German Bodies: Race and Representation After Hitler/Uli Linke
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Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 01:52 25 September 2013 German Bodies Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 01:52 25 September 2013 Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 01:52 25 September 2013 German Bodies RACE AND REPRESENTATION AFTER HITLER • ULI LINKE Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 01:52 25 September 2013 Routledge New York • London Frontispiece. Anatomy on Display: Male Corpse with Skin, Mannheim 1997. This flayed body of a man holding his own skin is among the displays at “Body Worlds” (Körperwelten), an exhibit on human anatomy at Mannheim’s Museum of Technology and Work. The life-sized specimens are human corpses, cadavers, that have been preserved through a process called “plastination.” The male figure shown here retains all its muscles and organs, but its skin is draped like a coat over one arm. Plastinated preservation remakes the corpse, a German body, into an aesthetic object: With his flesh restored and made immortal, the new man stands transfixed, focused on himself. A set of motifs, which typify the figuration of this corpse—white skin, the muscled body, the heroic pose—reveal a return to an uncanny fascination with fascist masculinity. The author gratefully acknowledges the cooperation of the following sources in preparing images for this volume: Figure 1, Köperwelten (1997); Figure 2, reproduced by permission of photographer, Marcel Fugère; figures 3 & 19, courtesy of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen; figure 4, Thomas Hesterberg (photographer) from Der Spiegel (1998); Econ Verlag for figures 5–8, reproduced from the Jahrbuch der Werbung (1987 & 1993; Düsseldorf); figure 9 reproduced from Smadar Lavie’s The Poetics of Military Occupation (1990); figure 11, image from 1885 (public domain); Herr Paul Glaser for figure 13, reproduced from Zehn Jahre Alternative Liste (ed. Mayer, Schmolt, and Wolf, 1998); Frau Ann- Christine Jansson for figure 14, reproduced from Zehn Jahre Alternative Liste; for figure 15, Herr Ernst Volland, editor of the volume Gefühl und Schärfe: Fotos für die TAZ (1987); for figure 16, Herr Karl- Heinz Hick and Photo-Agentur JOKER; for figure 17, Herr Michael Gööck, (@Michael Gööck); for figure 18, AP/Wide World Photos, the photo originally appearing in die taz, January 27, 1989. Figures 10, 12, 20–32 provided courtesy of author. Routledge, Inc. respects international copyright laws. We have made every effort to gain permission for the images contained herein. Any omissions or oversights in the acknowledgments section of this volume are purely unintentional. Published in 1999 by Routledge 29 West 35th Street New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. Published in Great Britain by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE Copyright © 1999 by Routledge All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Linke, Uli. German bodies: race and representation after Hitler/Uli Linke. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-92121-X (hb.)—ISBN 0-415-92122-8 (pbk.) Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 01:52 25 September 2013 1. Body, Human—Social aspects—Germany. 2. Body, Human—Symbolic aspects—Germany. 3. Whites—Germany—Ethnic identity. 4. Germans— Ethnic identity. 5. National socialism—Germany—History. 6. Genocide—Germany—History. 7. Germany—Politics and government. 8. Germany—Race relations. I. Title. GT497.G3L55 1999 305.8’00943–dc21 98–44572 CIP ISBN 0-203-90661-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-90739-6 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-92122-8 (Print Edition) CONTENTS • LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi INTRODUCTION 1 WHITE SKIN, ARYAN AESTHETICS 27 BLOOD, RACE, NATION 115 CULTURE, MEMORY, VIOLENCE 153 NOTES 217 BIBLIOGRAPHY 237 INDEX Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 01:52 25 September 2013 267 Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 01:52 25 September 2013 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS • Frontispiece. Anatomy on Display: Male Corpse with Skin, Mannheim 1997. From Körperwelten (1997:162). Courtesy Institut für Plastination and Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit in Mannheim/Germany. Figure 1. Anatomy on Display: Male Corpse with Skin, Mannheim 1997. From Körperwelten (1997:161). Courtesy Institut für Plastination and Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit in Mannheim/Germany. Figure 2. Naked Sunbathers in an Urban Public Park (Englischer Garten), Munich 1981. From Brügge (1981:150). Courtesy Spiegel-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH, Hamburg/Germany. Photo by Marcel Fugère. Figure 3. German Nudists and Clothed Third World Others in the ‘Garden of Eden’ (Paradise), West Berlin 1989. From Wahlprogramm (1989:25). Courtesy Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Berlin/Germany. Photo by Ralph Rieth. Figure 4. “Naked Maoists before a Naked Wall”: Members of the Kommune 1— A Socialist Collective of Young Maoists, West Berlin 1967. From a brochure put out by the Kommune 1, reprinted (and captioned) in German newsmagazines (see Panorama 1967:20). Courtesy Spiegel-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH, Hamburg/Germany. Photo by Thomas Hesterberg. Figure 5. “He Wears Care”: White Naked Male Bodies as Commodity Fetish, West Germany 1985–87. From Jeske, Neumann, and Sprang (1987:41, 423). Copyright Jahrbuch der Werbung, ECON Verlag GmbH, Düsseldorf/Germany. Photo by Peter Knaup. Figure 6. “Shoes that Attract—Shoes that Attire”: The Erotics of Black- Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 01:52 25 September 2013 Skinned Nudity in Commercial Culture, Salzburg 1992. From Schalk and Thoma (1993:287). Copyright Jahrbuch der Werbung, ECON Verlag GmbH, Düsseldorf/Germany. Photo and graphics by Harry Wiesleitner. Figure 7. “The Composition of Music Has Entered into Our Flesh and Blood”: Black Female Nude as Erotic Fixture in Department Store vii viii GERMAN BODIES Advertising, Freiburg 1993. From Schalk and Thoma (1993:256). Copyright Jahrbuch der Werbung, ECON Verlag GmbH, Düsseldorf/ Germany. Photo by Uwe Ommer. Figure 8. “Everything Runs Smoothly”: Black Female Nude as Toiling Native in a Department Store Advertisement, Freiburg 1993. From Schalk and Thoma (1993:256). Copyright Jahrbuch der Werbung, ECON Verlag GmbH, Düsseldorf/Germany. Photo by Jac Straessle. Figure 9. Nudist Beaches on the Sinai Peninsula: The Coastal Israeli Military Patrol at its Daily Perusal of Naked Northern European Women, Nuweb at Mzeina 1977. From Lavie (1990:23). Photo by Shalom Bar-Tal. Figure 10. “Building a Sandcastle”: German Tourists at a North Sea Resort, Juist (Germany) 1936. Courtesy Henrika Trueson. Figure 11. “Sandcastles as Metaphors of German Nation-Building,” North Sea Resort Westerland (Sylt, Germany) ca. 1885. From Kimpel and Werckmeister (1995:63, 69). Sylter Archiv, Westerland/Germany. Figure 12. “Privatizing Public Space”: Mapping Identities and Landscaping Territories, Juist (Germany) 1936. Courtesy Henrika Trueson. Figure 13. “Writing Political Opposition”: Nude Male Activist’s Dramaturgical Battle against Police Brutality, State Violence, and (Neo)Nazi Incursions, West Berlin 1988. From Mayer, Schmolt, and Wolf (1988:97). Courtesy Steintor, Bremen Verlags-und Buchhandelsgesellschaft. Photo by Paul Glaser. Figure 14. “Self-Empowerment through Nudity”: Leftist Activists Protest Western Imperialism by Exposing White Masculinity, West Berlin 1988. From Mayer, Schmolt, and Wolf (1988:138). Courtesy Steintor, Bremen Verlags- und Buchhandelsgesellschaft. Photo by Ann- Christine Jansson. Figure 15. “Proclaiming Opposition through Male Nudity”: Using Their Bodies as Performative Icons, Leftist Activists Rally against City Government (TUWAT Demo—Rathaus Kreuzberg), West Berlin 1981. From Volland (1987:20). Courtesy Voller-Ernst-Agentur für komische und ungewöhnliche Fotos, Berlin/Germany. Photo by Peter Hebler. Figure 16. “Stripped to Our Undergarments”: University Students Protest Shortfall in State Funding for Education, Bonn 1988. From Der Spiegel (1988:62). Copyright JOKER: Foto-Journalismus-Archiv, Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 01:52 25 September 2013 Bonn/ Germany. Figure 17. “For Every Tree a Human Body”: Environmental Activists Oppose the Destruction of Urban Woodlands by Planned Airport Expansion (Project “Startbahn West”), Frankfurt 1981. From Pohrt (1991:27). Courtesy KVV Konkret Vertriebsgesellschaft GmbH, Hamburg/Germany. Photo by Michael Gööck. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix Figure 18. “Marching against Air Pollution”: Green Environmentalists Protest Global Ozone Depletion by Displaying Nude Bodies, West Berlin 1989. From die tageszeitung (1989:16). Copyright AP/Wide World Photos, New York. Figure 19. “Embracing White Nudity”: Photo of Green Party Activists as Featured in Election Campaign Pamphlet, West Berlin 1985. From Cornel (1985:7). Courtesy Bündnis 90/Die Grünen. Figure 20. “Nazis Out”: Anti-Fascist Graffiti, Berlin 1994. Photo by Uli Linke. Figure 21. “Nazis Out! Drive the Nazis Away, Foreigners Stay”: Anti- Fascist Graffiti, West Berlin 1989. Photo by Uli Linke. Figure 22. “Smash Nazi Incursions” (Human Fist Bashing a Swastika): Anti-Fascist Poster, West Berlin 1989. Photo by Uli Linke. Figure 23. “Eradicate the Nazi Brood”: Anti-Fascist Protest Banner, West Berlin 1989. Photo by Uli Linke. Figure 24. “Smash Nazis” (Human Fist Fragments a Swastika):