Bringing Cold War democracy to West Berlin : a shared German-American project, 1940-1972 / Scott H. Krause.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Krause, Scott H., author.

Series:

Routledge studies in modern European history ; 61.

Routledge studies in modern European history ; 61

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Berlin (Germany)--Politics and government--1945-1990.

Berlin (Germany).

Reconstruction (1939-1951)--Germany (West).

Reconstruction (1939-1951).

Germany (West).

Germany (West)--Foreign relations--United States.

International relations.

United States.

United States--Foreign relations--Germany (West).

Diplomatic relations.

Politics and government.

Germany--Berlin.

Physical Description:

xiv, 284 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019.

Summary:

"Within the span of a generation, Nazi Germany's former capital, Berlin, found a new role as a symbol of freedom and resilient democracy in the Cold War. This book unearths how this remarkable transformation derived from a network of liberal American occupation officials, and returned émigrés, or remigrés, of the Marxist Social Democratic Party (SPD). This network derived from lengthy physical and political journeys. After fleeing Hitler, German-speaking self-professed 'revolutionary socialists' emphasized 'anti-totalitarianism' in New Deal America and contributed to its intelligence apparatus. These experiences made these remigrés especially adept at cultural translation in postwar Berlin against Stalinism. This book provides a new explanation for the alignment of Germany's principal left-wing party with the Western camp. While the Cold War has traditionally been analyzed from the perspective of decision makers in Moscow or Washington, this study demonstrates the agency of hitherto marginalized on the conflict's first battlefield. Examining local political culture and social networks underscores how both Berliners and émigrés understood the East-West competition over the rubble that the Nazis left behind as a chance to reinvent themselves as democrats and cultural mediators, respectively. As this network popularized an anti-Communist, pro-Western Left, this book identifies how often ostracized émigrés made a crucial contribution to the Federal Republic of Germany's democratization"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Berlin, capital of ruins, 1945-1948

Origins of the outpost network, 1933-1949

Rise of the outpost narrative in the wake of the Berlin airlift, 1948-1953

Triple Crisis, 1953

Ascent to leadership, 1954-1961

Public acceptance and reinterpretation, 1961-1972

Conclusion: Excavating the outpost of freedom on the spree.

Notes:

Revision of author's thesis (doctoral)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2016 under title: Outpost of freedom : a German-American network's campaign to bring Cold War democracy to West Berlin, 1933-66.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Also issued online: Krause, Scott H. Bringing Cold War democracy to West Berlin.

ISBN:

9781138299856

1138299855

OCLC:

1048659589