German post-war “re-education”

“During his 1947 visit to berlin, american pianist webster aitken was shocked to find the kroll opera reduced to ‘tangles of twisted girders, resembling empty bird cages. beyond the brandenburger tor, the blocks seem to be made of brown sugar that has gone hard in lumps and streaks’.1aitken was one of dozens of artists invited by the american military government to concertize throughout postwar germany to demonstrate the strength of american musical achievement. between 1945 and 1949, american musicians visited the ruins of the third reich to perform for german audiences, and this article explores the efficacy their postwar concerts had for the reeducation programme. american cultural officers believed music could play a redemptive role in the service of democracy to promote racial and religious tolerance among german audiences.”

“Peter suhrkamp, who in 1950 separated from his former publishing partner gottfried bermann fischer and founded his own company, was considered an apt collaborator for the british allies in their reeducation efforts. still a partner in the s. fischer verlag, he had stayed in germany during the nazi regime and protected his authors against official attacks, while bermann fischer published the ‘un-german’ émigré writers in exile. imprisoned on charges of treason in 1944, suhrkamp was not released from concentration camp until february 1945. the first german publisher to receive a license from the british military government, suhrkamp developed a pedagogical publishing program for postwar germany. in 1948, he was invited by the british to prepare german pows in english camps for their return to germany.”

“One of the earliest american reeducation programs designed for the transformation of political attitudes and the inculcation of american democratic ideals among germans came into being shortly before the end of the second world war. initiated by the special projects division of the war department in 1944, this top secret experiment in reeducation brought together a group of university professors, including philosopher thomas vernon smith from the university of chicago, at selected prisoner‐of‐war camps in rhode island and virginia. consistent with his faculty colleagues. smith drew heavily from the liberal arts tradition and classical humanism to teach his german charges about the plausibility of the “democratic way of life. “ the relatively brief initial foray by smith into the reeducation of germans under captivity revealed american aspirations and democratic ideals for the new german citizen of the post war era, elements of which subsequently reappeared in the activities of american military government on german soil. not the least significant in this endeavor was the formation of a german citizenry supportive of american interests, a foundational goal of the special projects combining reform idealism with ‘realpolitik’. © 1997, copyright taylor & francis group, llc.”

“During the cold war, the united states and ussr used educational exchange programs as instruments of cultural diplomacy. in 1950, east german reconstruction policy was radically transformed through a well-documented soviet-sponsored reorientation of architects and planners from east berlin. this article chronicles a concurrent but little-known exchange, sponsored by the u.s. high commissioner for germany, which sent west german architects to america for professional retraining. although the u.s. program fell far short of its intentions, it illuminates the nature of cold war cultural strategies deploying urban planning pedagogy, which were meant to reproduce american values and systems of governance abroad. © 2004 greg castillo.”

“Can a population or community be ‘taught’ to feel and act differently through an externally imposed politico-cultural paradigm? what kinds of unexpected feelings (at odds with behavioral norms and expectations of the educator/observer) emerge from the collision of different political histories and cultural orientations? this paper examines american and west german social theories concerned with democratizing west germany in the context of the cold war and in the wake of initial us-allied attempts at ‘reeducation’ in the postwar period. based on an analysis of theodor w. adorno’s radio broadcasts and writings on the possibility of an ‘education to autonomy’ after auschwitz, this paper explores how west germans came to ‘feel differently’ through the gradual and contradictory negotiation of a democratic ‘habitus’, ultimately demonstrating the agonistic and ambivalent processes constitutive of substantial democracy.”