Lost in Translation: the Image of the American and the United States Through the Lens of Race in Postwar Divided Germany, 1945-1968.

My IS examines the image divided Germany formed of the American and of the United States in the postwar era, 1945-1968. I argue that the formation of a new German identity was crucial in shaping perceptions of Americans and of America, and that political ideology and pop culture in postwar Germany significantly influenced these perceptions. I use race as binding element throughout this study to show how the legacy of Nazism influenced perceptions and identity in postwar divided Germany. I also looked at race as an issue in postwar German society. For primary sources, I examined West German heimatfilms, the film Toxi (1952), DEFA Red Westerns, and West German westerns. For print sources, I looked at how the civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama were reported on in Neues Deutschland, an East German daily newspaper, and Die Zeit, a West German weekly.