The : History, Memory, and Representation. : Konrad Jarausch, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Andrea Despot, European Academy Berlin; Christian Ostermann, Cold War International History Project, Washington; Andreas Etges, Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin, 14.07.2011-17.07.2011.

Reviewed by Andreas Etges

Published on H-Soz-u-Kult (April, 2012)

‘The past is never dead,’ William Faulkner fa‐ of the Cold War from an international perspec‐ mously wrote in 1951 in Requiem for a Nun. ‘It’s tive, covering topics such as master narratives of not even past.’ This is defnitely also true of the the Cold War, places of memory, public and pri‐ Cold War. Its traces are still visible in many places vate memorialization, popular culture, and all around the world. It is the subject of exhibi‐ schoolbooks. One impetus for the conference was tions and new museums, of memorial days and the proposal to establish a new Museum of the historic sites, of documentaries and movies, of Cold War at . arts and culture. There are historical and political The frst session, entitled ‘The Cold War: Mas‐ controversies, both national and international, ter Narratives in East and West,’ was opened by about how the history of the Cold War should be ODD ARNE WESTAD (London), who emphasized told and taught, how it should be represented and the internationalization of Cold War historiogra‐ remembered. While much has been written about phy which has long been dominated by a Western the political history of the Cold War, the analysis and especially American perspective. He de‐ of its remembrance and representation is just be‐ scribed how international scholars have begun to ginning. Bringing together a wide range of inter‐ shape the feld and are helping to incorporate the national scholars, the conference held at the Euro‐ global impact of the Cold War into scholarship. pean Academy Berlin Co-sponsored by: the Berlin Referring to Berlin as a place of remembering the city government; the European Academy Berlin; Cold War, Westad stressed the need to understand the German Historical Institutes in Moscow, Lon‐ it as a lived experience and an underlying event don, and Washington; the Centre for Contempo‐ which European nations experienced. It was rary History in Potsdam; the Military History Re‐ therefore crucial, he suggested, for the develop‐ search Institute in Potsdam; the Allied Museum in ment of the world we live in today. Berlin; the German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karl‐ ANDERS STEPHANSON (New York) critically shorst; the Foundation; the Airlift discussed how the term ‘Cold War’ has been used Gratitude Foundation (Stiftung Luftbrückendank) in both public and academic discourse. In his in Berlin; the Cold War International History view, it should be regarded as a US concept and Project in Washington; and the John F. Kennedy project with a primarily American historiography. Institute for North American Studies of the Freie In terms of periodization, Stephanson argued that Universität Berlin. focused on the public history after 1963 the term ‘Cold Peace’ is more suitable H-Net Reviews for describing relations between the two super‐ the Cold War. She outlined the Cold War’s intense powers. For Stephanson, Berlin was an anomaly impact on social life, since everybody had to act during the Cold War. within a binary scheme. This also manifested it‐ Next, DAVID REYNOLDS (Cambridge) present‐ self in popular culture, in novels, music, and art. ed his comparison of Cold War narratives in For Russia, the Cold War and its end constitute a Britain, , and the Federal Republic of Ger‐ painful memory and a collective trauma, while in many. None of these entirely accepted the super‐ France loyalty to the West and the French role power polarity as the necessary master narrative, (for example, in détente policy) are emphasized. instead emphasizing national, European, or colo‐ SERGEJ KUDRYASHOV (Moscow) underlined that nial aspects of Cold War history. During the Cold the experiences of the Cold War are an ongoing War, Britain and France were struggling with and serious issue in Russia. He drew attention to a their loss of imperial power, while West Germany uniquely Russian aspect, namely, the fourishing focused on the issues of German unity and Ger‐ of amateur historiography. The work of non-pro‐ man guilt. VLADIMIR PECHATNOV (Moscow) dis‐ fessionals partially flls a gap in the country’s col‐ cussed three narratives of the Cold War in the lective memory of the Cold War. These amateurs post-Soviet period. The standard Soviet version to a large extent fulfll a popular demand for con‐ describes the Cold War as having been imposed spiracy and espionage histories. Serious histori‐ on the by the . In this ans fnd it difcult to react to these populist ap‐ narrative the Soviets saw themselves as the vic‐ proaches. MATTHIAS UHL (Moscow) focused on tims of Western policies. A revisionist narrative spies as heroes of the Cold War. He presented which includes a massive rejection of the Soviet parts of his research on double agent Oleg past emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A Penkovsky. Uhl stressed the importance of tech‐ third, more recent, post-revisionist narrative is nology and espionage as the subject of a future less ideological and stresses realpolitik, such as Cold War exhibition in Berlin. Russia’s security interests. Contrasting the ways in which the superpow‐ In his keynote lecture, JAY WINTER (Yale) dis‐ ers remember the Cold War, THOMAS LINDEN‐ cussed the Cold War between history and memo‐ BERGER (Vienna) concentrated on border commu‐ ry. He described memory as the intersection be‐ nities in Eastern Europe. He presented his oral tween family and world history, stressing that re‐ history microstudies of everyday life, politics, and membrance is an act of people, not of states. the heterogeneity of remembering the Cold War States can only provide an active symbolic ex‐ in East and West. Nation-building and communist change — at best, they manage to glorify those policies played a much larger part than Cold War who died without honoring war itself. Winter de‐ issues in the border communities he examined. scribed a booming memory industry that is driv‐ For Lindenberger, this justifed and implied a crit‐ en not by the state but by society. He stated that ical perspective in mapping European memory of the commemoration of war has changed over the Cold War, which has been seen as a Western time. There is a popular disenchantment with war term. The conference’s frst day ended with the especially in Berlin, which is characterized by a screening of the PBS documentary After the Wall: lively but overwhelming memory landscape. A World United (2011). Former Ambassador James D. Bindenagel, who was involved in the produc‐ Winter’s keynote lecture was followed by a tion, took questions from the audience. panel on ofcial versus biographical memorializa‐ tion. MARIE-PIERRE REY (Paris) compared the at‐ The session on popular culture and school‐ titudes of the French and Russian states towards books was opened by TONY SHAW (Hertfordshire)

2 H-Net Reviews who gave a presentation on Cold War flms in East ence and the memory of the communist past are and West. He argued that for ordinary people crucial. The anthropologist HEONIK KWON (Lon‐ flms gave real meaning to the Cold War and don) then looked at violent manifestations of the pointed out that they still have an impact on its Cold War in the postcolonial world with its many memoralization, even among those born after the millions of victims and contrasted it with the ex‐ end of the confict. Shaw identifed fve categories ceptionally long peace in post-war Europe, where of Cold War flms: flms that justify the Cold War; the Cold War was more of an ‘imaginary war.’ He flms of extremely positive or negative propagan‐ also emphasized the importance of family memo‐ da, depicting the home country as heaven and the ry, and not just in East Asia. other as hell; flms about the nuclear threat; flms Concentrating on Berlin as a place of history, on espionage; and flms that give alternative im‐ memory, and representation of the Cold War, ages and provide a critique of the Cold War. HOPE M. HARRISON (Washington) and SYBILLE Next, CHRISTOPHER MORAN (Warwick) fo‐ FRANK (Darmstadt) both outlined the Berlin state cused on Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. He government’s memorial plan. While Harrison fo‐ stated that they flled a public vacuum at a time cused on the recurring complications Germany when the secret services had an even greater pas‐ faces as a result of the continuing process of unif‐ sion for secrecy than today. The Bond novels were cation, Frank looked at the state of memoraliza‐ in a privileged position, since there were hardly tion at Checkpoint Charlie. Both speakers pointed any competing spy novels at the time. Moran also out that multiple and sometimes competing actors analyzed the direct correspondence between are part of Berlin’s public history landscape. Har‐ Fleming and the CIA and how it afected his sto‐ rison stressed the need to concentrate not only on ries. FALK PINGEL (Brunswick) compared the de‐ the Wall and the division of Germany but also to piction of the Cold War in social studies textbooks provide a broader and multi-perspectival Cold in the old Federal Republic of Germany, France, War context. Frank compared Checkpoint Charlie and Britain. Until the 1970s, he said, the term with Plymouth Plantation Heritage Center and de‐ ‘Cold War’ was not used. Instead, ‘East–West Con‐ tected a special German anxiety about the ‘Dis‐ fict’ was the preferred term, loaded with a great neyfcation’ of memorial sites when private insti‐ deal of meaning. National emphases difered. tutions step in to fll a vacuum left by the state. While French textbooks regarded the conferences Finally, KONRAD JARAUSCH (North Carolina) at Yalta and Potsdam as crucial, German text‐ discussed the project for a Cold War museum at books focused on Soviet policy. Checkpoint Charlie. Referring to some of the fnd‐ The fnal session discussed sites of Cold War ings of the conference, he described the project as memory. WAYNE COCROFT, senior archaeological a major opportunity for the city of Berlin. The investigator at English Heritage, talked about pro‐ global nature of the confict, including postcolo‐ tecting, preserving, and presenting Cold War her‐ nial struggles, and especially the dramatic role of itage. He discussed examples from more than thir‐ individuals, he suggested, should be highlighted ty Cold War sites which have become nationally in a future exhibition. Jarausch described the aim protected historic places in the . of the Berlin conference as ‘to create an intellectu‐ CSABA BÉKÉS (Budapest) depicted the memory al frame of reference and to initiate a public de‐ landscape in East Central Europe, with a special bate about open questions regarding the project.’ focus on Hungary. Like others before him, he em‐ In this respect, it proved highly successful. phasized that ‘Cold War’ is not a term generally The conference ended with a reading by the used in that region, where the communist experi‐ Hungarian author György Dalos, a leading East‐

3 H-Net Reviews ern European intellectual, who presented his re‐ George Blake and Oleg Penkovsky – New Ap‐ cently published biography of Mikhail Gorbachev, proaches Gorbatschow, Macht und Mensch: Eine Biografe Thomas Lindenberger (Vienna): The Cold (2011). War? I Rather Have It In My Family… East-West The conference showed how diverse and con‐ Discrepancies In Remembering Cold War Times tested the memory and representation of the Cold Panel 3 / Popular Culture And School Books War is in diferent parts of the world. Even the Tony Shaw (Hertfordshire): Cold War Films term Cold War is not one universally used. A fu‐ (East and West) ture Cold War museum in Berlin should not try to tell a master narrative of the Cold War but instead Christopher Moran (Warwick): Ian Fleming, it should challenge the viewpoints of both Ger‐ British Spy Fiction And The Public Profle Of The man and international visitors by incorporating Central Intelligence Agency diferent and sometimes competing interpreta‐ Falk Pingel (Brunswick): The Cold War In His‐ tions. tory And Social Studies Textbooks Conference Overview: Panel 4 / Places Of Memory Panel 1 / The Cold War: Master Narratives In Wayne Cocroft: Protect and Survive: Protect‐ East And West ing, Preserving And Presenting Cold War Heritage Odd Arne Westad (London): On The Historiog‐ Csaba Békés (Budapest): Cold War Memory raphy Of The Cold War Sites And Museums In Central Europe Anders Stephanson (New York): The Cold War Heonik Kwon (London): The Postcolonial Cold As Metaphor And Trope War David Reynolds (Cambridge): Western Europe Panel 5 / Berlin As A Place Of Memory Of The – Probing The Cold War Narrative Cold War Vladimir Pechatnov (Moscow): Twenty Years Hope M. Harrison (Washington): The Resur‐ Of Changing Interpretations Of The Cold War In rection Of The Berlin Wall As A Site Of Memory Russia Sybille Frank (Darmstadt): Competing For The History, Memory And The Cold War Best Wall Memorial: The Heritage Industry At Jay Winter (Yale): The Cold War Between His‐ Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin tory And Memory Konrad Jarausch (North Carolina): Project For Panel 2 / Official and Biographical Memorial‐ A Museum Of The Cold War At Checkpoint Charlie ization Marie-Pierre Rey (Paris): Memorialization Or Mythologization? A Comparative Approach To The Attitudes Of The French And Russian States To‐ wards The Cold War Sergej Kudryashov (Moscow): Painful Memo‐ ries: Russian Attitude Towards The End Of The Cold War In Europe Matthias Uhl (Moscow): Spies Which Saved the World? The Construction Of Biographies Of

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Citation: Andreas Etges. Review of The Cold War: History, Memory, and Representation. H-Soz-u-Kult, H- Net Reviews. April, 2012.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=36019

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