Full Description
Writing and Rewriting the Reich tells the complex story of women journalists as both outsiders and insiders in the German press of the National Socialist and post-war years. From 1933 onward, Nazi press authorities valued female journalists as a means to influence the public through charm and subtlety rather than intimidation or militant language. Deborah Barton reveals that despite the deep sexism inherent in the Nazi press, some women were able to capitalize on the gaps between gender rhetoric and reality to establish prominent careers in both soft and hard news.
Based on data collected on over 1,500 women journalists, Writing and Rewriting the Reich describes the professional opportunities open to women during the Nazi era, their gendered contribution to Nazi press and propaganda goals, and the ways in which their Third Reich experiences proved useful in post-war divided Germany. It draws on a range of sources including editorial proceedings, press association membership records, personal correspondence, newspapers, diaries, and memoirs. It also sheds light on both unknown journalists and famous figures including Margret Boveri, Ruth Andreas-Friedrich, and Ursula von Kardorff.
Addressing the long-term influence of women journalists, Writing and Rewriting the Reich illuminates some of the most salient issues in the nature of Nazi propaganda, the depiction of wartime violence, and historical memory.
Contents
Introduction
Part One: The Prewar Years, 1933-1939
1. On the Peripheries of Power: Women Journalists in the Nazi Press
2. Normalizing Nazism and Prettying up Politics, 1933-1939
3. Traversing Borders and Questioning Boundaries: Female Foreign Correspondents
4. Writing Racial Politics: Enemies, Friends, and the Volksgemeinschaft
Part Two: The War Years, 1939-1945
5. Opportunity and Influence on the Homefront, 1939-1945
6.The Beautification of Total War and Occupation: Women Journalists in Occupied Europe
Part Three: The Aftermath
7. New Patrons, New Priorities: Women Journalists in Postwar Germany(s), 1945-1955
8. Rewriting the Reich: Female Journalists, Autobiography, and the Legacies of National Socialism
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
