The Carnegie Museum of Art is currently exhibiting the works of the German artist Beate Kuhn. I initially read a contemporary biography in German: despite my sehr schlecht school-boy Germany, I understood enough – later confirmed by the exhibit’s English-language biography – to be shocked and awed.
She graduated high school in 1946 and start university in 1947? During Stunde Null (Zero Hour)? The nation occupied by the Allied powers, infrastructure devastated, housing non-existent (especially in Berlin), food rationed to starvation levels, extremely cold winters. And Beate continues her education? Wow.
Perhaps Düdelsheim is too small to be bombed. Perhaps Düdelsheim is far enough west to avoid carpet bombings of the larger cities. Freiberg im Breisgau is on the western border with France and occupied by France, perhaps that helped.
This video of Berlin and this news report immediately after the war is how I envision Germany at that time, which is perhaps a stereotype. And despite immediate improvements in people’s quality of life – for example, the Berlin underground/subway was running (in some capacity) by July 1945 – I did not expect someone to focus on her education and career when everything is so dire. Her narrative completely upends the common German narrative of the time. Simply incredible and inspiring.
