The Public Memory of German Women's Experiences of The
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CONTRASTING SILENCES: THE PUBLIC MEMORY OF GERMAN WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN A DIVIDED GERMANY, 1945-PRESENT by Emily McPherson Bachelor of Arts Honours History, University of New Brunswick, 2017 A Thesis submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate Academic Unit of History Supervisor: Lisa Todd, PhD, History Examining Board: Sean Kennedy, PhD, History, Chair Julia Torrie, PhD, History, St. Thomas University Suzanne Hindmarch, PhD, Political Science This thesis is accepted by the Dean of Graduate Studies THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK April, 2019 © Emily McPherson, 2019 ii Abstract More than 800,000 German women were victims of the sexual violence perpetrated by Allied troops at war’s end, however, rape victims have not been the dominant image in public memories of the German wartime experience. Instead, memorials, ceremonies, speeches, and books lauded women as post-war Trümmerfrauen, “rubble women” who worked to reconstruct war-torn cities after 1945. This thesis sits at the intersection of changing perceptions of German victimhood and theories of memorialization, and examines, through a gendered lens, wartime diaries such as A Woman in Berlin, novels, newspaper articles, documentary films, and stone memorials, including the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin’s Treptower Park, and statues erected in honour of Trümmerfrauen. Both the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany instilled female wartime experiences into the public memory landscape of their nations; however, they did so in limited and intentional ways, in an effort to construct histories that aligned with their political goals. German memory politics shifted throughout the Cold War, and changed again after reunification, to reflect new nation-building projects. iii Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the support of many different people. First, I want to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the financial support that made my studies feasible. Thank you to the University of New Brunswick for making this prairie girl feel at home for the past six years; all of my gratitude to all the strangers who became my friends in the Carol-Hines Common Room, you were reason I made it up that hill some days. Thank you to the faculty and staff in UNB’s history department for your infinite patience, wisdom, and confidence in me. My professors, thank you for teaching me, for laughing with me, and encouraging me to keep asking questions about the world. Lisa Todd, I am forever grateful for your constant willingness to answer questions and solve problems, for helping me find perspective, reminding me that I belonged here, and that maybe I needed to take a night off. I have learned so much, and had so much fun working with you. Ella, your friendship, support, and belief in me have pulled me through stretches of imposter syndrome. Thank you for always reading my work, I will always trust you with my ‘roughest’ of drafts. To the League of Extraordinary Historians, my classmates, thank you for being my friends, for laughing and learning with me. The other “Emily”, I could not have done this without you. Thank you for understanding me, for simultaneously be angered and amazed at this crazy world with me, we are going to change things one day. My family, thank you for always being there to catch me when I fall and for being proud of me. Mom, I could not have gotten through this time in my life without you. Thank you for always answering the phone when I call in a panic, for talking me out of a spiral, and for reminding me to celebrate my accomplishments. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... III TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ IV LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... V 1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 2.0 – CHAPTER ONE: AN HISTORIOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW: GERMAN VICTIMHOOD, THEORIES OF MEMORIALIZATION, AND WOMEN AS HEROES AND VICTIMS ......................................... 12 GERMAN VICTIMHOOD ................................................................................................................. 14 MEMORIALIZATION AND SITES OF MEMORY ..................................................................................... 21 WOMEN AS VICTIMS AND HEROES IN POST-WAR GERMANY .............................................................. 26 TRÜMMERFRAUEN ....................................................................................................................... 41 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 46 3.0 - CHAPTER TWO: “EXAGGERATED ANTI-COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA” OR THE “INEVITABLE BY-PRODUCT OF A VICIOUS WAR”? PUBLIC MEMORY REPRESENTATIONS OF GERMAN WOMEN AS VICTIMS OF MASS RAPE ..................................................................... 48 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... 50 THE SOVIET WAR MEMORIAL AT TREPTOWER PARK .......................................................................... 51 THE BIG RAPE ............................................................................................................................. 60 A WOMAN IN BERLIN ................................................................................................................... 66 BEFREIER UND BEFREITE ............................................................................................................... 84 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 95 4.0 – CHAPTER THREE: “MEMORIES CHISELED IN STONE” PUBLIC MEMORY DISCOURSE SURROUNDING GERMANY’S TRÜMMERFRAUEN ................................................................ 102 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................ 105 EVERYDAY REALITIES (1944-1948) .............................................................................................. 107 DEPICTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS OF WOMEN ................................................................................. 110 PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE AS FIRST EX. OF PUBLIC MEMORY 1945-1948 ......................................... 114 MEMORIALS BUILT IN THE FORMER EAST GERMANY ........................................................................ 116 MEMORIALS BUILT IN THE FORMER WEST GERMANY ...................................................................... 130 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................ 146 5.0 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 151 6.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 160 PRIMARY SOURCES ............................................................................................................. 160 APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................... 170 MEMORIALS BUILT IN THE FORMER EAST GERMANY ........................................................................ 175 CURRICULUM VITAE v List of Figures Figure 1 – Gronefeld, Gerhard. Kokssammlerin in Der Gaanstalt Mariendorf. May 1945. Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. Figure 2 – Jacobson-Sonnenfeld, Bau Auf Trümmerbahn. 1945/46, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. Figure 3 – Gerhard Gronefeld, Trümmerfrau in Der Berliner Hockernstraße, December 1945, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. Figure 4 – Gerhard Gronefeld, Trümmerfrauen, 1945/48, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. Figure 5 – Jewgeni Chaldej, Enttrummerung in Der Holzmarktstraße. May 1945, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. Figure 6 – Pressbild-Verlag Schirner. Trümmerfrauen. May 22, 1945. Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. Figure 7 – Taking a Break During Clearing Operations in Berlin, 1945-1946, German History in Documents and Images, Berlin. Figure 8 – Rubble Woman near the Trinity Church, 1946, German History in Documents and Images, Berlin. Figure 9 – Putting Every Brick to Use: 'Rubble Woman' Removing Mortar Remnants, 1946, German History in Documents and Images, Berlin. Figure 10 – Puck Pressdienst. Trümmerfrau in Berlin. 1946. Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. Figure 11 – Trümmerfrauen. 1945/1949. Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. Figure 12 – Trümmerfrauen Memorial, Dresden, Germany. Personal photograph by author. June 2, 2018. Figure 13 – Trümmerfrauen Memorial, Dresden, Germany. Personal photograph by author. June 2, 2018. Figure 14 – Trümmerfrauen Memorial, Dresden, Germany. Personal photograph by author. June 2, 2018.