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Sound Memory: A Critical Concept for Researching Memories of Conflict andWar

Birdsall, C.J.

Publication date2016Document VersionFinal published versionPublished inMemory, Place and Identity: Commemoration and Remembrance of War and Conflict

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Citation for published version (APA):Birdsall, C. J. (2016). Sound Memory: A Critical Concept for Researching Memories ofConflict and War. In D. Drozdzewski, S. De Nardi, & E. Waterton (Eds.), Memory, Place andIdentity: Commemoration and Remembrance of War and Conflict (pp. 111-129). Routledge.

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ultu

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Seri

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Titles

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eore

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Memory, P

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Identity: Com

memo

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and Conflict

Edited by

Dani

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Surfing Sp

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Jon Anderson

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Place: C

uitu

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ment

al Wou

ndin

sAmanda Kea

rney

Arts in

Place: T

he Ar

ts, t

he Urb

an and Social Practice

Cara

Courage

Memory, Plac

e and Ide

ntit

yCommemoration and remembrance

of war and conflict

Edited by Dan

iell

e Drozdzewski,

Sarah De Nardi and Emma Waterton

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aNa

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Droz

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Dani

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, editor. | De Nar

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,editor. | Wate

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, Emma, editor.

Titl

e: Memory, pl

ace a

nd id

entity: c

ommemoralion and rem

embr

ance

of w

arand conflict/edited by Danielle Drozdzewski, Sa

rali

De Nardi, Emma Wat

erto

nDescription: New

York, NY: Ro

utle

dge,

2016

. |Se

ries

: Rou

tled

ge re

sear

ch in

culture, sp

ace a

nd id

entity | Incl

udes

bibl

iogr

aphi

cal references and

index.

Identifiers: LCC

N 2015047071 | ISBN

9781138923218 (h

ardb

ack)

|ISBN 9781315685168 (e

-boo

k)Subjects: LCSH: Wa

r and so

ciet

y. | Coll

ecti

ve mem

ory.

| War me

mori

als

Clas

sifi

cati

on: LCC HM554 .M

463 20

16 | DDC 303

.6/6

—dc2

3LC re

cord

avaiiable at

htt

p://

lccn

.loc

.gov

/201

5047

071

ISBN: 978-1-138-92321-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-68516-8 (

ebk)

Typesel in Tim

es New Roman by

Keystroke, St

atio

n Ro

ad, C

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ll, W

olverhampton

>0

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Printcd an

d bo

und by C:P

1 CJroup (UK) L

td, Ooydon, CR

C) 4YY

Contents

List

of figures

Notes on contributors

A cknowledgements

VII

ix

xiii

1 The sig

nihc

ance

of memory in the pr

esen

t

DANIELLE DROZDZEWSKI, SARAH DE NARDI AND EMMA WATERTON

PARTI

Plac

ing memory in public

2 En

coun

teri

ng memory in the everyday city

DANIELLE DROZDZEWSKI

17

19

Personal reflections on formal Second World War

memories/memorials in everyday Spaces in

Singapore

HAMZAH MUZAINI

38

Mult

iple

and con

test

ed geographies of memory:

remembering the

1989 Romanian 'revolution'

CRAIG YOUNG AND DUNCAN LIGHT

56

Wrecks to rel

ics:

battle remains and the formation of

a battlescape, Sha'ar HaGai, Is

rael

MAOZ AZARYAHU

74

PART II

Narr

ativ

e memorial practices: st

oryt

elli

ng and

materiality in

pla

cing

memory

6 Who were the

enemies? The spatial practices of

belo

ngin

g and exc

lusi

on in Second World War Italy

93

95

vi

Contents

1 So

und me

mory

: a cr

itical co

ncept f

or re

sear

chin

gmemones of con

flic

t and war

CAROLYN BJRDSALL

III

Figu

res

8 H

eralding Je

richo: na

rrat

ives

of r

emembrance,

recl

amat

ion and Republican ide

ntit

y in Belfast,

Northern Ireland

LIA DONG SHIMADA

130

9 In the sha

dow of ce

ntenarles: Ir

ish a

rtis

ts go to

war

,1914-1918

NUALAC. JOHNSON

PART III

Comm

emor

ativ

e vigilance a

nd ri

tuals o

f remembering

in place

10 Embodied mem

ory at the Australian War Mem

oria

lJASON DITTMER AND EMMA WATERTON

11 An

zac at

mosp

here

sSHANTI SUMARTOJO AND QUENTIN STEVENS

12 B

eyond sentimentality and

glor

ific

atio

n: us

ing a

hist

ory

of emotions to dea

l wi

th the

Horror of

war

ANDREA WITCOMB

13 W

itne

ssin

g and

affe

ct: a

ltering, im

agining a

nd making

Spac

es to remember the Gre

at War in modern Britain

ROSS WILSON

14 P

laces o

f memory and memories of

plac

es in

Nazi G

ermany

JOSHUA HAGEN

Index

146

167

169

189

205

221

236

255

2.1

Stolpersteine at Gip

sstr

aße 3, Mitte, Berlin

. 23

2.2

Tchorka Tab

let on uL Bracka 16,

Srödmiescie, Warsaw

29

3.1

Tourists reading the sto

rybo

ards

at La

brad

or Par

k 42

3.2

Locations of th

e 14 bro

nze plaques in

stal

led in

199

5 44

3.3

The 'op

en-b

ook'

-sha

ped plaque at Hong Lim Complex

45

3.4

The Jur

ong-

Kran

ji Defence Line pl

aque

47

3.5

The pla

que ma

rkin

g th

e Sa

rimb

un Landing Sit

e 50

4.1

Map of lo

cati

ons.

58

4.2

The 'Memorial of Rebirth' in

Pia

ta Revolufiei

(aka the

Tmpaled Pot

ato'

) 62

4.3

Group of personal me

mori

als on

Bäl

cesc

u Boulevard

65

5.1

Babel Wad, 1948

76

5.2

Markers: boulder with dates; a sig

n wi

th Gur

i's song in Hebrew

84

5.3

A sta

ged co

nvoy

86

5.4

Memo

rial

Day pos

tage

stamp, 2003

87

6.1

The Veneto region

99

8.1

Divis Mountain as viewed across West Bel

fast

134

8.2

Hera

ld of Jeri

cho

139

9.1

Will

iam Or

pen,

'The Hol

y WelP, 1915

151

9.2

William Orpen, 'Dead Germans in aTrench', 1918.

154

9.3

WilliamX)rpen, 'The Mad Woman of Douai', 191

8.

156

9.4

John

Lav

ei7,

'The First Wounded, London Hospital 1914'

160

9.5

John

Lavery, 'Mun

itio

ns, Newcastle, 1917'

162

9.6

John

Lavery, 'A Convoy, No

rth Se

a, 1918. From N.S

. 7'

163

10.1

Inside the Kokoda Trail exhibit

181

10.2 The cur

ved pa

rame

ter of th

e exhibit

182

11.1

The pyramidal form of

the Sh

rine

of Remembrance with the

crow

d ga

ther

ed in

its forecourt

195

11.2

The crowd at the Dawn Ser

vice

at the AWM in 2013, with th

e

projections visible on

the fa9ade of th

e ma

in bui

ldin

g 19

814.1 The Sterneckerbräu beer hal

l 240

14.2

Braunschweig cat

hedr

al

245

14.3

Kreis designed several massive war memorials, including this

one pl

anne

d on conquered Rus

sian

territory

249

7 Sound memory

A cr

itical con

cept

for researching

memories of co

nfiict and war

Caro

lyn Bi

rdsa

ll

In rec

ent g

eographica! i

iterature, th

ere h

as been an inc

reas

ed se

nsitivity t

o sound

in U

rban

space and everyday

iife

, wi

th p

articular

inte

rest

in th

e intersections

between musi

c, id

enti

ty an

d place (R

evii

l 2000; Co

nnel

l and Gib

son 2

003; Bo

land

2010). In

the w

ake o

f non

-rep

rese

ntat

iona

l the

oiy,

cuitural ge

ographers h

ave p

aid

additional atten

tion

to affect and embodiment, and

to th

e roie of the senses in

reme

mber

ing (Anderson 20

04;

Thri

ft 2004). Th

is c

hapt

er c

ontr

ibut

es to

the

inte

rest

in th

e study of e

mbodied and em

otio

nal g

eographies, i

n which emotion is

unde

rsto

od terms of 'i

ts soc

io-s

pati

al med

iati

on and

articulation rather tha

n as

entirely i

nteriorized

subjective m

ental

states' (

Bondi

et a

l. 200

5: 3).

Where

my pre

viou

s wo

rk eva

luat

ed the

figure of t

he 'earwitness' f

or researching his

-torical soundscapes (

Bird

sall

2009, 20

12),

the present chapter is

centred on the

conc

ept o

f 'sound memory' a

s a to

ol fo

r und

erst

andi

ng Pe

rformances of p

ast w

arex

peri

ence

s in

the

present, a

nd establishing t

hese ac

ts as (

re)constructions of t

hese

if in

relation to

others and to

pla

ce.

While no

n-re

pres

enta

tion

al th

eory

was an

imp

orta

nt to

uchs

tone

for m

y earlier

investigations, t

his chapter's tr

eatm

ent of so

und memory and the

remembrance

of war may b

e better d

escribed i

n terms of

the m

ore-than-representational

(Lorimer 2005). In opting for '

more

-tha

n-' r

athe

r than 'non-', t

his a

nalysis will

main

tain

an

interest in

the af

fective, ex

pressive and per

form

ativ

e, wi

thou

t ne

ces-

sarily d

ismi

ssin

g the

role of so

cial

discourse and

cuitural

practices

in a

ccul

-turating the

bod

y (B

ondi

2005). Gi

ven

this

int

eres

t in

both

the

affe

ctiv

e and

discursive, and

the

individual and s

ocial di

mens

ions

to re

memb

erin

g, 1

will

deve

lop t

he co

ncep

t of s

ound memory wi

th the ai

d of ps

ychologist Pi

erre Ja

net's

theo

riza

tion

of me

mory

, na

rrat

ion an

d trauma. Janet's

tripartite model d

isti

n-guishes between habil m

emor

y, na

rrat

ive memory and

tra

umal

ic memory (

Janet

1973

). Th

e fir

st, h

abit mem

ory,

comprises t

he ha

bitual bo

dily sk

ills

acquired ov

ertime, a

nd through routine, w

hether un

reflective or

acknowledged by th

e subject.

The se

cond

category, na

rrative me

mory

, refers t

o th

e ac

t of cr

eati

ng a sto

ry or

description of

past eve

nts.

The

se memories ar

e of

len

inte

ntio

nall

y gi

ven em

otional si

gnificance. b

ut ca

n even encompass th

ose me

mori

es th

at se

em to

eme

rge

by cha

nce.

The fi

nal category des

crib

ed by

Janet, tr

aumatic me

mory

, re

quir

escr

itic

al reflection on

the

specificity of trauma and mod

es of tr

auma

tic re

call

in

inte

rvie

w si

tuat

ions

.

112

Caro

lyn Bi

rdsa

ll

Sound me

mory

wil

l be explored he

re as a to

ol for

und

erst

andi

ng the rol

e of

soun

ds — bot

h pa

st and

pre

sent

- in

acts of

reme

mber

ing war in German

city-

scap

es. Th

e first se

ctio

n will establish the

significance of

sou

nd in war and

its

reme

mbra

nce,

and reflect on my use

of or

al history methods to observe in

voca

-tions o

f Spa

ce, p

lace and id

entity dur

ing I

nter

view

s wi

th elderly peo

ple ab

out t

heso

unds

of wa

r. The an

alys

is wil

l then ta

ke up th

e th

ree categories dev

elop

ed by

Jane

t, foc

usin

g firs

t on

habit mem

ory,

in terms of

how

int

ervi

ewee

s recalled

and pe

rfor

med so

und-

rela

ted as

pect

s of th

eir childhood socialization. Nar

rati

veme

mory

wil

l be a

nalysed by

the

way

s in

which i

ndividual

subjects ffa

med

thei

r recollection o

f mus

ical

sou

nd in

terms of p

lace

-mak

ing practices (both terms

of loc

al a

ttachments and

nat

iona

l fr

amew

orks

), before focusing on a

group

interview

setting that drew on

a familiar repertoire of musical song ffo

m their

childhood

years

in w

hich s

hare

d pl

ace and

identity a

re ena

cted

and p

osit

ive

aspe

cts of

their y

oung

er y

ears wer

e reclaimed. Thi

s Pe

rfor

manc

e of

in

situ

belo

ngin

g appeared t

o downplay i

ntemal d

iffe

renc

es and

ste

er c

lear

of un-

plea

sant

mem

orie

s of the

past. Finally,

1 wi

ll r

eflect on

the

places in wh

ich

over

whel

ming

sou

nds we

re experienced dur

ing pr

otra

cted

exp

osur

e to Sec

ond

World Wa

r aerial att

acks

. Th

is category requires cri

tica

l re

flec

tion

on

different

modes of tr

auma

tic recall and the extent t

o which the ac

coun

ts stu

died

here should

be ffa

med

in terms of trauma. My eng

agem

ent wi

th Jan

efs model

will wor

ktowards a

final c

onclusion ab

out b

eing

attuned t

o the af

fect

ive a

nd (i

nter)personal

negotiations of m

emory during ac

ts of r

emem

beri

ng, a

nd how

the

y re

veal

telling

articulations of

plac

e and

iden

tity

.

Placing so

und,

conflict and

the

poi

itic

s of memory

With the

emergence of S

ound Stu

dies

, wit

h its p

articular i

nter

est i

n sound his

tory

,much attention has

bee

n paid to t

he rol

e of

soun

d in

defining th

e seif, b

elon

ging

and

identity (B

ull 20

00; Co

nnor

200

4; Born 20

11).

For the

case of

war and

con

flict, sc

hola

rs have te

nded

to e

mphasize th

e so

cial

func

tion

s of m

usic in

boo

stin

gmorale and shaping cu

ltural experience (Wa

tkin

s 200

3; Fa

user

2013). At

the s

ame

time, mu

ch sou

nd his

tori

cal scholarship has been dev

oted

to the central role of

soun

d (and noise) in conflict an

d wa

rfar

e, whether in forms of

soci

al exclusion

and ma

rkin

g of

territories, in

civil protest, a

nd for

ms of ba

ttle

and interrogation

(Deaville 20

12; Cu

sick

201

3). Wh

ile such pat

tems

hav

e be

en def

ined

as trans-

cult

ural

and tra

nshi

stor

ical

(Sch

wart

z 2011; He

ndy 20

13),

scholarly research on

soun

d history has shown a strong int

eres

t in the civil a

nd world wars of

the mo

dern

era (

Smit

h 2001). The bat

tlef

ield

of t

he Fir

st Wor

ld War has

att

ract

ed par

ticu

lar

attention due

to the

reduced v

isibility and

ear-piercing sou

nds of

mec

hani

zed

warfare, and

its

mar

ked

effe

cts on tho

se who experienced i

t (Je

an 201

2). The

bomb

ing of

Mun

ich,

Ham

burg

and

Fre

ibur

g during the

First Wor

ld War

also

sparked extensive pr

epar

atio

ns during th

e 19

20s and 1930s for t

he possibility of

noisy aerial att

acks

on Ge

rman

eit

les (Ge

init

z 2000).

Among th

e methodologies ex

plor

ed in sound

hist

oric

al research, on

e ap

proa

chthat has

remained

unde

rexp

lore

d is

that of

ora

l history. My mai

n motivation

Sound memory

113

for ad

opti

ng thi

s methodology

is tha

t the interview pro

cess

encourages a mo

deof remembering t

hat

elucidates t

he s

enso

ry and

embodied

natu

re of exper

ience (H

ardy

2006), an

d pr

oces

ses of

ide

ntit

y an

d place-making i

n re

lati

onto th

e remembrance of

war. The

oral

hist

ory me

thod

olog

y allows fo

r memories to

be a

ctiv

ated

and c

onst

ruct

ed during the

pres

ent mo

ment

of recall, fa

cili

tate

dby emb

odie

d an

d mo

re-t

han-

disc

ursi

ve for

ms of Pe

rfor

manc

e (Gändida-Smith

2002: 1-3

).

Memo

ries

performed in interview contexts ar

e equally se

nsit

ive t

o a va

riety o

fot

her fa

ctor

s, not lea

st the choice of

que

stio

ns, location, language and mood

of th

ose involved (P

erks

and

Tho

mson

200

6). I

ndeed, al

l acts o

f memory involve

a 'c

ompo

site

of

truth and

ficti

on' dependent on a pre

sent

-day

Int

erpr

etat

ion

and so

cial

con

text

of remembering (

Hutton 199

3: 64;

Hal

bwac

hs 199

2). I

n turn,

recent or

al hi

story r

esea

rch ha

s stressed t

hat, wh

ile Interviews may

pro

duce

recol-

lect

ions

wit

h historical er

rors

, suc

h accounts not on

ly off

er in

sigh

ts in

to how

pas

tevents are

reencountered in t

he present, b

ut al

so int

o the rol

e of

place an

d spatial

stra

tegi

es w

ithin

narr

atio

ns of (d

iffi

cult

) pasts (

Cole 2015). Th

e analysis tha

tfollows

will

thus acknowledge th

e pr

esen

ce of body language and

gest

ures

as

comp

risi

ng an

inte

gral

part of th

e interview (a

s in

ters

ubje

ctiv

e encounter), a

ndalso co

nsider in

deta

il the way

s in which pla

ce figu

red in

int

ervi

ewee

s' re

sponses

abou

t ex

peri

enci

ng Nat

iona

l Socialism and th

e Se

cond

World War

during their

formative years.

The

first sig

nifi

cant

per

spec

tive

on

plac

e for my ora

l history project can be

iden

tifi

ed in th

e location of (

most) interviews at th

e Stadtsarchiv R

atin

gen

inth

e north of

Düss

eldo

rf. A fü

ll, f

font-page article in

a dai

ly regional newspaper,

entitJed 'D

ie Kla

ngwe

lten

des Kr

iege

s' ('Th

e soundscapes o

f war'), i

nvited pot

en-

tial

interviewees t

o le

ave th

eir d

etai

ls with the archive (

Hart

leb 2004a).'A colour

phot

ogra

ph depicted me Sta

ndin

g in

the archive Sta

cks wi

th the dir

ecto

r Erika

Münster-Schröer, fo

regrounding bo

th the

site of t

he archive and leg

itim

izin

g my

project in the context of a familiar loc

al Ins

titu

tion

. The int

ervi

ews at

the

arc

hive

were

con

duct

ed in

a roo

m (a

t ground level), w

hich

loo

ked onto th

e pl

aygr

ound

of

the A

nne-

Fran

k-Sc

hule

, a pri

maiy

scho

ol behind th

e archive. The

frequent sc

hool

bell

rings and

sou

nds of

chil

dren

pla

ying

wer

e co

mmen

ted on by interviewees,

and ap

pear

ed to

serve a

s an au

dito

ry pro

mpt f

or th

eir p

roce

sses

of r

ecalling ch

ild

hood and

young-adult experiences. Mo

reov

er, t

he pre

sent

-day

ass

ocia

tion

of t

hearchive building with Na

tion

al Socialism was com

ment

ed on by

sev

eral

int

erviewees, si

nce t

he building h

oused Düsseldorfs regional Gestapo headquarters i

nth

e final years of t

he Second World War (

Kami

nsky

1991).

Thirty individuals - bom between the

late 19

10s and th

e 19

30s - volunteered

to be in

terv

iewe

d, an

d 1 a

tten

ded t

wo me

etings of

a lo

cal s

eniors gr

oup f

or women.

In several exc

epti

ons,

the

interview was conducted i

n th

e in

tei-

view

ee's

home,

usually if th

ey wer

e unable to tr

avel

easily. In ma

ny of th

ese ca

ses,

interviewees

were

more li

kely

to act li

ke a hos

t du

ring

a so

cial

visi

t, an

d use memory aids (

e.g.

photos, songbooks) d

urin

g interviews. A number of the r

espo

nden

ts had ver

y lit

tleexperience in providing an

ext

ende

d account of

their pa

st, whereas a si

zeab

lepo

rtio

n ha

d pr

evio

usly

produced forms of

life

-sto

ry narration (e.

g. unp

ubli

shed

114

Carolyn Birdsall

memoirs, media i

nter

view

s an

d lo

cal

history

acti

viti

es).

Many i

nter

view

ees

expr

esse

d th

eir cu

rios

ity

in an

'int

erge

nera

tion

al encounter' (Vanderbeck an

dWorth 20

15) with som

eone

identified as a young, f

orei

gn res

earc

her,

wit

h several

citing a con

cem about negative per

cept

ions

of Germans as additional mot

ivat

ion

for

thei

r participation. Mor

e br

oadl

y, the

interviews appeared t

o represent a

form

of 'making connections' tha

t al

so ent

aiie

d a

ther

apeu

tic co

mpon

ent (f

orputting th

ings

in th

eir place) (Bondi 2005). At the

same tim

e, I was mindful of

the

ethical

issues w

hen

talking

to o

lder

people

about

pers

onal

experiences

of co

nflict and

war; a

s a pr

oces

s th

at, for man

y, was

linked to

emotionally cha

rged

memories.

While

most

pa

rtic

ipan

ts were si

mila

rly bom in lo

wer-

to

mi

ddle

-cla

sshouseholds, it

became apparent tha

t the

ir remembering of se

if and

pla

ce rev

eale

dan

important distinction bet

ween

tho

se who grew up

(and have sta

yed)

in the

Düss

eldo

rf are

a, and

tho

se who exp

erie

nced

displacement du

ring

or following

the Se

cond

World War (e.g. the

mas

s flig

ht and

for

ced

migration of German

populations from Cen

trai

and Eas

tem Eu

rope

).For my s

emi-

stru

ctur

ed interviews, the

questions

firs

t concerned

general

biographical inf

orma

tion

(including questions about ch

ildh

ood,

fam

ily,

school

and ro

utin

es) a

nd, s

econ

d, memories of sound in eve

ryda

y li

fe (i

nclu

ding

rad

io and

othe

r au

diov

isua

l te

chno

logi

es).

When mak

ing appointments to be int

ervi

ewed

, anumber of participants ask

ed for

both the permission she

et (with v

ital informa

tion

) and

a preliminary lis

t (both que

stio

ns and

key

word

s) to

be po

sted

ahead of

the

interview; this pr

ompt

ed s

everal int

ervi

ewee

s to

(partly) read fro

m typed

answ

ers,

or show d

isco

mfor

t wh

en my fol

low-

up que

stio

ns req

uire

d them t

osp

eak fr

eely

. Su

ch str

ateg

ies might be

rea

d in terms of anxiety about accuracy,

whic

h is common among elderly interviewee sub

ject

s. Nonetheless, th

ey als

oreflect a mo

re w

ides

prea

d concem a

bout

accurate remembering of

National

Soci

alis

m: often on the basis of

forg

etfu

lnes

s (gi

ven th

eir present ol

der ag

e), but

also anx

iety

about bei

ng sub

ject

to questions about ac

coun

tabi

lity

(particularly

on the

issue of whether parents an

d fa

mily

members wer

e pa

rty members); many

poin

ted out that their (n

on-adult) e

xperiences were pr

imar

ily li

mite

d to localized

site

s of

the home and

street, and to school, religious an

d yo

uth-

grou

p pa

rtic

ipa

tion

. Recent lit

erat

ure has suggested th

e va

lue of such localized per-spectives on

how older people un

ders

tood

the

sei

f, as produced in a relationship to others and

place. Ora

l hi

stor

ies give ins

ight

s

into

place att

achm

ents

and

ide

ntit

ies on

sca

les ra

ngin

g fr

om the

country to

the re

gion

, to

wn, street and

home [an

d] into contests ove

r place involving

control, res

ista

nce an

d ne

goti

atio

n. Thi

s is

evidenced in ou

r case study by

the

breaking of saf

ety

rules an

d re

gula

tion

s by c

hild

ren

[in

the Se

cond

World Wa

r].

(Andrews et al. 2006: 170)

Such

ora

l history interviews therefore reveal memories of pl

ace as constituted on

interrelating

scales (micro

to m

acro g

eogr

aphi

es),

as

well a

s th

e particular

Sound memory

115

conditions - as

dem

onst

rate

d above fo

r th

e so

uth-

east

English coa

stal

town of

Teig

nmou

th - of

chil

dren

's geo

grap

hies

.At

the s

ame ti

me, i

nter

view

res

pond

ents

- from the

vantage of t

he pr

esent - can

reflect o

n how

this

past i

s located and has

mea

ning

in the

contemporaiy Situation.

While some mentioned e

veiyday

social g

eogr

aphi

es of th

e present (e.g. no

twa

ntin

g to greet ce

rtai

n people in th

e st

reet

due to their a

ctions during Na

tion

alSo

cial

ism)

, ot

hers

talked

about ho

w their own

processes of

rec

alli

ng p

lace

experiences we

re pro

mpte

d by

med

ia rep

orti

ng abo

ut Ira

q during 2003-2004.

One such ill

ustr

atio

n comes from Ursula S. (born 19

28, p

ersonal interview):

A; Wh

en my

moth

er told me s

tories [ab

out starvation, influenza an

d lo

sing

rela

tive

s du

ring

the First Wor

ld War

], I couldn't imagine it

. Jus

t as it i

s fo

ryo

u - th

ese stories are so impossible.

Q:

Is it

dif

ficu

lt to picture th

ese th

ings

in your mind?

A:

It's b

ette

r if you tr

y not

to. You

know, wh

en 1 was watching TV when the I

raq

War be

gan,

would you bel

ieve

that i

t seemed

like it

was

ther

e again. 1 wo

keup scr

eami

ng fro

m my bed, beca

use th

e bo

mbs we

re falling aga

in and the

devil k

nows wha

t eise

For that re

ason

, 1 don

't wat

ch TV any

more

.

Such

com

ment

s ar

e su

gges

tive

of how US aerial bo

mbin

gs and urb

an war

fare

in Baghdad and

other cities se

rved

as a ubiquitous (a

nd unw

ante

d) au

diov

isua

lprompt f

or my i

nter

view

ees when r

econsidering t

heir own

exp

erie

nces

of

mili

tary

attack and urban destruction during the

Sec

ond Wo

rld Wa

r.On

e other important di

scur

sive

context at th

e time of my interviews was the

grow

ing acknowledgement o

f German civilian sufFering during t

he Sec

ond World

War,

due to

air attacks (Sebald 20

03) or

flight and

expu

lsio

n fr

om t

he Eas

t(G

rass

2002). A study of expelled Ger

mans

(liv

ing near Hannover) ar

gued that

publications by novelists such as Günter Gra

ss wer

e part of a 'genuine attempt

to l

ink

flig

ht and e

xpulsion t

o a comprehensive

narr

ativ

e th

at does no

t om

itGerman atr

ocit

ies an

d does not reg

ard everyone ju

st as vi

ctim

s' (Sch

ulze

2006:

378)

. Ot

her

oral

history s

tudi

es in

this

per

iod observed tha

t intergenerational

fami

ly nar

rati

ves ov

erwh

elmi

ngly

cen

tred

on

stor

ies about aerial bom

bing

s, an

dfrequently made use of po

pular-culture r

eferences a

s an

interpretative f

ramework

(Tsc

hugg

nall

and

Welzer 2

002)

. The

se la

tter find

ings

wer

e also su

bjec

t to c

ritique,

given

the te

nden

cy t

o fo

cus on e

lderly i

nter

view

ees as u

nrel

iabl

e na

rrat

ors,

rath

er tha

n consider the

int

ersu

bjec

tive

pro

cess

es by which researchers ar

e 'c

o-co

nsti

tuti

ve of na

rrat

ive me

anin

g' (Fas

ulo 2002: 115). Su

ch con

cems

als

o dr

awat

tent

ion to the 'em

otio

nal dynamics' o

f re

sear

ch rel

atio

nshi

ps (B

ondi

2005), a

theme to which 1 wil

l re

turn

in the analysis tha

t fol

lows

.My in

terviews

therefore n

ot on

ly re

flect a te

mporal in

terv

al - wi

th rem

embe

ring

filt

ered

through the

ir pre

sent

Sit

uati

on and

exp

erie

nces

since 1945 - but als

o th

eof

ten-

frau

ght

politics of memory in po

st-H

oloc

aust

Germany. A rem

embr

ance

proc

ess has been stu

died

that em

erge

d from the

lat

e 1940s on

ward

s, in which

publ

ic dis

cour

ses have been characterized

in ter

ms of a

'sel

ecti

ve rem

embe

ring

'rather tha

n complete sil

ence

(Hu

ghes

200

0: 205). Pro

cess

es of 'n

orma

liza

tion

'

] 16 Carolyn Birdsall

have

been observed from th

e 19

50s onwards (Ni

etha

mmer

2001), a

nd cul

mina

ted

in the Historikerstreit (

Hist

oria

ns' Debate) in the

198

0s, which

centred on

the

place of

the Ho

loca

ust in Germany's lar

ger historical narrative (Habermas 198

9;Ni

ven

2002

). Recent me

mory

stu

dies

sch

olar

ship

has

called for

attention

tocontemporary dyn

amic

s of

'mul

tidi

rect

iona

l memory'; fo

cusi

ng le

ss on questions

of Ger

man

guil

t, but

rat

her on how ind

ivid

uals

and collectives negotiate the

irpl

ace as

'implicated sub

ject

s' (R

othberg 2013). In what fol

lows

, 1

will eng

age

with the

interview r

espo

nses

- using J

anet's t

ripartite model of memory

for

considering so

und me

mory

- with a vi

ew to th

eir in

voca

tion

s of

identity and

plac

e-ma

king

in the pa

st and

present.

Sound memory as habit memory: emb

odie

d routines and

spat

ial practices

The no

tion

s of

embo

died

habit (and

habitus) h

ave offered important co

mpon

ents

for th

e theorization of me

mory

(Be

rgso

n 19

88; Ma

uss 1979; Bourdieu 1

977)

.Habit memories, in Pierre Ja

net'

s understanding, inv

olve

a set of ac

cumu

late

d,so

meti

mes

unre

flec

tive

memories

based on r

outi

nes or

habit. In many

case

s,th

ese me

mori

es are based on

bodi

ly, mu

scul

ar act

s that are easily re

call

ed and

perf

orme

d, bu

t inv

olve

a knowledge th

at is

not

actively ack

nowl

edge

d or verbali-

zed. Dür

ing re

memb

erin

g, hab

it mem

ory

involves moments where the

past

isre

enco

unte

red in

the

pre

sent

- by

means of bo

th sou

nd-m

akin

g an

d ge

stur

e - an

dpl

ay an important ro

le in co

ntri

buti

ng to a sense of

seif

and bel

ongi

ng (Ca

sey

1987: 15

1). By drawing on Henri Le

febv

re's

wor

k, ha

bit wi

ll be positioned as a

social(izing) process that is often re

esta

blis

hed du

ring

times of social-political

transition, i

nvolving a hi

storically specific pr

oces

s of re

peating and in

tema

lizi

ngparticular act

ions

. The

centrality of Na

tion

al Soc

iali

st rituals to the habit memo

ries

analysed he

re als

o serves as a reminder of how the

'pe

rfor

mati

vene

ss' of

ritual c

onnects me

mory

pra

ctic

es w

ith em

bodi

ed e

xper

ienc

e, as

well

as th

eintertwining of di

ffer

ent s

cale

s of

iden

tity

and

place (E

dens

or 2002).

According to

Lef

ebvr

e, by te

achi

ng children how

to rep

eat 'a

cer

tain

act

, a

cert

ain gesture or

movement' (2004: 39), t

hey ad

opt a series of corporeal habits

and ac

cept

ed values, su

ch as posture, at

tent

ion,

mannerisms, co

des of

cond

uct an

detiquette. This

is a pro

cess

of le

giti

mati

on whe

re the int

erac

tion

of acceptable

habits and a val

ue system

reinforces both elements. Lefebvre det

ermi

nes

this

proc

ess t

o be one of f

orce, and

gives it

the French equ

estr

ian term "dr

essa

ge\ Th

isteiTn clearly indicates t

hat t

he apparatus by which children are

socially tr

ained and

acculturated is by no means gentle, a

s they are 'broken in' li

ke ani

mals

(Lef

evre

2004: 39

). Lef

ebvr

e's concept of

the

dressage pr

oces

s ca

n be a

ppli

ed to th

est

rong

Nat

iona

l So

cial

ist influence

in b

oth th

e school env

iron

ment

and every-

day

lives of children (Michaud 1

997)

. I em

ploy

dressage he

re to ex

plai

n th

ephysical positions (e.g. the

Hei

l Hi

tler

salute) and

habits (e.g. rote-leaming of

hist

oric

al dat

es and

slogans) ta

ught

to children, as

part of

a process in which

certain sounds and

mus

ic were

performed

with

codified

phys

ical

act

ions

in

Nazi ped

agog

y.

Sound memory

117

Dressage in

this

context ca

n be id

enti

fied

in ter

ms of c

ollective s

inging, mar

chin

g an

d 'c

all-

and-

resp

onse

' int

erac

tion

s, whi

ch too

k pl

ace on a re

gulä

r ba

sis and

were

reinforced in t

he wee

kly

activities led

by th

e Hi

tler

Jugend or

gani

zati

on. I

naddition to t

he act

ive P

erformance of r

ituals, the

dressage ex

peri

ence

d in sch

ools

and yo

uth orga

niza

tion

s involved compulsory uses of

radi

o an

d fi

lm Propaganda

(Gauger 19

43: 26

). Interviewees

cite

d th

e introduction of Hitler portraits int

oevery cl

assr

oom as an important co

mpon

ent of

these repeated ri

tual

s; na

tion

alis

tna

rrat

ives

in classroom teaching intensified i

n the

lead up to

, and during, th

e war

(Johnson 200

8). F

ollowing Pi

llem

ar (2

004:

150)

, this s

chooling in

a sp

ecif

ic re

p-er

toir

e of r

ituals can

be r

ead as

participating i

n a 'c

olle

ctiv

e knowledge', wh

ich he

cite

s as a more appropriate te

rm than co

llec

tive

mem

ory to ref

er to

Com

muni

tyCodes of

conduct a

nd mem

ory pr

oces

ses,

Interviewees fr

eque

ntly

cited t

he renam-

ing of pro

mine

nt streets and Squares aft

er H

itler and

othe

r figures

after 19

33(K

lein

feld

1996), a

s one of t

he way

s th

at lo

cal s

paces we

re invoked as part of t

hena

tion

al pr

ojec

t. The

repeated use

of t

hese

streets a

nd Squ

ares

by yo

uth groups to

for marching, si

ngin

g and

recitation - alo

ng wit

h cl

assr

ooms

, sch

ooly

ards

and

youth-group centres - is

fur

ther

suggestive of

how loc

aliz

ed activities an

d civic

Serv

ice were ffa

med as par

tici

pati

on in the na

tion

al pro

ject

.Du

ring

my o

ral

history

Interviews, ma

ny of the

elde

rly re

spon

dent

s us

edph

ysic

al gesture to demonstrate

thei

r experience of this dressage du

ring

their

childhood. A number of

interviewees re

call

ed the

repe

titi

ve or pu

niti

ve nature of

these routines:

On the fi

rst d

ay of t

he school ye

ar we had to

att

end a fl

ag-r

aisi

ng cer

emon

y.With an ou

tstr

etch

ed arm

~ th

at was not

allowed to be propped up [by the

other ha

nd] - we sa

ng Deutschland über al

les a

nd Die Fahne hoc

h! [the

two

nati

onal

ant

hems

]. Once, during a

flag-raising ceremony, 1 ha

d a bleeding

woun

d on my fa

ce as l h

ad run int

o a post b

ox. B

ut on

ly af

ter I

had ta

ken pa

rtin

the

cer

emony di

d my tea

cher

sen

d me hom

e.

(Renate S.

, bor

n 1928, pe

rson

al int

ervi

ew)

At the

Cat

holi

c school we st

ill ha

d [moming] pr

ayer

s. But

her

e [at t

he new

school], eve

ryon

e ga

ther

ed i

n th

e pl

aygr

ound

at 7.55am. An

d th

en, af

ter a

sayi

ng of the da

y {Tagespruch), we wen

t into class

Olde

r ki

ds wou

ldmake a lis

t of those who were lat

e.

(Hannelore H.,

bor

n 1927, p

ersonal interview)

Over

all,

it was

fairly co

mmon

to co

ndem

n th

e re

stri

ctio

ns and req

uire

ment

sde

mand

ed by th

e Na

zi system, yet

also ex

pres

s th

at they enjoyed th

e se

nse of

cama

rade

rie and group

acti

viti

es (e

.g. handicraft in th

e case of girls' gr

oups

). It

was

clea

r that the d

ressage

experienced

during N

ational

Socialism

remains

firmly par

t of t

he respondents' c

orporeal or ha

bit m

emor

y, wh

ereb

y re

memb

erin

gthe

rout

ines

and s

ites of school e

xper

ienc

e invokes somatic

responses. Mos

tin

terv

iewe

es had di

fliculties in

ack

nowl

edgi

ng how

these eve

ryda

y ro

utin

es - that

in the

ir daily repetition - had

pro

vide

d a se

nse of or

ientation and fo

rmed

par

t of

118

Carolyn Birdsall

the

seif. F

or instance, mos

t interviewees said th

ey did

not

like many asp

ects

of

their

scho

olin

g and

Hitler Jugend

expe

rien

ces,

par

ticu

larl

y mi

lita

rism

an

din

timi

dati

on. This ambivalence was

more pronounced for

the

cas

e of

men who

were in

volved in pr

e-mi

lita

ry tr

aining, w

ith a number go

ing into gr

eat d

etail a

bout

how

these

experiences took p

lace

at th

e nearby R

atingen

Stad

ion

site

(al

lmentioning how the

youth centre is

now

the

site of a

Spa

nish

cul

tura

l centre).

In a sim

ilar

way, t

he Performance of t

he Hei

l Hitler gr

eeti

ng was of

ten framed

in terms of a

n exploration of ad

ult s

pati

al bou

ndar

ies in the

con

text

of t

he reg

ime.

One ex

ampl

e is

Mar

gare

the S.

(bom 1931) who not

ed tha

t parents were anx

ious

about in

appr

opri

ate be

havi

our

in p

ublic, aft

er an

uncle wa

s pi

cked

up by the

Gestapo af

ter r

efus

ing to

giv

e th

e He

il Hi

tler gre

etin

g wh

en entering a lo

cal t

ram:

Something si

mila

r happened wit

h a fe

male

colleague of my father- who was

a do

ctor

- an

d lived a few ho

uses

awa

y fr

om us.

One night a pat

ient

arrived

and Sa

id 'He

il Hi

tler", and

she

said '

Stop

tha

t non

sens

e.' Two hou

rs later the

Gestapo

pick

ed h

er u

p, and

my p

arents sai

d at dinner 'F

or God

's sak

echildren, d

on't

say anything, do

n't s

ay "Gr

uss Go

tf" or suc

h th

ings

'. So one

day,

a fri

end and

1 wa

lked

dow

n the main street [

of Hildesheim] and said

'Gru

ss Gott" to every person we passed. But the

people

didn't rea

ct and

nothing ha

ppen

ed at all. It

was

a kind of

chil

dren

's Opposition or te

sting th

elimits. But st

ill as chi

ldre

n we sen

sed that the

re was a cli

mate

of fe

ar.

Stories li

ke thi

s were oft

en cited by interviewees as illustrative of how children

expfored the social no

rms of th

e re

gime

, along with v

arious exp

lora

tion

s and

appr

opri

atio

ns of urban sp

ace

in the

context of war (e

.g. co

llec

ting

col

ourf

ulbomb ffagments, A

llied leaflet P

ropaganda an

d so

on).

Within Lefebvre's concept of

habi

t mem

ory,

the pr

oces

s ofdressage - ph

rase

din

terms of coercion and force - has a c

ertain d

eter

mini

stic

quality. A more

nuanced analysis of s

ound, p

erformative acts and

identity construction would not,

like Lef

ebvr

e, nec

essa

rily

vie

w id

enti

ty as something

sole

ly det

ermi

ned by the

individual's sur

roun

ding

s. Taking a cu

e ff

om theories of

gender pe

rfor

mati

vity

,Jonathan Culler (2002: 51

3) su

gges

ts that id

enti

ty is no

t me

rely

a 'c

ondi

tion

one

enacts', bu

t som

ethi

ng th

at is

also te

sted

and pla

yed with. M

usic

olog

ist T

ia DeNora

also

sug

gest

s th

at a dynamic bet

ween

cul

tura

l Sc

ript

s and

indi

vidu

al c

hoices

provides an

esse

ntia

l alternative to det

ermi

nist

ic con

cept

s of

soci

al pow

er that

desi

gnat

e al

l be

havi

our and

acti

ons

in a

given s

etting a

s di

ctat

ed b

y of

fici

alpowers. Her analysis sug

gest

s that so

cial

exp

erie

nces

of mu

sic ar

e co

nsti

tute

d bo

thin terms of 'a

ctio

n-re

pert

oire

s', which fu

ncti

on l

ike social Scr

ipts

, and 'a

ctio

n-st

rate

gies

' tha

t allow for re

sistances or

modifications (DeNora 2003: 11

8-14

9).

By taking up DeNora's ap

proa

ch, w

e ca

n co

nsid

er hab

it mem

ory as

a dyn

amic

process in

volv

ing the so

cial

con

diti

onin

g of

sensory pe

rcep

tion

and the

responses

of bo

dies

enacted upo

n. In

the

cas

e of th

e interviewees, n

ot onl

y ha

d th

eir bo

dily

acti

ons changed

over

time, but

als

o th

eir ch

ildh

ood

iden

tifi

cati

on with t

hese

rout

ines

was ab

rupt

ly mad

e taboo fo

llow

ing th

e war, an

d is dis

curs

ivel

y re

lram

edfr

om the Sta

ndpo

int of the present. As such, wh

ile al

l the

se Performances re

flec

ted

Sound memory

119

unique enc

ount

ers,

some int

ervi

ewee

s we

re more rehearsed tha

n ot

hers

in narrat-

ing this pas

t and performing physical ge

stur

e in

com

muni

cati

ng vivid mem

orie

sth

at too

k pl

ace

in the

Düs

seld

orf ar

ea and els

ewhe

re. Th

ese

refl

ecti

ons bring

me to

the s

econ

d ca

tego

ry, '

narrative me

mory

', wh

ich ma

y in

volv

e more ne

gotia-

tion

s be

twee

n th

e individual and soc

ial

in p

resent-day act

s of re

call, an

d their

relationship to emplacement an

d id

enti

ty.

Soun

d memory as na

rrat

ive memory: au

tobi

ogra

phy,

coll

ecti

vity

, ide

ntit

y

Janet's second c

ateg

ory of

narrative memory

is m

ost commonly con

ceme

dwi

th 'e

xpli

cit'

memo

ries

invo

king

spec

ific

experiences, ev

ents or co

ncep

ts. O

ften

char

acte

rize

d in terms of autobiographical memory, su

ch nar

rati

on is de

pend

ent

on and som

etim

es dis

tort

ed by the co

ntex

t of

reflection. As cog

niti

ve musico

logi

st Bob Sny

der (20

00: 7

2) note

s, lo

ng-t

erm (

musical) me

mori

es ar

e aff

ecte

d by

their in

divi

dual

and s

hare

d cultural com

pone

nts,

since the

y 'are c

onst

ruct

edla

rgel

y fr

om o

ther

memories of asp

ects

of music

prev

ious

ly hea

rd, and

other

knowledge an

d metaphorical exp

erie

nce co

nnec

ted wi

th music in our mi

nds'

. In

most cases, in

divi

dual

int

ervi

ewee

s included n

arra

tive

s about experiences of

singing, li

sten

ing an

d sp

eaki

ng in th

eir spoken acc

ount

s. Suc

h narration has be

endescribed in ter

ms öf a

'del

iber

ate use of mus

ic to recollect, re

minisce or re

crea

teth

e Co

nten

t or moo

d of an

already defined mem

ory'

(Anderson 20

04: 13

). Such

practices may not actually re

pres

ent th

e pa

st but

they reflect th

e us

e of

music to

brin

g up the pas

t for

the purposes of a

pre

sent

mom

ent.

As a re

sult

, the cat

egor

yof

narr

ativ

e memoiy can

als

o in

volv

e the social uses of sou

nd memories as too

lsfor Co

ntro

llin

g affective sp

ace,

as wel

l as for

est

abli

shin

g or preserving a stable

sens

e of

group identity.

One

predominant

inst

ance

of

narr

ativ

e memory was

the

eng

agem

ent

with

populär a

nd fo

lk so

ngs, wh

ich fo

rmed

an integral fa

ctor

, as P

hilip B

ohlman (2

002)

has shown, in

con

soli

dati

ng loc

al landscape wit

h re

gion

, nation an

d em

pire

, and

form

ed a cen

tral

par

t of t

he National Social ist c

ultu

ral pr

ogra

mme an

d social li

fedu

ring

the

1930s and

194

0s. T

he st

rong

identification with song re

pert

oire

of t

heir

yout

h be

came

evi

dent

as a number of

(fem

ale)

inte

rvie

wees

told

me th

at th

ey hid

their Bu

nd Deutscher Mädel (BDM) song book Wir Mä

dels

sin

gen after t

he war

to p

reve

nt t

heir

con

fisc

atio

n; these son

g bo

oks

were d

escr

ibed

as

trea

sure

dpo

sses

sion

s, des

pite

int

ervi

ewee

cri

tici

sms of

the National Socialist regime (

see

Brad

e 1999).

A number of int

ervi

ewee

s brought their songbooks to

the

arc

hive

to sh

ow me

the new so

ngs an

d ly

rics

that th

ey had

to add to th

e bo

ok dur

ing th

e co

urse

of t

heSe

cond

World War

. Along with personal photos, Le

on E. (bo

m 19

29) b

roug

ht hi

ssister's son

gboo

k to

his int

ervi

ew at the ar

chiv

e, as

a means of po

inti

ng out the

vari

ous so

ng rep

erto

ires

, par

ticu

larl

y those introduced dur

ing th

e wa

r:

Ther

e was a di

ffer

ent b

ook fo

r the

boys. But

ever

ythi

ng [f

rom our ho

use]

was

burnt, so

we did

n't have these bel

ongi

ngs an

ymor

e. Here you can se

e th

at th

e

120

Caro

lyn Bi

rdsa

ll

teac

her wrote do

wn the order of t

he songs to be lea

mt fo

r the flag-hoisting in

primary sc

hool

.

The so

ngbo

ok provided a memory aid

, which als

o pr

ompt

ed Leo

n to

recall how

bis f

amily lost th

eir home and bel

ongi

ngs du

ring

the

large attack on

Ratingen on

22 M ar

ch 194

5 (which buried bis

grandfather). The

boo

k is one

of t

he few

pos

ses-

sion

s th

e family kep

t, but he al

so showed how he and bis sister - af

ter 19

45 - ha

dexpressed fr

ustr

atio

n by def

acin

g the bo

ok, crossing out pas

sage

s an

d sc

rawl

ing

the Wo

rd 'Nationalsozialismus'. R

enat

e S. (bom 1929) al

so exp

lain

ed her str

ong

attachment to th

e book, explaining tha

t I co

uld ph

otoc

opy

its pa

ges,

but

she

wouldn't leave it

at t

he arc

hive

; aft

er 1945 she fe

ared

it w

ould

be taken by

Allied

Forc

es, b

ut considered herseif l

ucky that t

heir

hou

se was

not sea

rche

d. Si

mila

rly,

Theresa B. (bom 192

5) le

fl her boo

k be

hind

for me to re

ad and

ret

um, but then

phoned tha

t she wa

s too an

xiou

s ab

out losing it a

nd wan

ted to

pic

k it

up again

ffom

the arc

hive

. These examples il

lust

rate

how the mixed fee

ling

s abo

ut th

e song

repertoire of N

atio

nal So

cial

ist p

edag

ogy were attached to BDM son

gboo

ks; t

hese

books had an

amb

ival

ent

Stat

us as both comforting an

d pr

ohib

ited

'Souvenirs',

which sy

mbol

ized

for mos

t a co

ncre

te connection to the

(som

etim

es lost) pl

aces

from the

ir childhoods.

Whil

e individual participants frequently sang the ly

rics

of we

ll-k

nown

songs

during i

nter

view

s, the

context of th

e wo

men'

s group

meet

ing

offers a v

ivid

exam

ple of the social process of

negotiating sou

nd memories (Birdsall 2009).

These women had

a usual rou

tine

for

the

ir mon

thly

mee

ting

at a Co

mmun

ity

centre: f

irst

Coming together to si

ng (a

nd occasionally

listen to a ta

lk),

fol

lowe

dby a communal lunch. The

gro

up singing largely drew on tra

diti

onal

son

gs, w

ith

one pa

rtic

ipan

t exp

lain

ing du

ring

a break tha

t 'we san

g these as

chi

ldre

n: th

ey are

folk songs {V

olkslieder) and

still sung to

day'

(Hel

ga S., bom 192

7). S

he and

other

part

icip

ants

went on

to

list

the

mos

t we

ll-k

nown

spring, hik

ing an

d moming

songs, many of wh

ich we

re ass

ocia

ted with the

Bund you

Xh movements tha

t pr

e-dated National Socialism.

When 1

accepted an

invitation

to t

his meeting, I

had

initially u

nder

stoo

dth

at 1 wou

ld talk se

para

tely

to in

divi

dual

mem

bers

. On a

rriv

al, th

e group wa

squ

ite large and

there was an

exp

ecta

tion

that

1 would speak about my home

coun

try,

whi

ch 1 agreed to do

during a su

bseq

uent

visi

t. In ad

diti

on to th

is exp

ectation of reciprocity, 1 al

so realized that my attendance provoked a slight distur-

bance, pe

rhap

s du

e to

my Sta

tus as

an outside gu

est or due

to the so

und-

reco

rdin

geq

uipm

ent and my topic of re

sear

ch. During the

group sin

ging

of tr

adit

iona

lsongs (

main

ly about togetherness an

d Co

mmun

ity)

, none of the members resisted

the ch

oice

of so

ngs,

nor

ver

ball

y intervened when one member gav

e an

opening

cue for a so

ng. Fo

llow

ing this, t

he Organizer seized my pil

e of

cop

ies (

with the

preliminary qu

esti

ons

1 used for

individual in

terv

iews

) an

d ha

nded

one

to ea

chparticipant. While a small gro

up sat with me and

all

began spe

akin

g at

once,

others appeared

to sho

w a

certain

relu

ctan

ce in

writ

ing about

thei

r me

mori

es(i.e. e

xper

ienc

es dur

ing Na

tion

al Socialism and wartime, r

ather t

han more broadly

abou

t mu

sic an

d si

ngin

g).

Sound memory

121

Two im

port

ant distinctions can

be ob

serv

ed about the

womens' ba

ckgr

ound

s:fi

rst,

roughly half we

re from the Düs

seld

orf a

rea, whe

reas

mos

t of

the others cam

efr

om Cen

trai

and Eas

tem Eu

rope

(and one par

tici

pant

was bom in the Dutch East

Indi

es in 1920) an

d se

ttle

d in Wes

t Germany

in the

early post-war pe

riod

. This

latt

er group p

rovi

ded

very

litt

le information

in t

heir w

ritten r

espo

nses

, often

givi

ng wr

iting e

vasi

ve ans

wers

(in '

yes/no' forni) i

n res

pons

e to s

peci

fic q

uest

ions

abou

t home, schooling an

d other si

tes of pa

st experience. The second, no

tice

able

patt

em was that roughly half were born before the Na

tion

al Socialist tak

eove

r(b

etwe

en the

age

s of

7 and

13 in 1933, and

bet

ween

19 an

d 24

in 1945) an

d th

eot

her half were bo

m after t

he takeover (and were bet

ween

the

age

s of

3 and 13 in

1945

). In th

e wr

itte

n co

mmen

ts,

it is noticeable that th

e older women included

'fon

d' me

mories of t

he period be

twee

n roughly 1925-1939, wh

.ere

as a num

ber of

the y

ounger women ei

ther st

ruggled t

o rem

embe

r details a

bout Na

tion

al So

cialism,

or cited pos

t-wa

r ev

ents

as st

reng

er in their me

mory

(e.g

. a ra

dio announcement

abou

t the

foundation of I

srael i

n 1948). As th

e meeting drew to a dose, o

ne of t

hewomen

prom

pted

the

group to in

form

ally

bre

ak into

ligh

t-he

arte

d singing of

'Dan

ke (f

ür diesen guten Morgen)', a

religious s

ong that gai

ned po

p-so

ng Status

in the

1960s (Bubmann 201

0).

All of

these participants were in a la

ter s

tage

of li

fe, w

ith even those who were

not o

rigi

nall

y from the Düs

seld

orf a

rea h

avin

g lived t

here fo

r the maj

orit

y of

thei

rli

ves (

at least 40 or

50

year

s); t

he format of

gro

up singing allowed for

a lig

htatmosphere th

at fa

cilitated a

sense of

shar

ed pla

ce. As su

ch, t

hey we

re involved in

the

acti

ve cre

atio

n of a gro

up sou

nd mem

ory

in the

pre

sent

, which dr

ew on

a sh

ared

cul

tura

l background as a me

ans of

perf

ormi

ng - th

rough gr

oup so

ng - a

positive a sh

ared fee

ling

about th

e past and sense of b

elon

ging

. Rat

her t

han dw

ell

on d

iffi

cult

memories or various forms of in

tern

al difference (

e.g.

acc

ents

, ag

egroup, pl

ace of

birt

h, or

even cl

ass diiferences), t

heir musical par

tici

pati

on in th

egr

oup indicated th

e sense of

consolidating sh

ared

moo

ds and fee

ling

s based on

afa

mili

ar cul

tura

l re

pert

oire

.This group p

roce

ss of re

memb

erin

g reinvokes De

Nora

's dynamic between

'act

ion-

repe

rtoi

res'

and '

action-strategies' that

1 introduced in t

he p

revi

ous

sect

ion,

sinc

e th

ere

is a use of so

cial

Scr

ipts

tha

t ar

e re

work

ed in a pr

esen

t-da

ygr

oup

Situation. Indeed, th

e value of

this

discussion en

able

s my study of so

und

memories to encompass bo

th the creative pr

oces

ses of

indi

vidu

al lif

e st

orie

s an

dgr

oup re

memb

erin

g co

ntex

ts, al

ongs

ide th

e embeddedness of corporeal memo

ries

. Beyond the

relationship of emb

odie

d an

d social pra

ctic

es of remembering

the pa

st - an

d re

late

d in

vocations o

f sel

fhoo

d, in

ters

ubje

cti v

ity a

nd place - the l

ast

aspect th

at needs fu

rther el

abor

atio

n and

qual

ific

atio

n is

Janet's final category of

trau

mati

c memory.

Soun

d memory as tr

auma

tic recall: a

nxiety, t

rigg

ers,

acti

ng-o

ut

The

final category described by

Janet, tra

umat

ic mem

ory,

is perhaps the

most

cont

este

d, and

is usually associated wit

h pa

infu

l events, of

ten those th

at pose a

122 Carolyn Bi

rdsa

ll

challenge to nar

rati

ve int

egra

tion

; in much trauma theory, th

e patient ha

s be

enposited as

una

ble to nar

rate

er in

tegr

ale extreme er

painfiil ep

isod

es int

o ex

isti

ngsc

heme

s of

meaning. The no

tion

tha

t th

ere

is a lack of control, wh

ere th

e past

'spi

lls'

into the pr

esen

t (Caruth 199

5; van

der Kol

k et

al.

199

6) has

sin

ce been

disputed, wi

th numerous sc

hola

rs arguing against thi

s influential understanding

of trau

mati

c re

call

as involving an exact Pe

rfor

manc

e of traumatic memory wit

hout

alte

rati

on (Le

ys 200

0: 252

; La

Capr

a 2001, 2004). In many cases of tr

auma

tic

memory, as

in th

e ca

se of so

-called 'flashbulb' memories, th

ose af

fect

ed are abl

eto

reca

ll pas

t exp

erie

nces

in co

nsid

erab

le de

tail (Brown and

Kul

ik 197

7; Sc

hach

ter

1995, 1996). I

t is imp

orta

nt to be specific about wh

at asp

ects

of a te

stim

ony

refer t

o traumatic experience, and to keep in mi

nd that n

ot everyone is tra

umat

ized

afte

r being exposed to (p

oten

tial

ly) t

raumatizing ex

peri

ence

s; it

is thus cru

cial

to

diff

eren

tiat

e be

twee

n diiferent t

ypes

of t

rauma (

Drozdzewski 20

15: 2).

With

this in min

d, 1

will ref

lect

on the acts of re

memb

erin

g by

interviewees

with long-term exposure to

war and

military attacks, and how the

se instances

invo

lve positionin

gs of se

if and oth

ers,

in rel

atio

n to pla

ce. In dis

cuss

ing ex

peri

ences of the

air

war, interviewees clearly eng

aged

in a

vivi

d re

memb

erin

g of

the Sites an

d physical Spaces in whi

ch the

y experienced sirens and air

attacks. The

fami

ly home was a primary loc

us, a

nd the

se nar

rati

ves invoke the

vul

nera

bili

ty of

both

the home and

outdoor spa

ces.

Home life wa

s described as

mar

ked by the

absence of fathers and ot

her relatives du

e to

mil

itar

y Se

rvic

e, de

ath or

detainment.

Dome

stic

spaces were des

crib

ed as interrupted an

d permeable as

a result of

the

compulsory b

ille

ting

of so

ldie

rs and extensive observation by

bloc

k Wa

rden

s,who che

cked

that individual apartments ha

d da

rken

ed Windows and

cle

ared

-out

atti

c Spaces with sandbags, f

ire sw

atte

rs and

buckets of water.

The int

ensi

fica

tion

of aerial at

tack

s from 1940 onwards were des

crib

ed as the

most sig

nifi

cant

thr

eat to

the saf

ety of

home, sym

boli

zed by

unpredictable air

sirens and exp

losi

ons,

as wel

l as

str

ong smells, sum

marized by one

of t

he seniors'

group members as a 'musty ba

seme

nt sme

ll, concrete dust, fire,

ash, carbide

wast

e'. Al

ong

with

suc

h sm

ells

, interview

participant Le

on E.

(bom 19

29)

recalled that:

In the eve

ning

s, th

e sk

y was blood-red as the ci

ties

bum

ed. Since Ra

ting

en is

near

Düs

seld

orf,

Duisburg, Mühlheim, Oberhausen an

d Essen, you

cou

ldal

ways

see

whe

re the c

ities we

re bur

ning

. And d

uring the da

y, when the

smoke clo

uds ro

se hig

h up, ash wo

uld

fall ove

r Ra

ting

en.

With

such observations, interviewees drew

attention to how the

y tr

ied to

make

sens

e of

their own S

ituation b

y li

sten

ing to

sou

nds

outside

thei

r homes; the

magnitude of ae

rial

attacks also cued via

smell and strong vi

sual

imp

ress

ions

in

the vicinity of th

e home and

local are

a.The other places th

at int

ervi

ewee

s reflected on in th

eir ac

coun

ts were ba

seme

ntair shelters, wh

ich - in

apa

rtme

nt buildings - were shared with other neighbours

or visitors. Alo

ng wit

h of

fici

al bunkers, t

he confined.space of basements was the

predominant si

te in wh

ich in

terv

iewe

es rec

alle

d ex

peri

enci

ng sirens an

d at

tack

s.

Sound memory

123

in which ove

rwhe

lmin

g sounds wer

e as

soci

ated

wit

h darkness, r

estr

icte

d ai

r an

dhigh lev

els o

f anxiety. F

or in

stance, a

s on

e interview participant r

ecalled:

The

cellar wal

ls sho

ok whe

n a bo

mb fei

l ne

arby

. The wo

rst wa

s wh

en the

lights su

ddenly wen

t ou

t and

we couldn't se

e anything. I

t was an op

pres

sive

feel

ing,

the women, in pa

rtic

ular

, cried

It was

unnerving to

sit t

here

in th

ecellar. F

irst it

wou

ld get

really qui

et. T

hen you would he

ar a ver

y light, co

n-stant humming sou

nd. Then i

t wo

uld be dead

sile

nt, until the bo

mbs st

arte

dhammering do

wn. That was

horrible. We would all

kne

el on the

floo

r an

dpr

ay. My mother al

ways

prayed th

e lo

udes

t. One had the

fee

ling

that th

ecellar floors

wer

e ri

sing

up.

(Charlotte S., bor

n 19

30, p

erso

nal interview)

Taki

ng shelter in ba

seme

nts was thus described in terms of

both at r

isk (

bein

gUn

derg

roun

d in

the

event of a bo

mbin

g) and

end

urin

g pr

olon

ged

periods of

unce

rtai

nty an

d bo

redo

m, before retuming to bed or

other act

ivit

ies.

For

tho

sewho used pu

blic

bunkers dur

ing night-time att

acks

, an add

itio

nal co

ncem

was

expr

esse

d ab

out whether on

e co

uld get dressed and wa

lk thr

ough

dark st

reet

s in

time to reach such loc

atio

ns.

The se

nse of

being at risk while tra

vell

ing to

and fro

m sc

hool

was

mentioned

freq

uent

ly, a

long with st

rong

mem

orie

s of

Spot

ligh

ts and sho

otin

g by

anti

-air

craf

tstations. In

thi

s ca

se, male int

ervi

ewee

s te

nded

towards enthusiastic na

rrat

ion of

how

the ea

rly stages of th

e war appeared exc

itin

g, des

crib

ing th

eir fascination

with

Spotlights and th

e sh

ooti

ng dow

n of

enemy pla

nes,

along wit

h how

they

expl

ored

bom

b debris and

swa

pped

colourfiil pieces {B

ombensplitter) at

sch

ool.

A num

ber of

wom

en n

oted

tha

t they w

ould become

emot

iona

l upon s

eein

g(or he

arin

g ab

out) ene

my planes being sh

ot down, fo

r instance:

My memories of ai

rpla

nes a

re te

rrib

le. B

efor

e th

e wa

r th

ey were not a

n is

sue,

and w