Nazi Soundscapes Sound, Technology and Urban Space in Germany, 1933-1945 CAROLYN BIRDSALL
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Nazi Soundscapes Sound, Technology and Urban Space in Germany, 1933-1945 CAROLYN BIRDSALL AMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY PRESS Nazi Soundscapes Nazi Soundscapes Sound, Technology and Urban Space in Germany, 1933-1945 Carolyn Birdsall amsterdam university press This book is published in print and online through the online OAPEN library (www.oapen.org) OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) is a collaborative initiative to develop and implement a sustainable Open Access publication model for academic books in the Humani- ties and Social Sciences. The OAPEN Library aims to improve the visibility and usability of high quality academic research by aggregating peer reviewed Open Access publications from across Europe. Cover illustration: Ganz Deutschland hört den Führer mit dem Volksempfänger, 1936. © BPK, Berlin Cover design: Maedium, Utrecht Lay-out: Heymans & Vanhove, Goes isbn 978 90 8964 426 8 e-isbn 978 90 4851 632 2 (pdf) e-isbn 978 90 4851 633 9 (ePub) nur 686 / 962 Creative Commons License CC BY NC ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) Vignette cc C. Birdsall / Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2012 Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise). Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher. Content Acknowledgements 7 Abbreviations 9 Introduction 11 1. Affirmative Resonances in Urban Space 31 2. The Festivalisation of the Everyday 65 3. Mobilising Sound for the Nation at War 103 4. Cinema as a Gesamtkunstwerk? 141 Afterword: Echoes of the Past 173 Notes 180 Bibliography 217 Track List 255 Index 257 5 Acknowledgements A great number of individuals have helped me during the preparation of this book. In 2003-2004, I began archival research and an oral history project. This was enabled by the institutional support offered by Erika Münster-Schroer (Stad- tarchiv Ratingen), who made phone calls and introductions, provided me with a workspace, and even set up a newspaper interview to feature the research project. I am particularly grateful to Ernst van Alphen, who first took a chance on an “in- triguing” idea and nurtured its development into what was eventually a funded project in 2004. Ernst, Mieke Bal and Esther Peeren not only inspired me through their own writing, teaching and intellectual commitment, but also made my own process that much easier with their perceptive feedback and meticulous attention to detail. At the University of Amsterdam, I thank the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis and the Department of Media Studies for institutional support, my colleagues for their discussions and peer support, and my students, whose enthusiasm and critical questions about listening and sound media have helped to shape this book. A number of individuals and institutions kindly supported me in gathering materi- als for the book. Special thanks to the archives and organisations who hosted me, and whose staff provided invaluable assistance: Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv Berlin, Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, Düsseldorf Stadtarchiv (Andrea Trudewind and Clemens von Looz-Corswarem), Düsseldorf Universitäts- und Landesarchiv, Düsseldorf Karnevalsmuseum, Filmmuseum Düsseldorf (Sabine Lenk and Mar- gret Schild), Geschichtswerkstatt Düsseldorf, German Radio Archive (Andreas Dan and Jörg Wyrschöwy), Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Bildarchiv), Schloss Wahn (Theaterwissenschlaftliche Sammlung), Staatsarchiv NRW (Düsseldorf), Stadt- museum Düsseldorf and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (Cologne). Several portions of Nazi Soundscapes have been derived from the following arti- cles: “Earwitnessing: Sound Memories of the Nazi Period,” in Sound Souvenirs: Audio Technologies, Memory and Cultural Practices, edited by Karin Bijsterveld and José van Dijck (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009, 169-81); “Sound Bites! Dissonant Audiovisions as Historiophony in Hitler’s Hit Parade,” in Sonic Mediations: Body, Sound, Technology, edited by Carolyn Birdsall and Anthony Enns (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2008, 259-75); “‘Affirmative Resonances’ in the City? Sound, Imagination and Urban Space in Early 1930s Germany,” in Sonic Interventions: Sex, Race, Place, edited by Sylvia Mieszkows- ki, Joy Smith and Marijke de Valck (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007. 57-86); “‘All of acknowledgements 7 Germany Listens to the Führer’: Radio’s Acoustic Space and ‘Imagined Listen- ing Community’ in Nazi Germany,” in Hearing Places: Sound, Place, Time and Culture, edited by Ros Bandt, Michelle Duffy and Dolly MacKinnon (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2007, 192-201). I’m grateful to each of the publishers for permission to draw on relevant portions of these chapters, and for the comments from the readers and editors of these publications, which were very helpful in the subsequent development of the book. I would like to thank those colleagues and friends who took the time to share helpful feedback and guidance during the research process: Jasper Aalbers, Alec Badenoch, Ruth Benschop, Stephan Besser, Karin Bijsterveld, Thomas Elsaesser, Anthony Enns, Andreas Fickers, Hanneke Grootenboer, Matthias Grzegorczyk, Tereza Havelková, Jan Hein Hoogstad, Elke Huwiler, Annelies Jacobs, Chris- toph Lindner, Vincent Meelberg, Ihab Saloul, Natalie Scholz, Senta Siewert, Jen- nifer Steetskamp, Susan Stocker, Wanda Strauven, José van Dijck, Frank van Vree, Pieter Verstraete and Michael Wedel. In particular, I’d like to thank Bruce Johnson, for his mentorship, intellectual generosity and astute comments on the dissertation. While I was still an undergraduate student, it was Bruce who first encouraged my research interests, introduced me to soundscape studies, and took me on a great excursion to visit an anechoic chamber in a scientific laboratory in Sydney. For their assistance with copyediting and translations, I thank Clare Donald, Joop Bindels, Claudia Funk and Johanna Kirn. My special appreciation goes to Amsterdam University Press for their professionality and assistance, in particu- lar Jeroen Sondervan and Chantal Nicolaes, as well as to the two readers of the manuscript for their feedback and insightful suggestions for sharpening my argu- ments. On a more personal note, for their kind hospitality during my research in Germany, I wish to express my appreciation to Sruti Bala, Wibke Bergemann, Dagmar Bleu, Bozena Leschczyk and Hendrik, Carola and Jupp Ingenhoven. This book could not have been completed without my friends and family – thank you for your encouragement and for reminding me how to enjoy the good life. In particular, I thank my mother for her love and support, and my sister for her friendship and ready advice on English technicalities! Most of all, I thank Mat- thieu Uittenbogaard. The whole process has been that much easier thanks to your love and faith in me, as well as your patience, sound advice and good company. 8 nazi soundscapes Abbreviations BA Bundesarchiv DRA Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv (Frankfurt) DTMB Archiv Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, Archive FLAK Flugabwehrkanone (Anti-aircraft artillery) HStaD Hauptstaatsarchiv NRW (Düsseldorf) KdF Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) KPD Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (German Commu- nist Party) NSDAP Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (Nation- al Socialist German Workers’ Party) NSV Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt (National Social- ist People’s Welfare) RFB Roter Frontkämpferbund (Red Front Fighters’ League) RLB Reichsluftschutzbund (National Air Protection Corps) SA Sturmabteilung (Stormtroopers) SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Demo- cratic Party of Germany) SS Schutzstaffel (Shield Squadron) StaD Stadtarchiv Düsseldorf ULB Düsseldorf Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, Düsseldorf (Univer- sitätsarchiv) abbreviations 9 Introduction “The state-subsidised radio sets (Volksempfänger) had the purpose of keeping the people acoustically under control.” “[The songs] were mainly about Heimat, about struggle and loyalty, and ‘we are strong.’ Everything was about Germany being the best and we had to know it. The classroom windows would be opened and we would belt out these songs.” “When you weren’t expecting guests or visitors and the doorbell rang – or someone knocked – you had a nervous feeling: What will happen? Where was I yesterday? What did I say or do?” “There were air raid wardens, who were each in charge of several buildings. They would go through the streets and call out ‘lights out!’ to the residents.”1 During 2004, I conducted a small-scale survey comprised of oral history inter- views with Germans who were children and young adults during National Social- ism. Among other themes, what emerged in the interviews was their heightened awareness of sound in everyday urban life, particularly during World War II, and the sense of being earwitnesses to that period.2 These interviews provided a departure point for the current study, inviting further investigation into the im- plications of sound within Nazi-era control, discipline and terror, and the need to specify the role of radio and mediated sound within fascist aesthetics and cultural practices. The figure of the earwitness has been introduced in several post-war accounts. Firstly, in the early 1970s, German-language critic and