Returning Memories: Former Prisoners of War in Divided and Reunited Germany

Christiane Wienand

doi:10.1017/9781782045304

Millions of former German soldiers (known as Heimkehrer, literally "homecomers," or returnees) returned from captivity as prisoners of war at the end of the Second World War, an experience that had profound effects on German society and touched almost every German family. Based on extensive archival research and oral history interviews, this book provides the first comprehensive analysis ofthe history of the German returnees, explored as a history of memory, both during Germany's division and after unification. At its core lies the question of how the experiences of war captivity were transformed into individual and collective memories. The book argues that memory of the experience of captivity and return is complex and multilayered and has been shaped by postwar political and social frameworks. Christiane Wienand is a Research Fellow on the AHRC-funded research project "Reverberations of War: Communities of Experience and Identification in Germany and Europe since 1945." She holds a PhD in History from University College London.

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Returning Memories

Former Prisoners of War in Divided and Reunited Germany

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-viii

Preface
pp ix-xii

List of Abbreviations
pp xiii-xvi

Introduction: Writing the History of Returnees
pp 1-23

1 - Depicting Returnees: Contested Media Representations in East and West Germany
pp 24-91

2 - Negotiating Victim Status: The Presence of the Past in Compensation Debates
pp 92-132

3 - Giving Meaning to the Past: Narratives of Transformation and Conversion
pp 133-174

4 - Interacting with the Past: Memory Projects of Returnees
pp 175-226

Epilogue: Transmitting Memories—Shaping Postwar Presents
pp 227-228

Conclusion
pp 229-236

Notes
pp 237-308

Bibliography
pp 309-338

Index
pp 339-346

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Returning Memories

Former Prisoners of War in Divided and Reunited Germany

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