Family Images During the Post-War Period - Essay Example

Discuss images of the post-war family in relation to the issues of parenthood, suffering and Verganagenheitsbewältigung in Uwe Timm’s Am Beispiel meines Bruders and Hans Ulrich Treichel’s Der Verlorene. The autobiographical explorations into the legacy of chaos, entailed in the family life after the Nazi period, have been well documented in Triechel’s Der Verlorene and Timm’s Am Beispiel meines Bruders. Weigel has rightly stated that, “Every generation is a continuation of the previous one and is responsible for its deeds...The forefathers ate unripe grapes, and their grandchildren got painfully numb teeth from it.”1 The passing down of memories with regard to wartime literature has provoked a keen interest, touching the sentimental cords of humankind and dating back to previous generations. The presentation of post-war society within the family domain in the two novels will be closely analysed in this essay, with regard to the family image, in order to ascertain what life was like and why family traits and painful emotions were present, as Weigel suggests above. Firstly, guilt and shame will be presented as a means of suffering within the family. Secondly, the effects of these emotions will provide a continuation into issues of parenthood and how ghosts from the past affect upbringing. Finally, Vergangenheitsbewältigung will be examined in relation to language and generational gaps in order to determine how the past is dealt with in each novel in order to decipher how each author depicts the family image during this period and the traumatic effects this has had on offspring born after the war. Traumatic experience can be defined within the family setting through suffering. However, it is necessary to examine what it is to suffer and the consequences of it. This can be categorised by guilt, something that, according to Clarke, is “The feeling of having broken an internalised code of conduct or morality. To experience guilt is to feel pricked by conscience at this transgression, even if the individual is not called to accounts by others.”2 If suffering is symptomatic of guilt within the post-war image of the family, then let us now consider the meaning of shame. Undoubtedly, guilt is concerned with the inner-feelings of the individual while shame is how the individual believes himself to be considered by others. Lynd describes this notion as follows, “No sin has been committed. But discrepancy appears between us and the social situation, between what we feel from within and what appears to us, and perhaps to others from without.”3 This definition can be clarified further by alluding to Sartre, who points out that those who are guilty feel the force of a judgemental gaze by others, thus evoking emotions of shame with regard to their actions.4Therefore, the two emotions merge and emphasis is used accordingly, within the two novels, in order to nuance the subtle differences of suffering within the family setting. The notion of guilt in Der Verlorene can easily be linked to the above definition as Treichel alludes to defeated ways of thinking and behaving by the Nazis and the notion that personal loss is so overwhelming that personal moral conduct is quickly called into question. Treichel demonstrates these two notions of guilt through the narrator’s father. Firstly, it is clear from the father’s conversation with Professor Liebstadt that he resents the Poles neighbouring his local vicinity and thus Nazi ideology of the Poles and Russians being inferior nations becomes apparent. The father’s negative tone is demonstrated in saying, „Während man Rakowiec I schon von weitem ansehen konnte, dass dies das Dorf der Deutschen war, konnte man Rakowiec II schon von weitem ansehen, dass es von Polen bewohnt wurde. Alles Kraut und Rüben. Abfälle im Garten, Schlammlöcher auf den Wegen, löchrige Zäune, offene Ställe, Gänse und Hühner, die im ganzen Dorf herumstreuten.“5 Despite the superior attitude of German patriotism, which is displayed by the narrator’s father, he eventually had to abandon his farm and traditional family life in Rakowiec due to the increasing pressure from the Polish authorities and the Red Army. The father feels guilty, as he has turned his back on his farm, a place, which he had a responsibility to nurture and rear. Moral conduct plays a large role in his guilty conscience here, as he and his family were not physically forced out of their home; they left out of fear. In this sense, Treichel portrays the family as Vertreibene rather than Flüchtlinge and the fathers’ deep-rooted principles of abandoning his farming traditions have transformed into guilt. His Heimat will soon belong to a nation, which he considers inferior to his own. Therefore, it is not only pride and morality, but also the father’s personal feeling of leaving. This means that he has also broken the set of Nazi beliefs with regard to supposed inferior nations. Moreover the act of leaving highlights his weakness and potential lack of belief in Nazi ideals with regard to approaching enemies. His own personal punishment is obvious, „Wer sine Haus verlässt versündigt sich. Wer sein Haus verlässt, dem lauern die Russen auf.“6 Despite wavering in the face of other nations, the father’s guilt does not identify with perpetrations committed by the Nazis; instead Treichel focuses on the trauma that the family suffered at the hands of the Russians in 1945. Lehmann7 correctly points out that this type of attitude was typical of expelled families after the war and that they were unable to recognise any form of collective guilt as a nation because their own losses were so severe, and it is precisely this definition into which Treichel’s portrayal of guilt falls. Treichel presents guilt in such an intense way that the narrator’s father is perceived as a character with an acute desire to make up for family loss. He is clearly very sensitive to how others perceive him, as he is eager to prove that he and his family have successfully integrated into the 1960’s German society and that they have succeeded from the flourishing German economy of that time through materialistic gain and good business acumen. This behaviour suggests that all family members are very aware of criticism from others, which supports the previously stated definitions of shame through a judgemental gaze and social situations. The notion of shame is best demonstrated when the narrator’s father is in the process of turning part of the house into a shop. The narrator speaks of „der einzige Zugang zu dem verborgenen Raum... ich glaubte fest daran, dass der Raum noch immer existierte, auch wenn er nun gänzlich unauffindbar und unbetretbar geworden war.“8 In this respect, the notion of rebuilding suggests that the father is seeking to eradicate his past life, as he is ashamed of it and he does not want his customers to know his origins. The idea of a forbidden room can be seen as a metaphor for the father’s previous life, as Treichel’s narrator is denied the information that lies behind the locked door. However, the narrator feels as if the room is still present, despite his father’s refusal to admit this. The suffering continues, as shame is continuously present within family dynamics, as the past is not openly explained to the narrator. It can be argued therefore, that shame has penetrated so deep into the father’s conscience that he is unable to talk about his wartime experiences in an honest and open way with his own son. Mitscherlich points out that, “Since the end of the war the restoration of Germany was the average German’s pet concern.”9 It would appear that the German economic miracle has challenged the way in which coming to terms with suffering was dealt with. The intense feeling of shame meant that silence ensued in the face of a new, prosperous life. It is apparent that Treichel presents shame in an absolute sense, as it is so painful that silence soon becomes the only solution to overcome the situation. The narrators’ parents are actively trying to move on from their past life and the emotions that became an integral part of it. However, there is always the sense that emotions from the past are still lurking in the present, such as the forbidden room. It seems that the parents are unable to escape from a past that they are ashamed of. They are still being haunted by deep-rooted emotions from their past life despite functioning in the present and shame freezes the family in time. Timm on the other hand, in Am Beispiel meines Bruders comments on the notion of guilt within the family setting, as suffering through a guilty conscience, with regard to previous actions and perpetrations, which are presented in a completely different way to Treichel’s novel. Uncovering his brother’s past through his diary, the narrator is horrified at what he reads, „Das Tagebuch erzählte nichts von Gefangenen. An keiner Stelle schreibt er darüber, dass Gefangene gemacht wurde. Entweder wurden die Russen sofort getötet, oder die Russen ergaben sich nicht. Eine dritte Möglichkeit ist, dass er es nicht für erwähnenswert hielt. 75m raucht Iwan Zigaretten, ein Fressen für mein MG.“10 As Timm has very little background knowledge of his brother and his role in the SS, he is obliged to make assumptions on actions and decisions that his brother took. However, the narrator feels obliged to stop reading the diary after having learnt the light-hearted manner in which his brother talks about shooting the Russian soldier. In this sense, Iwan the Russian soldier is dehumanised and is merely a target for the German SS. In discovering the past, the narrator is aghast at finding the blood on the hands of his family members. However, Timm’s narrator is able to end his education about the past if he wishes, by closing the diary, unlike the narrator in Treichel’s novel. The emotional pain endured through a guilty conscience is much less horrific . Nonetheless Timm clearly notices its importance, as the narrator explains that „Seit ich an diesem Buch arbeite, seit ich lese... die Schmerz läßt mich nicht schlafen, macht Lesen und Schreiben unmöglich, der nicht nur das verletzte Auge tränen läßt, sondern auch das andere, ich, der einer Generation angehört, der man das Weinen verboten hatte.“11 When the narrator learns of the manner in which the war was dealt with, within the family setting, he begins to realise the role of his relations regarding Nazi crimes. The narrator begins to recognise the lack of moral conduct of his relations in comparison to his own set of values, which in turn has effects on his conscience. He begins to feel responsible for the crimes that were committed in the past and this is shown by the emotional consequences that the narrator experiences in the above quote. Therefore, guilt as an emotion is self-reflexive in this case and the narrator is able to take a rational approach as an adult, to a long list of horrific events. As a result, guilt is much less tragic in Timm’s account, as it is laced with maturity and knowledge, something which Treichel’s narrator does not have access to as a child. Nevertheless, emotions are still deep-rooted and shame quickly becomes an integral part of Timm’s narrative. Timm demonstrates this by carefully studying the language used by his parents to depict the war period. The narrator explains „Die formelhafte Zusammenfassung der Eltern für das Geschehen war der Schicksalsschlag, ein Schicksal, worauf man persönlich keinen Einfluss hatte nehmen können.“12 It would seem that the narrator’s parents had set-phrases to tell their stories about the war. Although the topic was discussed within the family setting, it was phrased in such a way to avoid questions being asked. The topic was discussed in a very conservative way. This shows how the emotion of shame acts as an influencing factor here, as the discrepancy and the judgement of others dominate language. The parents are clearly concerned about what others will think of them, even within the family setting. It is as if the narrator’s family wishes to defuse the horror of the war by restricting much of the discussion on this topic through anecdotes. Consequently, shame is constantly present within the family setting, as words are carefully chosen especially when the period of the war is discussed. The narrator seems to be much aware of this fact and resents the calculated conversations of his parents. Certain words are in italics and this suggests that the narrator is attempting to mimic the language of his parents and by doing so, he makes it clear that he is simply repeating what they have said. The act of passing on their messages suggests that the narrator is aware of the power of shame as an emotion and as a result, he is not prepared to accept it. Unlike this, Treichel’s narrator, insists on a rather more emotionally distant account. Timm presents emotional guilt as representing Germany as a collective nation, as he calls into question the wrongdoings of the Germans and how his family concealed these immoral acts in everyday life. Hence, guilt is represented as a gradual discovery in Timm’s novel, something that Vees- Gulani defines as metaphysical guilt, as responsibility was violated and injustice and harm occurred to humanity as a result13. Consequently, Timm’s arguments are more calculated and revisionist in approach, thus making it hard to draw a comparison with Treichel’s accounts, which are highly charged with emotion. It is quite clear then, that each author employs a different method in order to define the family situation within the categories of guilt and shame: Timm looks back and comments on the German nation as a whole, whereas Treichel focuses primarily on a very specific family setting. After having considered suffering from emotional pain as a haunting memory from the wartime period, it is necessary to consider the notion of parenthood and how this is portrayed against such a traumatic background, in order to capture the post- war family image. Photographs are certainly a good indicator of what family life was like at this time as they represent an archive of memories. They are a form of culture, which demands an oral explanation of events. Photographs are also ghost-like as in many cases they have often outlived the person being shown. The only time when the mother communicates with her son in Der Verlorene is when she is looking at photos of Arnold, the son whom she gave away. The ghostly image of Arnold is imposed on the narrator to such an extent that he says, “Arnold war mein Freund geworden.”14The beliefs of the narrator’s parents quickly become internalised in him and it is quite clear that despite the unknown location of Arnold, his presence within family life is very apparent. The idea of the main role and the secondary role is clearly demonstrated in the family photos, as the narrator’s body is only shown in fragments, whereas Arnold is represented as a complete body in the centre of the photograph. The repetition of ‘während’ clauses in this section of the novel suggests that the narrator is constantly compared to his brother. This idea becomes clear when the narrator explains about the photographs of his brother, “Während mein Bruder der Arnold schon zu Säuglingszeiten nicht nur wie ein glücklicher, sondern auch wie ein bedeutender Mensch aussah, war ich auf den meisten Fotos meiner Kindheit zumeist nur teilweise und manchmal auch so gut wie überhaupt nicht zu sehen.“15 This quote suggests that the identity of the narrator is underdeveloped in comparison to Arnold’s. The use of ‘nicht nur...sondern auch’ is also noteworthy here and it becomes clear that the narrator’s upbringing is deeply tinged with the memory of Arnold and his role within the family. Tabener highlights with regard to the photographs that, “The impression of self-negating introversion is reinforced by a number of parallel sentences introduced by ‘allerdings’, ‘außerdem’ and ‘darüber hinaus’, each of which implies a further reduction of what can be seen of the narrator.”16 Tabener makes a valid point here, as language is used to uphold the legacy of the narrator’s missing brother thus demanding that the narrator internalises the pain of trauma and loss that his parents have experienced in losing their son. A combination of language and memories provoked by the photographs can therefore be considered as a destructive force within the family setting as the narrator is reduced to a desperate child due to lack of compassion from his parents. Therefore, this negative tone of narration demonstrates the relationship that the narrator has with both of his parents. Furthermore, the narrator’s relationship with his father is particularly ambiguous. His being ordered by his father to have his haircut is one incident which upset him and reminded him about his secondary status. „Ein inneres Maße hatte seine Toleranzgrenze auf Frontsoldaten- beziehungsweise Lagerinsassenhaarlänge festgelegt.“17 This hairstyle, which was similar to the inmates of the Nazi concentration camps, accentuates the image of death with regard to parenthood and upbringing, thus suggesting that this experience was an unpleasant one. In this respect, the passing down of family heritage through photos and memories displaces the narrator’s role within the family. He feels that he is denied an identity by his parents, as they are constantly looking for Arnold in him and that is someone he is not. Hence Arnold’s legacy is passed down through generations. Furthermore, the hairstyle suggests that the narrator is lacking attention in his upbringing. He is regarded as someone who is worthless, undeserving of a complete photo and polished outward appearance. Had the change been made, it would have been a positive step towards the new era of Germany with no link to past atrocities and would have boosted his morale. Despite having never met the brother who was sixteen years his elder, Timm’s narrator is also unable to escape the ghostly presence of his brother. „Abwesend und doch anwesend hat er mich durch meine Kindheit begleitet...Auch wenn nicht von ihm die Rede war, war er doch gegenwärtig“.18 Instead of blaming this ghostly image for atrocity like the narrator in Treichel’s novel, Timm’s narrator wishes to question his brother about everything that his parents have refused to mention. The narrator attempts to create an identity for his brother, as he has absolutely no idea what he was like. He says „Wie sah der Bruder sich selbst? Welche Empfindungen hatte er? Erkannte er etwas wie Täterschaft, Schuldig werden, Unrecht?“19 The narrator needs to fill in the gaps, in order to find out the identity of his brother and his upbringing by his parents. Once again, photographs are used in this instance as they provide ample evidence of background information. The narrator notes a photograph of his brother, ill with a fever and with his father on a motorbike. The photo has a similar function to Der Verlorene as they keep the memory of the brother alive. However Timm’s use of photos aims to reduce the notion of atrocity as they only show one perspective. Hence, only one meaning can be depicted and clearly the narrator is curious to find out more information about his brother, unlike Treichel’s representation of a bitter brotherly relationship. Photographs take on a retrospective role, which evokes curiosity into identity and Timm’s narrator uses the photos to learn about what family dynamics were like before his brother left to fight in the war. He wishes to construct an identity out of curiosity, in order to glean information about his brother and his upbringing, whereas Treichel’s narrator has an identity already constructed for him by his parents, which is that of Arnold; an identity which he is unable to fulfil, thus proving childhood to be a laborious process. The act of expanding the private family sphere and decoding family relationships can also be considered in terms of Verganenheitsbewältigung, which refers to how coming to terms with the past is dealt with. There is a lot to be said about this topic with regard to the presentation of generational differences in both novels by Treichel and Timm. This inability to move away from the past has had permanent negative effects on the narrator; this idea can be linked to the rejection of parental values in relation to the family coming to terms with the past. A link can be made on this point with regard to conflicting generational differences in Der Verlorene through food. It is used to show the contrast and different attitudes in dealing with the past. Fiddes points out that, “The foods we select reflect our thought, including our conception of our actual or desired way of life and our perceptions of the food choices of people with whom we wish to identify.”20 In this respect food can represent rejection of parental values due to generational differences. This idea is best described in Treichel’s novel through the rejection of food; the narrator is sick in the new family car and he explains, „Dass ich oft mit verschmutzter Kleidung, bleich und geschwächt wieder nach Hause transportiert wurde.“21 It can be argued that the narrator wishes to rid his body of the way in which his family deals with their past, which is essentially plunging into a new life. It is interesting that the narrator is not sick in the old car; hence this act of abjection defies the authoritarian behaviour of his father, which is characterised by his communication with the narrator in the form of ‘kurze Befehle’ and ‘Arbeitsanweisungen.’22This not only leads to purification of the body and mind, but is also a means of expressing disgust at the way in which his father deals with the past and present situations. Furthermore, the representation of pigs’ blood in the novel is very telling. The narrator’s father defines it as follows: “Schweineblut ist Lebenssaft.”23This comment suggests that the blood from the pig is the main ingredient of life, which in this context can be assumed that the father is nostalgic about his past and that he is obstinate in the face of change and coming to terms with the realities of what happened during his earlier years as a young man. As the narrative continues, the narrator explains that he is content to carry the blood home from the slaughterhouse and at one point the narrator remarks that he is unwilling to have blood-stained hands from the pig. These statements by the narrator make it very clear that a generation gap exists between father and son. The narrator is unable to identify with the slaughter industry implying that he is not interested in his father’s agricultural heritage. More importantly the pigs’ blood can be seen as stains from the past, which his father clings on to by still being involved in the industry. Consequently, dealing with the past is done in oppositional ways as neither father nor son is able to identify with the others’ way of dealing with trauma and memories of the past. Timm however, examines generation differences in the dealing with the past by considering what other narratives have to say on this topic. The narrator informs the reader about the Jewish critic, Primo Levi in saying, „Primo Levi schriebt in Die Untergangenen und die Geretteten, wie fürchterlich es war, in den Lagern keine Briefe, keine Nachrichten von Freunden und Verwandten zu bekommen...entweder waren Freunde in einem anderen Lager, oder sie waren schon umgebracht worden.“24 Timm puts tragedy in a wider context, by highlighting to the reader that coming to terms with the past is necessary on a collective basis. This attitude is diametrically opposed to Treichel’s representation of Verganagenheitsbewältigung. The narrator also alludes to other authors, critics and political leaders such as Jean Amery, Christopher Browning and Himmler. In doing so, Timm creates a juxtaposition between family and public life. After having heard Levy’s account of what happened to the Jews and his own experiences of the war, the loss of the family flat in Hamburg in the 1943 firestorm appears much less tragic. By referring to Levy, Timm seeks to contextualise the events within a historical period and this is demonstrated through Levy’s quote about the Jews. It proved that indoctrination, peer pressure and weakness on the part of the Germans constituted political persuasion of the time. It can be suggested then, that Timm takes a revisionist approach to Vergangenheitsbewältigung as the majority of his narrative lacks emotional tragedy within the family setting. As an author, Timm shows the generation gap between the narrator and his father. The narrator intends to disrupt the silence of the past and face the realities and accounts of what happened to others, rather than produce an agonising account of misunderstanding between generations like in Der Verlorene. The narrator intends to understand this era and he admits that, „Fast alle haben weggesehen und geschwiegen, als die jüdischen Nachbarn abgeholt wurden und einfach verschwanden.“25 Direct explanations like the one above suggest that Timm wishes to break taboos and take a new approach towards dealing with the past. This idea is supported by the Mitscherlich theory, which suggests that people do not remember in an objective way and as a result, history is tinged to their own advantage.26 It is possible therefore, that Timm appeals to his generation to redress the balance of suffering in terms of the past by taking others into account, such as the Jews, who were unable to communicate and would potentially die forgotten, unlike the narrator’s brother. By comparing the narrator’s generation to his father’s, Timm’s narrator points out the missing links, which ought to be included in the process of dealing with the past, in order to gain a deeper understanding of humanity. Overall, it can be deduced from the two novels that family images during the post-war period were very personal and often very painful. Treichel’s novel certainly agrees with the statement by Weigel in the introduction, as guilt, shame and unworthiness are internalised into the narrator as a young boy. This has been due to his upbringing and the passing down of the beliefs of his parents and wartime suffering. There is a clear opposition with regard to social normalities during the 1950’s and how the past ought to be dealt with between father and son and his mother to a certain extent. Treichel portrays these emotions as individual ones, which have been passed on from one generation to another and the narrator has suffered the consequences of his parents’ experiences to such an extent that these memories have become real. Therefore the family image is a traumatic one, showing dislocated relationships among relations and searches for identity out of frustration. Timm on the other hand, offers the reader an authentic attempt at piecing together the narrator’s family history. By alluding to other literature, Timm presents an ordinary family, whom he attempts to contextualise within a specific time period. Weigel’s statement is relevant to Timm’s novel to a certain extent, as the narrator is shocked at what he finds, during his research. However, Timm refuses to allow ill-feeling and bad memories to filter into the present, by taking a revisionist attitude and historicising the period. In order to do this, the narrator juxtaposes his own family against the wider context of Germans as a nation in order to gain an understanding of the past and to give an authentic account of events. Ultimately, many comparisons can be drawn within the family environment though various memories, traditions and painful emotions showing that both Timm and Treichel utilise Weigel’s statement as a basis for the post-war family image. Yet, their representations of generational differences, the power of guilt, perpetration and lack of identity remain extremely different. Read More