Mobilising hunger War and textbooks in Germany 1914-2020

This dissertation examines the afterlives of Germany’s war-related hunger periods: 1914–1924 and 1945–1949, in German education and museum exhibitions from 1914–2020. By taking a historical approach, this study traces the meanings attached to these two distinct hunger periods. In doing so, it reveals how the hunger periods functioned as crucial vehicles to mobilise young people towards certain ideologies, justify war and violence, and also to demobilise for peace. The dissertation contributes to three areas of scholarship. The first concerns the afterlives of the First World War (including the link between both world wars) the second concerns the portrayal and utilisation of Germans as victims of the Second World War and the third deals with the representation of hunger and famine within memory culture.
The thesis argues that to fully understand the legacies of German suffering of war, it is essential to look beyond violence characterised by more distinct timelines, perpetrators and intent, such as bombings and expulsions, taking into account meaning making through the hunger experiences of everyday life. While sometimes harder to narrativise, hunger leaves profound, lasting traces. Indeed, it is precisely the elusive qualities of hunger periods that render its narratives so malleable and, thereby, highly effective in the advancement of diverse political agendas.