University of Cincinnati

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:___________________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Competing Cityscapes: Architecture in the Cinematic Images of Postwar Berlin A Thesis submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE In the School of Architecture and Interior Design of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning 2007 by Laura Terézia Vas BA in German and History, University of Szeged, 1999 MA in German, University of Cincinnati, 2001 ABD in German Studies, University of Cincinnati, 2004 Committee Chair: Udo Greinacher Committee Members: Todd Herzog Aarati Kanekar ABSTRACT The architecture depicted in films about Berlin has played a fundamental role in fashioning the divided and unified capital’s image and cultural self-understanding, for both sides were acutely conscious of the propagandistic function of urban and architectural planning. By comparing three East-Berlin films with three thematically and chronologically corresponding West-Berlin films, this thesis investigates how cinema corresponded to the changing concepts in modernist architecture on the two sides of the wall. Whereas a competition between two world powers is carried out on a semiotic field condensing cultural, social, technological, and economic achievements - the city - this thesis shows that the diverging styles of government were struggling with similar possibilities and limitations in shaping their sections of Berlin. As opposed to Cold War films, the spatial analyses of post-Wende films show striking divergences. Keywords: Berlin, East Berlin, West Berlin, Cold War, German cinema, Berlin Wall, Berlin’s architecture, urban planning, prefabricated panel buildings. ii iii DEDICATION FOR MY HUSBAND, FERENC TRASER, WITH LOVE AND GRATITUDE iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am greatly indebted to my advisor Udo Greinacher who has accompanied this thesis from the beginning with amazing and inspiring insights, comments and film recommendations. I would also like to express my gratitude to my other committee members, Todd Herzog and Aarati Kanekar, who were always motivated readers and critics. I am indebted to the care and stylistic grace that my committee at the University of Cincinnati has dedicated to the supervising of this project over the past two years. I am grateful for the invaluable feedback on the various drafts, abstracts and presentations at our research colloquia from my professors, Jim Bradford, John E. Hancock, Nnamdi Elleh, Elizabeth Riorden, David Saile, and from my peer graduate students in Architecture and in German Studies, particularly from Julia K. Baker, Banu Bedel, Ana Botez, Todd Heidt, and Mihai Ivan. For many gestures of kindness, words of encouragement offered and administrative help during the completion of this project, I would like to thank Nnamdi Elleh, Sara Friedrichsmeyer, Katharina Gerstenberger, Ellen Guetteraz, John E. Hancock, David Saile and Richard E. Schade. José Kosan and Ferenc Traser provided invaluable technical help and Christopher Colizza has been a wonderful proofreader. I am also very grateful to my students’ critical and inspiring questions and discussions in the Berlin in Film course in the spring quarter of 2007 at the v University of Cincinnati. A number of other friends, colleagues, and family members, too many to name, also deserve thanks for their role in making this thesis possible. My father, József Vas, played a very special role in this project as many of the questions I raised while analyzing the films are coming from conversations with him during my childhood. This thesis became a personal endeavor while trying to come to terms with his life during the Cold War and his pessimism about architecture in the Eastern Block. The final word of thanks goes to my husband, Ferenc Traser, to whom I dedicate this work. Without his support this text never would have been written. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................... II DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................................IV FOR MY HUSBAND, FERENC TRASER, WITH LOVE AND GRATITUDE ............................................IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................................... V TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................VII CHAPTER OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................................... 1 “ARCHITECTURE FINDS IN FILM ITS TRUE FORM OF EXERCISE”: FILM AND ARCHITECTURE ............................................................................................................................................. 3 BERLIN’S ARCHITECTURE AFTER WWII.............................................................................. 9 BERLIN IN FILM ................................................................................................................. 14 CHAPTER TWO – PREFABRICATED PANELS AND SATELLITE CITIES: ARCHITECTURE IN EAST GERMAN BERLIN-FILMS .............................................................................................................. 18 CHAPTER OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................................... 18 THE FIRST SOCIALIST STREET OF BERLIN: THE STORY OF A YOUNG COUPLE (1952) .......... 19 “IDEALS AND REALITY NEVER COINCIDE”: THE LEGEND OF PAUL AND PAULA (1973).... 30 “CONSTRUCTION IS BUILT UPON COMPROMISE”: THE ARCHITECTS (1989)........................ 43 CHAPTER CONCLUSION...................................................................................................... 55 CHAPTER THREE – RUINS, REBELS UND RESTRICTIONS: CINEMATIC IMAGES OF WEST BERLIN ....................................................................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................................... 57 RUBBLES AND RECONSTRUCTION: A FOREIGN AFFAIR (1948)............................................ 58 BERLIN FROM A WORM’S-EYE-VIEW: CHRISTIANE F. (1981).............................................. 70 ARCHITECTS AND REBELS: BERLIN, CHAMISSOPLATZ (1984).............................................. 81 CHAPTER CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 92 CHAPTER FOUR – EAST, WEST: THE BERLIN REPUBLIC IN FILM ............................................. 94 CHAPTER OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................................... 94 THE BORDER BECOMES VISIBLE: THE PROMISE (1994) ..................................................... 95 LOST AND FOUND: BERLIN IS IN GERMANY (2001) ............................................................ 104 ‘OSTALGIE’: FICTION AND REALITY IN GOODBYE, LENIN! (2003) .................................... 115 CHAPTER CONCLUSION.................................................................................................... 126 THESIS CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................. 127 APPENDIX – TEACHING AND LEARNING – SYLLABUS ABOUT THE THESIS ................................ 132 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................... 136 vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION – FILM, ARCHITECTURE AND BERLIN CHAPTER OBJECTIVES How can one effectively represent the complexities of a particular city? Cities are incredibly dense and constantly changing systems of social, political and architectural relationships. Furthermore, the politically charged city of Berlin is one of the most complex urban centers of Europe. One of the best ways to talk about the city is through a narrative that indirectly addresses aspects of the metropolis. Berlin-films with a narrative structure do not only invite the audience to follow the story of its protagonists, but they also indirectly address the city through a deceptively appealing story. By paying attention to the featured locations in these films, individuals learn that the city often becomes a protagonist in Berlin-films and the careful selection of specific locations adds to the plot in a powerful way. This thesis will explore how the depiction of the city strengthens, alters or in some cases contradicts the narrative story in cinematic representations that were all filmed in the postwar German capital. The introductory chapter aims to provide the theoretical background about the relationship between film and architecture for the film analyses in this thesis that span a period from the end of WWII up to the beginning of the 21st century. The interconnectedness between cinematography and architecture is particularly evident in early films of the European

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