Debating German Cultural Identity since 1989 ed. by Anne Fuchs, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, and Linda Shortt (review)

The twelve contributions cum introduction focus on the debate about what constitutes German cultural identity after the opening of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 and the (re)unification of Germany in the following year. As the editors suggest in their introduction, the "vociferous public debates about the past" may be indicative of "imagining a dizzyingly diverse array of possible futures" (12).

The historical underpinnings of these debates are established by historian Peter Fritzsche who draws attention to the coincidence of important events in German history that took place on 9 November: the November Revolution (1918), Hitler's Munich Beer Hall putsch (1923), and the infamous Kristallnacht (1938). But Fritzsche goes beyond the German context and justifiably ranks 1989 with momentous years in "the master dating system of the modern West" (17)—that is, 1789, 1914, and 1945. He concludes his essay with the cautionary note that in dealing with 1989 "[n]o one perspective is authoritative" (27).

Pertti Ahonen examines what might be called a legacy of the Wall, the Mauerschützenprozesse that took place after (re)unification, and attributes to them a significant role in "addressing issues [ . . . ] widely perceived" as grave injustices committed not only by border guards but also by the "East German authorities." Ahonen assigns "positive political effects" to the fact that the trials were generally conducted in a spirit of "humanitarian considerations" rather than governed by vindictiveness (41).

In a seemingly surprising departure from the historical and political context, Jennifer A. Jordan devotes her attention almost exclusively to the subject of apples. Yet she makes a fairly convincing case for their significance inasmuch as they have taken on "some of the qualities assigned to [ . . . ] Heimat" and have continued to "contribute to regional and national identity" after 1989 (47). From yet another perspective, Andrew J. Webber revisits the subject of his book Berlin in the Twentieth Century (2008) in which he endeavored "to contribute to the topographical turn in cultural criticism" (67). Webber devotes particular attention to Christian Petzold's film Gespenster (2005), the main character of which (a young woman) Webber perceives of as an "allegorical" figure, that is, "the ghost of history in general and of the Wende in particular" (79).

Deniz Göktürk turns to "The Berlin Wall's Second Life on Screen"—a "Life" the author perceives as a salutary questioning of the officious discourse of the " 'coming together' " of East and West that tends to exclude non-German immigrants. Specifically, Göktürk recommends Turkish films about Germany such as Polizei as a means to question the tendency to engage in "naval-gazing [sic] territorial thinking" when commemorating "German unification" (95). In contrast to Göktürk, Kathleen James-Chakraborty turns to Berlin "Beyond the Wall" by discussing the architectural developments and feuds (notably the fierce, protracted debate about the reconstruction of the Hohenzollern Schloss versus the dismantling of the GDR Palast der Repubik) and their political implications. But she credits the Reichstag with its new cupola (designed by Norman Foster) as having evolved into one of Berlin's "best-loved tourist attractions" as well as "the most potent symbol of the Berlin Republic" (109).

From Berlin to Dresden: in a factual account that avoids addressing the debate about the justification of the controversial virtual annihilation of Dresden during the British-American bombing raids in February 1945, Jürgen Paul provides a fairly detailed description of the reconstruction efforts in "The Rebirth of Historic Dresden."

Inasmuch as literary works tend to both reflect and shape cultural identity, a comparatively voluminous section of the present volume is justifiably devoted to contemporary literature in East and West. Elizabeth Boa discusses fictional writings by Christa Wolf (1929-2011), undoubtedly one of the chief representatives of GDR literature, as well as works by the younger East German prose writers Ingo Schulze (b. 1962), Antje Rávic Strubel (b. 1974), and Jens Sparschuh (b. 1955). The...