CFP The GDR Today, University of Birmingham – Institute for German Studies and Graduate Centre for Europe, scadenza 8 novembre

The GDR Today
Papers are invited for a 1-day postgraduate colloquium focusing on the history and memory of GDR
politics, culture and society. The event will be held at the University of Birmingham on 10 January
2014 and is sponsored by the Institute for German Studies and the Graduate Centre for Europe. Prof.
Helmut Peitsch (Universität Potsdam) and Prof. Dennis Tate (University of Bath) will act as discussants
for the student presentations, alongside the organisers Dr Sara Jones and Dr Joanne Sayner
(University of Birmingham), Dr Debbie Pinfold (University of Bristol) and Dr Anna Saunders (Bangor
University).
When Stefan Heym claimed, in 1990, that the GDR would become nothing more than a ‘footnote in
world history’, few could have anticipated the importance of its legacy in shaping the cultural, social and
political spheres of the united Germany. The opening of previously inaccessible archives resulted in an
upsurge in historical analyses of the East German state and thereby new insights into its politics, culture
and society. However, the availability of new material did not result in historical consensus about the
nature of the socialist system. The revival of totalitarian theory, with its focus on the instruments of
repression and control, was challenged by models that sought to understand GDR society from the
inside, as a ‘participatory dictatorship’ (Fulbrook), in which individuals negotiated a ‘normal life’ within
the boundaries of the regime. The debates surrounding the GDR from the perspective of history are
rivalled by the contentious nature of its representation in memory. The 1990s saw the controversial
trials of those implicated in the old regime and the often shocking revelations of Stasi files. These may
now have given way to more varied accounts of state socialism; however, this part of the German and
European past remains fiercely contested, as different mnemonic communities vie to have a voice in the
debate and to determine the image of the GDR that will remain in collective memory.
In recent years the spate of round anniversaries – 20 years of the ‘fall’ of the Wall, 50 years of the
building of the Wall and 60 years of the 1953 uprisings – has given unprecedented prominence to GDR
history in contemporary Germany. 2014 represents yet another anniversary, as we mark twenty-five
years since the end of state socialist rule in Central and Eastern Europe. In this context, the Universities
of Birmingham, Bangor and Bristol will host a one-day postgraduate symposium, in which we will take
stock of scholarship on the GDR today, as well as identify areas for future research. The event will bring
together postgraduates working on the history, memory and culture of the GDR with the aim of
examining not only what the GDR was, but how its memory continues to influence attitudes and policies
today. The intention is to provide a productive forum for the exchange of ideas in the presence of
established experts in the field.
Questions that we might consider include, but are not limited to:
– How do scholars of history understand the state socialist system 25 years after transition?
– What can analysis of particular aspects of GDR history or culture contribute to an understanding
of the whole?
– What is the relationship between the history and/or culture of the GDR and its representation in
memory?
– What patterns can be identified in the memory debates of the last twenty-five years?
– Is there a discernible shift from communicative to cultural memory? Are these even the right
terms for understanding memory in the twenty-first century?
– To what extent has our understanding of concepts such as victimhood and perpetration become
modified over time?
– Why have different memory media proven to be particularly productive at different points in
time, and to what effect?
We invite proposals for papers of no more than 10 minutes examining any area of the history, memory
or culture of the GDR, including film, literature, museums, politics and the built environment. Students
may choose to present an overview of their thesis as a whole, or an aspect of it on which they would
particularly like feedback. Funding is available for eighteen students to attend the colloquium, including
travel within the UK and lunch/refreshments throughout the day. Places will be allocated on a
competitive basis. Abstracts of no more than 150 words should be submitted to Dr Sara Jones at
s.jones.1@bham.ac.uk by the 8 November 2013.
For further information, please contact one of the organisers: Dr Sara Jones (s.jones.1@bham.ac.uk), Dr
Joanne Sayner (j.sayner@bham.ac.uk), Dr Debbie Pinfold (Debbie.Pinfold@bristol.ac.uk) or Dr Anna
Saunders (a.saunders@bangor.ac.uk).