The Cold War was not only about the imperial ambitions of the super powers, their military strategies, and antagonistic ideologies. It was also about conflicting worldviews and their correlates in the daily life of the societies involved. The term “Cold War Culture” is often used in a broad sense to describe media influences, social practices, and symbolic representations as they shape, and are shaped by, international relations. Yet, it remains in question whether ― or to what extent ― the Cold War Culture model can be applied to European societies, both in the East and the West. While every European country had to adapt to the constraints imposed by the Cold War, individual development was affected by specific conditions as detailed in these chapters. This volume offers an important contribution to the international debate on this issue of the Cold War impact on everyday life by providing a better understanding of its history and legacy in Eastern and Western Europe.
Author(s): Annette Vowinckel, Thomas Lindenberger, Marcus M. Payk
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 395
Tags: Cold War, Cultures
Contents......Page 5
Illustrations......Page 9
European Cold War Culture(s)? An Introduction......Page 11
Part 1 — Mediating the Cold War: Radio, Film, Television, and Literature......Page 31
Chapter 1 — East European Cold War Culture(s): Alterities, Commonalities, and Film Industries......Page 33
Chapter 2 — "We Started the Cold War": A Hidden Message behind Stalin's Attack on Anna Akhmatova......Page 65
Chapter 3 — Radio Reform in the 1980s: RIAS and DT-64 Respond to Private Radio......Page 86
Chapter 4 — The Enemy Within: (De)Dramatizing the Cold War in U.S. and West German Spy TV from the 1960s......Page 104
Chapter 5 — Cold War Television: Olga Korbut and the Munich Olympics of 1972......Page 122
Part II — Constructing Identities: Representations of the "Self"......Page 137
Chapter 6 — Catholic Piety in the Early Cold War Years, or How the Virgin Mary Protected the West from Communism......Page 139
Chapter 7 — The Road to Socialism Paved with Good Intentions: Automobile Culture in the Soviet Union, Romania, and the GDR During Détente......Page 162
Chapter 8 — Advertising, Emotions, and "Hidden Persuaders": The Making of Cold-War Consumer Culture in Britain from the 1940s to the 1960s......Page 182
Chapter 9 — Survival in the Welfare Cocoon: The Culture of Civil Defense in Cold War Sweden......Page 201
Part III — Crossing the Border: Interactions with the "Other"......Page 221
Chapter 10 — The Peace and the War Camps: The Dichotomous Cold War Culture in Czechoslovakia: 1948–1960......Page 223
Chapter 11 — Artistic Style, Canonization, and Identity Politics in Cold War Germany, 1947–1960......Page 245
Chapter 12 — What Does Democracy Look Like? (And Why Would Anyone Want to Buy It?): Third World Demands and West German Responses at 1960s World Youth Festivals......Page 264
Chapter 13 — Drawing the East-West Border: Narratives of Modernity and Identity in the Northeastern Adriatic (1947–1954)......Page 286
Part IV — The Legacies of the Cold War: Remembrance and Historiography......Page 307
Chapter 14 — A 1950s Revival: Cold War Culture in Reunified Germany......Page 309
Chapter 15 — The Mikson Case: War Crimes Memory, Estonian Identity Reconstructions, and the Transnational Politics of Justice......Page 331
Chapter 16 — The First Cold War Memorial in Berlin: A Short Inquiry into Europe, the Cold War, and Memory Cultures......Page 357
Notes on Contributors......Page 380
Index......Page 384
