Rock'n'Roll vs. Lipsi - the Influence of American Popular Culture on the GDR

Contents

1  Foreword  3

2  American Cultural Hegemony in Germany  6

3  American Culture in East Germany  10

3.1  The Wild Ones: American Movies and Halbstarke in East and West  14

3.2  Rock n Roll vs. Lipsi: American Music in the GDR  16

4  Conclusion  21

  Bibliography  24

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economically independent West Germany was the most essential goal to the defense

of Western Europe. Critics liked to call this American dominance a Demokratur; a mixture between the term Demokratie and Diktatur.

America's political, economic and military supremacy was, however, always closely connected with American culture. The European population had now not only to familiarize themselves with America's politics and social thoughts, but also with the American way of life in art and music, manner and believe. While Europe once thought of itself as the leading nation in culture and civilization, the devastations of both World Wars made them face America as the heartland of modernism and the embodiment of the cosmopolitan ideal. The American inuence and apparent superiority extended to all levels of culture and into many aspects of daily life and mass consumption. It left its mark on postwar literature, theater, and architecture as well as on music, lms and consumer attitudes. Western Europe soon began to live under a Pax Americana, just as Eastern Europe came to exist under the Pax Sovietica. (Berghahn, 1995, 68)

^{It was at that time, too, that Anti-Americanism began to grow bigger. This is, however, not a phenomenon of the 1950s only. It was, and still is, a reaction to the position of the United States in world politics, and has followed its rise from the early 19th century to their leading position in military, political, economical and cultural elds of today. At the same time, Anti-Americanism is as well} eine besondere Form der Kritik am 'Westen', das heiÿt am liberal-kapitalistischen System beziehungsweise an der modernen Konsumgesellschaft, die die USA im Zeitalter des Kalten Krieges in den Augen vieler Deutscher mit noch gröÿerer Berechtigung als vor 1945 verkörperten, sowie der Versuch, der vermeintlichen oder tatsächlichen Verwestlichung (oder 'Amerikanisierung') Deutschlands entgegenzuwirken. (Gassert, 2001, 945)

Besides, Anti-Americanism can be found as well in personal attitudes and experiences of just anybody, and thus, it can nally cumulate in the political opinion of a whole country.

Within the scope of my thesis, I would like to examine the impact of American popular culture on the German Sector and the later German Democratic Republic, as well as its reception by ocials and the civilian population. As America's impact was felt in both Germanies, my research will start with a description of the American cultural hegemony in both East and West Germany shortly after the Second World

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War. While West German authorities, even though concerned about the impact of American popular culture on their society, soon decided to let the cultural mixing regulate itself; East German ocials tried throughout their whole history to oppress and abolish these inuences. I will therefore try to show the eorts that were made to restrict these foreign 'inltrations' in East Germany. As this thesis can only give a minor glimpse, I will concentrate on American popular culture in the elds of music and lm, and the years from 1945 until the late 1960s. I will hereby especially concentrate on youth culture, as adolescents were most open to Americanization. On them, the war had made the deepest inictions; they more than others longed for a possibility to repair the cutbacks they had to endure during the war. Americanization also meant provocation and self-condence, a possibility to demarcate them from others and from the state in general. At the same time, young adults found themselves in the focus of a foreign industry, that saw them as target group for their consumer goods and cultural exports in music, art, and lm.

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2 American Cultural Hegemony in

Germany

American culture has long been a part of German culture. In the Weimar Republic, Germans were already fascinated with America, as it was associated with modernity. During the Roaring Twenties, American music, movies and style, but also technologies like the assembly line, became very fashionable and were soon copied. They imported, however, more than machines, because technology as such can never be transferred solely from one country to another.

There are always values behind technology that cannot be separated out and [...] inevitably involves acceptance of doctrines and attitudes, of which the technology is merely a tangible expression. (Berghahn, 1995, 73) So, already by the mid-1920s, Americanism was perceived as controversial and widely discussed. Some considered the inuences as too commercialized, and the United States themselves as a nation which lacked the same cultural and spiritual tradition as Europe. Fears spread, that these inuences would destroy ones own cultural heritage. At the same time, the image of the New Woman, a strong, fashionable character which cut her hair, dressed in the latest, often daring fashion and seized her freedom and liberation, was spreading through Hollywood lms and magazines. Women's changing role in society was not only not welcome, but a threat to the male world order. All these concerns were found among all political groups, but grew especially strong among national conservatives and fascists.

It is therefore no wonder, that the National Socialists later banned much of American popular culture with a referral to its 'degenerating' inuence. Americanism became a negative term, the relationship to American popular culture dicult and ambivalent. On the one hand, jazz was banned from most clubs and dance halls, but on the other hand, American movies still were shown in cinemas around the country, and American

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lm divas like Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo were admired by a big audience. However, the political changes in 1933 represented a break in how American culture was treated, and cultural interchange became more seldom.

Besides, there was the conviction, that the idea of Kultur, or even Hochkultur, could only be found within Europe, especially Germany, the land of poets and philosophers.

The synonym culture, so the unanimous consumption, would not even translate well to the extent of the term Kultur; and the Americans would not know the dierence anyhow.

Ihnen fehlt die Schwere, die trächtige Fülle, das seelenhafte Pathos, das sich im deutschen Bewuÿtsein des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts mit diesem Wort verbindet und seine oft emphatische Verwendung verständlich macht.

(Plessner, 1935, 57) This lack of depth and inwardness was supposed to be especially distinct in American

music, literature and theater. While Kultur needed a Seele - out of the German perspective - Americanism meant material values only.

After the declaration of war on the United States in December 1941, American culture nally was condemned as inferior and the Nazi propaganda machinery got the

instruction to prove so as well. Links between Jewish Bolshevism, a world conspiracy and the American president Franklin Roosevelt were established, and, as the German

troops had to retreat by the end of 1944, fears of the Anglo-American soldateska, with their intention of raping and killing, constructed. (vgl. Poiger, 2000, 28)

After World War II, each German had his own impression of America, a mixture of prewar ideas together with the experiences made through wartime, fraternization, denazication and economic reconstruction. These feelings ranged from appreciation to ambivalence or hostility. The rst encounter with Americans were mostly made through contacts with GI's. These experiences of occupation shaped German reactions to American culture importantly. Firstly, through the Allied occupation, lots of goods from nylon stockings, chewing gum, and cigarettes to popular music were brought to the markets. These imports were by no means restricted to the West Zones; imported goods could easily reach the eastern parts through border trac via Berlin. This border trac between the dierent sectors prolonged all until the building of the wall in 1961. People from East Germany went shopping and enjoyed themselves in movie theaters in West Berlin. Western radio stations like AFN (American Forces Network)

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