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Susanne Vees-Gulani. Trauma and Guilt: of Wartime Bombing in . and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2003. 217 pp. $105.30, cloth, ISBN 978-3-11-017808-1.

Reviewed by Scott Denham

Published on H-German (January, 2005)

A great swell of public memory and remem‐ kind of impersonal monument was called for. The bering is on the move in Germany, a project with‐ ruins of the Anhalter Bahnhof in Berlin were and out plan, an almost concerted efort, it seems, to remain as much an unintended monument to the be done with the pain and damage and psychosis wartime bombings as the Kaiser-Wilhelm- that all came about in the war generally and Gedächtniskirche was an intended one. The ruins specifcally in the traumatic bombings of German of the Frauenkirche in Dresden were left explicit‐ cities and German people. Cultures of memory ly as a memorial sign of the destruction and loss and memorializing about the trauma of the war of the bombing of February 13-14, 1945, and de‐ have had a place in the public sphere in Germany spite GDR attempts to interpret them as a warning for years, but the tendency has been to avoid the against western (capitalist) militarism, they topic of as victims--for obvious reasons, seemed to have more meaning as a kind of provi‐ not least of all simple tact in the face of so many sional gravestone for the approximately 35,000 other non-German victims of German aggression (current best estimates) killed in the Dresden before and during World War II. It was seen by bombing. The restoration of that church is also many, both within Germany and certainly abroad, seen as an act of reconciliation, with a group of as bad form to mark German victimization or British citizens recently taking part in a ceremony even sometimes to mourn German death and loss: marking the completion of the restored dome. think of the international discomfort caused by Most bombed cities have some sort of memorial to the rhetoric of loss expressed during annual meet‐ those killed by Allied bombs in the war; most ings of the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaften have plaques on important public buildings and and the Bund der Vertriebenen, or of the uproar churches with dates of construction, destruction, at Kohl and Reagan's visit to the military cemetery and reconstruction. But on the whole, this is a at Bitburg some twenty years ago now, for exam‐ silent kind of memory, and muted memorializa‐ ple. For German loss to be publicly marked in tion, presented, but not explicitly narrated. Even ways tactful and appropriate, it seems that some those publicly sponsored texts of mourning, the H-Net Reviews so-called Gedenkbücher, published widely in the mind, neither a novel nor a story, neither journal‐ years just after the war, are generally not much ism nor , that could stand as a popular liter‐ more than a list of names of those killed and per‐ ary testimony to the airwar."[5] But then Hage haps "before" and "after" photographs of the city goes on to present dozens of examples of German destroyed. And local histories shied away from in‐ literary representations of the bombings, of Ger‐ dividual stories of sufering in the bombings, opt‐ man sufering, of cases that show Sebald's accusa‐ ing instead for lists and inventories. The Germans tion as hyperbole. There were literary treatments sufered, and their sufering was marked in vari‐ of the bombings, after all, but they were not read, ous intended and unintended ways, but where not received, not acknowledged. No one wanted were the stories of German sufering? to hear of the pain, the destruction, the death. The This, of course, is the by now infamous accu‐ trauma, though touched on by some authors, was sation put forth by W. G. Sebald in his 1997 Zurich too much, if not for words, then for readers. lectures, published to modest interest in German "Trauma" is a concept that often comes up in in 1999 and with notable resonance in English this context. There seems to be a common, as‐ posthumously in the New Yorker magazine--circu‐ sumed, or understood notion about "trauma," that lation over 900,000--in 2002 and in book form in it causes silence that can only be overcome by 2003.[1] The broad sweep of recent work on the some kind of testimony or witnessing or confes‐ bombing of Germany and on German sufering-- sion. Common sense or personal experience from Sebald to Joerg Friedrich, Günter Grass's might tell us this kind of sequence of events is Crabwalk, and war books by reasonable traumatic experience, then silence for and others--has been discussed already in these a long time, then witnessing (or testimony or pages in the H-German forum from November some kind of therapeutic situation--narration or 2003.[2] Here, though, is Sebald's statement, by story-telling), then a kind of healing through the way of review: "There was a tacit agreement, process of narration itself, or perhaps also equally binding on everyone, that the true state of through the understanding and sympathy of the material and moral ruin in which the country addressee, the listener or reader. We think we found itself was not to be described. The darkest know, presumptuously, somehow, that individuals aspects of the fnal act of destruction, as experi‐ can "cure" trauma by talking or writing about it. enced by the great majority of the German popu‐ And then we often jump from the individual expe‐ lation, remained under a kind of taboo like a rience to the collective: if talking about one's per‐ shameful family secret, a secret that perhaps sonal trauma can lead to a cure for an individual, could note even be privately acknowledged."[3] then a popular novel about trauma by an impor‐ This statement was not challenged in the English- tant public fgure must also lead to a cure for the speaking world, and even in Germany was gener‐ society, or so goes the logic. But things are of ally taken to be an accurate assessment of the sit‐ course much more complicated than this. uation, in at least, with respect In her new study of trauma and guilt in the to portraying the air war.[4] , a liter‐ novels about the wartime bombing of Germany, ary expert at the Spiegel magazine who has be‐ Susanne Vees-Gulani seeks to bring some rigor come the best-known journalistic authority on the into our understanding of trauma, storytelling, airwar, granted that Sebald was right: "I was con‐ and public and private notions of the facility of vinced by these ideas at the time ... I agreed in the narration to lead to understanding, "mastery," or main with the notion that the representation of psychosocial health. She does this in the context the air war in German literature had played no of close readings of several novels about the signifcant role" and further, "no text comes to

2 H-Net Reviews wartime bombing of Germany, taking as her start‐ vate; novels are public. Stories about trauma writ‐ ing point not only a discussion of Sebald's concept ten by victims of trauma are inherently diferent of the taboo, but also a thorough review of how from those written by those further from the trau‐ postwar German society has confronted the Nazi matic experience (witnesses, bystanders, or mere‐ and wartime past. In this task she is most success‐ ly those with creative imaginations). Public texts-- ful, for she not only provides readers with a thor‐ novels, mainly, in this case--become part of a "net‐ ough, measured, and up-to-date review of the work of social, political, and moral currents that public discussions of the allied bombings, she also defne both society and its culture and will be situates the all-too-often casual use of the term evaluated in accordance with their values and "trauma" in discussions of literature within the ac‐ opinions" (p. 36). That is, readers will judge the le‐ tual medical and psychiatric usage of the term. gitimacy of a text that helps generate empathy She answers the question "what is trauma." with its traumatized characters. When the trau‐ The work of James Pennebaker has shown matized are victims (of the Holocaust, child abuse, that in clinical situations, story telling can help rape), the author faces "the difcult task and heal people sufering from various efects of trau‐ heavy burden of creating the trauma in a way ma.[6] Vees-Gulani surveys his work and that of that is accessible to the audience and accurately others in a concise chapter that defnes post-trau‐ conveys the horror of the experience, but the au‐ matic stress disorder (PTSD), which became of‐ thor can feel relatively safe from being accused of cially recognized in diagnostic manuals in 1980, trying to rewrite history" (p. 36) Here I think of and explains the recent literary-critical interest in Cynthia Ozick's story "The Shawl" as a good exam‐ trauma, both in medical literature and in fction. ple. But what about the case at hand, namely Ger‐ She then begins to make some cautious connec‐ man novels about the trauma sufered by Ger‐ tions. She points out that "the process writers mans in the wartime bombings or German vic‐ have to go through in order to create a story of tims? The trauma of the bombings, as Sebald sug‐ the trauma can be compared to the ones de‐ gested, was experienced by a vast majority of Ger‐ scribed in cognitive PTSD models" (p. 36) and ar‐ mans. How was this traumatic experience repre‐ gues that even though readers' common sense de‐ sented in novels? How were these novels re‐ sires might lead them to believe that writing and ceived? How do questions of German guilt and re‐ even reading texts about trauma can banish the sponsibility fgure into the creation and reception demons, things are really much more complicat‐ of these books? After setting us straight on how to ed. Some have also argued that creative writers, use the clinical term trauma legitimately in the who deal often in the currency of empathy and context of , and after a subse‐ catharsis are especially well-suited to allow peo‐ quent chapter that surveys concepts of guilt and ple to understand traumatic experience. We know shame about the Holocaust and the war in post‐ this already from Aristotle. But can empathy or war Germany (anchored around Jaspers's Schuld‐ understanding or catharsis really heal? Can it frage (1946), the Mitscherlichs' Unfähigkeit zu heal readers, heal a society? The leap from a Trauern (1967), Weizsäcker's 8th of May 1985 demonstrated clinical result--stories about trauma speech), Vees-Gulani embarks on close readings of help heal the traumatized--to assumptions about the key texts. how novels work in society--books about trauma She works mainly chronologically within help everyone understand the experience of trau‐ three categories. The frst she calls "the view from ma--is huge. Nevertheless it is one we tend to within," which includes German authors: Hans make. But there are key diferences: clinically in‐ Erich Nossack, Wolfgang Borchert, Gerd Ledig, spired narratives that seek to heal trauma are pri‐ , Walter Kempowski, Dieter Forte,

3 H-Net Reviews and W. G. Sebald. The second, "a welcome catas‐ has stayed in print since its frst publication in trophe," covers "Jewish-German" voices: Werner 1948. Nossack in some ways models what trauma‐ Schmidt, Victor Klemperer, , and tized Germans could do to help banish the Guenter Kunert. Finally, she treats non-German, demons of the bombings and their causes: write "international reactions," to the bombings, cover‐ about it. With her interest in the mechanics of ing novels by Kurt Vonnegut, Harry Mulisch, and trauma and writing, Vees-Gulani fnds Nossack's Henri Coulonges. Vees-Gulani is quite right to crit‐ self-refective attitude most apt. He wonders: icize the cultural establishment for its lack of real "Wozu? Wozu dies alles niederschreiben?" and engagement with the texts that are so often men‐ gives himself and us this answer: "Ich fühle mich tioned in the aftermath of Sebald's "taboo" accusa‐ beauftragt, darüber Rechenschaft abzulegen. Es tion: "Names and titles bounce back and forth in soll mich niemand fragen, warum ich so ver‐ the culture sections of the newspapers, the num‐ messen von einem Auftrag rede: ich kann ihm ber of books are added up and people ask them‐ nicht darauf antworten. Ich habe das Gefuehl, selves how many works would be enough to dis‐ dass mir der Mund für alle Zeiten verschlossen qualify Sebald's assumption of a German taboo bleiben wuerde, wenn ich nicht dies zuvor surrounding the events, while other critics ques‐ erledigte" (quoted, pp. 72-73). Nossack described tion whether the debate is even appropriate. The the bombing of more for himself than existing literary accounts themselves, however, for anyone, and though his text stands on its own which describe the air raids and their conse‐ to this day, he remains relatively unknown, even quences, are hardly explored. Yet it is precisely in after Sebald reminded the current generation of these texts and their surrounding circumstances readers of his book. If Nossack's work helped him that answers are found to many important ques‐ work through his own trauma and begin his ca‐ tions in the debate" (p. 69). For Vees-Gulani, the reer as a writer anew, it could also have served as important questions have to do with trauma and a model for Germany: take a good hard look at the guilt and how these manifest themselves and mess (that seems just to have "happened"--do not function in the narratives. But in looking particu‐ get into the cause of things!), and then get on with larly at the reception (or, mainly, lack of such) of life. Nossack did just this, and his literary work af‐ the German novels, she also points to some useful ter Der Untergang, though prolifc, does not quali‐ and eye-opening ideas about why the German tatively stand the test of time, I think. Wolfgang novels about the wartime bombing were received Borchert, on the other hand, enjoyed a brief but as they were, in a fundamentally diferent man‐ intensely successful career (he died in 1947 at the ner as were the novels of Jewish-Germans and age of twenty-six) and his work, especially the non-Germans. play "Draussen vor der Tür," became the iconic Her readings of the German novels are well- postwar example of the so-called rubble litera‐ grounded in the critical literature, sensible, and ture. He is still well-known, perhaps because of integrated into the post-Sebald debates about pos‐ his early death and the fact that his stories were sibilities of representing German sufering. The anthologized widely, especially by Germanists in frst section on Nossack, Borchert, and Ledig seeks the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. Vees-Gu‐ also to explain the relative lack of positive recep‐ lani revises the postwar assessments of Borchert, tion of Nossack and Ledig, and the generally posi‐ though, by looking closely at his work through the tive view of Borchert in the three decades after lens of trauma and guilt. Unlike Ledig, whom she the war. She introduces each author briefy, then treats after Borchert, she fnds Borchert lacking: moves to the texts under discussion.[7] Nossack "Borchert manages to capture the physical and enjoyed modest success with his Bericht, which psychological situation of Germans in the immedi‐

4 H-Net Reviews ate postwar years. Yet there is very little, if any, the gestures toward judgment that come up a few true confrontation with the past and any guilt that times in the novel that readers were not ready to could arise from it. While guilt seems to fow like confront. When characters say: "Wir bezahlen die an undercurrent through his stories, it never real‐ Rechnung" or "Ich schäme mich für die, die das ly rises to the surface" (p. 84). Borchert represents getan haben," Ledig is posing "questions of re‐ the immediate postwar generation well, for sponsibility" and seemed even to diagnose the "Borchert ignores causalities completely through German reaction to the war and the bombings al‐ his all-inclusive 'no' to the past and 'yes' to the ready in 1956, when he wrote, in the epilogue to present and future" (p. 85). Vees-Gulani calls for a the novel, "Eine Stunde genügte, und das Grauen critical reassessment of Borchert and does so in triumphierte. Später wollten einige das vergessen. the light of other--and here I read between her Die anderen wollten es nicht mehr wissen. Ange‐ lines--"better" about the German experience blich hätten sie es nicht ändern können" (quoted, of wartime bombings. pp. 92-93). Vees-Gulani properly sees the novel as In Gerd Ledig's 1956 novel she having been "cleared away with the rest of the fnds the frst evidence of a novel that both por‐ rubble that would remind one of the destructive trays a heavy air raid in grim detail, from various consequences of the war" (p. 93). points of view, and explains why the death and Vees-Gulani then moves away from immedi‐ destruction had come to pass. Ledig's 1955 novel ate postwar fction (if we count Nossack's Bericht Stalinorgel was a huge success. Despite its graphic as a more rather than less literary construction), portrayal of a three-day battle between Germans frst to two documentary texts: Alexander Kluge's and Soviet soldiers near Leningrad (similar to one "Der Luftangrif auf Halberstadt am 8. April 1945" in which Ledig himself fought and was seriously (1977) and Walter Kempowski's somewhat bizarre wounded), readers were interested. They found and increasingly monumental "Echolot" project. some connection to the portrayal of falling and There is a good deal of criticism available on fallen soldiers on the Eastern Front. There, death Kluge already, which receives its due. Vees-Gulani might still be seen as having some meaning. But is especially interested in Kluge's use of irony and when Ledig told of dying women and children in the various tensions he creates within the text. air raid shelters, and of others, from an American Her discussion of Kempowski is especially wel‐ fyer to Soviet POWs to boy Flakhelfer to a bour‐ come, as his work is hardly known in English. The geois couple in their gracious apartment standing "Echolot" (meaning "depth sounder") project en‐ infames, all dying, all helpless, all full of human compasses ten volumes, some nine thousand faws that come out especially under the stress of pages in all, each book covering relatively small the hour-long frebombing, readers said no. amounts of time, but synchronically narrating Across the board, reviewers found the novel unac‐ events during the war from many diferent points ceptable: "gewollte makabre Schreckensmalerei," of view, each voice authentic, gathered together "abscheuliche Perversität," "Gruselkabinett," were by Kempowski from diaries, letters, published some of the responses. Perhaps the most telling memoirs, and scores of unpublished manuscripts, criticism of the novel came from the review in the from both prominent and unknown writers.[9] Badische Zeitung, which argues that ten years af‐ The result is indeed a "collective diary." Kempows‐ ter the end of the war, readers had to reject this ki is more the director of a choir than author in portrayal of the war, since it left readers without the "Echolot" collections, contrary to his role as "jeden positiv gerichteten metaphysischen Hinter‐ author of novels. Yet in the "Echolot" he sets the grund und Ausblick."[8] Vees-Gulani points out tone and tells the story, even thought the words that it was not only this lack of positive spin, but he uses are not his. It is brilliant work and de‐

5 H-Net Reviews manding reading because of its scope, but even detrimental efects trauma of such magnitude can with Kempowski's juxtaposition of various voices have on the individual" (p. 119). invoking irony and criticism, their general lack of Her further treatment of various literary rep‐ evaluation and judgment is evident. This is natu‐ resentations by writers we might call outsiders is, ral, given the perspective from which the diaries like the rest of her study, clear, well-grounded, and letters were written; yet Vees-Gulani fnds and sensible. She treats closely Sebald's airwar es‐ Kempowski's project less progressive than Kluge's say, and is quite critical of Sebald's polemical in using documentary techniques to work stance toward literature of the wartime bombings through trauma and guilt. I fnd her inclusion of that does indeed exist; she calls his essay, "an ob‐ Kempowski, however, to be an important step to‐ jective literary and cultural analysis ... at times ward moving the "Echolot" project into the feld of strangely confused, unbalanced, and contradicto‐ view of Germanists and historians, especially in ry" (p. 124). But more importantly, she also ana‐ the United States. It is fascinating material and lyzes his long poem and frst work of literature well worth reading. "Nach der Natur" (1988), Sebald's least-known Kempowski has a modest following in Ger‐ work of literature. In it, Sebald's lyrical frst-per‐ many, and his work has been only recently dis‐ son narrator (who is generally read as an autobio‐ covered abroad.[10] Similarly, Dieter Forte, anoth‐ graphical voice) tells how his mother witnessed er contemporary novelist with a modest reader‐ the bombing and destruction of Nueremberg, the ship in German, has also written recently about same day she realizes that she is pregnant with the German experience of the wartime bombings him. This genealogy is fascinating in itself, and (among other things). Vees-Gulani fnds his "pow‐ more so given Sebald's infuence in bringing at‐ erful" description of the bombings "unparalleled tention to the problem of representation of the in other German texts" (p. 112). His picture is wartime bombings. "more complete," his account "more poised." His In turning to Jewish-German voices, which, novels are, for Vees-Gulani, successful in portray‐ along with foreign voices, make up the objects for ing trauma, negotiating guilt, and ultimately help‐ the rest of the study, Vees-Gulani presents once ing to heal. Even with reasonable caveats about again convincing and helpful analyses of some the distance between experience and representa‐ well-known and some lesser-known works and tion and about the relatively tenuous connections authors. Among them is the memoir Leben an between narrating trauma and healing its efects, Grenzen (1989), whose author, Werner Schmidt, it is clear that she sees Forte's work, especially Der was the product of what the Germans called then Junge mit den blutigen Schuhen, as an outstanding a "Mischehe." Unable to emigrate, he fnished his contribution to postwar, and thus post-traumatic, medical studies in Germany and in 1940 fnally healing. The question remains whether Forte's got a job as a pathologist and doctoral candidate own experience as author (and one who lived at a clinic in Hamburg. Throughout the war he through bombings and was marked by the knowl‐ witnessed the murderous side of the regime by edge), which healed him in a way as he says in in‐ way of the autopsies he was required to perform. terviews, is somehow transferable to readers. Many of those were on Soviet POWs and even con‐ Vees-Gulani sees better chances of this in realistic, centration camps inmates: "Im Keller der Gießen‐ psychological novels like Forte's. "Forte gives er Anatomie zeigte mir Prof. Wagenseil einen readers the opportunity to gain insight into the Haufen ausgemergelter Leichen, KZ-Häftlinge. experience of the destructive forces of modern Man hatte die an einem Bahndamm in der Nähe technological advances as well as a glimpse at the gefunden und in sein Institut geschaft; waren

6 H-Net Reviews gewiss bei Nacht und Nebel aus dem Waggon Overall, Susanne Vees-Gulani's new book is a geworfen worden. Was sah ich in Hamburg. Man serious addition to current discussions of the nov‐ hatte hier Russen verhungern lassen. ‐ els of wartime bombings, specifcally in its careful land" (p. 133). Later, Schmidt witnesses the de‐ use of the terms trauma and guilt, its thorough struction of Dresden and despite his sorrow at the survey of the "taboo"-debates to date, and its care‐ loss of life and of the beautiful city concludes, ful and informative readings of the novels. All the "Den 'Herren' wird der Mut schon vergehen, quotations are given in the original and in English wenn sie von Dresden hören. Es ist aus, ganz und , making the book useful for non-Ger‐ gar aus, sie können nicht mehr zurückschlagen" manists, undergraduates, and lay readers. It is (p. 134). Vees-Gulani explains well how Schmidt also a handsome and sturdy volume, as one has can represent an interpretation of the "double come to expect from the publisher Walter de role of the airwar in the lives of those who were Gruyter, and is carefully prepared and cleanly under constant threat by National Socialism. De‐ edited. Vees-Gulani has made a useful, insightful, spite the havoc they wrought and the destructive and welcome contribution to the critical debate. I consequences that necessarily accompanied them, sense in Susanne Vees-Gulani an idealist reader at the bombs were defnitely also understood as work, one who, despite all knowledge to the con‐ signs of freedom and the beginning of the end of trary and with all the necessary qualifers in the war" (p. 134). This theme attends her readings place, still wants to believe that these novels can of Viktor Klemperer, Wolf Biermann, and Günter heal. I think she is right. Kunert. Notes "International Reactions" are manifested in [1]. W. G. Sebald, Luftkrieg und Literatur: Mit novels by Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-Five, einem Essay zu Alfred Andersch (Munich: Hanser, 1969), Harry Mulisch (Het stenen bruidsbet, 1959; 1999); "A Natural History of Destruction," New or The Stone Bridal Bed, 1962), and Henri Cou‐ Yorker (November 4, 2002); and On the Natural longes (L'Adieu a la femme sauvage, 1979; or History of Destruction: With Essays on Alfred An‐ Farewell Dresden, 1989), each of which treats the dersch, Jean Amery, and , trans. bombing of Dresden. Most readers will agree with Anthea Bell (New York: Random House, 2003). Vees-Gulani's assessment that Vonnegut and [2]. H-German, Forum on World War II Bomb‐ Mulisch deal with the subjects of guilt, trauma, ing: . treats Mulisch's novel at greater length than the others, and this section will serve as a good intro‐ [3]. Sebald, On the Natural History of Destruc‐ duction to the work for new readers. It is clear tion, p. 10. "Der wahre Zustand der materiellen that Mulisch's novel deserves broader readership und moralischen Vernichtung, in welchem das in German and English; in fact it has recently ganze Land sich befand, durfte aufgrund einer been published in a new edition in German (Das stillschweigend eingegangenen und für alle gle‐ steinerne Brautbett, 1994), though it remains out ichermassen gültigen Vereinbarung nicht of print in English. Henri Coulonges's Dresden beschrieben werden. Die fnstersten Aspekte des novel is less successful because of its contrived, von der weitaus überwiegenden Mehrheit der melodramatic plot and unconvincing narrative deutschen Bevölkerung miterlebten Schlussakts voice. Nevertheless, it portrays the bombing of the der Zerstörung blieben so ein schandbares, mit city graphically and accurately. einer Art Tabu behaftetes Familiengeheimnis, das man vielleicht nicht einmal sich selber eingeste‐ hen konnte" (Sebald, Luftkrieg, p. 18).

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[4]. See, for example, Julia Klein, "Germans as rote Hahn," on the bombing of Dresden (2001); Victims of World War II," Chronicle of Higher Edu‐ and most recently, the Barbarossa volume (2002). cation 49, no. 32 (April 18, 2003): B16-B17; or Pe‐ Alongside this is Kempowski's grand sweep of ter Schneider, "The Germans are Breaking an Old novels, nine in all, that put forth a kind of history Taboo," New York Times (January 18, 2003). of the German middle class. Walter Kempowski, [5]. Hage: "Mich überzeugten diese Ansichten Das Echolot: Ein kollektives Tagebuch. Januar und damals.... ich teilte im wesentlichen die Meinung, Februar 1943, 4 vols. (Munich: Knaus, 1993); Das dass die Darstellung des Luftkriegs in der Echolot: Fuga Furiosa. Ein kollektives Tagebuch. deutschen Literatur keine nennenswerte Rolle 12. Januar bis 14. Februar 1945, 4 vols. (Munich: gespielt habe ... es lässt sich weder ein Roman Knaus, 1999); Der Rote Hahn: Dresden im Februar noch eine Erzählung, weder eine Reportage noch 1945 (Munich: btb Goldmann, 2001); and Das ein Gedicht fnden, der als populäres literarisches Echolot: Barbarossa 1941. Ein kollektives Tage‐ Zeugnis des Luftkriegs gelten könnte." Volker buch (Munich: Albrecht Knaus, 2002). Hage, Zeugen der Zerstörung: Die Literaten und [10]. A conference on Kempowski and the der Luftkrieg ( a. M.: Fischer, 2003), pp. Echolot project was held in the United States last 114-15; my translation. year at Eastern Michigan Unversity: http:// [6]. James Pennebaker, "Telling Stories: The www.public.asu.edu/~dgilfll/kempowski/. Health Benefts of Narrative," Literature and [11]. Dieter Forte, Das Muster (Frankfurt a. Medicine 19 (2000): pp. 3-18. M.: Fischer, 1992); Der Junge mit den blutigen [7]. In the case of Nossack, Vees-Gulani erro‐ Schuhen (Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer, 1995); and In neously perpetuates Nossack's own myth of his der Erinnerung (Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer, 1998). early writing career during the Third Reich. He The trilogy of all three novels appeared in paper‐ was not, as he claimed, and Vees-Gulani repeats back as Das Haus auf meinen Schultern (Frank‐ (along with several other literary historians and furt a. M.: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 2003). critics over the years), prohibited from publishing under the Nazis; rather he accommodated himself to the regime and even applied for and received permission from the Reichsschrifttumskammer to publish poems in 1942. For details on this point and Nossack's autobiographical mythmaking, see my discussion of Nossack in the H-German forum on war bombing and, more eloquently, 's introduction to his own translation of Nossack's Untergang: Hans Erich Nossack, The End: Ham‐ burg 1943, translated and introduced by Joel Agee (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004). [8]. These cited in Volker Hage, Zeugen der Zerstörung, p. 46. [9]. There are now four sections of the monu‐ mental "Echolot" project. First published (1993) was the Stalingrad period, covering January and February 1945; then the part subtitled "Fuga Fu‐ riosa" (1999); third, a relatively slim volume "Der

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Citation: Scott Denham. Review of Vees-Gulani, Susanne. Trauma and Guilt: Literature of Wartime Bombing in Germany. H-German, H-Net Reviews. January, 2005.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10111

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