The Image of the “Trümmerfrau” in the Illustrated Press: Projecting a Construct in Postwar Germany and Austria

They were the epitome and image of reconstruction immediately after World War II: German Trümmerfrauen (“rubble women”), clearing away the rubble and debris of the bombed cities with their bare hands. Although most of the rubble was in fact removed by machines, and men were involved in the clearing work to the same degree as women, the myth of the “rubble women” became engrained in postwar society. In contrast to men, many of whom had served as soldiers in the Wehrmacht during the war, these women could be used by a postwar society striving to ignore questions of guilt as a surface on which to inscribe innocence and a new ethics. The “rubble women” were seen as both victims and heroines. This created a powerful discourse still appropriated by various groups today. Unlike in Germany, the “Trümmerfrau” as subject made no appearance at all in the Austrian illustrated press during the immediate postwar period. However, it was used all the more emphatically decades later in the Austrian school system’s history textbooks. This article highlights the differences between Austria and (West and East) Germany in the visual approach to the “rubble women.” The spectrum of photographs examined ranges from documentation and staged pictures to image falsification. An in-depth examination of the photographs, their captions and contexts will answer the question of what was intended to be shown and what was to be concealed.