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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.
"The interpretative and methodological pluralism, which is evident throughout [this volume]is a major strength, rendering the volume ideally suited for graduate courses in modern European and German history. By covering an extraordinary range of topics and analytical perspectives, the book opens up a fascinating panoramic view onto ‘the landscapes of ambition and hope, promise and disappointment that galvanized new publics during the Weimar era.’” · Journal of Modern History
“…taken together [these articles] provide an excellent and stimulating introduction to current ways of thinking and writing about the Weimar Republic since the ‘cultural turn’. A common theme running through each contribution is the role of individual consciousness and its striving to be heard and expressed in an age when notions of community and collective struggle were also high up on the artistic and political agenda.“ · German History
“These essays are interesting and useful for the material they present…the efforts it presents in rethinking the existing scholarship and adding new material has much to offer scholars of the Weimar era.” · European History Quarterly
List of Illustrations
Preface
List of Contributors
Introduction
Kathleen Canning
PART I: DEFEAT AND THE LEGACY OF WAR
Chapter 1. The Return of the Undead: Weimar Cinema and the Great War
Anton Kaes
Chapter 2. The Work of Art and the Problem of Politics in Berlin Dada
Brigid Doherty
Chapter 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
Chapter 4. Mother, Citizens, and Consumers. Female Readers in Weimar Germany
Kerstin Barndt
Chapter 5. Claiming Citizenship: Suffrage and Subjectivity in Germany after the First World War
Kathleen Canning
Chapter 6. Feminist Politics beyond the Reichstag: A Radical Vision of Reform in the Weimar Republic
Kristin McGuire
Chapter 7. Producing Jews: Maternity, Eugenics, and the Embodiment of the Jewish Subject
Sharon Gillerman
PART III: SYMBOLS, RITUALS AND DISCOURSES OF DEMOCRACY
Chapter 8. Reforming the Reich: Democratic Symbols and Rituals in the Weimar Republic
Manuela Achilles
Chapter 9. High Expectations – Deep Disappointment: Structures of the Public Perception of Politics in the Weimar Republic
Thomas Mergel
Chapter 10. Contested Narratives of the Weimar Republic: The Case of the "Kutisker-Barmat Scandal"
Martin Geyer
Chapter 11. Political Violence, Contested Public Space, and Reasserted Masculinity in Weimar Germany
Dirk Schumann
PART IV: PUBLICS, PUBLICITY AND MASS CULTURE
Chapter 12. “A Self-Representation of the Masses”: Siegfried Kracauer's Curious Americanism
Miriam Hansen
Chapter 13. Neither Masses Nor Individuals. Representations of the Collective in Inter-War German Culture
Stefan Jonsson
Chapter 14. Cultural Capital in Decline:Inflation and the Distress of Intellectuals
Bernd Widdig
PART V: WEIMAR TOPOGRAPHIES
Chapter 15. Defining the Nation in Crisis: Citizenship Policy in the Early Weimar Republic
Annemarie Sammartino
Chapter 16. Gender and Colonial Politics after the Versailles Treaty
Lora Wildenthal
Chapter 17. The Economy of Experience in Weimar Germany
Peter Fritzsche
Bibliography
Index