1. Fête Diplomacy and the American Military Government's Cultural Mission in Postwar Germany.
- Author
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Kinney, Brandon
- Subjects
- *
CULTURAL diplomacy , *AMERICAN military personnel , *MILITARY occupation , *ANNIVERSARIES , *COLD War, 1945-1991 ,GERMANY-United States relations ,GERMAN revolutions of 1848-1849 - Abstract
In 1948, the United States military government (OMGUS) played a crucial but invisible role in helping Germans in the western zones of occupation celebrate the centennial of the German Revolution of 1848. American officials viewed these celebrations as an important component in the democratization of Germany and as a means of demonstrating German-American cultural reconciliation in a highly public manner. Caught in an ambiguous, transitional period between punitive occupation and full civilian control, OMGUS pursued cultural diplomacy in the hopes that concretizing an ideological and cultural relationship based on history and shared values would help reorient German democracy and create a stable partner in central Europe, thereby serving long-term strategic goals in the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024