German Politics and Society

This article examines two German films which, in different ways, engage with ethical questions raised by scientific advances in biotechnology and the specter of eugenics: Blueprint (Rolf Schübel, 2003), an adaptation of Charlotte Kerner's Blaupause, and The Elementary Particles (Elementarteilchen, Oskar Roehler, 2006), a cinematic interpretation of Michel Houellebecq's novel with the same title. Assuming different positions, the films contribute to the divisive public debate surrounding human cloning. Their visions vacillate between dystopian warnings of a commodification of human existence and euphoric promises of the potential to genetically erase human flaws forever. The films' main concern, however, is a critique of ideological positions associated with the generation of 1968, and the directors use the debate on genetics to infuse this discussion with an element of radicalism. This article explores the ways in which the films engage with the memory discourse in Germany through the lens of discourses on ethics and biotechnology.

Explanations for the roots and cures of the continuous divergence between East and West German political cultures tend to fall into two camps: socialization and situation. The former emphasizes the impact of socialization before and during the GDR era and ongoing (post-communist) legacies derived from Eastern Germans' previous experience, whereas the latter focuses primarily on economic difficulties after the unification that caused dissatisfaction among the population in the Eastern parts of Germany. The article argues that in order to explain the persistence and reinvigoration of an autonomous political culture during the last two decades in the new Länder, we need to synthesize the two approaches and to add a third aspect: the unification hypothesis. Although the communist period brought about a specific political culture in the GDR, the German unification process—based rather on transplantation than on adaptation—has caused it neither to diminish nor to wither away. On the contrary, the separate (post)-communist political culture was reaffirmed and reinstalled under novel circumstances.

Much has been written about German right-extremist groups, regardless of whether they are neo-Nazi political parties or skinheads, but little has been published about their recruitment of new members and sympathizers. As is true of any group, the rightist movement needs constantly TO replenish its ranks in order not to shrink. Thus, they seek recruits in the high school and university student populations. In the latter, they have wooed members of conservative fraternities especially. Moreover, they have sought to win over recruits and officer trainees in the German armed forces. This article assesses their degree of success and raises the questions whether the recruitment by rightist groups differs from democratic groups and whether the rightist groups pose a threat to the existing democratic system.

Mary Fulbrook, ed., Power and Society in the GDR 1961-1979: The ‘Normalisation of Rule’ (New York: Berghahn Books, 2009)

Jan Palmowski, Inventing a Socialist Nation: Heimat and the Politics of Everyday Life in the GDR 1945-1990 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)

Esther von Richthofen, Bringing Culture to the Masses: Control, Compromise and Participation in the GDR (New York: Berghahn Books, 2009)

Martin Dean, Robbing the Jews: The Confiscation of Jewish Property in the Holocaust, 1933-1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)

Reviewed by Jürgen Lillteicher 78

George Last, After the ‘Socialist Spring’: Collectivisation and Economic Transformation in the GDR (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2009)

Reviewed by Katja M. Guenther

Anton Kaes, Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009).

Reviewed by Larson Powell

Y. Michal Bodemann, ed., The New German Jewry and the European Context: The Return of the European Jewish Diaspora (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)

Reviewed by Miriam Intrator

Noah Isenberg, ed., Weimar Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the Era (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008)

Reviewed by Ofer Ashkenazi

Anika Leithner, Shaping German Foreign Policy. History, Memory, and National Interest (Boulder and London: First Forum Press, 2009)

Reviewed by Helge F. Jani

David Bloxham, The Final Solution: A Genocide. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009)

Reviewed by Jutta A. Helm

Joyce Marie Mushaben, The Changing Face of Citizenship: Integration and Mobilization among Ethnic Minorities in Germany (New York: Berghahn Books, 2008)

Reviewed by Randall Hansen