Post by artraveler on Jul 29, 2019 5:11:13 GMT -8
Heinrich Boll Short Stories
Had Heinrich Boll written about the American South during the reconstruction period his stories would not be different. There is a melancholy atmosphere when a country loses a war. Insert Confederate for German experiences and the stories are familiar to every Southerner. Germany after defeat was a vast wasteland of gray and Boll’s stories express the grayness of loss and devastation, ruined cities with burned out buildings and the gloomy sense of defeat. The South like, Germany is occupied after the war by a hostile army, divided, starving and disillusioned that life could never ever be the same again.
Like the South, Germany had gone to war for the wrong reasons and lost. Causalities in both nations were horrific and affected the ratio of men and women for the next two generations. In the immediate aftermath of war both countries suffered economic disruption, political instability and general mistrust from the occupying armies. In the South the slave holding class was specifically blamed for the war and not brought back into the political system, and in Germany the Nazi Party was purged politically and, in some cases, hung.
In the story, “Across the Bridge” expresses the longing after the war for something to be the same as it was. A singular house across a bridge becomes the focus for a survivor of the war. He wishes that it would be the same; yet although it appears the same it was not a little girl of ten years earlier is now the somewhat haggard and seemingly bitter homemaker of the post war.
In, “That Time We Were In Odessa” set during the war, most likely 1944, soldiers are waiting to go to the front, and knowing the likelihood of returning is slim they sell all their belongings for a few hours of food and drink it is the forlornness of men who no longer feel there is anything to live for, “we suddenly knew that we would never come back, never.…”
“Stranger, Bear Word To The Spartans We…” a part of the famous quote of Herodotus which continues, “That here, obedient to their laws, we lie”, yet this is Germany, and Hitler is not a Spartan warrior king, and the German army is not defending an invasion from Persia but from the USSR. The title reinforces the idea that Germans were honorably following orders from their leaders and bear no responsibility for the war. However, the discovery of the old school, and the picture of Medea in the hall rescue the story. It is Medea who murders her children to attack her husband, and surely Germany is intent on the death of her children.
In, “What A Racket”, the aftermath of the war is described in children’s games. When we were children, we played tag, or hide n’ seek, perhaps marbles. In the post-war Germany the games have changed, “Air raid shelter, and bombed out are new games. A woman suggests, “Play Refugees now,” the woman said quietly. “You must flee from the burning city, understand?” And, “You must run for your lives, hurry, hurry—the Russians have reached the village!” Most likely Confederate children might have played similar games, instead of the Russians it would be Sherman or Grant rampaging through the country.
Winning a war can make dramatic changes on a country however, losing is much more profound. It is the ordeal of change that works on the mind of a nation; a population subjected to drastic change will plunge into an orgy of action. The millions of displaced people create the opportunity for transformation from one culture to another. In the South, slowly and perhaps grudgingly, acceptance of defeat led to reintegration into the union, in Germany the acceptance of defeat and in the west the goal of rebuilding a new German culture came much more quickly. Spurred on by the Cold War and the knowledge that the main battlefield in a USSR/US confrontation would be in Germany.
Boll’s stories provide a kind of release for Germans who survived the war and for those born after the war, an explanation for their actions during the war. It is not an apology for the Holocaust, or the war but an effort to help other generations of Germans avoid the same mistakes.
Had Heinrich Boll written about the American South during the reconstruction period his stories would not be different. There is a melancholy atmosphere when a country loses a war. Insert Confederate for German experiences and the stories are familiar to every Southerner. Germany after defeat was a vast wasteland of gray and Boll’s stories express the grayness of loss and devastation, ruined cities with burned out buildings and the gloomy sense of defeat. The South like, Germany is occupied after the war by a hostile army, divided, starving and disillusioned that life could never ever be the same again.
Like the South, Germany had gone to war for the wrong reasons and lost. Causalities in both nations were horrific and affected the ratio of men and women for the next two generations. In the immediate aftermath of war both countries suffered economic disruption, political instability and general mistrust from the occupying armies. In the South the slave holding class was specifically blamed for the war and not brought back into the political system, and in Germany the Nazi Party was purged politically and, in some cases, hung.
In the story, “Across the Bridge” expresses the longing after the war for something to be the same as it was. A singular house across a bridge becomes the focus for a survivor of the war. He wishes that it would be the same; yet although it appears the same it was not a little girl of ten years earlier is now the somewhat haggard and seemingly bitter homemaker of the post war.
In, “That Time We Were In Odessa” set during the war, most likely 1944, soldiers are waiting to go to the front, and knowing the likelihood of returning is slim they sell all their belongings for a few hours of food and drink it is the forlornness of men who no longer feel there is anything to live for, “we suddenly knew that we would never come back, never.…”
“Stranger, Bear Word To The Spartans We…” a part of the famous quote of Herodotus which continues, “That here, obedient to their laws, we lie”, yet this is Germany, and Hitler is not a Spartan warrior king, and the German army is not defending an invasion from Persia but from the USSR. The title reinforces the idea that Germans were honorably following orders from their leaders and bear no responsibility for the war. However, the discovery of the old school, and the picture of Medea in the hall rescue the story. It is Medea who murders her children to attack her husband, and surely Germany is intent on the death of her children.
In, “What A Racket”, the aftermath of the war is described in children’s games. When we were children, we played tag, or hide n’ seek, perhaps marbles. In the post-war Germany the games have changed, “Air raid shelter, and bombed out are new games. A woman suggests, “Play Refugees now,” the woman said quietly. “You must flee from the burning city, understand?” And, “You must run for your lives, hurry, hurry—the Russians have reached the village!” Most likely Confederate children might have played similar games, instead of the Russians it would be Sherman or Grant rampaging through the country.
Winning a war can make dramatic changes on a country however, losing is much more profound. It is the ordeal of change that works on the mind of a nation; a population subjected to drastic change will plunge into an orgy of action. The millions of displaced people create the opportunity for transformation from one culture to another. In the South, slowly and perhaps grudgingly, acceptance of defeat led to reintegration into the union, in Germany the acceptance of defeat and in the west the goal of rebuilding a new German culture came much more quickly. Spurred on by the Cold War and the knowledge that the main battlefield in a USSR/US confrontation would be in Germany.
Boll’s stories provide a kind of release for Germans who survived the war and for those born after the war, an explanation for their actions during the war. It is not an apology for the Holocaust, or the war but an effort to help other generations of Germans avoid the same mistakes.
