The almost complete devastation of European church bells during the Second World War was an unprecedented event in the history of cultural property and warfare. So too was the campaign to restore this pervasive feature of the European sonic landscape after 1945. This talk explores how bells figured in the perpetration of Nazi violence, and why the restitution of bells to German congregations was an immediate priority for rehabilitating German society in its aftermath. In addressing these questions, Goff draws from her recent book, The God Behind the Marble: The Fate of Art in the German Aesthetic State, to reflect on the persistent faith in the redemptive power of the arts in modern German history, and to understand this faith’s human and material costs.

This event is cosponsored by the History of Art and History Departments.