IDENTITY IN TRANSITION: LEIPZIG’S CULTURAL DOWNFALL 1943-49 HELEN BLUEMEL Submitted to the School of History and Archaeology Cardiff University in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 V UMI Number: U585344 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U585344 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. 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Signed.. *J==-i "7II1___^frTinfliditf) Date.. \ Cardiff UNIVERSITY PRIFYSGOL C ae RDY[§> SUMMARY OF THESIS: POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH DEGREES SECTION A: TO BE COMPLETED BY THE CANDIDATE AND SUBMITTED WITH THE THESIS Student ID Number: 00 303 6776 Title: Please circle appropriate value MS Surname: BLUEMEL First Names: HELEN School: HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY Title of Degree: Please circle appropriate value PhD Full Title of Thesis IDENTITY IN TRANSITION: LEIPZIG’S CULTURAL DOWNFALL 1943-49 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i LIST OF FIGURES ii GLOSSARY AND LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iii Introduction 1 1 Leipzig - City Politics 26 2 Leipzig - City of Music 70 3 Leipzig - City of Books 119 4 Leipzig - City of Law 153 5 Leipzig - City of Learning 184 Conclusion 222 Bibliography 229 V Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr Gerwin Strobl and Professor Jonathan Osmond of Cardiff University for their support, continuous encouragement, ideas and advice during the research and completion of this study. I thank my family for the love and help during my research in Germany and my friends for their patience and hints on the language front. I also thank the AHRC for the support I received through their scholarship. i List of Figures 1 Map of Leipzig’s city centre pre-firestorm 1943 26 2 Map of Leipzig’s city centre post-war 26 Source: Stadgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig, Wiederaufbauplan 1949 3 A view of Leipzig from above 1909 157 Source: Leipziger Volkszeitung, 29 January 2009 [diagram by author] V ii Glossary and List of Abbreviations AB Antifaschistischer Block (Antifascist Bloc) CDU Christlich Demokratische Union (Christian Democratic Union) CIC Counter Intelligence Corps DNVP Deutschnationale Volkspartei (German National People’s Party) FDJ Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth) GDR German Democratic Republic GARF State archive of the Russian Federation Gau Administrative region in the Nazi organisation of the state Gauleiter Leader of the Gau ICD Information Control Division Kapellmeister Orchestra conductor (old German term, only in common use for the Gewandhaus) KPD Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party) Kreis Area Kreisleitung Area leadership Kreisleiter Leader of an area Kulturamt Department for culture in Leipzig’s city council Kulturdezement Head of the department for culture in Leipzig’s city council Landesverwaltung Land (region) Administration LDPD Liberal Demokratische Partei Deutschlands (Liberal Democratic Party of Germany) LNN Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten (newspaper) LVZ Leipziger Volkszeitung (newspaper) NKFD Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland (National Committee Free Germany) NSDAP Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei (National Socialist party) OSS Office of Strategic Services PWD Psychological Warfare Division Rektor Vice Chancellor of the University SD Sicherheitsdienst (SS secret service) SED Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party) SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party) SS Schutzstaffeln (elite Nazi organisation) StadtAL Stadtarchiv Leipzig SStA Leipzig Sachsisches Staatsarchiv, Staatsarchiv Leipzig Thomanerchor St Thomas’s Choir ThoSchu Archiv der Thomasschule UAL Universitatsarchiv Leipzig Introduction Ich komme nach Leipzig, an einen Ort wo man die ganze Welt im kleinen sehen kann. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, 20 January 17491 In 1945, Leipzig was indeed the place to see the whole world, or at least all facets of the Second World War and its aftermath. The historic town centre of this city in the very heart of Germany had been largely destroyed in the first complete firestorm that the British bombing squads accomplished in December 1943.2 In total, 38 bombing raids on the city left large parts completely in ruins, including all cultural venues, dozens of churches, more than eighty percent of the trade fair buildings and forty percent of housing. Yet, Leipzig’s military production survived intact, and the air armament factories went on producing right until the end of the war with the help of slave labour, namely some 20,000 concentration camp inmates, kept in the vicinity of Leipzig at Abtnaundorf, a satellite camp of Buchenwald. Leipzig was expected to resist the advancing Allied forces in mid-April, since Himmler had forbidden the surrender of any German town. Yet, when the American troops entered the city, entire quarters were handed over peacefully; only small skirmishes ensued that were easily overcome. Thus Leipzig was initially occupied by the Americans, but under the terms of the Yalta Agreement the city, like all of Saxony, was to be part of the Soviet Zone. The Leipzigers, unaware of these agreements, welcomed the US troops with a sigh of relief, for fear of the Soviets was widespread, and had been steadily fuelled both by Goebbels’ propaganda and, above all, by the harrowing accounts of Red Army atrocities related by refugees from the old German East. 1 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in a letter to his mother in Lessings Werke (Donauoschingen, 1822), p. 20. 2 Although the death toll in Hamburg in the summer of 1943 was far greater, the actual ‘technique’ of the firestorm was ‘perfected’ in Leipzig. Olaf Groehler, Bombenkrieg gegen Leipzig 1940-45 (Leipzig, 1994), p. 5. 1 Apart from the fundamental questions of food and shelter, the Leipzigers soon started to wonder whether the Americans would facilitate the renewal of the cultural life, so important to the city’s self-conception. Leipzig’s cultural institutions, wherever possible, continued throughout the war and even after the bombings of the city. Leipzig’s Gewandhaus orchestra played its last concert six days before the American arrival, the university, despite a lecture stop, was still handling qualifications, the Reichsgericht, Germany’s Supreme Court, only ceased proceedings with the American takeover. Yet, all suffered from the ideological isolation and politicisation of the Nazi years and hoped the Americans would support a reconstruction of the city and its culture. No one knew that less than a dozen weeks after the American arrival, the occupation would switch to the Soviet forces. Although it was hoped that the Americans would support Leipzig in its reconstruction efforts, the city was largely kept in hibernation by the new rulers of the town, a city administration was installed but not equipped with much authority, all public entertainment facilities were closed and cultural events banned. The transitional nature of the occupation manifested itself most clearly in the field of denazification, where no decisive action (apart from a few arrests of the most obvious culprits) was taken as the American military administration saw no immediate need for it. Instead, the Americans ‘relieved’ Leipzig of some of its most important assets. Upon leaving, they forcibly ‘evacuated’ key members of Leipzig’s academic, economic and cultural elites as well as major resources from the university and important companies of the city. The main aim of this was the removal of potential valuables from their supposed Allies, the Soviets. Here the Cold War was already knocking on the door. When the Soviets took over in Leipzig and Saxony as a whole, the denazification process gained pace. Nonchalant during the American occupation, the policy now emerged in its fiercest interpretation - Saxony’s denazification laws ‘outshone’ those of any other area in the Soviet Zone, let alone 2 anywhere in the Western Zones. These measures impacted on all areas of public life, not least Leipzig’s culture. The initial remit of removing National Socialists from positions of influence turned in the Soviet Zone into an instrument for creating a completely altered political, economic and cultural landscape - the establishment of a system in line with the ideas of Socialism. Leipzig is not only an interesting topic for a regional history of a German town; its significance is farther reaching. Leipzig was a