Berlin Alexanderplatz: Radio, Film, and the Death of Weimar Culture

Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism #37

by Peter Jelavich

This fascinating exploration of a work that was the epitome of German literary modernism illuminates in chilling detail the death of the Weimar Republic's left-leaning culture of innovation and experimentation. Peter Jelavich examines Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929), a novel that questioned the autonomy and coherence of the human personality in the modern metropolis, and traces the radical discrepancies that came with its adaptation into a radio play (1930) and a film (1931). Jelavich explains these discrepancies by examining not only the varying demands of genre and technology but also the political and economic contexts of the media—in particular, the censorship practices in German radio and film. His analysis culminates in a richly textured discussion of the complex factors that led to the demise of Weimar culture, as Nazi intimidation and the economic strains of the Depression induced producers to depoliticize their works. Jelavich's book becomes a cautionary tale about how fear of outspoken right-wing politicians can curtail and eliminate the arts as a critical counterforce to politics—all in the name of entertainment.

Genres: Germany, Nonfiction

316 pages, Hardcover

First published December 10, 2005

About the author

Peter Jelavich specializes in the cultural and intellectual history of Europe since the Enlightenment, with emphasis on Germany. His areas of interest include the interaction of elite and popular culture; the history of mass culture and the media; and the application of cultural and social theories to historical study.

Reviews

[Bill Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent look at culture in the latter days of the Weimar Republic. I read Döblin's novel last year and I think it may be the best book I've read that was written in Europe between the wars. Jelavich's study is only incidentally about the novel though. His focus is on the way environment and especially politics transform culture. His conclusion -- that the rising Nazi party in 1931 effectively squelched elements of Döblin's book in its film version and helped ban the radio play (which sounds incredibly entertaining) from even being broadcast -- is not a revelation, but the details are fascinating. Apart from the topic at hand, the background material on the structure of broadcasting in the Republic and on film censorship prior to Hitler's advent, are extremely interesting.

After 1931, when the Nazis made major electoral gains, the description of the spiral into thought crime and censorship is chilling. An extensive section on the banning of the film All Quiet on the Western Front is telling . . . voices on the right accused the movie simultaneously of portraying Germany as overly militaristic and of depicting war as insufficiently noble. The ability to hold conflicting ideas within the same ideology is, of course, horribly familiar. The other familiar note is just how closely the censorship of socialist ideas here is mirrored by what happened in the USA barely more than a decade later.

In our time, powers on both the left and the right are fighting a similar, if broader, battle over the ideological content of our media, so the lessons here are current . . . and probably eternal. Absolutely essential reading for anyone who likes Döblin's book, the historical era, or the dark side of cultural history.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting read. Has many parallels to contemporary American society in terms of partisan "influence" on the media. Gives a deeper understanding of how the Nazis were able to take power so effectively the early 1930s. Oh, and it deals with a fantastic novel and the film that was based on it.