Geographies of Renewal
Heimat and Democracy in West Germany, 1945–1990

Explores changing conceptions of Heimat in West Germany from the end of the Second World War to national reunification.

Jeremy DeWaal (Author)

9781009513432, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 January 2025

386 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2.7 cm, 0.687 kg

'DeWaal provides a fascinating reinterpretation of regionalism in West-Germany during the Cold War era, debunking the idea that the Heimat movement went down with the Nazis. Instead it thrived, while reviving traditions of local democracy and international cooperation.' Eric Storm, Leiden University

The term 'Heimat', referring to a local sense of home and belonging, has been the subject of much scholarly and popular debate following the fall of the Third Reich. Countering the persistent myth that Heimat was a taboo and unusable term immediately after 1945, Geographies of Renewal uncovers overlooked efforts in the aftermath of the Second World War to conceive of Heimat in more democratic, inclusive, and pro-European modes. It revises persistent misconceptions of Heimat as either tainted or as a largely reactionary idea, revealing some surprisingly early identifications between home and democracy. Jeremy DeWaal further traces the history of efforts to eliminate the concept, which first emerged during the Cold War crisis of the early 1960s and reassesses why so many on the political left sought to re-engage with Heimat in the 1970s and 1980s. This revisionist history intervenes in larger contemporary debates, asking compelling questions surrounding the role of the local, the value of community, and the politics of place attachments.

Introduction
1. Heimat, renewal and life after death in a Rhenish Metropolis
2. 'Democratic' and 'Open to the World': reshaping narratives of local identity in cologne
3. Heimat and renewal at the water's edge: Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen
4. Contesting the spatial foundations of democracy: The Southwest State Debates, 1945–1956
5. The Nation as a redemptive geography: Heimat meetings and expellee politics
6. Transcending the need for home?: The anti-Heimat movement of the 1960s
7. Between Rhetoric and practice: re-reading the Heimat renaissance, 1970-1989
Epilogue: the immutable Heimat question
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]