HEIMAT IN THE COLD WAR: WEST GERMANY’S MULTIMEDIAL EASTS, 1949-1989 A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Yuliya H. Komska January 2009 © 2009 Yuliya H. Komska HEIMAT IN THE COLD WAR: WEST GERMANY’S MULTIMEDIAL EASTS, 1945-1989 Yuliya H. Komska, Ph. D. Cornell University 2009 As a result of two world wars, decolonization, and labor migration in the twentieth century the notion of belonging underwent a radical transformation. This dissertation examines how the German concept of Heimat, an arguably untranslatable term that connotes localized belonging, was politically and culturally affected by the Cold War. The dissertation focuses on the role of Sudeten Germans, ethnic Germans expelled from postwar Czechoslovakia, in forging a link between Heimat, border tropes, and the physical landscape of the Iron Curtain between West Germany and Czechoslovakia. It interrogates this linkage, which allowed the expellees to fashion Heimat into an intermedial site of Cold War aesthetics, a linchpin between the postwar era and the Cold War, and an idiom of international law. Chapter One reframes current public and academic discussions of ‘Germans as victims.’ It moves beyond a German-Jewish dyad to consider how Sudeten Germans engaged Palestine’s political, cultural, and religious meanings in order to re- imagine Palestine as a quintessential homeland. Chapter Two reconsiders the role of nostalgia in processes of sensory and, above all, visual contact with Heimat as documented in Sudeten German borderland photography, travel reports, and poetry published during the Cold War. Chapter Three addresses postwar Sudeten German debates on language vis-à-vis literary histories of the “Sudeten German literature.” A disjuncture between them posits Sudeten German culture as a challenge to the unproblematic link between a particular language and a certain kind of literary aesthetic as developed in the theory of minor literature of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. The epilogue probes the analytical salience of “postwar” and “Cold War,” two terms used largely interchangeably by many scholars today. It defines their meaning via their relationship to Heimat. Oriented nationally, “postwar” Heimat contrasts with “Cold War” Heimat, which resonates in international discussions of self-determination, minority rights, and the right to the homeland. By elaborating the degree to which Sudeten Germans embraced both, this dissertation emphasizes the role of the expellees not only in wartime and postwar contexts but also in the culture and aesthetics of the Cold War. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Yuliya Komska was born in Lviv, Ukraine, where she studied English at the Lviv State Ivan Franco University between 1994 and 1996. She received a B.A., summa cum laude, in German and Art History from Colby College in 2000, with distinction in major. In 2003 she received an M.A. in Germanic Studies from Cornell University and in 2009 she was awarded a Ph.D. in Germanic Studies from Cornell University. She has also studied or conducted research at the University of Munich and the University of Gießen. Since 2007 she has been on faculty at the Department of German Studies at Dartmouth College. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without support from the members of my special committee. Leslie Adelson provided invaluable advice on clarifying my methodological points, extending the scope of the project, and making countless adjustments to content and style. I remain indebted to her for the breadth of her knowledge, her constant professional guidance, and patience. Isabel Hull offered her unconditional support for the project from the earliest stages onward. Her intrepid attitude to scholarship and academic life in general will continue to inspire me for a long time to come. Anette Schwarz has been a great example of intellectual creativity as well as wonderful company throughout my graduate school years. I am also profoundly thankful to David Bathrick for his intellectual generosity, trust in his students, and his egalitarian spirit; Gunhild Lischke for her pedagogical advice and unfailing willingness to help; and Martijna Briggs, Arthur and Bonnie Gross for their kindness. Peter Holquist’s passion for teaching and research made a lasting impression on me at the onset of my graduate school work. Miriam Zubal’s logistical help has been instrumental for the completion of the manuscript. At Cornell University, questions and comments from participants in colloquia organized by the Institute for German Cultural Studies and the Society for the Humanities helped me focus my work. Colleagues from across the country who attended the DAAD Interdisciplinary Summer Seminar in German Studies in 2008 provided much encouragement and support in the final month of writing. I am especially indebted to Daniel Magilow for his thoughtful reading of Chapter Two. I treasure having shared my work and/or leisure with Anna Parkinson, Heidi Voskuhl, Stanka Radovic, Josh Dittrich, Torben Lohmüller, John Kim, Irene Mittelberg, Sean Franzel, Rita Ottens, Ole Frahm, and Victoria Somoff. Special iv thanks go to Anton Christiansen and Rebecca Hannon for their hospitality and to Michelle Moyd for offering to share her study space. Valentina Glajar has been a patient, efficient, and fun-loving conference panel organizer and a rare fellow ‘Sudeten Germanist’. I am grateful to her for her interest in my work and willingness to share hers. Irene Kacandes’ pointed comments on an early version of Chapter Three encouraged me to keep thinking about Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of minor literature. I thank her and all my colleagues in German Studies at Dartmouth for their trust, intellectual acumen, easy-going attitude, and good spirits. Long- and short-term research in and outside Germany was made possible by the Sage Fellowship, Luigi Einaudi Dissertation Fellowship, Cornell University Graduate School summer travel grant (all at Cornell University), Andrew D. Mellon Foundation Graduate Fellowship at the Society for the Humanities, German Academic Exchange (DAAD) Graduate Research Fellowship, and a grant from the Sonderforschungsbereich Erinnerungskulturen (University of Gießen). Starting the project would have been impossible without Elisabeth Fendl’s willingness to share her contacts and provide me with virtual directions in the Czech-Bavarian borderland. Peter Gooss contributed curiosity, companionship, and invaluable logistical assistance in my travels along the border. Almuth Hammer and Andreas Langenohl made me feel welcome during one my month-long stay in Gießen. Staff of the Johannes- Künzig-Institut für Ostdeutsche Volkskunde, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Südetendeutsches Wörterbuch at the University of Gießen, as well as Sudetendeutsche Bibliothek and Collegium Carolinum in Munich were unfailingly helpful with providing access to primary sources. Konrad Kern at the Stadtarchiv Waldkraiburg was one of the most dedicated archivists I have met. Nadja Fiedler’s optimism and laughter cheered me up during my stay in Munich. Most of all, I thank my parents, Nina and Grigori Komski, for being there and v not making too a big deal out of Heimat; Margaret Breese and Byron Breese, Sr. for their kind-heartedness and help; Byron Breese for his open mind and shared passions; and Lev and baby X for keeping me on the clock. Photographs, unless otherwise noted, are my own. All other illustrations have previously appeared in press and are reproduced here in accordance with fair use and their publishers’ requirements. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch..................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements...................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents........................................................................................................ vii List of Figures............................................................................................................ viii Introduction: A Homeland of Gesture ...........................................................................1 Chapter One: Whose Palestine: The Expulsion of Sudeten Germans as a Palestinian Story ..........................................................................................................48 Chapter Two: A Scopic Regime of Nostalgia............................................................123 Chapter Three: Writing on the Borderlands: “Sudeten German Literature” in Postwar Literary Criticism.....................................................................................217 Epilogue: ‘Postwar’ or ‘Cold War’?..........................................................................280 Bibliography ..............................................................................................................303 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Adolf Günther, Untitled (1963). Glaube und Heimat 2 (July 1965): n. p. .........................................................................................................1 Figure 2: The “Mutilated Savior” of Wies, Waldsassen Basilica. http://www. pfarrei-waldsassen.de/heiland1.html. 28 July 2008.....................................................21 Figure 3: The border at Hundsbach-Wies. Egerer Zeitung 14, no. 2 (1963): 5.......................................................................................................................24