This page intentionally left blank Legacies of Stalingrad Christina Morina’s book examines the history of World War II on the Eastern Front and its impact on German politics and society through- out the postwar period. She argues that the memory of the Eastern Front was one of the most crucial and contested themes in each part of the divided Germany. Although the Holocaust over time gained the most prominent position in West German memory, official mem- ory in East Germany centered on the war against the Soviet Union. Morina analyzes the ways in which these memories emerged in post- war German political culture during and after the Cold War and how views of these events played a role in contemporary political debates. Her analysis pays close attention to the biographies of the protagonists, both during and after the war, demonstrating that political memory was formed and informed as much by ideology and politics as by indi- vidual experience. Christina Morina is a lecturer at the University of Jena, Germany. She received her doctorate in 2007 from the University of Maryland and has published several scholarly articles on issues of war, memory, and political culture in twentieth-century German history. She is currently writing a second book, which examines the relation between experi- ence, ideology, and politics in the lives and works of leading Marxists (1870–1914). Morina is also the coeditor of a forthcoming comprehen- sive volume on the divided history of the German historical sciences since 1945. In 2009, she cofounded an International Young Scholars’ Network on “The History of Societies and Socialisms.” Legacies of Stalingrad Remembering the Eastern Front in Germany since 1945 ChriStina Morina Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107013049 © Christina Morina 2011 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2011 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Morina, Christina, 1976– Legacies of Stalingrad : remembering the Eastern Front in Germany since 1945 / Christina Morina. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-107-01304-9 (hardback) 1. Germany – Politics and government – 1945–1990. 2. Germany – Politics and government – 1990– 3. Germany – Social conditions – 20th century. 4. World War, 1939–1945 – Campaigns – Eastern Front. 5. World War, 1939–1945 – Influence. 6. Collective memory – Germany – History – 20th century. 7. Political culture – Germany – History – 20th century. 8. War and society – Germany – History – 20th century. I. Title. dd257.4.m67 2011 940.54′217–dc22 2011010570 isbn 978-1-107-01304-9 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. To my husband and sons, without whom everything would be nothing Contents List of Figures page viii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: War, Politics, and the Study of Memory 1 Prologue: The Eastern Front War in Nazi Propaganda 18 1 Memory under Occupation: The Emergence of Competing Memories of the Eastern Front 25 2 Cold War: Political Memory of the Eastern Front in Divided Germany 67 3 Lessons of the Eastern Front: The Wehrmacht Legacy and the Remilitarization of Germany 106 4 Peacetime Wars: Official Memory and the Integration of Individual Wartime Experiences 131 5 The Past Reinforced: The Memory of the Eastern Front from Ulbricht to Honecker 175 6 The Past Revisited: West German Memory of the Eastern Front in the Era of Détente 193 Epilogue: 1989 and Beyond 231 Conclusion 262 Glossary 269 References 271 Index 291 vii Figures 1 Caricature: “The Stronger One: Mr. Truman and the Soviet man” (Neues Deutschland, June 22, 1951) page 82 2 Caricature: “Hitler and the Lesson of the Soviet Pincer” (Neues Deutschland, June 22, 1961) 103 3 Erich Honecker at the Mamai Heights, October 1975 185 4 Erich Honecker at the Museum for Antifascist Patriots in Krasnogorsk, May 5, 1985 187 5 Cover of a book accompanying the TV series The Unforgotten War, September 1981 190 viii