1POPULAR CINEMA

12. Wiener Mädeln (1945–1949, Viennese Girls), Courtesy Bundesarchiv-
Filmarchiv
Lechenberg (Curd Jürgens). Ziehrer’s explanation for his behavior is more
than revealing as a reflection on the Viennese mentality: “No one can ask
me to contribute to my own defeat knowingly.”
Doubly humiliated, Ziehrer leaves Vienna to become an important figure
in the international music scene. His portrayal during an extended European
tour as “the best ambassador for his fatherland in the world” defines
the terms under which he is able to preserve his Austrian identity (in exile,
as it were) and to return home as the representative of a more confident—
which also means more combative—Austria. This transformation requires
that he give up the haughty and unattainable Klara and enter into a more
supportive relationship with the younger Munk sister, Mitzi (Dora Komar),
whom he meets again during a rehearsal for one of his operettas, Die fremde
Herzogin (The Foreign Duchess). Her spirited rendition of the film’s theme
song, now again in the original plural of “Viennese Girls,” reminds Ziehrer
of his obligation to Austrian culture and makes possible his appearance as
“Vienna’s savior” at the 1870 World Exhibition in Christiania. The muchanticipated
reconciliation of culture and state takes place against the back-
The Annexation of an Imaginary City 169