Organisierte Erinnerung. Ein Beitrag zu Entstehungsgeschichte und Funktionen der Kriegschronik der Provinz Ostpreussen

Abstract

At the beginning of the First World War, numerous propaganda operations were conducted in Germany to strengthen national and local identity, including war exhibitions as well as writing and publishing wartime memories. In 1914, the Governor of East Prussia, Adolf von Batocki-Friebe, and a specially appointed committee developed the concept of a chronicle that would document the wartime history of the Province. The task of collecting data and materials for the chronicle, which was supposed to be largely based on the individual experiences and memories of inhabitants, required a huge organizational effort, including the creation a bureaucratic machine. The concept of the chronicle and the stages of the writing process are presented in the first section of the paper, based on source materials and documents. The subsequent sections focus on the functions the chronicle was to fulfill according to its originators, and on the unintended effects and consequences that stemmed from the original concept.