Mythos Trümmerfrauen: Von der Trümmerbeseitigung in der Kriegs- und Nachkriegszeit und der Entstehung eines deutschen Erinnerungsortes

TitleMythos Trümmerfrauen: Von der Trümmerbeseitigung in der Kriegs- und Nachkriegszeit und der Entstehung eines deutschen Erinnerungsortes
Publication TypeBook
Year of Publication2014
AuthorsTreber, Leonie
Number of Pages483
PublisherKlartext
CityEssen, Germany
Abstract

The "Trümmerfrau" (Rubble Woman) is part of the fixed repertoire of almost every historical portrayal of the post World War II period of Germany, whether in TV and print media, in school textbooks or in exhibitions of historical museums. Moreover, from the early 1950s to the present, there have been repeated erections of "Trümmerfrauen" monuments in a wide variety of cities.
Leonie Treber has for the first time examined the surviving facts and comes to the conclusion that the "Trümmerfrauen" are a myth; there is very little evidence that women actually cleared bomb debris during the war and in the postwar period. As is common for myths, however, the stereotypical "Trümmerfrauen" narratives that are widespread today are by no means pure lies; rather, they contain some chunks of truth that are, however, sometimes distorted and taken out of context or conceal essentials. The author presents how the debris removal from German cities actually took place. In most cases, professional companies with large-scale technical equipment and skilled workers were the main actors in clearing the rubble. And it shows how the myth of the "Trümmerfrau" with all its facets was created.
The foundations for the myth of the "Trümmerfrau" were already laid in the immediate post-war period. An analysis of contemporary press products from 1945 to 1949 reveals the images designed in the process and asks about the origins of the "Trümmerfrauen" concept. The lines of tradition of "Trümmerfrauen" in the GDR go back to 1945 and have never been broken off since then, but have been continuously cultivated. The long and stable tradition of the "Trümmerfrau" in the GDR's culture of remembrance thus made a significant contribution to the fact that the separate and in part diametrically opposed strands of remembrance in the FRG and the GDR were finally woven into the all-German place of remembrance of the "Trümmerfrau".

Translated TitleMyth of Rubble Women: Of Wartime and Postwar Rubble Removal and the Making of a German Place of Remembrance
Entry by GWC Assistants / Work by GWC Assistants : 
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948873718

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