Anselm Kiefer and W. G. Sebald: Intersecting Approaches to German History

Abstract

The German artist Anselm Kiefer and German author W. G. Sebald are prominent and innovative figures in their individual fields whose works deal with many of the same themes, such as destruction, memory, and mourning. Their historical retellings are mediated by their own experiences of growing up in postwar Germany and hover between reality and fiction. Kiefer and Sebald are not the only German artist and author to address themes related to World War II and the Holocaust; however, their works share similar approaches to those themes that are not universally utilized by their peers. Despite this, there is no in-depth analysis of the similarities between the artist and author. This paper examines multiple works by Kiefer and Sebald in order to analyze shared approaches that are evident in Kiefer’s artworks and Sebald’s novels. Their works focus heavily on the archive, take advantage of the documentary aspect of photography, and feature the histories and responses of Holocaust survivors. By examining these similarities, insight is gained into a postwar mindset shared by both Kiefer and Sebald.