German Wall

MARC SILBERMAN Professor of German, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

'The German Wall is an ambitious project in topic and scope. The kaleidoscopic vision put forward here offers a broad range of students and scholars a multifaceted overview, encouraging a more interdisciplinary and holistic approach to the study of phenomena that shape our world and our attempts to better comprehend it.' German Studies Review "This well-conceived volume goes beyond conventional platitudes about the Berlin Wall's history and cultural significance to show the many complexities and ironies associated with the Wall in both East and West - from the erection of the Wall in 1961 until long after the Wall's demise in 1989. The book is a model for interdisciplinary German Studies, situating Germany in a larger European and world context, and utilizing the tools of diverse disciplines, from history through urban studies to film and theater studies - all in the service of demonstrating the rich complexity of a historical phenomenon that is all too frequently rendered in simplistic ways." - Stephen Brockmann, Professor of German at Carnegie Mellon University and President of the German Studies Association "Fifty years after the construction of the Berlin War and more than twenty years after its dismantling, its presence is still felt in the kind of local and global scenarios mapped so beautifully by this anthology. Whether as a symbol of dictatorship and peaceful revolution, an object of commemorative practices, a participant in the process of capital-building and city branding, a metaphor for new and old forms of exclusion, or a model for ways of thinking about borders and boundaries in post-Wall Germany and Europe, the Berlin Wall is still very much with us. An insightful and highly relevant group of case studies." - Sabine Hake, Texas Chair of German Literature and Culture, University of Texas at Austin "The contributors to the present volume chart the consequences of a political event of extraordinary significance and far-reaching consequences, the opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, from a wide variety of perspectives. On account of its decidedly interdisciplinary nature the volume is highly recommended to potential readers from various academic backgrounds and disciplines." - Siegfried Mews, Professor of German at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• PART I: RE-VIEWING THE BERLIN WALL Germany 1989: A New Type of Revolution?; K.H.Jarausch The Different Aesthetics of the Berlin Wall; O.Briese Politics, Culture, and Media before and after the Berlin Wall; H.Wrage PART II: RE-NEWING BERLIN IN UNIFIED GERMANY Re-Capitalizing Berlin; J.Ward Interim Use at a Former Death Strip?: Art, Politics, and Urbanism at Skulpturenpark Berlin Zentrum; K.E.Till Jugendweihe: Revitalizing a Socialist Coming-of-Age Ceremony in Unified Berlin; B.Wolbert PART III: RE-SETTLING BERLIN'S OTHERS Neither Eastern nor Welcome: The Confused Lives of Berlin's Balkan Migrants, 1950-2000; I.Blumi Class of 1989: Who Made Good and Who Dropped Out of German History?: Postmigrant Documentary Theater in Berlin; K.Sieg PART IV: RE-NEGOTIATING EUROPE'S CENTER On Italian Bridges: Navigating Rocks and Hard Places in Post-Wall Europe; L.Insana Breaking Down the Walls: The European Library Project; B.Venkat Mani