Life among the Ruins: Cityscape and Sexuality in Cold War Berlin (Genders and Sexualities in History)

332 Pages·2011·3.04 MB·English

by  Jennifer V. V. Evans

GendersandSexualitiesinHistory
SeriesEditors:JohnH.Arnold,JoannaBourkeandSeanBrady
Palgrave Macmillan’s series, Genders and Sexualities in History, aims to
accommodate and foster new approaches to historical research in the fields
of genders and sexualities. The series promotes world-class scholarship that
concentrates upon the interconnected themes of genders, sexualities, reli-
gions/religiosity,civilsociety,classformations,politicsandwar.
Historical studies of gender and sexuality have often been treated as discon-
nected fields, while in recent years historical analyses in these two areas have
synthesised,creatingnewdeparturesinhistoriography.Bylinkinggendersand
sexualities with questions of religion, civil society, politics and the contexts of
warandconflict,thisserieswillreflectrecentdevelopmentsinscholarship,mov-
ingawayfromthepreviouslydominantandnarrowhistoriesofscience,scientific
thoughtandlegalprocesses.Theresultbringstogetherscholarshipfromcontem-
porary, modern, early modern, medieval, classical and non-Western history to
provideadiachronicforumforscholarshipthatincorporatesnewapproachesto
gendersandsexualitiesinhistory.
LifeamongtheRuins:CityscapeandSexualityinColdWarBerlinisagroundbreak-
ingstudyofthedestroyedurbanlandscapeofpost-SecondWorldWarBerlinand
therelationshipsbetweenurbangeographyandsexualityinthepost-warrecon-
structionandpoliticalandideologicaldivisionofthecityintheColdWaryears.
Inthisseminalbook,JenniferEvansprovidesameticulouslyresearched,incisive
and fascinating analysis of the shattered Berlin cityscape as a primary actor in
thehistoricalnarrativeofthepost-warperiod.Throughitsfocusonurbanspace
and geography, this book challenges the usefulness of political benchmarks in
Germanhistory(suchas1945,1949and1961)andexaminesinsteadtherelation-
shipbetweenthefabricandspacesofBerlinandtheprocessesofreconstruction,
andthewaysinwhichthesewereintimatelyconnectedto,andshaped,identity,
sexualityandgenderinthedividedcity.Inspiteofachasmofdifferenceinide-
ology, the nascent East and West German authorities shared a highly idealised
notionofthetraditionalfamilyunitasthebasisofmorality.Themassrapesin
the immediate aftermath of German surrender, the shattered family units, the
ruined spaces in the city fostering casual sexual encounters and the economy
of prostitution, the remarkable resurgence in the ruined post-war cityscape of
pre-Nazi-era spaces of the sexual avant garde, all fostered concepts among the
authorities and Berlin’s citizens of a moral geography of deviance that shaped
thephysicalrebuildingofthecityandattitudestowardsuseofpublicspace.Life
amongtheRuinsrecaststhehistoryofsexualityinBerlininaradicalnewlight,
and repositions our understanding of society and reconstruction in Cold War
Berlin. In common with all volumes in the Genders and Sexualities in History
series, Jennifer Evans’s Life among the Ruins presents a multifaceted and metic-
ulously researched scholarly study, and is a sophisticated contribution to our
understandingofthepast.
Titlesinclude
CordeliaBeattieandKirstenA.Fenton(editors)
INTERSECTIONSOFGENDER,RELIGIONANDETHNICITYINTHE
MIDDLEAGES
MatthewCook
QUEERDOMESTICITIES
HomosexualityandHomeLifeinTwentieth-CenturyLondon
JenniferV.Evans
LIFEAMONGTHERUINS
CityscapeandSexualityinColdWarBerlin
ChristopherE.ForthandElinorAccampo(editors)
CONFRONTINGMODERNITYINFIN-DE-SIÈCLEFRANCE
Bodies,MindsandGender
DagmarHerzog(editor)
BRUTALITYANDDESIRE
WarandSexualityinEurope’sTwentiethCentury
JessicaMeyer
MENOFWAR
MasculinityandtheFirstWorldWarinBritain
JenniferD.Thibodeaux(editor)
NEGOTIATINGCLERICALIDENTITIES
Priests,MonksandMasculinityintheMiddleAges
HesterVaizey
SURVIVINGHITLER’SWAR
FamilyLifeinGermany1939–48
GendersandSexualitiesinHistorySeries
SeriesStandingOrder978–0–230–55185–5Hardback
978–0–230–55186–2Paperback
(outsideNorthAmericaonly)
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Life among the Ruins
Cityscape and Sexuality in Cold War Berlin
Jennifer V. Evans
©JenniferV.Evans2011
Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Evans,JenniferV.,1970–
Lifeamongtheruins:cityscapeandsexualityinColdWar
Berlin/JenniferV.Evans.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–230–20201–6(alk.paper)
1. Berlin(Germany)—History—1945–1990. 2. Berlin(Germany)—Social
conditions—20thcentury. 3. Sexcustoms—Germany—Berlin—
History—20thcentury. 4. Sexualethics—Germany—Berlin—
History—20thcentury. 5. Sexrole—Germany—Berlin—History—
20thcentury. 6. Prostitution—Germany—Berlin—History—
20thcentury. 7. Civilsociety—Germany—Berlin—History—
20thcentury. I. Title.
DD881.E932011
943(cid:2).155087—dc22 2011013743
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainby
CPIAntonyRowe,ChippenhamandEastbourne
To Jason, Gillian, and Gwen
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Contents
ListofFigures viii
Map x
Acknowledgments xii
Introduction 1
1 TheCellarandtheBunker 16
2 TheStreet 46
3 TheTrainStation 101
4 Bars,Cafés,Clubs 149
5 Home 181
Conclusion:BordersandBoundaries 219
Notes 226
Bibliography 278
Index 310
vii
List of Figures
1.1 TheruinsoftheKaiserWilhelmMemorialChurchseen
fromtheTauentzienstrasse,Berlin,1945.Photographer:
HildegardDreyer. 17
1.2 TreesintheTiergartenbeingclearedduetotheurgent
needforfirewood,1946.Photographer:Friedrich
Seidenstücker(1882–1966).©CopyrightBPK. 19
1.3 Zoobunker–womenandbabycarriages,February/March
1945. 24
1.4 Inaprovisionalairraidshelter,Berlin,early1945. 25
1.5 Anurseinabunkertakingbabiestoanelevator,Berlin,
1944–5.Photographer:HeddaWalther. 28
1.6 Airraidhelpersintheirfreetimeonthelowerplatform.
FlaktowerIIIHumboldthain,takensometimein1944.
Photographerunknown. 30
1.7 PropagandasignonabunkerinBerlin:“Menbetweenthe
agesof16and70belonginuse–notinabunker,”
1944–5.Photographer:HilmarPabel. 32
1.8 Thieves’denintheunderground,Berlin,March1949.
Photographer:WalterHeilig. 41
2.1 BerlinersswimminginwaterholeinfrontofZooBunker,
1945.Photographer:OttoHoffmann. 50
2.2 SovietSoldiersandafallenGermanafterthebattleforthe
centerofBerlin,April/May1945. 58
2.3 Aformerlivingroomismadeintoabalcony,where
laundrycandry,Berlin,1946.Photographer:Hildegard
Dreyer. 63
2.4 YoungpeoplemeetatthedestroyedmemorialtoFrederick
theGreatintheTiergarten,Berlin,1946.Photographer:
FriedrichSeidenstücker. 67
2.5 ThetwinsHildeandHelgaFischerinabeergardenin
Berlin,1948.Photographer:FriedrichSeidenstücker
(1882–1966)©CopyrightBPK 68
2.6 YoungpeopleeatingpopcornattheWannsee,1959.
Photographer:WillMcBride. 94
viii
ListofFigures ix
3.1 Summerfuninthebigcity,1959.Photographer:Erich
Zühlsdorf. 115
3.2 WarningsignforS-Bahnriders,Berlin,1953.
Photographer:FriedrichSeidenstücker. 121
3.3 PhotographofyoungboybyHerbertTobias,untitled,
1950sBerlin. 141
4.1 PostwarspringattheZooStation,Berlin.Flâneursgettheir
shoespolished. 151
4.2 Peoplecangodancingagain.Thedelayedspringfestivalis
celebratedatFuerstenhofCasinoinKoepenickerStrasse,
Berlin,Summer1945.Photographer:WilliSaeger. 157
4.3 Patronsandamusicianatthelocal“GypsyBar”onthe
Kurfürstendamm,WestBerlin,1955.Photographers:
ArminandLisoletteOrgel-Köhne. 164
4.4 TabletelephonesanddancingatBerlin’s
“Residenz-Casino,”ca.1925.Coloredpostcard. 165
4.5 WomanonthetelephoneattheResiBallhouse,Berlin,
1955.Photographers:ArminandLisoletteOrgel-Köhne. 166
4.6 InthetransvestitebarEldoradoonMotzstrasse,Berlin.At
left,theonlywomaninthegroup,1926. 175
5.1 IntheStruveshofyouthreeducationhome(todaypartof
Ludwigsfelde),Berlin,whererefugeechildrenwere
housed,1948. 201
5.2 IntheStruveshofyouthreeducationhome(todaypartof
Ludwigsfelde),Berlin,whererefugeechildrenwere
housed,1948. 202