Nazi Buildings, Cold War Traces and Governmentality in Post-Unification Berlin

by Clare Copley

Overview

Bringing together approaches from cultural and urban history, as well as German studies and political theory, Clare Copley's probing study reflects on post-unification responses to iconic Nazi architecture to reveal insights into power, legitimacy and memory politics in the Berlin Republic.

Analysing public debates, physical interventions into the buildings and the structuring of the memory landscapes around them, the book demonstrates that the politics of memory impact not just upon the built environment of the post-dictatorship city, but upon the way decisions about it are made. In doing so, Nazi Buildings, Cold War Traces and Governmentality in Post-Unification Berlin makes the case for conceiving of a specifically 'post-authoritarian' governmentality and uses the responses to constructions like Goering's Aviation Ministry, Tempelhof Airport and the Olympic complex to explore its features.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350081550
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	05/28/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Clare Copley is Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Central Lancashire, UK.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I. Theoretical Approach
1. Governmentality and the Politics of the Past
2. Difficult Heritage in Berlin and Beyond
Part II. Plurality? Performing Post-Authoritarian Governmentality at the Former Aviation Ministry
Introduction to Part II
3. Reflecting National Socialism and the GDR in the 'Mirror of German History'
4. Commemorating Opposition to Nazism and to the GDR: Harro Schultze-Boysen and 17 June 1953
5. Negotiating (In)Accessibility at a Democratic Government Building
Part III. Rationality? Negotiating Post-Authoritarian Governmentality at the Olympic Stadium
Introduction to Part III
6. Responding to 'The Racist Cult of the Body Manifested in Stone': The Olympic Stadium's Sculpture Collection
7. Disentangling the Olympic Stadium's Layers: The History Trail
8. (En)Countering the Cult of the Dead: The Langemarck Hall Memorial
Part IV. Freedom? Transcending Post-Authoritarian Governmentality at the Former Tempelhof Airport
Introduction to Part IV
9. Closing Tempelhof Airport, Berlin's 'Gateway to the World'
10. The Columbia-Haus Concentration Camp and Forced Labourer Barracks: Exposing Tempelhof's 'Other' Pasts
11. Contesting Freedom: The Proposed Development of the Heterotopia of Tempelhofer Feld
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"An exquisite blend of history, cultural geography and politics, this book takes the study of memory traces in the contemporary urban environment to a new level." --Neil Gregor, Professor of Modern European History, University of Southampton, UK

"Exploring how modern Germans looks at, and argue about, three iconic Nazi buildings in their capital city, this study is both subtle and theoretically sophisticated." --Maiken Umbach, Professor of Modern European History, University of Nottingham, UK

"Nazi Buildings, Cold War Traces, and Governmentality is a richly layered exploration of government practices, urban space, and the politics of memory in post-reunification Berlin. Copley expertly shows how a preoccupation with practicing liberal democratic values infuse Berliners' debates about how to preserve and memorialize Nazi monumentalist architecture and constitute a specifically post-authoritarian governmentality." --Nicole Eaton, Assistant Professor of History Boston College, USA

From the Publisher