Cold War Cultures: Perspectives on Eastern and Western European Societies

Description

The Cold War was not only about the imperial ambitions of the super powers, their military strategies, and antagonistic ideologies. It was also about conflicting worldviews and their correlates in the daily life of the societies involved. The term “Cold War Culture” is often used in a broad sense to describe media influences, social practices, and symbolic representations as they shape, and are shaped by, international relations. Yet, it remains in question whether ― or to what extent ― the Cold War Culture model can be applied to European societies, both in the East and the West. While every European country had to adapt to the constraints imposed by the Cold War, individual development was affected by specific conditions as detailed in these chapters. This volume offers an important contribution to the international debate on this issue of the Cold War impact on everyday life by providing a better understanding of its history and legacy in Eastern and Western Europe. Contents......Page 5 Illustrations......Page 9 European Cold War Culture(s)? An Introduction......Page 11 Part 1 — Mediating the Cold War: Radio, Film, Television, and Literature......Page 31 Chapter 1 — East European Cold War Culture(s): Alterities, Commonalities, and Film Industries......Page 33 Chapter 2 — "We Started the Cold War": A Hidden Message behind Stalin's Attack on Anna Akhmatova......Page 65 Chapter 3 — Radio Reform in the 1980s: RIAS and DT-64 Respond to Private Radio......Page 86 Chapter 4 — The Enemy Within: (De)Dramatizing the Cold War in U.S. and West German Spy TV from the 1960s......Page 104 Chapter 5 — Cold War Television: Olga Korbut and the Munich Olympics of 1972......Page 122 Part II — Constructing Identities: Representations of the "Self"......Page 137 Chapter 6 — Catholic Piety in the Early Cold War Years, or How the Virgin Mary Protected the West from Communism......Page 139 Chapter 7 — The Road to Socialism Paved with Good Intentions: Automobile Culture in the Soviet Union, Romania, and the GDR During Détente......Page 162 Chapter 8 — Advertising, Emotions, and "Hidden Persuaders": The Making of Cold-War Consumer Culture in Britain from the 1940s to the 1960s......Page 182 Chapter 9 — Survival in the Welfare Cocoon: The Culture of Civil Defense in Cold War Sweden......Page 201 Part III — Crossing the Border: Interactions with the "Other"......Page 221 Chapter 10 — The Peace and the War Camps: The Dichotomous Cold War Culture in Czechoslovakia: 1948–1960......Page 223 Chapter 11 — Artistic Style, Canonization, and Identity Politics in Cold War Germany, 1947–1960......Page 245 Chapter 12 — What Does Democracy Look Like? (And Why Would Anyone Want to Buy It?): Third World Demands and West German Responses at 1960s World Youth Festivals......Page 264 Chapter 13 — Drawing the East-West Border: Narratives of Modernity and Identity in the Northeastern Adriatic (1947–1954)......Page 286 Part IV — The Legacies of the Cold War: Remembrance and Historiography......Page 307 Chapter 14 — A 1950s Revival: Cold War Culture in Reunified Germany......Page 309 Chapter 15 — The Mikson Case: War Crimes Memory, Estonian Identity Reconstructions, and the Transnational Politics of Justice......Page 331 Chapter 16 — The First Cold War Memorial in Berlin: A Short Inquiry into Europe, the Cold War, and Memory Cultures......Page 357 Notes on Contributors......Page 380 Index......Page 384