Seeking German‐Polish Reconciliation through the Heritage Genre
Florian Gallenberger's Der Überläufer (2020)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20659589 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jakub Gortat (0000-0002-7433-6928, University of Lodz Poland, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 95 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 183-199 |
| Publication date | 2022-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The German Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-8831 • E-ISSN: 1756-1183 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/gequ.12261 |
| OpenAlex | W4229457870 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
This essay examines the recent German‐Polish limited series Der Überläufer (2020), a co‐production that shows many of the principal characteristics of German heritage aesthetics. In some regards, it functions as a pastiche of film styles reminiscent of the late 1940s and 1950s: the series employs melodrama to smooth over the differences between past and present, and by juxtaposing the wartime suffering of a German and a Pole, it converts a dark history into an agreeable, entertaining story. Der Überläufer also contributes to the development of an audiovisual language that depicts and recognizes the experiences of both Germans and Poles. This language transforms the focus of the series from trauma toward reconciliation. However, such a change borders on revisionist history since a relationship like the one depicted in the series would have been highly unlikely
Archaeology · Art · Focus (optics) · German · Literature · Physics · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · German History and Society · History · Memory, History, Trauma, Identity
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |