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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: September 11, 2020 at 8:48:04 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Urban]: Musekamp on Stangl, 'Risen from Ruins: The > Cultural Politics of Rebuilding East Berlin' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Paul Stangl. Risen from Ruins: The Cultural Politics of Rebuilding > East Berlin. Stanford Stanford University Press, 2018. 352 pp. > $65.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-5036-0320-2. > > Reviewed by Jan Musekamp (University of Pittsburgh) > Published on H-Urban (September, 2020) > Commissioned by Alexander Vari > > Beyond Socialist Remodeling: Rebuilding East Berlin, 1945-61 > > Given its tumultuous history, it is not surprising that numerous > scholars focus on postwar Berlin's changing urban landscape. This is > an interdisciplinary endeavor, with architects, urban planners, > historians, and art historians looking at the city from markedly > different perspectives.[1] Paul Stangl is a geographer by training > and adds to this growing body of scholarship on the divided city. His > focus is on the twenty-five years between the end of the Second World > War and the construction of the infamous Berlin Wall--a time when > Germany and the entire European continent "rose from ruins," as the > GDR national anthem put it. However, the Berlin case is unique for a > number of reasons. First, the former German capital quickly developed > into the front city of the Cold War. Second, as a result of this > geopolitical background, both East and West Berlin served as > showcases of the ideologies clashing here. Third, Berlin soon became > a truly divided city in both spatial and ideological ways. Here, > architects and urban planners often had to make decisions that > followed not only general trends in urban planning but also > ideological guidelines or directives. Stangl's main subject is the > urban landscape and the meaning assigned to its different elements, > with a special emphasis on the ideological shifts occurring between > 1945 and 1961. > > In the introduction, Stangl identifies eight major discourses (or > "pathways," as he calls these urban planning and ideological trends) > that shaped the rebuilding of East Berlin after 1945. In his book, he > focuses mostly on the interplay of modernism, preservationism, and > socialist realism. In the first chapter, the author examines "the > purge of symbolic elements" (p. 24) incompatible with the new > regime's ideology. Drawing from Maoz Azaryahu's work on Berlin street > names, he describes how the Soviet Military Administration and East > German Communists superseded the previous, Prussian-German-dominated > memoryscape with a new one that heralded the commemoration of the > antifascist fight and the sacrifice of Soviet troops during the > Second World War--as manifested in the vast Soviet soldiers' memorial > in Berlin-Treptow. > > The second chapter focuses on the development of rebuilding plans > against the backdrop of ideological shifts. In the beginning, urban > planners developed modernist proposals for a still-united city--most > notably Hans Scharoun's 1946 exhibition in the Imperial Palace. This > would change after the 1948 split of the city government, when > Eastern and Western planning efforts slowly drifted apart. In the > East, socialist realism would be the dominant style in the 1950s. > Stangl tellingly calls these comprehensive plans for East Berlin > "ephemeral urban visions" (p. 102), since not a single one was > actually put into practice. > > In chapters 3 to 6 Stangl elaborates on four relevant case studies, > namely Unter den Linden, the Berlin Palace grounds turned Marx-Engels > Square, the government quarter on Wilhelmstraße, and the massive > housing building program on Stalinallee (Karl-Marx-Allee). Shifting > between questions of adequate housing, state representation, and > ideology, Stangl demonstrates how the different currents mentioned in > the introduction influenced the decision making--in many cases going > far beyond a simplistic idea of a uniform socialist city > transformation. In these thoroughly researched case studies, maps and > archival images help to carve out the "place-based meaning" (p. 4) of > urban planning as intended by the author. This is especially true for > the discussions around the ruins of the Imperial Palace--hated symbol > of Prussian militarism for some and grand architecture for others. In > the late 1940s, it seemed that urban planners could agree on the > renovation of at least part of the huge structure. However, for > ideological reasons, the early GDR's most powerful leader, Walter > Ulbricht, ordered the 1950 demolition of the structure to create > space for large parade grounds. On Wilhelmstraße, the need for > office space on the one hand and the administrative building's > National Socialist legacy on the other clashed and led to a > compromise where Hitler's chancellery was destroyed but the former > Ministry of Aviation building was adapted to host GDR ministries. > > The strengths of the book are undoubtedly the in-depth research > behind the analysis as well as the ability of the author to break > down theoretical debates (such as those about the meaning of > socialist realism) to their manifestation in urban space. Other > aspects of the book are not that convincing. Most importantly, as a > book claiming to make an important contribution to urban memory > cultures, it lacks profound engagement with theories of memory as > articulated by Pierre Nora, Aleida Assmann, and others. While this is > not a significant void in the book's case studies, it shows in the > subchapter on the Soviet memorial in Treptow. Here, the author > suggests that this ensemble is a unique Soviet or Communist approach > to commemoration. However, it is deeply rooted in global ways of > commemorating the fallen with tombs of unknown soldiers, including > guards of honor and eternal flames. Also, it is not entirely clear > why the author claims that 1961 is an important caesura for urban > planning--other than for dramaturgical purposes, following the turns > of the Cold War narrative. It seems as if the Berlin Wall did not > overly influence urban planning in East Berlin--if one leaves aside > the demolitions needed to create the infamous death strip on the > border. Rather, it was at the end of the 1950s, and not 1961, that a > shift from socialist realism back to modernism occurred. Also, this > was a time when prefabricated housing took off (as seen in the > Stalinallee's housing construction of the late 1950s and early > 1960s).[2] Moreover, as the author correctly states in the > introduction, "key individuals could play prominent roles" in the > planning process of the city (p. 6). However, Stangl rarely > elaborates on the professional background of the numerous planners > involved. The case is clear for Walter Ulbricht, who was not an > architect but a Stalinist politician whose vision was to create a > parade ground beyond the scale of the Red Square. On the contrary, > most architects of both East and West Berlin had enjoyed a similar > prewar education and were influenced by international trends > continuing after 1945 (or 1961, for that matter). These close > connections existed even across the newly erected ideological > barriers and manifested themselves in urban developments that > referred to each other--an East-West dialogue Stangl rarely mentions > in his study. One such example is Hans Scharoun, who for some time > remained affiliated with institutions in East Berlin and was > responsible for some structures on Stalin-Allee. However, in the > 1960s and 1970s he became the architect of the famous Berlin > Philharmonic concert hall and the State Library in West Berlin, next > to the Wall. Finally, the book would also have profited from more > accurate copy editing. This is especially annoying in the case of > typos in German names (e.g., Schlögl instead of Schlögel, Deutcher > instead of Deutscher, etc.) > > Despite some shortcomings, this book is highly recommended to all > those interested in early GDR planning in Berlin. It will be > especially valuable for history and urban planning students (and > well-informed tourists) making their way across the architectural > layers of Berlin's East. For those who want to know more about the > transformation of East Berlin after 1961, the reviewer recommends > Simon Ward's book, _Urban Memory and Visual Culture in Berlin_. > > Notes > > [1]. To name just a few more recent works: Simon Ward, _Urban Memory > and Visual Culture in Berlin: Framing the Asynchronous City, > 1957-2012_ (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2016); Emily Pugh, > _Architecture, Politics, and Identity in Divided Berlin_ (Pittsburgh, > PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014); and Florian Urban, > _Neo-historical East Berlin: Architecture and Urban Design in the > German Democratic Republic, 1970-1990_ (Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2009). > > [2]. For a non-Cold War narrative of Berlin city planning, see Ward, > _Urban Memory and Visual Culture in Berlin_. > > Citation: Jan Musekamp. Review of Stangl, Paul, _Risen from Ruins: > The Cultural Politics of Rebuilding East Berlin_. H-Urban, H-Net > Reviews. September, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54596 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#1444): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/1444 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/76792794/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
