Destruction and the negative of experience in The Patriot and The Air Raid on Halberstadt on April 8, 1945 by Alexander Kluge

Abstract

This article aims at a combined analysis of two works by the German filmmaker, writer, and thinker, Alexander Kluge, namely the film “The Patriot” (Die Patriotin, 1979) and the book “The Air Raid on Halberstadt on April 8, 1945” (Der Luftangriff auf Halberstadt am 8. April 1945, 1977). Both productions, of a markedly essayistic nature, maintain a unique relationship of intertextuality, as excerpts, themes, and passages from the book are rendered in the audiovisual format. In particular, the article will highlight the theme of mass destruction inaugurated in the 20th century in the context of two world wars. Kluge positions the theme by approaching German history from the notion of experience and its adverse manifestations, confronting the small scale of human affairs with the large scale of mass destruction. In both “The Patriot” and “The Air Raid on Halberstadt on April 8, 1945”, the composition is based on the hybridization of fictional and documentary raw materials, as the air raid that gives the book its title actually occurred in Kluge's hometown during World War II. At the same time, however, fictional sections are developed to emphasize the heuristic value of imagination.