Postmemory and Implication: Susanne Fritz Revisits the Post/War Period in <i>Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind</i> (2018)
After providing an introduction to German language family narratives of the past forty years and discussing the relevance of Michael Rothberg’s notion of the “Implicated Subject” for the study of these narratives, this article presents a detailed analysis of Susanne Fritz’s German-Polish family hist...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Humanities |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/10/1/23 |
| _version_ | 1797417600019333120 |
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| author | Friederike Eigler |
| author_facet | Friederike Eigler |
| author_sort | Friederike Eigler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | After providing an introduction to German language family narratives of the past forty years and discussing the relevance of Michael Rothberg’s notion of the “Implicated Subject” for the study of these narratives, this article presents a detailed analysis of Susanne Fritz’s German-Polish family history <i>Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind</i> (How does the war get into the child, 2018). Exemplifying the archival turn in postmemorial writings, the book draws on multiple sources and makes a compelling case for a broader public acknowledgment of the incarceration of German civilians (including the author’s mother) in post-war Polish labor camps, to this day a little-known aspect of German wartime suffering. The article examines on the one hand the intertwined nature of the mother’s wartime memories and the daughter’s postmemories and, on the other, questions of “implication” at the historical and the textual level (i.e., regarding the ancestors’ involvement in Nazi Germany <i>and</i> regarding the narrator’s positioning vis-à-vis her family history). The central challenge the narrative grapples with is how the suffering of Germans can be addressed within a larger perpetrator heritage. In its critical examination of archival materials and its multi-faceted examination of implication, the book makes a significant contribution to the collective memory of the (post-) war period as well as to the academic study of memory. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:21:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bfa15f7b3a404374bf6bf2659d7bb138 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0787 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:21:11Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-bfa15f7b3a404374bf6bf2659d7bb1382023-12-03T11:47:08ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872021-01-011012310.3390/h10010023Postmemory and Implication: Susanne Fritz Revisits the Post/War Period in <i>Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind</i> (2018)Friederike Eigler0Department of German, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USAAfter providing an introduction to German language family narratives of the past forty years and discussing the relevance of Michael Rothberg’s notion of the “Implicated Subject” for the study of these narratives, this article presents a detailed analysis of Susanne Fritz’s German-Polish family history <i>Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind</i> (How does the war get into the child, 2018). Exemplifying the archival turn in postmemorial writings, the book draws on multiple sources and makes a compelling case for a broader public acknowledgment of the incarceration of German civilians (including the author’s mother) in post-war Polish labor camps, to this day a little-known aspect of German wartime suffering. The article examines on the one hand the intertwined nature of the mother’s wartime memories and the daughter’s postmemories and, on the other, questions of “implication” at the historical and the textual level (i.e., regarding the ancestors’ involvement in Nazi Germany <i>and</i> regarding the narrator’s positioning vis-à-vis her family history). The central challenge the narrative grapples with is how the suffering of Germans can be addressed within a larger perpetrator heritage. In its critical examination of archival materials and its multi-faceted examination of implication, the book makes a significant contribution to the collective memory of the (post-) war period as well as to the academic study of memory.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/10/1/23multigenerational narrativefamily historyimplicationpostmemoryarchival turncollective memory |
| spellingShingle | Friederike Eigler Postmemory and Implication: Susanne Fritz Revisits the Post/War Period in <i>Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind</i> (2018) Humanities multigenerational narrative family history implication postmemory archival turn collective memory |
| title | Postmemory and Implication: Susanne Fritz Revisits the Post/War Period in <i>Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind</i> (2018) |
| title_full | Postmemory and Implication: Susanne Fritz Revisits the Post/War Period in <i>Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind</i> (2018) |
| title_fullStr | Postmemory and Implication: Susanne Fritz Revisits the Post/War Period in <i>Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind</i> (2018) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Postmemory and Implication: Susanne Fritz Revisits the Post/War Period in <i>Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind</i> (2018) |
| title_short | Postmemory and Implication: Susanne Fritz Revisits the Post/War Period in <i>Wie kommt der Krieg ins Kind</i> (2018) |
| title_sort | postmemory and implication susanne fritz revisits the post war period in i wie kommt der krieg ins kind i 2018 |
| topic | multigenerational narrative family history implication postmemory archival turn collective memory |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/10/1/23 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT friederikeeigler postmemoryandimplicationsusannefritzrevisitsthepostwarperiodiniwiekommtderkrieginskindi2018 |