Table of Contents

Part 1 Images of history - postwar German films and the Third Reich: the politics of representation; the flight from memory; the return of the repressed. Part 2 Germany as myth - Hans Jurgen Syberberg's "Hitler, a Film from Germany": history at a standstill; postmodernist staging; myth and identity; irrationalism reclaimed. Part 3 The presence of the past - Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "The Marriage of Maria Braun": the politics of private life; historical narration; history as trauma; the end of Utopia. Part 4 In search of Germany - Alexander Kluge's "The Patriot": nomadic history; the constructivist method; archaeology and imagination; the new patriotism. Part 5 Our childhoods, ourselves - Helma Sanders-Brahms' "Germany, Pale Mother": autobiography and memory; fatherland, mother tongue; feminist historiography. Part 6 Germany as memory - Edgar Reitz's "Heimat": scenes from the provinces; history of the everyday; memory and technology; history - made in Germany. Part 7 Epilogue - history, memory, and film: film and videotape sources.

About the Author

Anton Kaes is Chancellor Professor of German and Film Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.