Linda Schulte-Sasse 32. Rejlections of Fascism (New York: Harper, 1982). See Rentschler, 59. 33. I am referringto some of the earliest studies on Nazi cinema: David Stewart Hull's Film in the Third Reich (Berkeley: U of Califomia P, 1969) and Erwin Leiser's Nazi Cinema, trans. G. Mander and D. Wilson, (New York: 6 Macmillan, 1974). 34. National,sozialistische Filmpolitik:Eine soziologische Untersuchung über die Spielfilme des dritten Reiches (Stuttgart: Enke, 1969). 35. "Propaganda," Screen 18.3 (Autumn 1977): 31. Television as History: 36. "Propaganda" 31. 37. For some interesting analyses of modern political spectacles in the form of Representations of German "Gesamtkunstwerk," see Eric Rentschler, "The Use and Abuse of Memory: Television Broadcasting, New German Film and the Discourse of Bitburg," New German Critique 36 (Fall 1985): 67-90 or Jochen Schulte-Sasse, "Electronic Media and Cultural 1935--1944 Politics in the Reagan Era: The Attack on Libya and Rands Across America as Postmodern Events," Cultural Critique 8 (Winter 1987/88): 123--52. 38. "Der Messingkauf' 563. William Uricchio Walter Benjamin's "Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner tech­ nischen Reproduzierbarkeit" ("The Work of Art in the Age ofMechanical Reproduction") appeared in the Zeitschrif für Sozialorchung several months after the Reich Broadcasting Company announced "the world' s 1 firstregular television service." The near simultaneity of the appearance of a new mass medium and an implicit critique of its cultural inscription marks a striking conjunction. Given the massive cultural role television subsequently assumed, and Benjamin' s relative marginalization to a small circle of intellectuals, it seems astonishing that his essay achieved a much higher profile in cultural memory than did the considerable develop­ ments of German television broadcasting between 1935 and 1944. Benjamin's discussion of a cultural shift to reception in a state of distraction, and with it his prescient observations regarding mass aesthetics and politics, stands as but one of a spectrum of discourses 166 167 William U ricchio German Television, 1935-1944 surrounding the emergence of television. In Germany in particular, the German television before 1944, as a medium of representation diversified and often conflicting administrative units and personalities and transmission, dealt tangibly with images of history and thus its responsible for television broadcasting were quite articulate about their programming might seem to provide more direct access to concepts of visions of themed ium. Whether the socialist wing of the N ationalsozialis­ German history than discourse about it. Whether enveloping events tische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) or friendsof corporate capital­ such as the 1936 Olympie Garnes in the aura of the "world historical," or ism in the Postal Ministry, whether through the persuasive interests of broadcasting feature and Kulturfilme with explicitly historical subjects, the Propaganda Ministry or the martial interests of the Air Ministry, television continually demonstrated its potential as an agent in the con­ whether goverrunental entities or multinational electronicscorporat ions, struction of popular memory. The transmitted sporting events, films, ail contributed to a vision of television-its organization, programming, news, drama, and public affairs programs that made up the typical Ger­ and potential impact-which reveals as much about the state of the man broadcast day all would seem to resonate with the fullness of the medium as the historicalassump tions in whichthis vision was embedded. historical moment, but two factors motivate this essay's focuson discur­ Internecine warfare among these interests spawned numerous debates sive practices. and policy positions, some of which were publicly promoted through the First, virtually no intact programming from 1935 through 1944 press in Germany and abroad. Yet, despite abundant discourse, despite exists. The little that has been discovered-several clips and compilation the widespread involvement of public and private institutions, somehow filmsfor broadcast-while usefulfor the pursuit of specifictopics, largely the very existence of German television broadcastingin this early period precludes systemwide analysis. 3 Second, while television was well publi­ has slipped from popular memory. Theease with which the British and cized and while receivers were promised at reasonable prices, estimates Americans lay unchallenged daim to that always tenuous position of suggest that only between two hundred and one thousand sets were "first" in their assertion of primacy in regular public television broadcast­ actually available. Despite the steady expansion of the program day, ing stands as but one manifestation of this situation. 2 German television fundamentally lacked an audience. For the most part, This essay traces several strands of the discourse emerging from the German public had much greater exposure to the discourse about the period, using the patterns of evidence on German television together television than any direct experience of the medium. with elements of its ongoing representation as reflections of broader Although textless in a traditional sense, the manycont radictions historical concerns. The storyof television's development appears inter­ pervading German television's national and international development twined in a complex web of determinants. Sorting them out offers the together with the patternsof its historical treatment suggest television's potential to reveal the medium as a site of contestation and cultural relevance as metatext, as a lens on the broader patterns of German paradox, while reflecting back upon the character of the ever-changing history. The kinds of questions that can be raised about early German national, technological, and economic historical paradigms through television, and our evidence-based access to them, may be used to which it has been represented. Whether during the Third Reich or the revealµie assumptions and functionsof the surrounding institutional and Cold War, these perspectives have continued to shape public access to technological discourse. M uch more so than in the case of cinema with the events surrounding televisionbetween 1935 and 1944, accountingin its relatively long-term internationalorgan izational and representational large part for their curious omission from contemporary studies. This practices (encouraging analytic focus on individual films and reception essay will thus sketch out and problematize concepts of German history as the site of specific historical concepts), television' s brief historyprior as inscribed within the cultural configuration and representation of early to 1944 and its unique institutional status encourage this metatextual German television in trade journals, the popular press, scholarlyessay s, approach. 4 Divided among three ministries, struggled over by national and other texts. and multinational corporations, and driven on by ideologues of various 168 169 William U ricchio German Television, 1935-1944 surrounding the emergence of television. In Germany in particular, the German television before 1944, as a medium of representation diversified and often conflicting administrative units and personalities and transmission, dealt tangibly with images of history and thus its responsible for television broadcasting were quite articulate about their programming might seem to provide more direct access to concepts of visions of themed ium. Whether the socialist wing of the N ationalsozialis­ German history than discourse about it. Whether enveloping events tische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) or friendsof corporate capital­ such as the 1936 Olympie Garnes in the aura of the "world historical," or ism in the Postal Ministry, whether through the persuasive interests of broadcasting feature and Kulturfilme with explicitly historical subjects, the Propaganda Ministry or the martial interests of the Air Ministry, television continually demonstrated its potential as an agent in the con­ whether goverrunental entities or multinational electronicscorporat ions, struction of popular memory. The transmitted sporting events, films, ail contributed to a vision of television-its organization, programming, news, drama, and public affairs programs that made up the typical Ger­ and potential impact-which reveals as much about the state of the man broadcast day all would seem to resonate with the fullness of the medium as the historicalassump tions in whichthis vision was embedded. historical moment, but two factors motivate this essay's focuson discur­ Internecine warfare among these interests spawned numerous debates sive practices. and policy positions, some of which were publicly promoted through the First, virtually no intact programming from 1935 through 1944 press in Germany and abroad. Yet, despite abundant discourse, despite exists. The little that has been discovered-several clips and compilation the widespread involvement of public and private institutions, somehow filmsfor broadcast-while usefulfor the pursuit of specifictopics, largely the very existence of German television broadcastingin this early period precludes systemwide analysis. 3 Second, while television was well publi­ has slipped from popular memory. Theease with which the British and cized and while receivers were promised at reasonable prices, estimates Americans lay unchallenged daim to that always tenuous position of suggest that only between two hundred