Three Cities after Hitler : Redemptive Reconstruction Across Cold War Borders / Andrew Demshuk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Demshuk, Andrew, 1980- author.

Series:

Russian and East European Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Urban renewal--Citizen participation.

Urban renewal.

Urban renewal--Political aspects.

Architecture--Political aspects.

Architecture.

Architecture and society.

Nationalism and architecture.

Architecture and state.

Collective memory.

Frankfurt am Main (Germany)--Buildings, structures, etc--History.

Frankfurt am Main (Germany).

Leipzig (Germany)--Buildings, structures, etc--History.

Leipzig (Germany).

Wrocław (Poland)--Buildings, structures, etc--History.

Wrocław (Poland).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (585 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2021]

Summary:

"Three Cities after Hitler compares how three prewar German cities shared decades of postwar development under three competing post-Nazi regimes: Frankfurt in capitalist West Germany, Leipzig in communist East Germany, and Wrocław (formerly Breslau) in communist Poland. Each city was rebuilt according to two intertwined modern trends. First, certain local edifices were chosen to be resurrected as "sacred sites" to redeem the national story after Nazism. Second, these tokens of a reimagined past were staged against the hegemony of modernist architecture and planning, which wiped out much of whatever was left of the urban landscape that had survived the war. All three cities thus emerged with simplified architectural narratives, whose historically layered complexities only survived in fragments where this twofold "redemptive reconstruction" after Nazism had proven less vigorous, sometimes because local citizens took action to save and appropriate them. Transcending both the Iron Curtain and freshly homogenized nation-states, three cities under three rival regimes shared a surprisingly common history before, during, and after Hitler-in terms of both top-down planning policies and residents' spontaneous efforts to make home out of their city as its shape shifted around them"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments

List of Acronyms

Maps

Introduction: Redemptive Reconstruction

1. Cities of the Reich

2. Cities of Dreams

3. Miracle Cities

4. Cities of the Future

5. Cities without Past

6. Synthetic Cities

Conclusion: Selective Cities

Glossary of Names

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780822988571

0822988577

OCLC:

1263280573