Anne Orford

Anna Saunders

Kathryn Greenman

Ntina Tzouvala

The Legacies of 1917

Revolutions in International Law

Debbie Pinfold

More than twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, memories of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) remain complex and controversial. As new generations come of age, not only do the political, social and cultural parameters of remembrance shift accordingly, but so too do the forms of media used to transmit these memories. This volume explores the different ways in which the GDR has been remembered since its demise in 1989/90, and asks how memory of this state continues to impact on contemporary Germany. The chapters offer multiple perspectives on the GDR, examining the way memories have been expressed in and shaped by literature, film, music, museums, monuments, historical narratives, commemorative events and everyday discourse concerning the GDR. In resisting monolithic readings of the GDR, the volume offers new insights into the complex relationship between past and present in eastern Germany.

Multiple Perspectives and Plural Authenticities

Remembering and Rethinking the GDR

Since unification, eastern Germany has witnessed a rapidly changing memorial landscape, as the fate of former socialist monuments has been hotly debated and new commemorative projects have met with fierce controversy. Memorializing the GDR provides the first in-depth study of this contested arena of public memory, investigating the individuals and groups devoted to the creation or destruction of memorials as well as their broader aesthetic, political, and historical contexts. Emphasizing the interrelationship of built environment, memory and identity, it brings to light the conflicting memories of recent German history, as well as the nuances of national and regional constructions of identity.

Monuments and Memory after 1989

Memorializing the GDR

Laura Rorato

With the expansion of the EU and calls for a European constitution, the question of a common European identity has become increasingly pressing in recent times. However, in the face of diverse national and regional traditions – and the absence of an obvious European cultural imaginary – the forging of a strong sense of European identity proves problematic. This volume brings together case studies of national and regional images from across Europe, which together suggest emerging patterns of identification within contemporary Europe – patterns which may not necessarily amount to a European 'identity', but rather to a European 'mode' of identification. The chronological structure of the volume demonstrates the increasingly problematic nature of national collective memories and past imaginaries in light of emergent marginal voices and images, and suggests that it is both from beyond and within the national paradigm that new challenges are now reshaping the cultural imaginary of European communities.Focusing on cultural images within film, literature, national narratives and myths, museum exhibitions and architecture, this volume is of interest to a wide variety of disciplines in the humanities, and presents an interdisciplinary approach to questions of cultural memory and identity formation.

National Identities and Collective Memories in Contemporary European Culture

The Essence and the Margin

During the final decade of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), young citizens found themselves at the heart of a rigorous programme of socialist patriotic education, yet following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the emphasis of official state rhetoric, textbooks and youth activities changed beyond recognition. For the young generation growing up during this period, ‘normality’ was turned on its head, leaving a sense of insecurity and inner turmoil. Using a combination of archival research and interviews, together with educational materials and government reports, this book examines the relationship between young people and their two successive states in East(ern) Germany between 1979 and 2002. This unusual time-span straddles the 1989/1990 caesura which often delimits historical studies, and thus enables not only a detailed examination of GDR socialisation, but crucially also its influence in unified Germany. Anna Saunders explores the extent to which a young generation’s loyalties can be officially regulated in the face of cultural and historical traditions, changing material conditions and shifting social circumstances, and finds GDR socialisation to be influential to post-unification loyalties through its impact on the personal sphere, rather than through the official sphere of ideological propaganda. At a time of globalisation, this lucid study not only provides unique insight into the functioning of the GDR state and its longer-term impact, but also advances our broader understanding of the ways in which collective loyalties are formed. It will be of particular interest to those in the fields of German History and Politics, European Studies and Sociology.

Youth and patriotism in East(ern) Germany, 1979–2002

Honecker's Children

Anna Saunders

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