1945-1970'' W :e many historical studies have appeared in recent years on e Heimat concept prior to 1945, in this case study, I seek to ok at the dynamics of Heimat identities in the postwar period--addressing three fundamental questions: I. What roles did Heimat identities play in postwar Germany? II. How was Heimat imagined within geographic space?, and ·rrr. What types of values did postwar-Germans believe existed within their regional Heimat traditions? This study approaches these questions through a case study on the German Southwest from 1945-1970, where the Heimat concept was vehemently debated in a lengthy dispute over the creation of a new Southwestern state. This dispute culminated in three referendum campaigns in 1950, 1951 and 1970. Through an analysis of these debates, I argue firstly that imaginings of Heimat in geographic space are tremendously disparate. Indeed, rather than agreeing on where Heimat lied, Germans in the Southwest erupted into a rancorous debate on what sort of Heimat-state corresponded to Heima�quhl--whether it be the old dynastic states of Baden and Wiirttemberg, a union of the two, the creation of a state of "Rheinschwaben" (Baden + Pfalz + Wiirttemberg), the creation of a state of Schwaben based on the Swabian-Alemannic Stamm, etc. As rivaling groups promoted their plans for different "Heimat­ states," all insisted that their vision of Heimat contained positive regional traditions, such as tolerance, peace, Weltoffenheit, democracy, etc. They argued that, by realizing their plans for a Heimat-state, the values of their 224 FOCUS ON GERMAL'l STUDIES 2009 CONFERENCE regional Heimat would flow into the nation and prove helpful in building a healthy federalist, denazified and non-centralized nation. The conclusion of this study is that Heimat identities are, by their very nature, tremendously flexible-both in terms of how Heimat is imagined in geographic space and the metaphysical values which are projected onto it. This conclusion, I argue, bares significance for Heimat identities in contemporary Germany. Indeed, while European unification and globalization are making the nation more broadly oriented, I would argue that the adaptability of the Heimat concept to new conditions and changing value systems will allow it to survive within the landscape of an evolving Germany. EVERETI CAMPBELL Digging Out, Digging Up, Digging In: Memory and Homeland in Postwar German and Polish Cinema, 1946-1954 F rom 1945 to 1989, cinema was a vital source of both entertainment and state-sanctioned propaganda in the two Germanies and Poland. Film, therefore, as historical text can serve as a useful site to explore the intersection between culture and politics--on both sides of the Iron Curtain-in Central Europe in the postwar era. Expressions of identity are found in two intertwined motifs which transcended the national cinemas of West Germany, East Germany, and Poland between 1946 and 1954: memory and homeland. In all three countries, cinema was obliged to address memory: to contrast the legacy of the Nazi past and an even more recent history of national and ethnic distortion. Homeland was intrinsically linked to such memories, not least because of the division of Germany and the forced relocation of millions of people as the borders of Germany and Poland were brutally refashioned, in some cases on three occasions in less than a decade. Memory and homeland were deployed to bolster the legitimacy of the new states which emerged in Central Europe after 1945, but they also represented a broader picture of sociocultural healing, which was not merely imposed from above. The discussion here will be a tripartite one; one in which a Polish notion of homeland and memory is juxtaposed with German 'ones'-both East and West. From the outset, the films produced within the nine years of the war's end find their nationalistic and ideological niches quickly. For example, the films of Poland in the late FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 16 225 1940s and early 1950s both coincided with and diverted from the unique motif paths occurring in West and East Germany. East German film was becoming more polemic in its message through a motif I call the empathy/apathy complex. This paradigm favored a socialist trope which resulted in clever scripts that became viable conduits for the Party message. Meanwhile, West German films became more neo­ Impressionistic in nature and style. The cinema of West Germany had for the most part left the war behind in the late 1940s and started to resemble commercialized Western filmmaking with its crime dramas, melodramas, comedies, and a renewed interest in the romanticized Heimaijiime. In this paper, I analyze prominent current scholarship on Heimat and its promotion in postwar cinema. In Poland, creativity and a reliance on culturally-tinged irony resulted in a tactic I call ripostrionics, a complicated concept used to satisfy both the Party line and a director's discreet yet implied variations on the mise en scene in order to subvert ever so noticeably that 'line.' For both Germans and Poles, the period is one that starts with a recomposed use of Expressionism and ends with either a 'western' hybrid of Italian neo-realism and Expressionism-Romanticism or an 'eastern' Italian neo-realism with obvious socialist-realist outcomes. Thus, this paper offers a unique discussion in comparing artistic expression through film at a regional level rather than at an insular, ethnocentric level in the years immediately following the Second World War. BERIT ]ANY Der Einfluss des Zweiten Weltkriegs auf die Formung einer deutschen Identitat in der gegenwartigen Reisekriegsliteratur D er Zweite Weltkrieg ist omniprasent in der deutschen Offentlichkeit und ein Integral des vorgefertigte�. Volkerbildes, mit dem das Ausland Deutschen begegnet. Uber mehrere J ahrzehnte nach dem Kriegsende blieb das Andenken an die Terrorherrschaft und die Graueltaten des Dritten Reichs auch in der Literatur bestehen. Die Reiseberichtsliteratur iiber neuzeitliche Kriegsgebiete ist eine neue Richtung in der Gegenwartsliteratur, die viele Beziige zur Nazi Herrschaft in ihren Werken einbindet. Griinde fur die Prasenz des Zweiten Weltkriegs in dieser Literatur sind verschiedenartig und von der Lage, dem Ausmafi und dem ideologisch-politischen Hintergrund der einzelnen Kriege determiniert und von der Generationszugehorigkeit der Autoren beeinflusst. Bei der 226 FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 2009 Co FERENCE Untersuchung der Beziige zum Zweiten Weltkrieg in dieser Reiseliteratur wird deutlich, class diese stets die Taterschaft und das kollektive Handeln des deutschen Volkes darstellen. Nicholas Born, ein Vertreter der zweiten Nachkriegsgeneration und sein Werk Die Falschung sowie Christoph Peters, der in Bin Zimmer im Haus des Krieges die dritte Generation reprasentiert, dienen als Beispiele gegenwartiger Reiseliteratur iiber Kriegsschauplatze im Nahen Osten und werden unter dem Aspekt des Bezugs zu bzw. des Vergleichs mit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg untersucht. Es gilt Tendenzen zu finden, die ein fortfuhrendes Bewusstsein des Zweiten Weltkriegs in diesen neueren Werken dokumentieren und damit die von der nationalsozialistischen Epoche beeinflusste deutsche Identitatsformung erklaren. Besonders die dritte Nachkriegsgeneration hat einen so groBen zeitlichen Abstand zur nationalsozialistischen Epoche, class bei ihnen ein objektiveres, gemeinschaftliches Geschichtswissen und die vom Kriegserbe bestimmte nationale Identitat iiberwiegt, aus dem sie die Kriegsbeziige fur ihre Werke schopfen. Dieser neuen Generation ist bewusst, class ein vom Zweiten Weltkrieg gekennzeichnetes Image Deutschlands im Ausland weiterhin ex.istiert und class die daraus resultierenden Sympathien zu Deutschen Aufschluss iiber die politisch­ religios ideologische Orientierung der fremden Nationen oder Gemeinschaften geben. ABSTRACTS PANEL III KATRIN POLAK-SPRINGER Identiry Kills; Struggling Against the Mainstream in Recent German Films I dentiry Kills is the tide of Soren Voigt's 2003 feature about a young woman in unified Berlin, who is struggling to lead a life similar to other people her age. The carefree party generation of youth in their twenties in a city being built into a European metropolis has been coined "Generation Berlin." The latter's symbol is the energetic red­ haired character "Lola" from the 1998 movie Lola Rennt (Run Lola, Run). Tom Tykwer's film became the starting point of a new wave of German films that adopted a mix of Hollywood techniques of narrative cinema on the one hand, as well as videogame and MTV aesthetics on the other. A whole series of fast-paced entertainment films followed this model. FOCUS Or GERMAN STUDIES 16 227 With its misfit character Karen, the film Identity Kills rejects the concept of group identity. Moreover, with his style of filmmaking, the filmmaker defies pressure exerted by the movie market for the production of the kind of pop-culture box office hits Lola Rennt represents. In Identity Kills, the gap between Karen's ideal of self­ determination and mobility on the one hand, and everyday life in a monotonous East Berlin district, as well as an abusive husband, on the other, is too much for the character to cope with. In reaction, Karen chooses a rather extreme solution: she kills a successful, independent young woman from West Berlin and assumes her identity. The plot itself is a critique of group conformity and social pressures placed on the individual. Voigt's film also rebels against the Lola Rennt model of film making. Voigt chose a documentary style of aesthetics with improvised dialogues and amateur actors. As a result, he himself could only become entirely conscious of the full meaning of his film in the process of making it. This is in accordance with what Voigt's title, Identity Kills, implies: that all pre-conceived identity models end up "killing" what is alive and vibrant. VICTORIA FINNEY "The Endangered Self: Ernst Jiinger's Storm of Steel and the Issue ofldentity in Times of War" T his paper explores the issue of identity in Ernst Jiinger's Storm of Steel (1920) framing the discussion with theoretical concepts on identity by Aleida Assmann and J i.irgen Straub. Jiinger's autobiographical account depicts a man on the battlefield whose identity is challenged under the extreme conditions of World War One. Following Aleida Assmann's idea of drawing borders between the foreign and the familiar as central to identity formation, I discuss how such boundaries shift for Junger's protagonist, while Ji.irgen Straub's concept of personal identity is used to deal with Jiinger's writing as a retrospective act of identity maintenance. First published in 1920, Junger's account of the author's own World War I experience brings to light the reality of modern mechanized war. In contrast to Junger's belief, Gunnar Decker has argued that this unprecedented type of warfare did not allow for heroism in Homeric terms; rather, the enemy became invisible, the significance of personal physical strength was eliminated and control 228 FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDlES 2009 CONFERENCE over the course of action on the part of an individual was drastically reduced. While the popular idea of war at the beginning of the century was that of a play of elements beyond human comprehension, Jiinger is detached from these cliches and responds to the horrendous experience mainly aesthetically often placing aspects of peaceful life in contrast to his familiar domain of trench warfare. Not judging the events from a political stance, he is, at the same time, deprived by the mechanized war of the possibility to completely identify with traditional heroic warriors. Nevertheless, the protagonist manages to form a new type of heroic identity that allows him to see the war front with all its atrocities as place of belonging and bonding. Some aspects of this war-defined identity include a belief in destiny, a willingness to learn from the war experience, and a desire to suppress physical and psychological pain. In the process of forming this ad hoc war-time identity, Jiinger engages in close identification with fellow warriors and, to some extent, with the enemy as well. While the ideal of the mythical, Homeric hero remains elusive, J ringer manages to draw parallels to the traditions of chivalry and war-time greatness. MELDA INA BAYSAL ldentitat irn Wandel: Zivil-ldentitat vs. Kriegs­ ldentitat in Erich Maria Remarques Im Westen nichts Neues I ch bin sehr ruhig. Mogen die Monate und Jahre kommen, sie nehmen mir nichts mehr, sie konnen mir nichts mehr nehmen. ' ' Ich bin so allein und so ohne Erwartung, daB ich ihnen entgegensehen kann ohne Furcht. Das Leben, das mich durch diese Jahre trug, ist noch in meinen Handen und Augen. Ob ich es uberwunden habe, weill ich nicht. Aber solange es da ist, wird es sich seinen Weg suchen, mag dieses, das in mir »lch« sagt, wollen oder nicht." (197) Mit diesen Worten endet Paul Baumers Leben im Ersten Weltkrieg. Der Protagonist und Ich-Erzahler in Erich Maria Remarques Antikriegsroman Im Westen nichts Neues (1928/1929) spricht tiber seine Distanz zum Leben und zum eigenen Selbst. Er ist Reprasentant einer vom Krieg zerstorten Generation. Sein Identitatswandel ist zwar gepragt von Verlust, doch auch von Gewinn durch das Kriegserlebnis: durch die Exponierung in den Extremsituationen des K.ampfens und des Krieges gewinnt Paul, der Heirnat fern, ein anderes Selbst. Dieses Selbst, der zivilen Gesellschaft entfremdet, ist bis zu seinem Tod ein Ich, das vor FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 16 229 allem vom Uberlebenskampf bestimmt ist. Diese Arbeit untersucht explizit die in Im Westen nichts Neues ausdrucksvoll geschilderte Verschiebung der Kriegs-Identitat irn Personlichen unci Kollektiven gegeniiber der Zivil-Identitat. Einer Analyse der filmisch bildhaften Darstellung im Roman liegt die Funktion und Symbolik des Auges als auch dessen psychischer Auswirkungen auf die Verdrangung von Identitat zu Grunde. Geschehen Grausamkeiten in weiterer Entfernung, so wirken sie nicht so stark auf unsere Psyche ein wie Graueltaten, die wir unmittelbar mit anschauen oder gar selber miterleben. Die Thematik der optischen Wahrnehmung wird weiterhin u. a. mit Interpretationsansatzen von James Monaco und Peter Beicken erweitert. Remarque verwendet Wort und Text als Medium, urn der Leserschaft Bilder wie Fotografien und dariiber hinaus die Wirklichkeit zu vermitteln. Wenn auch nicht auf dem Fernsehbildschirm oder der Kinoleinwand, so werden diese filmischen Bilder doch in der Imagination des Rezipienten/Lesers entwickelt. Meine Interpretation beabsichtigt die Darstellung von der sich aufgrund gesellschaftlicher, sozialer unci poli tischer V eranderungen wandelnden Identitat und der Szenetie des filmisch Visuellen irn Text. VLADISLAV N. ROZANOV Vom sozialkritischen Verstand zur hoffnungslosen Identitatslosung. Sinnliches Emanzipieren der jiingeren Generation als Darstellungsobjekt in der deutschsprachigen Literatur der Moderne und der Gegenwart (am Beispiel A. Schnitzlers Fraulein Else und J. Zehs Adler und Enge� I nsbesondere fur jiingere Generationen kennzeichnet sich die politische, soziale und kulturelle Wende Ofters durch erhohte Identitatskonflikte. Neben begeisterten Erwartungen und exaltierten Geisteszustanden kommen die Verzweiflung und Unsicherheit, die zusammen mit dem veranderten Alltag unci unerwarteten Lebens­ forderungen zur inneren Spaltung fiihren. Der vorliegenden Arbeit liegt eine vergleichende Analyse des Gedankengangs, der Gefiihle und der sozialen Intergration der Protagonisten zugrunde, die sich unter den historischen Umstanden der zusammenbrechenden osterreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie und des gegenwartigen wiedervereinigten Deutschlands als AuBenseiter unci Gestrandete bezeichnen. 230 FOCUS ON GERMAN STUDIES 2009 CONFERENCE Arthur Schnitzlers Fraulein Esle (1924) und Juli Zehs Adler und Engel (2001) machen die Identitatsproblematik, unter anderem, Distaozieruogsmotive als Instrumente der psychisch-sensuellen Heilung der Protagonisten zu einem der Mittelpunkte in ihrer Thematisierung der individuellen Psychologie. Die praz1se Erforschung der verzweifelten Charaktere spielt in diesen Werken eine wesentliche Rolle und reflektiert die zeitgenossischen Tendenzen auf dem Gebiet der psychoanalytischen Darstellung. Unter anderem beniitzen beide Autoren den inneren Monolog als Erzahltechnik und initiieren damit eine Diskussion zum Thema der widerspriichlichen Bewusstseins- und Unterbewusstseinszusammenhange. AuBerdem ist es von grossem Interesse, die personlichen Zustande der Protagonisten im Rahmen der standesgemassen und sozialgeschichtlichen Umstiinden zu untersuchen und ihren Bezug auf die individuelle Psychologie der Protagonisten festzustellen. Sowohl in der Zeit der Wiener Moderne, im gegenwartigen Deutschland, als auch in der Krise im Balkan stehen Identitatsproblematik und das Versagen der Politik in engem Zusammenhang. Die vorliegende Arbeit bietet eine Analyse der asthetisch­ geistigen Werte an, die den Zustand der seelischen, psychischen und identitatsbewussten Einheit bestimmen. Die sensuelle und ethische Wahrnehmung der Realitat ist auch ein Gegenstand dieser Analyse, die sich mit dem Problem der Distanzierung als Ausweg aus der Wahrnehmungskrise und dem schmerzhaften Zerfall des Ich beschaftigt. NOTES 231 232 NoTES