The Right (Way) to Represent: The Emotional Politics of Remembering Mass Rape in Germany After 1945. (October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stone, Katherine
• Other Names: Stone Katherine guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Violence against women. Volume 25:Number 13(2019)
• Page Start: 1522
• Page End: 1542
• Publication Date: 2019-10
• Subjects: Germany -- memory and emotion -- testimony -- authenticity -- Second World War; Abused women -- Periodicals; Women -- Crimes against -- Periodicals; Violent crimes -- Periodicals; Femmes victimes de violence -- Périodiques; Femmes, Crimes contre les -- Périodiques; Crimes violents -- Périodiques; 362.8292
• DOI: 10.1177/1077801219869540
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8012

Abstract

A Woman in Berlin (1954) has undoubtedly shaped global understanding of wartime rape. The present article focuses on the diarist's use of humor to process her disorientation, assert her subjectivity, and build affective links with other victims. I consider how the diary's tone influenced its reception and thus how aesthetic analysis might illuminate the conditions under which stories about sexual violence become audible, as well as the ways in which the "cultural politics of emotion" (to quote the title of Sarah Ahmed's 2004 study) can both foster and obstruct human rights projects.