the fall of the wall

11 articles tagged with the fall of the wall were found.

Nostalgia or nightmare? Recollections of urban childhood in Eastern Germany

If the grand narrative of German reunification in the autumn of 1989 in media discourse used to be a more or less coherent story of successful reconciliation, recent political developments have made it necessary to question some of the nuances of this seemingly flawless narrative. One way of doing this is to present personal memories in narrative form for consideration as more or less autobiographical accounts from the inside, so to speak. A growing number of writers who were children and young people 35 years ago, at the time of reunification, are now starting to write about their childhood and memories of the reunification process. These stories display more or less biographical features, albeit composite and contrived. In this paper, two novels, both dealing with the past, are compared: Grit Lemke’s affirmative oral history Kinder von Hoy (2021) and David Blum’s more critical Dantesque underworld narrative Kollektorgang (2023). Lemke’s depiction of a happy childhood is rather nostalgic, if not downright ostalgic (“East-nostalgic”), while Blum’s is much more discerning. Generational considerations may explain this difference in approach. What they have in common is that they ascribe significance to the big city with its high-rise buildings as a symbol of a collapsed system, based on their own memories of reunification.

Essay by Lisa Källström and Jana Mikota December 9, 2024

Feminists revisit the breakups and breakthrough of 1989

Conversation with Slavenka Drakulić, Croatia; Samirah Kenawi, Germany; Tamara Hundorova, Ukraine; Ewa Kulik-Bielińska, Poland; and Olga Lipovskaia, Russia.

By Witness Seminar February 27, 2020

Talking about the past and future of the Baltic states

The theme of this year’s conference, the 13th Conference on Baltic Studies in Europe (CBSE) was “Baltic Solidarity” — and most appropriate, no one less than Lech Wałęsa was there to open the event.

By Joakim Ekman February 25, 2020

Berlin and Europe 1989 and now

On May 13--14, 2019 the Körber History Forum took place, where some 200 experts on European history and politics had gathered in the capital of Germany to discuss current European affairs and global issues. In particular, the imminent threat of Russia and the historical roots of the return of “strong leaders” in European politics were in focus in this year’s debates.

By Joakim Ekman June 18, 2019

Dissertation review. When the border between East and West becomes a border between now and then

Sofi Gerber, Öst är Väst men Väst är bäst: Östtysk identitetsformering i det förenade Tyskland, East is West but West is best: East German identity formation in unified Germany, Stockholm University (Stockholm Studies in Ethnology 5) 2011, 248 pages

By Michael Rießler October 5, 2011

Birgitta Almgren. Politically Loaded Words

In this interview professor Birgitta Almgren discusses her study on Nazi-German infiltration in Sweden and the offshoots, in Cold War Sweden, of the GDR’s policies. She is now requesting that the Swedish law courts make it possible for her to continue her research by granting her access to the so-called Rosenholz files. In a comment professor Åmark argues for a release of the Stasi-material.

By Hans Wolf March 24, 2010

A European Dilemma. the Romanies

The situation of the Romani has not improved since the fall of the Wall and the enlargement of the EU. Europe’s largest minority live as outsiders, and often under the threat of violence.

By Irka Cederberg March 24, 2010

After the “German question”: A “Russian question” in Europe remains

Södertörn University held a conference on the legacies of 1989, “Recasting the Peaceful Revolution”. The predominating perspective during the entire conference: the fall of communism was the result of popular pressure and protest from below, not of great-power politics. Much was to be celebrated the automn of 2009.

By Anders Mellbourn February 24, 2010

The Fall of the Wall. Fifty Years of Waiting for the Right to Vote.

Joachim Gauck was 50 years old when he first voted in a free, democratic election in the GDR. A conversation about power and powerlessness, culpability, and reconciliation. The opposite of Communism is individualism, he states.

By Anders Mellbourn February 19, 2010

An economic explanation of 1989. When debt-ridden elites left the scene

In the fall of 2009, Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment by Stephen Kotkin was published. The book offers a new interpretation of the causes behind the Eastern European collapse of 1989, utilizing structural and economic explanations.

By AnuMai Kõll February 19, 2010