Bibliography (codes [mya] to [mzz])

Last modified: 2003-08-21 by antonio martins
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[mya04]

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Summary: In 1949, two new German states arose and immediately laid claim to the same territory and to the best of the German political and cultural heritage. That shared heritage was subject to competing interpretations by the two regimes as they sought to shape public memory and identity in their quest for legitimation. By the late 1950s, the battles to reinterpret German national symbols frequently took place on the streets of Berlin, focal point of the contested German-German border, and in the arenas of international athletic competitions. This paper will examine two points at which the symbolic repertoires of the two Germanies coincided and then diverged: the Brandenburg Gate, and the black-red-gold flag. Unwilling to signal the permanent division of Germany, the founders of the Federal Republic had declared that while Berlin remained the capital of “Germany”, Bonn would serve as a provisional seat of government for the Federal Republic. Thus, both states acknowledged Berlin as the German capital but had vastly different interpretations of the city’s meanings for German national identity. Nevertheless, in a rare spirit of cooperation, the officials of East and West Berlin agreed in 1956 to work together to restore the Brandenburg Gate. This cooperation disintegrated in 1958, however, when East Berlin’s magistrates decided to restore the Quadriga statue without the Iron Cross on the goddess’s staff. In the West, this act served as evidence of the Communists’ disregard for the national heritage, whereas the uproar in the West further convinced the Communists that militarism was alive and well on the other side of the German-German border. As tensions rose between the two Germanies, it became ever more important for the Communists to distance themselves from the Federal Republic. By 1959, the GDR’s leaders found it awkward to continue to share the tricolor flag with the Federal Republic. For West German leaders, the tricolor represented the liberal ideals of the nineteenth century, while for East German leaders it stood for the German revolutionary tradition. Finally, the East German regime sought to make visible its interpretation of the flag by superimposing on it the Communists’ state seal. This act led to street scuffles in Berlin, and to West German diplomatic maneuvers aimed at prohibiting the “desecrated” flag from flying at international sports events. Each side claimed a Cold War victory whenever its position on the flag issue prevailed. Instead of uniting the two Germanies, the use and interpretation of national symbols drove them further apart.

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