German art since 1945
Max Nugent That the experiences of its past since 1945 have left an indelible impact on the German psyche is without doubt. The physical scars have largely disappeared; Berlin, a wasteland that in 1945 stood as little more than rubble, is once again a thriving European metropolis; the discordant styles of West German and Soviet architecture that divided Germany are now largely integrated. But the guilt, that so many could have collaborated with the Nazi regime or the GDR, remains strong. In this essay I will explore the extent of this strength on modern artistic output in Germany. For, in order to see the most fundamental issues of the day in any society, one must look no further than the serious contemporary literature; together with the modern media of film and television it indeed acts as ‘the seismograph of a people’s moral positions’ (Schlant, 1999, p.2). But the more difficult question is perhaps that of ‘how?’ In this essay I will endeavour to demonstrate the ways in which German artistic output has been shaped and influenced by Germany’s history, as German writers and authors attempt to come to terms with their country’s past. It seems fair to say that German artistic output has been remarkably influenced by the experiences of WorldWar Two and life under the GDR. To gauge the extent of this influence I have simply consulted the most up-to-date bestseller lists for paperback and hardback fiction books, as well as a list of winners of the prestigious German Book Prize. There is a noticeable trend – the more ‘highbrow’ the books are, the more they are influenced by Germany’s past. Of the 20 paperback bestsellers, not one addressed the National Socialist or East German past. For the 20 hardback bestsellers, the figure rises to two. However, since its initiation in 2005, the German Book Prize has awarded five of its nine prizes to books which deal with Germany’s Nazi and GDR past 1 . The significant disparity in these numbers suggests that Germany’s past is not a topic at the forefront of the public’s mind, but nonetheless a deep-rooted issue that needs addressing. German artistic output on the topic of World War Two has often been criticized for portraying those who worked for or collaborated with the Nazis as wholly human and sympathetic characters. However, this tendency in German artistic output seems to arise not from a desire to provide excuses 2 but from the need to understand the involvement of apparently ordinary people in extraordinary atrocities. The simplest explanation for this is that the Germans, of all the nations of Europe, are the most determined to prevent such events ever occurring again 3 . But for the Germans, the comforting ability to portray the Nazis and their supporters as evil madmen, a belief held by almost every other country, is not present. They generally accept the reality that the Nazis garnered widespread support, and then persuaded a generation of normal Germans to commit or overlook atrocities. So to understand why entails understanding the motivations of normal people who were persuaded to do terrible things. Furthermore, there is a personal connection to the perpetrators felt by the German populace 4 . There existed a bewildering contradiction for the generation after the war between their friends and family, 1 One must note that award of the German Book Prize is decided by a panel of judges, not readership or sales figures; thus it is more likely to be awarded to books which are well-written and explore interesting issues, rather than books which are simply enjoyable to read. 2 Many critics have levelled this accusation at German artistic output. A review by the Guardian, for example, criticizes Generation War for ‘suggesting [that] most Germans, symbolized by this quintet, were basically good guys misled by the real Nazis, who are a kind of symbolic Other on to which war guilt can be projected’ (The Guardian, 2014). 3 It is perhaps telling that it is not in the countries that fought Nazi Germany, but rather in Germany itself, that such actions as holocaust denial or the Nazi salute are illegal. 4 Indeed, Generation War was entitled Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter (Our Mothers, Our Fathers) in Germany. I shall first deal with the influence of World War Two on German literature.
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