Mythos ex machina: Medienkonstrukt "Silberpfeil" als massenkulturelle Ikone der NS-Modernisierung

Abstract

The dissertation deals with the medial constructs and images of the motor racing in der popular culture of the Third Reich. The images of the victorious racing drivers and triumphant German technology in films, books or newspapers came together to form a powerful mental construct that reinforced national self-confidence. Bernd Rosemeyer or Rudolf Caracciola, the drivers from the German automotive companies Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz, became modern masculine heroes. Behind the steering wheels of fast and powerful machines, they represented a strong, modern, and capable industrial nation, which - in the discourse of the time - as an organically grown and socially classless community of German workers ("Volksgemeinschaft," "Werkmänner") never lost its roots to tradition, history and the virtues of workmanship and handmade, high-quality-products ("Deutsche Wertarbeit"). The "motor battles" ("Motorenschlachten") at the Avus in Berlin and the Nürburgring were more popular than the usual mass party rallies of the Nazis in Nuremberg or other cities. In comparison to the stiff rituals there, the marching uniformed, disciplined bodies and the ideologically unequivocal acclamation of the total hegemony of one party, car races were a demonstration of the joy of life. They manifested the so-called "Volksgemeinschaft" as a national community of joy and fun. Motor sport as a mass media construct moreover shows the effective strategy of the Nazis and the significance of modernity.