Journal:Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis
Volume 23 (2011): Daugiareikšmės tapatybės tarpuerdvėse: Rytų Prūsijos atvejis XIX–XX amžiais = Ambiguous Identities in the Interspaces: The Case of East Prussia in the 19th and 20th Centuries = Die vieldeutigen Identitäten in den Zwischenräumen: Der Fall Ostpreußen…, pp. 188–202
Abstract
The fact that the Curonian Spit is one of the most important landscape icons of East Prussia is substantiated by reports from the travels and literary works of numerous German authors. This paper analyses articles on the Curonian Spit that were published between 1920 and 1939 in the “Ostdeutsche Monatshefte” journal that was one of the most important cultural magazines focused on the issues of the “German East”. It served as the basis for a description of elements that created the “ambience” (Georg Simmel) of this East Prussian landscape icon (dunes, the sea, the bay, the world of birds, and the ubiquitous moose), and its perception as a specifically German landscape, particularly in the inter-war period.