Weimar Publics/Weimar Subjects: Rethinking the Political Culture of Germany in the 1920s

Description

In spite of having been short-lived, "Weimar" has never lost its fascination. Until recently the Weimar Republic's place in German history was primarily defined by its catastrophic beginning and end - Germany's defeat in 1918 and the Nazi seizure of power in 1933; its history seen mainly in terms of politics and as an arena of flawed decisions and failed compromises. However, a flourishing of interdisciplinary scholarship on Weimar political culture is uncovering arenas of conflict and change that had not been studied closely before, such as gender, body politics, masculinity, citizenship, empire and borderlands, visual culture, popular culture and consumption. This collection offers new perspectives from leading scholars in the disciplines of history, art history, film studies, and German studies on the vibrant political culture of Germany in the 1920s. From the traumatic ruptures of defeat, revolution, and collapse of the Kaiser's state, the visionaries of Weimar went on to invent a republic, calling forth new citizens and cultural innovations that shaped the republic far beyond the realms of parliaments and political parties. Contents List of Illustrations Preface List of Contributors Introduction: Weimar Subjects/Weimar Publics: Rethinking the Political Culture of Germany in the 1920s • Kathleen Canning Part I. Defeat and the Legacy of War 1. The Return of the Undead: Weimar Cinema and the Great War • Anton Kaes 2. The Work of Art and the Problem of Politics in Berlin Dada • Brigid Doherty 3. The Secret History of Photomontage: On the Origins of the Composite Form and the Weimar Photomontages of Marianne Brandt • Elizabeth Otto Part II. New Citizens/New Subjectivities 4. Mothers, Citizens, and Consumers: Female Readers in Weimar Germany • Kerstin Barndt 5. Claiming Citizenship: Suff rage and Subjectivity in Germany after the First World War • Kathleen Canning 6. Feminist Politics beyond the Reichstag: Helene Stöcker and Visions of Reform • Kristin McGuire 7. Producing Jews: Maternity, Eugenics, and the Embodiment of the Jewish Subject • Sharon Gillerman Part III. Symbols, Rituals, and Discourses of Democracy 8. Reforming the Reich: Democratic Symbols and Rituals in the Weimar Republic • Manuela Achilles 9. High Expectations—Deep Disappointment: Structures of the Public Perception of Politics in the Weimar Republic • Thomas Mergel 10. Contested Narratives of the Weimar Republic: The Case ofthe “Kutisker-Barmat Scandal” • Martin H. Geyer 11. Political Violence, Contested Public Space, and Reasserted Masculinity in Weimar Germany • Dirk Schumann Part IV. Publics, Publicity, and Mass Culture 12. “A Self-Representation of the Masses”: Siegfried Kracauer’s Curious Americanism • Miriam Hansen 13. Neither Masses nor Individuals: Representations of the Collective in Interwar German Culture • Stefan Jonsson 14. Cultural Capital in Decline: Inflation and the Distress of Intellectuals • Bernd Widdig Part V. Weimar Topographies 15. Defining the Nation in Crisis: Citizenship Policy in the Early Weimar Republic • Annemarie Sammartino 16. Gender and Colonial Politics after the Versailles Treaty • Lora Wildenthal 17. The Economy of Experience in Weimar Germany • Peter Fritzsche Bibliography Index