Robert Maier (ed.): Akustisches Gedächtnis und Zweiter Weltkrieg

Although the discipline of historical studies has become somewhat less text-intensive as a result of the iconic turn, it nevertheless continues to occupy a sphere that is to a large extent silent. At best, sounds and noises are only addressed as subjects for study once they have been documented in written form; that is, ‘translated’ into text. This volume investigates these losses in translation and the difference between what people ‘hear’ when they remember World War II and the ‘sounds’ that have been written into history. The volume thus pursues aspects of acoustic memory both in its individual and collective forms. Fifteen contributions by German, Japanese, Polish and Russian authors address theoretical questions of sound media and oral history, examining biographies for components reminiscent of sound. They further consider literary documentation and the impact and didactic potential of history’s acoustic dimension. Finally, the volume documents the production of an acoustic video clip on World War II.

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