The Struggle for the Streets of Berlin: Politics, Consumption, and Urban Space, 1914–1945
Cambridge University Press, 3/29/2018
EAN 9781108417648, ISBN10: 1108417647
Hardcover, 338 pages, 23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm
Language: English
Who owns the street? Interwar Berliners faced this question with great hope yet devastating consequences. In Germany, the First World War and 1918 Revolution transformed the city streets into the most important media for politics and commerce. There, partisans and entrepreneurs fought for the attention of crowds with posters, illuminated advertisements, parades, traffic jams, and violence. The Nazi Party relied on how people already experienced the city to stage aggressive political theater, including the April Boycott and Kristallnacht. Observers in Germany and abroad looked to Berlin's streets to predict the future. They saw dazzling window displays that radiated optimism. They also witnessed crime waves, antisemitic rioting, and failed policing that pointed toward societal collapse. Recognizing the power of urban space, officials pursued increasingly radical policies to 'revitalize' the city, culminating in Albert Speer's plan to eradicate the heart of Berlin and build Germania.
Acknowledgements
List of figures
Introduction
streets of desire and discontent
1. Paper revolutions
urban advertising in the aftermath of the First World War
2. Commerce turned inside out
street hawkers, shopkeepers, and the moral geography of consumption during the inflation
3. Crowd control
traffic, spectacle, and demonstrations during the 'golden twenties'
4. Fortress shops and militarized streets
looting in depression-era Berlin
5. When rogues become regulators
'coordination 'of the streets under the new Nazi regime
6. Visions of a Nazi world capital
urban 'revitalization' from the Christmas market to Kristallnacht
Epilogue
eradicating Berlin
urban destruction from Germania to the Second World War
Bibliography
Index.