After the Wall: Reconstructing and Representing the GDR

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Almost 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the unification of Germany, the memory of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) is experiencing an ever increasing boom. As physical signs of German division disappear from the united landscape, new sites of memory are being created, ranging from consumer-orientated Ostalgie (nostalgia for the GDR) to the documentation of political oppression. The diversification of this memory landscape / in both content and form / and the conflicting nature of many narratives has led not only to an apparent blurring of boundaries between history and memory ('myth'), but also to a reappraisal of the longer-term legacy of the GDR in unified Germany. The way that the past is remembered, reconstructed and commemorated has become a major area of scholarship, across a range of disciplines, such as Cultural Studies, History, Anthropology, Political Science, Media and Film Studies. There have been significant studies concerning remembrance of the Holocaust and the National Socialist past, particularly concerning concepts of 'normalisation' and 'victimhood'. In contrast, however, work on GDR remembrance remains limited; nor is there much work on the remembrance of the comparatively recent past in the literature generally, since attention has been mainly focused on war and its aftermath. This network will address this situation by providing a rare forum for scholars from a variety of fields who are working on memories and representations of the GDR, allowing for novel interaction and the generation of new ideas. The central aims of the research are threefold:1) to further understand the role of the GDR past in shaping contemporary Germany and the changing nature of east German distinctiveness (whether real or assumed);2) to investigate the extent to which different art forms and remembrance projects (e.g. film, literature, photography, museums, monuments) condition the type of memory that is reconstructed;3) to advance our theoretical understanding of collective memories, by bringing the work of a number of established memory theorists to the East German context.The network is intended to begin in 2009 in order to interact with numerous anniversary events due to take place in the UK and Germany to mark the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Wall. Continuing into 2010, however, it will crucially also facilitate reflection on these events, themselves important markers in the development of representation, memory and form.Through three thematically organised workshops, each of which will address different elements of the above research agenda, and a larger conference, the network also intends to: 1) encourage interaction with those outside the academic community, such as practitioners in the heritage industry, writers and artists, who will be invited to speak at and participate in all four events;2) encourage the participation of postgraduate students at all stages and develop fresh postgraduate projects;3) provide the basis for larger collaborative projects concerning the memory and remembrance of other dictatorships and periods of conflict, both in the post-socialist world and elsewhere, enabling exploratory theses and theoretical understandings to be tested on a larger scale, and enhancing our understanding of system-specific and regional distinctions;4) draw together and consolidate existing and diverse research in the field, in order to trace the trajectory of various stages of GDR remembrance within the unification process. This approach will be reflected in the research outputs of the network, which will aim to present new research findings and provide a synoptic view for those working in the field, as well as facilitate dissemination to non-specialists, particularly through the network website.