Nicolas Offenstadt
Nicolas Offenstadt is a historian and senior lecturer (HDR) at the University of Paris I, specialising in issues of Memory, in particular the Great War and the GDR. His publications include Le Pays disparu. Sur les traces de la RDA (Stock, 2018 re-edition revised and completed Gallimard 2019) and Urbex RDA (Albin Michel, 2019). He recently co-edited a collective work on the place of the Great War in the construction of the GDR, Das rote Erbe der Front. Der Erste Weltkrieg in der DDR (De Gruyter, 2022). He is also working on urban exploration (Urbex) as a tool for history and the social sciences (Urbex, Albin Michel, 2022).
Photo by Pierre-Jérôme Adjedj
Photo by Pierre-Jérôme Adjedj
History and memory of the GDR: Historiographical debates and political conflicts
Extending well beyond the confines of academia, the memory of the GDR remains a pivotal topic of public discourse, where diverse perspectives collide and intertwine. A striking illustration of this is evident in two bestselling books released in 2023.
Primarily, we encounter the memoirs of contemporaries closely associated with the final years of the GDR and the subsequent era of social upheaval. Numerous voices emerge in defense of the GDR, emphasizing the regime's accomplishments and/or criticizing its dismantling, often decrying the existence of an 'official' history in contemporary Germany. The escalating influence of the far right in the eastern regions of the country has exacerbated divisions and conflicts regarding the recent past.
In the midst of these varied narratives, what role have historians assumed in shaping the processes of memory formation and 'working through the past' (Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit) since 1990, and how do scholarly endeavors intersect with public discourse today?
Primarily, we encounter the memoirs of contemporaries closely associated with the final years of the GDR and the subsequent era of social upheaval. Numerous voices emerge in defense of the GDR, emphasizing the regime's accomplishments and/or criticizing its dismantling, often decrying the existence of an 'official' history in contemporary Germany. The escalating influence of the far right in the eastern regions of the country has exacerbated divisions and conflicts regarding the recent past.
In the midst of these varied narratives, what role have historians assumed in shaping the processes of memory formation and 'working through the past' (Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit) since 1990, and how do scholarly endeavors intersect with public discourse today?
Nicolas Offenstadt
Nicolas Offenstadt is a historian and senior lecturer (HDR) at the University of Paris I, specialising in issues of Memory, in particular the Great War and the GDR. His publications include Le Pays disparu. Sur les traces de la RDA (Stock, 2018 re-edition revised and completed Gallimard 2019) and Urbex RDA (Albin Michel, 2019). He recently co-edited a collective work on the place of the Great War in the construction of the GDR, Das rote Erbe der Front. Der Erste Weltkrieg in der DDR (De Gruyter, 2022). He is also working on urban exploration (Urbex) as a tool for history and the social sciences (Urbex, Albin Michel, 2022).
Photo by Pierre-Jérôme Adjedj
Photo by Pierre-Jérôme Adjedj
History and memory of the GDR: Historiographical debates and political conflicts
Extending well beyond the confines of academia, the memory of the GDR remains a pivotal topic of public discourse, where diverse perspectives collide and intertwine. A striking illustration of this is evident in two bestselling books released in 2023.
Primarily, we encounter the memoirs of contemporaries closely associated with the final years of the GDR and the subsequent era of social upheaval. Numerous voices emerge in defense of the GDR, emphasizing the regime's accomplishments and/or criticizing its dismantling, often decrying the existence of an 'official' history in contemporary Germany. The escalating influence of the far right in the eastern regions of the country has exacerbated divisions and conflicts regarding the recent past.
In the midst of these varied narratives, what role have historians assumed in shaping the processes of memory formation and 'working through the past' (Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit) since 1990, and how do scholarly endeavors intersect with public discourse today?
Primarily, we encounter the memoirs of contemporaries closely associated with the final years of the GDR and the subsequent era of social upheaval. Numerous voices emerge in defense of the GDR, emphasizing the regime's accomplishments and/or criticizing its dismantling, often decrying the existence of an 'official' history in contemporary Germany. The escalating influence of the far right in the eastern regions of the country has exacerbated divisions and conflicts regarding the recent past.
In the midst of these varied narratives, what role have historians assumed in shaping the processes of memory formation and 'working through the past' (Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit) since 1990, and how do scholarly endeavors intersect with public discourse today?