Suchergebnisse

This article examines Berta Lask's drama Thomas Münzer (1925), which was commissioned by the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD) and staged in Eisleben to mark the 400th anniversary of the German Peasants' War (1524–5) and the execution of Thomas Müntzer. Drawing on cultural memory theory and reading the play as a multi-layered lieu de mémoire, it argues that Lask attempts to recuperate the revolutionary potential of the failed Peasants' War and harness it to the agenda of the KPD of the 1920s. The article begins by situating Lask's play in a tradition of leftist writing about the Peasants' War dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. It then considers the ways in which Lask uses historical analogy to create connections between the sixteenth-century uprising and events in post-World War I German political history. Finally, the article explores the techniques used by Lask to create a sense of revolutionary community among her actors and audience.

This article examines the early prose of Claire Goll (1890-1977), who spent the duration of the First World War in political exile in Switzerland. Focusing on the short story collection Die Frauen erwachen (1918) as well as Goll's journalistic writing, the article explores how her engagement with contemporary Heimat discourse, and above all her depiction of the war-time 'Heimatfront', is linked to her pacifist stance. Analysis of Goll's adaptation and transformation of conventional Heimat imagery can shed light on her criticism of the war and her condemnation of women's support for it. Goll exposes the patriotic Heimat idyll as a social construct which is performed by men and women in an attempt to distract themselves from the reality of the conflict. She condemns the restrictive gender roles and the jingoistic, militarist culture with which the Heimat ideal is associated. Overall, the article argues that Goll seeks to develop an alternative understanding of Heimat as the foundation for a new, internationalist politics.