Salü,
leider gibt es die nachstehende Rezension nur in Englisch.
Roland
------------
Didczuneit, Veit; Ebert, Jens; Jander, Thomas (Hrsg.): Schreiben
im
Krieg - Schreiben vom Krieg. Feldpost im Zeitalter der
Weltkriege.
Essen: Klartext Verlag 2011. ISBN 978-3-837-50461-3; gebunden;
538 S.;
EUR 34,95.
Cape, Ruth (Hrsg.): Youth at War. Feldpost Letters
of a German Boy to
His Parents, 1943 to 1945 (= Studies on Themes and Motifs
in
Literature). New York: Peter Lang Publishing 2010.
ISBN
978-1-433-11109-9; gebunden; 234 S.; EUR 52,40.
Rezensiert
für den Arbeitskreis Historische Friedensforschung bei
H-Soz-u-Kult
von:
Kaci McAllister, Historisches Seminar, Eberhard Karls
Universität
Tübingen
E-Mail:<kaci.mcallister(a)gmail.com>
Personal
correspondence has been viewed by scholars as an important
contribution to
the understanding of key historical figures and
intellectual movements for
centuries. But with the rise of social
history over the course of the last
one hundred years, letters have
become instrumental in the exploration of
"the lives of the poor and
powerless in society".[1] More recently, an
academic tug-of-war has
ensued as scholars attempt to determine exactly where
the boundaries of
the genre lie. Much of the debate centers around Feldpost
letters from
World Wars I and II, which may be able to provide insight into a
period
of history with which society still struggles to comprehend.
"Schreiben
im Krieg, Schreiben vom Krieg" is a compilation of essays
exploring a
wide variety of topics related to Feldpost letters from the First
and
Second World Wars. The topics range from the importance of
studying
letters, to the unique challenges they present, to what can be
learned
from their content; each author has his or her own ideas about where
and
how Feldpost letters fit into current research and themes in
modern
European history. Although the edition hardly offers a consensus
among
academics as to how exactly wartime letters can or should be
best
interpreted, many of the ideas it presents complement one another,
while
still others offer different perspectives or even contradictions.
The
scope of the material and the sheer wealth of information the
edition
contains insure that it is a gold mine for scholars interested in
the
many applications of Feldpost letters in the field of modern
history.
The overall purpose of the edition is to highlight the
increased
usefulness of Feldpost letters to modern research as access
to
eyewitnesses dwindles (p. 12). The greater purpose, however,
extends
beyond their meaning to research and into their meaning to humanity:
"Ob
wir aus der Geschichte lernen, hängt maßgeblich von
unserem
verantwortungsbewussten Umgang mit ihr ab" (p. 12). The book begins
with
several essays on the history of Feldpost in Germany and is then
divided
thematically into five major sections: theoretical
questions,
international perspectives, gender-specific writing, Feldpost
in
literature, art and media, and, fifth and finally,
practical
illustrations and case studies. Each section contains between five
and
twelve essays that explore themes such as Feldpost letters as objects
of
public reflection or the wartime experience of German soldiers
stationed
in France during World War II (p. 383, 511).
Many
contributors focus on the important role Feldpost can play in
modern
historical research in spite of the challenges the genre
presents. Michaela
Kipp identifies Feldpost as a rich and irreplaceable
supply of commentary on
soldiers' perceptions of world, situation, and
self (p. 458). Using the
letters of two German soldiers stationed in the
Soviet Union, Kipp
demonstrates that the systematic evaluation of
Feldpost letters can in fact
shed more light on the psyche of the German
soldier, and in turn help answer
the larger questions surrounding
research on national socialism. In his
article on Feldpost and
narration, Christian Heuer discusses Feldpost
letters' relevant
functions as Ego-Dokumente in historical didactics,
including acting as
sources of information on everyday routines at the front
and at home,
the mental and physical impact the war has on individuals,
and
linguistic patterns of interpretation. He views letters as documents
of
communicative and cultural memory and as sources of the
retrospective
history of certain groups and communities (p. 66). However, he
places
emphasis on the fact that letters do not necessarily provide
insight
into the "reality" of the past, but rather into the way that
historical
subjects construct their own narrative identities (p. 72). Ingo
Stader
emphasizes the importance of Feldpost letters from World War II
in
determining the effectiveness of the Nazi propaganda campaign
(rather
than any "real" insight they may offer into the wartime experience
of
their writers), drawing a comparison between Feldpost and modern
social
media.
Elke Scherstjanoi takes a critical stance on the genre
of Feldpost,
delving deep into the genre's limitations with references to
the
published World War II letters of Heinrich Böll. She raises a
crucial
point when she reminds the readers that Feldpost research should
avoid
taking the polarized "perpetrator-victim" point of view (p. 119). Such
a
view accomplishes little and fails to answer key questions, such as
why
the writer shares specific information with the recipient, what he
or
she may have consciously omitted, or what kind of function the
exchange
of letters played in society (p. 124). She cautions strongly against
the
overestimation of Feldpost as a genre: "Feldpostforschung kommt
ohne
andere Quellen, darunter andere subjektive (Tagebücher,
Berichte,
Erinnerungen), und ohne strengste Quellenkritik nicht aus" (p.
122).
In spite of the challenges they face when working with Feldpost
letters,
most contributors to the edition choose to focus on what can be
learned
from them, rather than what cannot. The objectives, approaches
and
ultimate findings of the authors vary considerably; for example,
an
essay on Feldpost as a medium of social communication by
Clemens
Schwender presents a case study that uses letters to investigate
the
psychology of gossip (p. 127). He tests his thesis using the nearly
two
thousand items of correspondence between a husband and wife from
World
War II, identifying the material as authentic insight into the mood
of
the couple (p. 131). From a methodological standpoint,
Schwender's
contribution is outstanding, as it provides a detailed
explanation of
his process of random sampling, including corresponding data
tables (p.
132). Other popular topics in the study of military history are
included
in this edition, including articles on the experience of the
"foreign"
as well as war as an adventure or positive experience as reflected
in
soldiers' letters (p. 178). Kerstin Wölki focuses on letters written
by
German soldiers stationed in France during the Second World War
and
explores the idea that many behaved as if on vacation, as they
were
neither at home or completely integrated into their new surroundings
(p.
519). Her essay provides valuable new information to this area
of
research and draws not only upon Feldpost letters but also
diary
entries, demonstrating the close relationship between these two types
of
primary sources.
Another new addition to the current study of
Feldpost is Youth at War, a
bilingual edition of preserved letters written by
a fifteen year old boy
whose childhood was cut short by Germany's need for
more manpower in
World War II. The editor, Ruth I. Cape, examines the letters
as
historical sources and bases her interpretations of them on
the
biography of their writer, Gerhard G. Gerhard served in the war
from
1943 to 1945, first as a member of the student anti-aircraft
artillery,
then in the compulsory national labor service (R.A.D.), and
finally in
the German navy on the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. In 1945,
he
spent three months in an American prisoner of war camp and then
returned
to his home of Bühl, which was located in the French-occupied war
zone.
The one hundred and forty letters were found in his home shortly
before
his death in May of 2008, tied neatly together and
arranged
chronologically.
That their author is so young and that
almost every letter he wrote home
was preserved make the letters particularly
unique. By publishing the
edition, Cape attempts to "provide a close and, in
many respects,
unfiltered look at a specific historical and social
environment" (p. 3).
Whether or not a collection of letters can actually
accomplish such a
task is open to debate, a fact which Cape herself
recognizes:
"Obviously, they cannot be interpreted as an objective and
complete
description of war reality. Rather, they are selective and a mixture
of
war experiences, rumors he might have heard, his assumptions
about
future events, and conscious or unconscious omissions" (p. 17). But
even
while taking such limitations into consideration, she refutes
the
position that Gerhard's letters merely represent
letter-writing
conventions of the times, instead stating that, "in their
frankness they
present an abundance of information, genuine human feelings,
concerns,
and hopes that allow the reader to look into the heart and mind of
this
boy, who might very well represent the sentiments of many other
young
soldiers who served in the Second World War" (p. 17).
Upon
examination of the letters themselves, they do appear to reveal
more than
just the superficial correspondence of a child to his parents.
Alongside the
expected mundane descriptions of daily military life and
laundry lists of
requested items, Gerhard also writes, with a startling
sense of maturity,
about how it feels to spend Christmas away from home,
and how he regrets
having taken his mother's "thoughtful care" for
granted while living at home
(p. 46, 65). Because the collection seems
to be almost entirely complete, it
is possible to observe changes in
Gerhard's personality through his writing
style. Most remarkable are his
growing sense of awareness of what is
happening around him, and his
developing understanding of what home means to
him (p. 80, 101).
Cape's introduction offers a wealth of ideas about
ways the letters can
be interpreted. She answers many of the questions that
surround a
collection of German letters from World War II; for example,
questions
regarding censorship (both internal and external) and the
writer's
possible identification with Nazi ideals. She also provides
useful
background statistics, such as that there were "approximately
400
military post offices with eighteen workers per office who
handled
around 40 billion letters during the six years of the war" (p. 11).
The
structure of the edition is simple, with a lengthy introduction
followed
by the transcribed letters first in English and then in their
original
German.
One major strength of the edition is Cape's
inclusion of a variety of
suggested approaches for further study of this
particular collection of
letters. She purports that they could be used to
explore sociological
themes like "family and friendship dynamics during war
times," or the
cultural history of a nation (p. 17). Her emphasis on asking
questions
rather than answering them gives the reader a chance to consider
his or
her own ideas about how Feldpost can contribute to modern
historical
research. In a brief departure from strict academics, she even
suggests
that Gerhard's letters could serve as the basis of a piece
of
literature, diary, or short epistolary novel: "A reader with an
interest
in creative writing may use his Feldpost as the basis for
composing
letters to which Gerhard might have responded. What is written in
the
mail sent to him is a question that constantly arises while one
reads
his lines" (p. 19).
In the introduction, Cape outlines her
principles of translation,
stating that she seeks "to be as literal and exact
as is consistent with
readable English" (p. 20). But many of the translations
are rather
disconcerting in their directness, preserving German punctuation
even
where incorrect in English (p. 30, 40, 76). Knowledge of the
German
language is helpful for getting a feel for Gerhard's style in
the
translations; someone without that knowledge might find the odd
word
order and strange punctuation distracting.
Despite the
occasionally dubious translations, the English section of
the edition makes
for an interesting read at the very least because of
its numerous explanatory
footnotes. The footnotes contain helpful
clarifications for abbreviations,
places, people, and especially unclear
situations that arise in the letters.
In one letter, Gerhard alludes to
a situation involving Russian prisoners of
war, telling his parents they
can draw their own conclusions from the
incident (p. 69). In the
corresponding footnote, Cape clarifies the meaning
of the exchange,
concluding that, "As a member of the student anti-aircraft
artillery (in
German, Luftwaffenhelfer or Flakhelfer) one was ranked below
those
Russian voluntary assistants" (p. 123).
Both "Schreiben im
Krieg, Schreiben vom Krieg" and "Youth at War" offer
extensive information on
the current stance of research regarding
Feldpost letters and can guide
readers to a better understanding of this
challenging but exciting genre of
primary sources. While recognizing the
limitations that Feldpost letters
present, the editors of both volumes
generally emphasize their role in the
study of the wartime experiences
of common soldiers in World Wars I and II.
Few would argue today that
Feldpost letters are truly authentic accounts of
individual lives.
Ultimately, however, it is critical to remember that every
collection of
letters may be examined within the greater context of the
genre, but
must be evaluated on an individual basis. Certain letters may only
be
able to reflect the effectiveness of propaganda or the
letter-writing
conventions of their times, while others may hold the
potential to
become "partially a mirror of a historical time period" (Cape,
p. 6).
And because of their mystery, their banality, and above all
their
possibility, Feldpost letters will likely remain a heavily debated
genre
among historians and academics in the years to
come.
Note:
[1] Miriam Dobson, Letters, in: Miriam Dobson / Benjamin
Ziemann (eds.),
Reading Primary Sources: The Interpretation of Texts from
Nineteenth-
and Twentieth-Century History, New York 2010, p. 59.
Diese
Rezension wurde redaktionell betreut von:
Benjamin Ziemann
<b.ziemann(a)sheffield.ac.uk>
URL zur Zitation dieses
Beitrages
<http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/2011-4-120>
Die
Rezension ist hervorgegangen aus der Kooperation mit dem
Arbeitskreis
Historische Friedensforschung. (Redaktionelle Betreuung:
Benjamin Ziemann).
http://www.akhf.de/
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