Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie

Montag, 09.11.2015

Prof. Dorothee Brantz, Technische Universität Berlin

Bunkered Landscapes and the Search for Peace in Post-World War II Berlin

World War II was an urban war. Increasingly targeting civilians, this war inflicted tremendous physical destruction and human suffering on cities worldwide. This paper focuses on the history of air raid bunkers in Berlin to illustrate the linkages between war, ideology, and the urban environment. After twelve years of war, mass killing, and dictatorship, many cities lay in ruins. After such a experience of war, violence and devastation, how was it possible to return to a sense of peace? What role did urban environments, particularly bunkers and their afterlives, play in this search for peace? Focusing on air raid bunkers, this presentation examines how they were dealt with after the war and which challenges they posed to the reconstruction of the city. In particular, I look at the so-called rubble mountains that were created to get rid of the excessive amounts of rubble all over the city, but also to cover up former bunkers and other Nazi military installations. How were integrated into the postwar landscape of Berlin and what symbolic meaning did they hold for the historical commemoration of the NS regime and WW II? This presentation seeks to foster a critical debate about the conceptualization of war and peace as well as historical memory in urban areas and the role of the environment in it.