'Fast couples': Technology, gender and modernity in Britain and Germany during the nineteen-thirties

Historical Research

Volumn 76, Issue 193, 2003, Pages 364-388

  Rieger, Bernhard ^a  

^a JACOBS UNIVERSITY BREMEN   (Germany)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 33745298003     PISSN: 09503471     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1468-2281.00181     Document Type: Article

References (161)

1. For enthusiasm about aviation as an example of the general fascination with technology, see P. Fritzsche, A Nation of Fliers: German Aviation and the Popular Imagination (Cambridge, Mass., 1992), pp. 185-219
2. D. Edgerton, England and the Aeroplane: an Essay on a Militant and Technological Nation (Basingstoke, 1991), pp. 43-9
3. On the media, see D. LeMahieu. A Culture for Democracy: Mass Communication and the Cultivated Mind in Britain between the Wars (Oxford, 1988)
4. K. Lacey, Feminine Frequencies: Gender, German Radio and the Public Sphere, 1923-45 (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1996)
5. For an analysis of entertainment with an emphasis on the cinema, see E. D. Rentschler, The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and its Afterlife (Cambridge. Mass., 1996)
6. J. Richards. The Age of the Dream Palace: Cinema and Society in Britain, 1930-9 (2nd edn., 1989)
7. On the cult of celebrities in the film world, see S. Street, British National Cinema (1997). pp. 119-34
8. A. Ascheid. 'Nazi stardom and the "modern girl": the case of Lilian Harvey'. New German Critique, fxxiv (1998). 57-89
9. and K.-L. Neumann, 'Idolfrauen oder Idealfrauen? Kristina Söderbaum und Zarah Leander', in Idole des deutschen Films: eine Galerie von Schlüsselfiguren, ed. T. Koebner (Munich, 1997), pp. 231-43
10. For some examples of this scholarship, see J. Herf, Reactionary Modernism: Technology, Culture and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich (Cambridge, 1984)
11. Science, Technology and National Socialism, ed. M. Renneberg and M. Walker (Cambridge, 1994)
12. Science in the Third Reich, ed. M. Szöllösi-Janze (Oxford, 2001)
13. Fritzsche; M. Nolan, Visions of Modernity: American Business and the Modernization of Germany (New York. 1994)
14. E. Schütz and E. Gruber, Mythos Reichsautobahn: Bau und Inszenierung der 'Straßen des Führers', 1933-41 (Berlin, 1996)
15. Z. Bauman, Modernity and Ambivalence (Oxford. 1991), esp. pp. 18-52
16. D. J. K. Peukert, 'The genesis of the "Final Solution" from the spirit of science', in Re-evaluating the Third Reich, ed. T. Childers and J. Caplan (New York, 1993). pp. 234-52
17. R. N. Proctor, The Nazi War on Cancer (Princeton, N.J., 1999)
18. From a biographical perspective, see U. Herbert, Best: Biographische Studien über Radikalismus, Weltanschauung und Vernunft (Bonn, 1996)
19. E. Heineman, What Difference does a Husband Make? Women and Marital Status in Nazi and Postwar Germany (Berkeley. Calif., 1999)
20. G. Czarnowski, Das kontrollierte Paar: Ehe- und Sexualpolitik im Nationalsozialismus (Weinheini, 1991)
21. See M. J. Daunton and B. Rieger. 'Introduction', in Meanings of Modernity: Britain from the Late Victorian Era to World War II, ed. M. J. Daunton and B. Rieger (Oxford, 2001), pp. 1-20
22. P. Mandler, 'The consciousness of modernity? Liberalism and the English "national character". 1870-1940', in Daunton and Rieger, pp. 119-44
23. R. Samuel, 'Introduction: exciting to be English', in Patriotism: the Making and Unmaking of British National Identity, i: Histoty and Politics, ed. R. Samuel (1989), pp. xviii-lxvii
24. On the 'flapper', see B. Melman, Women and the Popular Imagination in the Twenties: Flapper and Nymphs (Basingstoke. 1988)
25. A. Light, Forever England: Femininity, Literature and Conservatism between the Wars (1991)
26. D. Ryan, The Ideal Home through the Twentieth Century (1997), pp. 33-85
27. C. Pursell, 'Domesticating modernity: the Electrical Association for Women, 1924-86', in British Jour. for the Hist. of Science, xxxii (1999). 47-67
28. P. Wright, Tank: the Progress of a Monstrous War Machine (2000)
29. S. O'Connell. The Car and British Society: Class, Gender, and Motoring, 1896-1939 (Manchester. 1998)
30. For the figure, see Daily Herald, 5 Aug. 1930, p. 1
31. Daily Mail, 5 Aug. 1930, p. 9
32. For descriptions to this effect, see Daily Mail, 24 July 1933, p. 12
33. Daily Express. 7 Jan. 1941. p. 3
34. Street, pp. 130-1
35. Biographical information is taken from C. Babington Smith. Amy Johnson (1967)
36. J. A. Mollison. Death Cometh Soon or Late (1932)
37. and J. A. Mollison, Playboy of the Air (1937)
38. Biographical information is available in Beinhorn. Mein Mann; E. Beinhom, Ein Mädchen fliegt um die Welt (Berlin, 1932)
39. E. Beinhorn, 180 Stunden über Afrika (Berlin, 1933)
40. For receipts for such services for James Mollison and Amy Johnson, see Hendon, Royal Air Force Archive, file AC 77/23/500
41. Beinhom, 180 Stunden, p. 7
42. For a British example, see Daily Express, 9 June 1933, p. 11
43. For instance, when Rosemeyer crashed lethally in January 1938, newspapers and radio stations reported on the event disregarding official guidelines (see H. Bohrmann and G. Toepser-Ziegert, NS-Presseanweisungen der Vorkriegszeit: Edition und Dokumentation, vi, ft. i, 1938: Quellentexte Januar bis Aprilw (Munich, 1999), pp. 95, 99, 105
44. J. Curran and J. Seaton, Power without Responsibility: the Press and Broadcasting in Britain (1981). pp. 44-85
45. R. Graves and A. Hodge, The Long Weekend: a Social History of Great Britain, 1919-39 (1940; repr. 1991). pp. 290-3
46. On the negotiations between Johnson's father, who acted as her representative, and the Daily Mail, see Babington Smith, pp. 214-17
47. See W. Courtenay, Airman Friday (1937), pp. 98-100, 118-23. 251. 259-69
48. On the phenomenon of the star, see J. Ellis, 'Stars as a cinematic phenomenon', in Star Texts: Image and Performance in Film and Television, ed. J. G. Butler (Detroit, Mich., 1991), pp. 300-15
49. R. Dyer, Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society (Basingstoke. 1985), pp. 10-15
50. Daily Mail, 16 May 1936, pp. 13-14
51. See also Daily Express, 16 May 1936, p. 1
52. Manchester Guardian, 31 Oct. 1936, p. 13
53. Motor und Sport, 6 Feb. 1938. p. 25
54. Beinhorn. Mein Mann, pp. 42-3
55. Berliner Tageblatt, 26 July 1932. p. 10
56. Vorwärts, 27 July 1932 (evening edn.), p. 6. No mention was made of Beinhorn in Frankfurter Zeitung
57. Völkischer Beobachter, 8 Aug, 1936, p. 3
58. Motor und Sport, 16 Aug, 1936. p. 6
59. Beinhom, Mein Mann, pp. 37, 81
60. On reception ceremonies, see The Times, 2 Aug. 1930, p. 13
61. Manchester Guardian, 5 Aug. 1930, p. 9
62. Daily Mail, 19 Dec. 1932, p. 11
63. The Times, 16 May 1936, p. [4
64. For coverage of a meeting with royalty, see The Times, 20 Oct. 1934, p. 12
65. Daily Mail, 20 Oct. 1934, p. 11
66. Beinhom. Ein Mädchen, p. 92
67. See. e.g.. W. Schivelbusch, The Railway Journey: the Industrialization and Perception of Time and Space in the 19th Century (Leamington Spa, 1986)
68. L. Kirby, Parallel Tracks: the Railroad and Silent Cinema (Durham. N.C., 1997)
69. S. Kern, The Culture of Space and Time, 1880-1918 (Cambridge, Mass.. 1983)
70. A.Johnson, Sky Roads of the World (1939), p. 7
71. On motorcycle racing, see A. von Saldern, 'Cultural conflicts, popular mass culture and the question of Nazi success: the Eilenriede motorcycle races. 1924-39', German Studies Rev., cxv ( 1992), 3 17-38
72. J. Williams, 'A wild orgy of speed: responses to speedway in Britain before the Second World War', Sports Historian, xix (1999), 1-15
73. On the United States, see J. J. Corn, The Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation, 1900-50 (New York, 1983), pp. 71-90
74. J. A. Mollison. Sky Riders: a Book of Famous Flyers (Loudon and Glasgow. 1939), p. 92
75. Mollison, Death Cometh, p. 181
76. For similar passages by other pilots, see H. Koehl, J. C. Fitzmaurice and G, von Hünefeld, The Three Musketeers of the Air: their Conquest of the Atlantic from East to West (New York and London, 1928), p. 82
77. M. von Etzdorf, Kick in die Welt: Als deutsche Fliegerin über drei Erdteilen (Berlin, 1931), pp. 20-2
78. The quotes are from Daily Mail, 25 July 1933. p. 10
79. NSKK-Mann, 4 June 1938. p. 4. 28 May 1938, p. 4
80. Fränkische Tageszeitung, 14 Sept. 1936, p. 18
81. Beinhorn, Ein Mädchen, p. 18
82. Johnson, Sky Roads, p. 23
83. R. Italiaander, Drei Deutsche Fliegerinnen: Elly Beinhorn, Thea Rasche, Hanna Reitsch (Berlin. 1940), p. 40
84. Daily Mail, 8 June 1933, p. 11
85. Mollison, Playboy of the Air, p. 21
86. Italiaander, p. 40
87. NSKK-Mann, 28 May 1938. p. 3
88. J. Oppenheim, 'Shattered Naves': Doctors, Patients and Depression in Victorian England (New York and Oxford. 1991)
89. E. Showalter, The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture, 1830-1980 (1987)
90. J. Radkau, Das Zeitalter der Nervosität: Deutschland zwischen Bismarck und Hitler (Munich. 2000)
91. E. J. Leed, No Man's Land: Combat and Identity in World War I (Cambridge. 1981), pp. 163-92
92. J. Bourke. Dismembering the Male: Men's Bodies, Britain and the Great War (1996). pp. 107-23
93. R. W. Whalen. Bitter Wounds: German Victims of the Great War, 1914-39 (Ithaca, N.Y.. 1984). pp. 59-67
94. M. Thomson. 'Psychology and the "consciousness of modernity" in early 20th-century Britain', in Daunton and Rieger. pp. 97-115
95. Manchester Guardian, 7 Feb. 1933, p. 8
96. This newspaper repeated its criticism after the flight (see Manchester Guardian, 10 Feb. 1933, p. 9)
97. Daily Herald, 10 Feb. 1933. p. 1
98. The Times, 10 Feb. 1936. p. 12
99. For a succinct overview of the attitudes to empire across the political spectrum, see P.J. Marshall. '1918 to 1960s: keeping afloat', in The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire, ed. P. J. Marshall (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 84-5
100. See also S. Howe, Anticolonialism in British Politics: the Left and the End of Empire, 1918-64 (Oxford, 1993)
101. For a systematic exploration of these arguments, see D. Edgerton, 'Liberal militarism and the British state', in New Left Review, clxxxv (1991), 138-69
102. See A. Cobham, Australia and Back (1926)
103. A. Cobham, My Flight to the Cape and Back (1926)
104. A, Cobham, Skyways (1925)
105. Melman. p. 140
106. M. Procida, 'Good sports and right sorts: guns, gender and imperialism in British India', Jour. British Studies, xl (2001), 454-88, at p. 461
107. On 'women of empire', see A, Burton, Burdens of History: British Feminists, Indian Women and Imperial Culture, 1865-1915 (Chapel Hill. N.C., 1994), pp. 33-62
108. B. N. Ramusack, 'Cultural missionaries, maternal imperialists, feminist allies: British women activists in India, 1865-1945', in Western Women and Imperialism: Complicity and Resistance, ed. N. Chauduri and M. Strobel (Bloomington, Ind., 1992). pp. 119-36
109. T. R. Metcalf, Ideologies of the Raj (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 109-10
110. A biography of Johnson also claimed that her spirit of adventure had motivated Johnson to select Australia as her destination (see C. Dixon, Amy Johnson - Lone Girl Flyer (1930), p. 17)
111. An unpublished report to Lord Wakefield, managing director of the Castrol motor oil company and sponsor of Johnson's flight, also emphasized that she was 'a very valuable ambassadress for the British Empire' (see R.A.F. Archive, file AC 77/23/677, letter to C. C. Wakefield, 1 July 1930)
112. See the obituaries in The Times, 8 Jan. 1941. p. 7
113. Manchester Guardian, 9 Jan. 1941. p. 6
114. See also the rousing, pro-imperial speech delivered by Amy Johnson, as played by Anna Neagle, in They Flew Alone in 1942. Street, p. 131
115. For the call to politicize sport, see H. von Tschammer und Osten, 'Sport - eine Sache der Nation', in Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte, v (1934), 385-90
116. Attempts to avoid oversaturation with overt ideology are discussed in D. J. K Peukert, Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition and Racism in Everyday Life (1st edn., 1987; Harmondsworth. 1993)
117. Rentschler, pp. 16-22, 99-117
118. For similar coverage, see Völkischer Beobachter, 29 Jan. 1938, p. 1
119. Illustrierter Beobachter (1937), p. 1091
120. Fränkische Tageszeitung, 6 July 1937, p. 3. 27 Oct. 1937. p. 9
121. Völkischer Beobachter, 7 July 1937, p. 1
122. Beinhorn, 180 Stunden, pp. 13, 17
123. Italiaander, p. 29
124. L. Wildenthal, German Women for Empire, 1884-1945 (Durham, N.C., 2001), pp. 172-96, esp. p. 189
125. On German colonialism in the inter-war period, see H. Pogge von Strandmann, 'Imperialism and revisionism in interwar Germany', in Imperialism and After: Continuities and Discontinuities, ed. W.J. Mommsen and J. Osterhammel (1986). pp. 90-119
126. This phrase is taken from a best-seller by the press secretary of the Nazi party (see O. Dietrich, Mit Hitler an die Macht: Persönliche Erlebnisse mit meinem Führer (Munich, 1934), p. 66)
127. On the celebration of aviation heroes in the Weimar Republic, see Fritzsche, pp. 146-53
128. On boxing triumphs as symbols of national regeneration, see S. Gehrmann, 'Symbol of national resurrection: Max Schmeling, German sports idol'. International Jour, Hist, of Sport, xiii (1996), 101-13
129. The quotes are taken from Motor und Sport, 19 Sept. 1936, p. 30; 30 Aug. 1936. p. 28; 10 Jan. 1937. p. 14; 6 Feb. 1938, p. 26
130. E. Beinhorn, Grünspecht wird ein Flieger: Der Werdegang eines Flugschülers (Leipzig. 1935), pp. 51-60
131. Beinhorn. Ein Mädchen, pp. 7. 9
132. and see plates facing p. 219
133. For National Socialist attacks on the 'new woman', see P. Siber. 'Die Frauenfrage und ihre Losung durch den Nationalsozialismus'. NS-Frauen-Warte, i (1932-3), 52
134. Similar themes are invoked in L. Gottschewski, 'Eine neue Frauengeneration wächst heran', NS-Frauen-Warte, i (1932-3), 531-3
135. T. von Trotta. "Volksneubau und Geschlechterfrage', Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte, v (1934), 875-7
136. G. Scholz-Klink, 'Unsere Ausrichtung', Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte, vi 1935), 298-301
137. Other examples of prominent females in Nazi Germany also encountered problems (see Ascheid). For the best discussion of the 'new woman' in a European context, see M. L. Roberts, Civilization Without Sexes: Reconstructing Gender in Postwar France, 1917-27 (Chicago. Ill., 1994), pp. 19-88
138. On Germany, see U. Scheub, Verrückt nach Leben: Berliner Szenen in den Zwanziger Jahren (Reinbeck. 2000)
139. A. Grossmann, '"Girlkultur" or thoroughly rationalized female: a new woman in Weimar?', in Women in Culture and Politics: a Century of Change, ed. J. Friedlander and others (Bloomington. Ind., 1986), pp. 62-80
140. L. Frame, 'Gretchen, girl, garçonne: Weimar science and popular culture in search of the ideal new woman', in Women in the Metropolis: Gender and Modernity in Weimar Culture, ed. K. von Ankum (Berkeley. Calif., 1997), pp. 12-40
141. C. Usborne, 'The new woman and generational conflict: perceptions of young women's sexual mores in the Weimar Republic', in Generations in Conflict: Youth Revolt and Generation Formation in Germany, 1770-1968, ed. M. Roseman (Cambridge. 1995), pp. 137-63
142. Heinemann, pp. 38-43
143. For the term, see Czamowski, p. 14
144. On marriage in Nazi Germany, see Heineman, pp. 17-74
145. These are characterizations of the ideal couple by the leader of the National Socialist women's organization Nationalsozialistische Frauenschaft (see 'Die Reichsfrauenführerin spricht in der Parteikongreßhalle zu den deutschen Frauen', in NS-Frauen-Warte, iv (1935-6), 239-44)
146. Beinhom's presence at race courses not only features in her autobiography but also in the contemporary press (see Beinhorn. Mein Mann, pp. 44, 46, 50, 152
147. G. Dawson, Soldier Heroes : British Adventure, Empire and the Imagining of Masculinities (1994), pp. 195-201
148. On the inter-war crisis of masculinity, see Light, pp. 8-10. There is also the well-developed literature on shell shock quoted above (n. 51)
149. See Cobham, Australia and Back, pp. 6, 7, 27, 29, 72
150. Daily Mail, 1 Oct. 1926, pp. 9-10
151. Dixon, pp. 28-9
152. Dixon, pp. 10-11
153. Daily Mail, 24 July 1933. p. 11; 8 May 1936, p. 12; 16 May 1936, p. 12
154. On make-up and femininity, see K. Peiss. 'Making up. making over: cosmetics, consumer culture and women's identity', in The Sex of Things: Gender and Consumption in Historical Perspective, ed. V. de Grazia and E. Furlough (Berkeley, Calif., 1996), pp. 311-36
155. On the legitimacy of public roles for society ladies in Britain, see L. Davidoff. The Best Circles: Society, Etiquette and the Season (1986)
156. For similar examples, see Daily Herald, 5 May 1936, p. 11
157. Daily Herald, 6 May 1936, p. 1
158. C. Lew. 'Fascism, National Socialism and conservatives in Europe, 1914-45: issues for comparativists', Contemporary European History, viii (1999), 97-126
159. S. G, Payne, A History of Fascism (Madison, Wis.. 1995)
160. Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships in Comparison, ed. I. Kershaw and M. Lewin (Cambridge, 1997)
161. Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: Comparisons and Contrasts, ed. R. Bessel (Cambridge. 1996)