Cold War Politics and American Culture in a Divided Germany, by Uta G
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Jazz, Rock, and Rebels studies on the history of society and culture Victoria E. Bonnell and Lynn Hunt, Editors 1. Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution, by Lynn Hunt 2. The People of Paris: An Essay in Popular Culture in the Eighteenth Century, by Daniel Roche 3. Pont-St-Pierre, 1398–1789: Lordship, Community, and Capitalism in Early Modern France, by Jonathan Dewald 4. The Wedding of the Dead: Ritual, Poetics, and Popular Culture in Transylvania, by Gail Kligman 5. Students, Professors, and the State in Tsarist Russia, by Samuel D. Kassow 6. The New Cultural History, edited by Lynn Hunt 7. Art Nouveau in Fin-de-Siècle France: Politics, Psychology, and Style, by Debora L. Silverman 8. Histories of a Plague Year: The Social and the Imaginary in Baroque Florence, by Giulia Calvi 9. Culture of the Future: The Proletkult Movement in Revolutionary Russia, by Lynn Mally 10. Bread and Authority in Russia, 1914–1921, by Lars T. Lih 11. Territories of Grace: Cultural Change in the Seventeenth-Century Diocese of Grenoble, by Keith P. Luria 12. Publishing and Cultural Politics in Revolutionary Paris, 1789–1810, by Carla Hesse 13. Limited Livelihoods: Gender and Class in Nineteenth-Century England, by Sonya O. Rose 14. Moral Communities: The Culture of Class Relations in the Russian Printing Industry, 1867–1907, by Mark Steinberg 15. Bolshevik Festivals, 1917–1920, by James von Geldern 16. Venice’s Hidden Enemies: Italian Heretics in a Renaissance City, by John Martin 17. Wondrous in His Saints: Counter-Reformation Propaganda in Bavaria, by Philip M. Soergel 18. Private Lives and Public Affairs: The Causes Célèbres of Prerevolutionary France, by Sarah Maza 19. Hooliganism: Crime, Culture, and Power in St. Petersburg, 1900–1914, by Joan Neuberger 20. Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy, by Paula Findlen 21. Listening in Paris: A Cultural History, by James H. Johnson 22. The Fabrication of Labor: Germany and Britain, 1640–1914, by Richard Biernacki 23. The Struggle for the Breeches: Gender and the Making of the British Working Class, by Anna Clark 24. Taste and Power: Furnishing Modern France, by Leora Auslander 25. Cholera in Post-Revolutionary Paris: A Cultural History, by Catherine J. Kudlick 26. The Women of Paris and Their French Revolution, by Dominique Godineau 27. Iconography of Power: Soviet Political Posters under Lenin and Stalin, by Victoria E. Bonnell 28. Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini’s Italy, by Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi 29. Passions of the Tongue: Language Devotion in Tamil, India, 1891–1970, by Sumathi Ramaswamy 30. Crescendo of the Virtuoso: Spectacle, Skill, and Self-Promotion in Paris during the Age of Revolution, by Paul Metzner 31. Crime, Cultural Conflict, and Justice in Rural Russia, 1856–1914, by Stephen P. Frank 32. The Collective and the Individual in Russia: A Study in Practices, by Oleg Kharkhordin 33. What Difference Does a Husband Make? Women and Marital Status in Germany, by Elizabeth Heineman 34. Beyond the Cultural Turn: New Directions in the Study of Society and Culture, edited by Victoria E. Bonnell and Lynn Hunt 35. Jazz, Rock, and Rebels: Cold War Politics and American Culture in a Divided Germany, by Uta G. Poiger This Page Intentionally Left Blank Jazz, Rock, and Rebels Cold War Politics and American Culture in a Divided Germany uta g. poiger University of California Press berkeley los angeles london University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2000 by the Regents of the University of California Portions of chapters 2 and 5 have appeared previously in somewhat different form as “Rebels With a Cause? American Popular Culture, the 1956 Youth Riots, and New Conceptions of Masculinity in East and West Germany,” in The American Impact on Postwar Germany, ed. Reiner Pommerin, 93–124 (Providence, R. I.: Berghahn Books, 1995) and “Rock ’n’ Roll, Female Sexuality, and the Cold War Battle over German Identities,” Journal of Modern History 68 (September 1996): 577–616. Not in all cases was it possible to locate the holders of copyrights for illustrations. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Poiger, Uta G., 1965– Jazz, rock, and rebels : cold war politics and American culture in a divided Germany p. cm. — (Studies on the history of society and culture ; 35) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-520-21138-3 (alk. paper).—ISBN 0-520-21139-1 (alk. paper) 1. Germany—Civilization—American influence. 2. Popular culture—Germany. 3. Popular culture—Germany (East) 4. Subculture—Germany. 5. Subculture—Germany (East) 6. Race relations—Germany—History. 7. Art and state—Germany. 8. Art and state—Germany (East) 9. Youth—Germany—Social conditions— 20th century. I. Title. II. Series. DD258.6.P65 2000 943—dc21 99-34558 CIP Manufactured in the United States of America 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 10987654321 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper). ∞ Contents List of Figures ix Acknowledgments xi List of Abbreviations xiii introduction 1 1. american culture in east and west german reconstruction 31 2. the wild ones: the 1956 youth riots and german masculinity 71 3. lonely crowds and skeptical generations: depoliticizing and repoliticizing cultural consumption 106 4. jazz and german respectability 137 5. presley, yes—ulbricht, no? rock ’n’ roll and female sexuality in the german cold war 168 epilogue: building walls 206 Notes 229 Bibliography 273 Index 313 This Page Intentionally Left Blank Figures 1. Brochure for the 1938 Nazi exhibit “Degenerate Music” 25 2. Reading pulp fiction in postwar Germany, 1950 41 3. West German boys in front of a movie theater, 1948 53 4. Dancing in the West Berlin club Badewanne, 1952 58 5. Alleged provocateur of the East German uprising, June 1953 62 6. Youths throwing stones during the East German uprising, June 1953 65 7–8. West German advertising for The Wild One, 1955 78 9. Halbstarke in West Berlin, 1956 82 10. A German Blackboard Jungle? Street scene, 1956. 87 11. West German advertising for Rock Around the Clock, 1956 90 12. Advertising at Munich theater for Die Halbstarken, 1956 102 13. Still from Berlin Ecke Schönhauser, 1957 124 14. Advertising poster for Berlin Ecke Schönhauser, 1957 127 15. “Serious” jazz fans, East Berlin, April 1956 162 16. Der Spiegel, cover featuring Elvis Presley, December 1956 172 17. East German cartoon, “Presley and His Followers,” December 1956 174 18. Gender upheaval: dancing rock ’n’ roll, 1957 177 19. Dancing rock ’n’ roll fans in the new fashions, 1957 178 20. Fans at Bill Haley concert in West Berlin, October 1958 181 21. West German cartoon “How to Dance Rock ’n’ Roll,” December 1956 183 22. Dance lessons sponsored by the West Berlin city government, 1957 188 ix x / Figures 23. Still from Wenn die Conny mit dem Peter, 1958 192 24. East German caricature of rock ’n’ roll dancers, 1959 197 25. Opening of the state-sponsored West Berlin Jazz Saloon, April 1960 211 26. American hairstyle and communist FDJ blue shirt, 1961 227 Acknowledgments It is a great pleasure to thank the individuals and institutions who helped me in the process of writing this book. Grants from Brown University, the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, and the German Historical Institute provided crucial research support in the initial stages, and a Charlotte W. Newcombe Dissertation Fellowship allowed me a year of writing. The com- pletion of the manuscript was made possible by research support from the University of Washington, including a Junior Faculty Development Award, the Keller Fund of the University of Washington History Department, and a German Marshall Fund of the United States Research Fellowship. The staffs of numerous archives and libraries in Germany and the United States greatly assisted my research and filled extensive requests for copies. In Berlin, Leigh Love, Helfried Quint, Traute Schlabach, Matthias Kusche, Heike Stein, and Jan Kock offered me their hospitality. At various stages, Christopher Kemple, Colleen McClurg, Tuska Benes, and Vera Sokolova provided valuable research assistance. Several teachers have shaped my intellectual path, and I am deeply grateful to them. Sara Lennox first showed me that the study of gender and history was an important intellectual and political project. She and Paula Baker were instrumental in my decision to continue graduate studies. At Brown University, Volker Berghahn and Mari Jo Buhle encouraged and guided my work on various aspects of American culture abroad. Their thought-provoking criticisms and unfailing support continue to be a source of inspiration. Mary Gluck urged me to think carefully about the relationship of culture and politics, while Carolyn Dean identified missing links in my arguments and helped sharpen my thinking as a result. I am also grateful to my colleagues and students in the History Depart- ment at the University of Washington for creating a hospitable environ- xi xii / Acknowledgments ment. In particular, I thank Teri Balkenende, Stephanie Camp, Madeleine Dong, John Findlay, Susan Glenn, Jim Gregory, Suzanne Lebsock, Laurie Sears, Vera Sokolova, John Toews, Lynn Thomas, and the members of the History Research Group and “Daughter of HRG” for comments and sug- gestions. The past and current department chairs, Richard Johnson and Robert Stacey, greatly helped in seeing this project through to completion. Seventeen East and West Berliners generously shared with me their ex- periences of growing up and living in the divided city from the 1940s to the 1960s. Their memories led my research in important directions, more so than may be visible in the text of the book. In the earlier stages of this project, I received expert guidance from “The Group,” including Lucy Barber, Ruth Feldstein, Jane Gerhard, Melani McAlister, Donna Penn, and Jessica Shubow.