'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria
'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria
'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria
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Beginning with the so-called reconstruction period <strong>of</strong> the late 1940s and early<br />
1950s, there developed the collective memory <strong>of</strong> the hard-working Germans, the<br />
Trümmerfrauen, who with their bare hands and nothing to sustain them were able<br />
to scrimp and save, eventually beginning the Federal Republic‟s successful<br />
economic recovery. This collective memory […] takes pride that no adversity,<br />
regardless <strong>of</strong> its magnitude, could stop the Germans from once again picking<br />
themselves up, like a „phoenix from the ashes,‟ to become the economic envy <strong>of</strong><br />
the world. (460)<br />
However, Sanders-Brahms undermines these very optimistic iconographic images <strong>of</strong><br />
Trümmerfrauen with an <strong>of</strong>f-screen voice-over comment that incorporates the adult<br />
filmmaker‟s insights into the nature <strong>of</strong> this new beginning. In the voice-over the narrator<br />
ruefully addresses her mother, saying:<br />
Lene, was sollten wir vom Frieden erwarten? Am Anfang nach dem Krieg, das<br />
Aufräumen machte noch Spaβ. Aber die Steine, die wir klopften, die wurden zu<br />
Häusern zusammengesetzt, die noch schlimmer waren als die vorher. Lene, wenn<br />
wir das gewuβt hätten. Lene, wenn wir das gewuβt hätten. (Sanders-Brahms,<br />
Film-Erzählung 113) 52<br />
This comment hinders the spectator‟s enjoyment <strong>of</strong> the cheerful scene, as it<br />
foreshadows the idea that Lene‟s return to the domestic sphere will be a disillusioning<br />
and traumatic experience. As Kosta suggests, in this scene, “documentary footage <strong>of</strong> the<br />
famed Trümmerfrauen […] ironically dramatizes the women rebuilding the sites <strong>of</strong> their<br />
own demise” (129).<br />
52 “Lene, what should we have expected from peace? At first after the war cleaning up was still fun. But<br />
the stones that we hammered were used to build houses that were worse than those before. Lene, if only<br />
we had known that. Lene, if only we had known that” (Sanders-Brahms, Film-Erzählung 113).<br />
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