Competing Germanies
Following World War II, German antifascists and nationalists in Buenos Aires believed theater was crucial to their highly politicized efforts at community-building, and each population devoted considerable resources to competing against its rival onstage. Competing Germanies tracks the paths of seve...
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| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
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Cornell University Press
2026
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| Online Access: | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/110013 |
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| _version_ | 1869515701587279872 |
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| author | Kelz, Robert |
| author_browse | Kelz, Robert |
| author_facet | Kelz, Robert |
| author_sort | Kelz, Robert |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Following World War II, German antifascists and nationalists in Buenos Aires believed theater was crucial to their highly politicized efforts at community-building, and each population devoted considerable resources to competing against its rival onstage. Competing Germanies tracks the paths of several stage actors from European theaters to Buenos Aires and explores how two of Argentina's most influential immigrant groups, German nationalists and antifascists (Jewish and non-Jewish), clashed on the city's stages. Covered widely in German- and Spanish-language media, theatrical performances articulated strident Nazi, antifascist, and Zionist platforms. Meanwhile, as their thespian representatives grappled onstage for political leverage among emigrants and Argentines, behind the curtain, conflicts simmered within partisan institutions and among theatergoers. Publicly they projected unity, but offstage nationalist, antifascist, and Zionist populations were rife with infighting on issues of political allegiance, cultural identity and, especially, integration with their Argentine hosts. Competing Germanies reveals interchange and even mimicry between antifascist and nationalist German cultural institutions. Furthermore, performances at both theaters also fit into contemporary invocations of diasporas, including taboos and postponements of return to the native country, connections among multiple communities, and forms of longing, memory, and (dis)identification. Sharply divergent at first glance, their shared condition as cultural institutions of emigrant populations caused the antifascist Free German Stage and the nationalist German Theater to adopt parallel tactics in community-building, intercultural relationships, and dramatic performance. Its cross-cultural, polyglot blend of German, Jewish, and Latin American studies gives Competing Germanies a wide, interdisciplinary academic appeal and offers a novel intervention in Exile studies through the lens of theater, in which both victims of Nazism and its adherents remain in focus. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-172162 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Cornell University Press |
| publisherStr | Cornell University Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1721622026-02-20T05:17:25Z Competing Germanies Kelz, Robert Migration studies Buenos Aires Gelmanistic Theater history Free German Stage Zionist culture Integration Argentina Germany Theater Jewish thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSG Literary studies: plays and playwrights thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBH Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 Following World War II, German antifascists and nationalists in Buenos Aires believed theater was crucial to their highly politicized efforts at community-building, and each population devoted considerable resources to competing against its rival onstage. Competing Germanies tracks the paths of several stage actors from European theaters to Buenos Aires and explores how two of Argentina's most influential immigrant groups, German nationalists and antifascists (Jewish and non-Jewish), clashed on the city's stages. Covered widely in German- and Spanish-language media, theatrical performances articulated strident Nazi, antifascist, and Zionist platforms. Meanwhile, as their thespian representatives grappled onstage for political leverage among emigrants and Argentines, behind the curtain, conflicts simmered within partisan institutions and among theatergoers. Publicly they projected unity, but offstage nationalist, antifascist, and Zionist populations were rife with infighting on issues of political allegiance, cultural identity and, especially, integration with their Argentine hosts. Competing Germanies reveals interchange and even mimicry between antifascist and nationalist German cultural institutions. Furthermore, performances at both theaters also fit into contemporary invocations of diasporas, including taboos and postponements of return to the native country, connections among multiple communities, and forms of longing, memory, and (dis)identification. Sharply divergent at first glance, their shared condition as cultural institutions of emigrant populations caused the antifascist Free German Stage and the nationalist German Theater to adopt parallel tactics in community-building, intercultural relationships, and dramatic performance. Its cross-cultural, polyglot blend of German, Jewish, and Latin American studies gives Competing Germanies a wide, interdisciplinary academic appeal and offers a novel intervention in Exile studies through the lens of theater, in which both victims of Nazism and its adherents remain in focus. 2026-02-20T05:17:24Z 2026-02-20T05:17:24Z 2026-02-19T08:13:57Z 2020 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/110013 9781501739880 9781501739873 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/172162 eng Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/110013/2/9781501739873.pdf Cornell University Press Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library 05937e7b-c222-4680-9580-c09c5ce7a11e 9781501739880 9781501739873 Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library 372 Ithaca open access |
| spellingShingle | Migration studies Buenos Aires Gelmanistic Theater history Free German Stage Zionist culture Integration Argentina Germany Theater Jewish thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSG Literary studies: plays and playwrights thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBH Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 Kelz, Robert Competing Germanies |
| title | Competing Germanies |
| title_full | Competing Germanies |
| title_fullStr | Competing Germanies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Competing Germanies |
| title_short | Competing Germanies |
| title_sort | competing germanies |
| topic | Migration studies Buenos Aires Gelmanistic Theater history Free German Stage Zionist culture Integration Argentina Germany Theater Jewish thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSG Literary studies: plays and playwrights thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBH Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 |
| topic_facet | Migration studies Buenos Aires Gelmanistic Theater history Free German Stage Zionist culture Integration Argentina Germany Theater Jewish thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AT Performing arts::ATD Theatre studies thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSG Literary studies: plays and playwrights thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBH Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 |
| url | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/110013 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kelzrobert competinggermanies |