German and United States Second World War Military Cemeteries in Italy: Cultural Perspectives: 8

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Styles of soldiers’ commemoration reveal national self-images. US WW II military cemeteries in Italy and their German counterparts are analyzed as art-historical artifacts. Their aesthetics, together with results of archival research, reveal a self-assured US united in values, projecting victory and Pax-Americana while a struggling Germany searches for its democratic identity and a place within the community of civilized nations. In Italy, the US relied on imported European classicism as taught at the influential American Academy in Rome and interpreted through the personalities of the cemeteries’ designers. Germany’s designs, rejecting Nazi classicism, progressed through an inherited unique blend of medievalism with modernism toward a contemporary style that integrates modernism and expressionism. The US honors soldiers’ death as worthy sacrifice for the nation’s greatness and the world’s future. Germany focuses on mourning and interprets soldiers’ death as tragedy whose only meaning can be an admonition to seek peace. Cover Contents Figures Abbreviations Acknowledgements Foreword Author’s Preface Introduction I. US Organizing for Remembrance The Players The Situation in Italy The Siting Process Site Acquisition at Anzio/Nettuno Site Acquisition at Impruneta II. Germany Organizing for Remembrance: Post-WW II VDK’s Mission The VDK Resumes its Work Evolving New Moral Principles New Design Guidelines Robert Tischler, Architect Tischler’s Work in Mussolini’s Italy: Fascist Theatrics in Stone Quero: A Totenburg in Modernist Form Pordoi: A Totenburg in the Dolomites Pinzano: Fascist Megalomania III. Anzio/Nettuno: Space of Triumph The ABMC’s Anzio/Nettuno Harbeson’s Hunger for Land Eric Gugler, Architect Gugler’s Anzio Design: A Vision of Grandeur Gugler’s Design Gugler’s Romantic Design Impulses Ralph Griswold’s “American Space” Gardens of Respite from Death The Saga of the Lone Pine Transcending the Classicist Model IV. The Best of American Art? Paul Manship and his Sculptures at Anzio/Nettuno Denial of Death’s Sting Reaching to the Heavens: The Chapel The Celestial Ceiling. Victory Eternalized in the Stars The Glory of the Armed Forces A Legacy to Civilization: The Statue of Orpheus Gugler’s (Unrealized) Monumental Dreams Hall of History “Shrine to Freedom” V. Impruneta, American Modern Classicism: Grandeur and Intimacy Designing Impruneta’s Memorial: A Labor of Love and Dedication Evolving Design of the Memorial The Pylon, Object of Controversy Quest for the Perfect Form Michael Rapuano’s Brilliant Contribution VI. Impruneta’s Patriotic Embellishment: Message and “Beauty” Barry Faulkner, Mosaicist Sidney Waugh, Sculptor Inscriptions: Herolds of Ideology A Slap on the Wrist. Riparian Rights: A Lesson in Manners VII. Sic Transit Gloria Critics Pan ABMC’s Projects Marshall and Eisenhower Come to the Defense Fault Lines Outdate the Cemeteries VIII. Robert Tischler’s Continued Hegemony in Italy: Continuity and Change Pomezia: Italy’s Gift to Germany Costermano: Modesty and Mourning Cassino Crypt Design: Tischler’s Fallback IX. Cassino/Caira: Between Tradition and Innovation Tischler’s Design Sculpture and its Message The Cemetery’s Grave Area No Hilltop Monument X. The Futa Pass: New Form Makes an Appropriate Statement The VDK’s Search for New Talent A Radical Departure? Commission and Construction Form is the Message Helmut Lander’s Mosaic. The Power of Abstraction Fritz Kühn’s Crown of Thorns. Suffering in Steel and Iron From Windswept Wilderness to the Mountain of the Dead Landscape Design: Landscape Architect Walter Rossow and Horticulturist Helmut Bournot Mass Death Visualized Fields of Graves The Planting Design XI. The Futa Pass Cemetery: An Exoneration of Weimar Republic’s “Aberrant Art?” Creation of an Architectural Style. The Modern from Tradition Postlude: The Reception of the Futa Pass Cemetery by the Press Epilogue Selected Bibliography Archives Books and Journals