Abstract EN:

The Allies olived into Berlin in the late spring and early summer of 1945. In what respect have the americans, the british, the french and the russians influenced the cultural scene in the prussian metropolis, the former capital of the reich ? What were their specific approaches of the Berlin problem ? What were their contributions to the " Berlin spring ", in the early postwar " years of trial and hope ", prior to the foundation of two separate german states ? How and why did the initial consensus to punish and reform the Germans evolve into bitter opposition ? What were the respective cultural policies of the four occupying powers in Berlin, as opposed to the four zones of Germany ? To what extent were these policies dependent on the east-west conflict, to what extent was the development of these policies autonomous ? What did if mean to conceive and to implement a cultural policy in 1945 or in 1949 ? The comparative angle, and the selection, presentation and analysis of a series of " cultural moments " that were influenced or organized by allied cultural officers provide answers to these questions : this case study in " the politics of culture " affords the opportunity to grasp the cultural and emotional realities of the 1945-1949 period. It is a time which seems close at hand, but it is rapidly fading into history ; in Berlin, it was a rare moment of exchange and confrontation between the delegates of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union.