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AntiFascism and Memory in East Germany
Remembering the International Brigades 1945-1989
Josie McLellan
240 pages
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3 black and white illustrations
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216x138mm
978-0-19-927626-4
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Hardback
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07 October 2004
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This item is printed to order and supplied on a firm sale basis. Items which are printed to order are normally despatched and charged within 5-10 days.
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- First major archive-based account of the German Communists who fought in the Spanish Civil War
- Uses a wide range of sources including archives, oral history interviews, films, poetry, unpublished diaries, underground samizdat
- Casts important new light on processes of memory, commemoration, censorship, and history-writing under state socialism
AntiFascism and Memory in East Germany is a book about remembering and about forgetting, about war, and about the peace which eventually followed. In the unlikely setting of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the Spanish Civil War became the subject of a debate which both predated and outlasted the Cold War, involving historians, veterans, politicains, censors, artists, writers, and Church activists. Examining these multiple memories and interpretations of Spain casts new and unexpected light on the legacy of the Spanish Civil War, and the relationship between history and memory under state
socialism.
The ruling Socialist Unity Party made full use of the antifascist legacy as legitimation for a non-democratic state. But despite dogged attempts at control and censorship, the state was unable to silence competing voices. All over East Germany, International Brigade veterans preserved their version of events - in letters to each other, in communications with the party, in discussions with friends and family around the kitchen table, and in memoirs written for the 'desk drawer'. For younger East Germans, the war retained an undeniably romantic aura. From their perspective, Spain was a far-away land to which they were forbidden to travel, the stuff of camp-fire singalongs and fantasies of adventure.
This book dissects the relationship
between state-sponsored history, the lobbying of veterans, cultural interpretations of war, and the memory traces left behind by marginalised or politically oppositional groups and individuals. It is a cultural history of memory under state socialism, a social history of veteran groups and their relationship with the state, and a political history of communist culture. Above all, it is the story of how post-war Europeans came to terms with the heavy burden of their pre-war past.Readership: Scholars and students of twentieth century European history, especially those interested in the Spanish Civil War, and the cultural and political history of East Germany.
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Josie McLellan, Lecturer in Modern European History, University of Bristol
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"[a] precise and well-written study... This book deserves the highest respect and praise because of the author's clear and sober judgement, her palpable empathy for the Spanish fighters exploited by political powers, and her solid knowledge of German post-war history." - Patrik Von Zur Muhlen, German Historical Institute Bulletin "a valuable contribution to a much broader understanding of the GDR, of how it sought to establish a sense of history and legitimacy for itself, but also of why it was that it ultimately failed." - Peter Monteath, American Historical Review "a laudable work. This is an original and impressive monograph that is informed by meticulous archival research and a series of interviews
with International Brigade veterans... this volume will be of particular interest to historians of the GDR. Yet it deserves a wider readership, especially amongst those historians fascinated by the general phenomenon of antifascism and its may different permutations." - Nigel Copsey, European Review of History "a thoughtful and well-researched study ... provides an excellent correction to the tendency to treat the SED and antifascist activists of the same political persuasian as a monolithic group." - Catherine Plum, H-German
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Introduction
1: The Odyssey of the German Volunteers
2: Strangers in a Strange Land: The Spanienkampfer in Esat Germany
3: The Uses of History: The Party Appropriates Spain
4: Reluctant Heroes: Veterans and the State Contest the Meaning of War
5: Heroes Like Us? The Second Generation Rediscover the Volunteers
6: Undiplomatic Statements: Censoring Spain
7: Stalinism and Silence
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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