East German historians since reunification : a discipline transformed

Description

With German reunification and the demise of the German Democratic Republic in 1990, East German historians and their traditions of historiography were removed from mainstream discourse in Germany and relegated to the periphery. By the mid-1990s, few GDR-trained historians remained in academia. These developments led to a greater degree of intellectual pluralism, yet marginalized many accomplished scholars. East German Historians since Reunification assesses what was gained and lost in the process of dissolving and remaking GDR institutions of historical scholarship. The collection combines primary and secondary sources: younger scholars offer analyses of East German historiography, while senior scholars who lived through the dismantling process provide firsthand accounts. Contributors address broad trends in scholarship as well as particular subfields and institutions. What unites them is a willingness to think critically about the achievements and shortcomings of GDR historiography, and its fate after German reunification.  Read more... Introduction Notes 1. A Different Starting Point, a Different End: East and West German Historiography After 1945 Who Were the Historians? Paradigmatic Assumptions of GDR Historians West Germany: Traditional and Modern Historiography After the Collapse of the GDR: What Remains? Notes 2. Where Did Historical Studies in the German Democratic Republic Stand at the Eve of Unification? Notes 3. The Revenge of the Krupps? Reflections on the End of GDR Historiography Notes 4. "Once Upon a Time …": Losses in Scholarly Competence as a Result of German Unification Notes 5. German Unification and the Debate of the West German Social Sciences One Country: Two Societies, One Scholarly Tradition? Who Controls One's Own Identity? The Absence of a Discussion Discussions Without a Partner Losses for All of Germany? Notes 6. Anticommunist Purge or Democratic Renewal? The Transformation of the Humboldt University, 1985-2000 Socialist Scholarship Internal Renewal Attempts Intervention from the Outside Arrival in the West Controversial Results Notes 7. Research on Fascism and Antifascism in the GDR: A Retrospective Notes 8. Painful Transition and New Research on the History of Political Parties in Germany Note 9. Research on Conservatism in Jena: The Beginning and the End of an Interdisciplinary Research Project Notes 10. The Dissolution of East German Economic History at the Economic University in Berlin-Karlshorst: A Typical Anschluss Procedure Notes 11. The Dissolution of the Institute for Economic History at the Academy of Sciences Notes 12. Dismantling the GDR's Historical Scholarship: A Case Study of the University of Leipzig Selected Research Results by Leipzig Historians Historical Scholarship on German HistorySocioreligious Mass Movements of the High Middle Ages The Study of Medieval Cities within the Context of Socioeconomic Struggles The "Early Bourgeois Revolution" in Germany The Social History of the Proletariat Research About General and World History Summary The Democratic Renewal and its Derailment Self-Directed Democratic Renewal Derailing and Ending the Process of Democratic Renewal Instead of Renewal: Destruction and Forced Transformation The Patterns of Disassembling Existing Scholarship Steps, Levels, Dimensions Epilogue Notes 13. From "Imperialist Class Enemy" to "Partners in Leadership" in 365 Days? East German American Studies Since 1989 Prelude The Status Quo Ante The Big Bang: Self-Reform, and "No Man's Land" for One Year The Nouveau Regime: Change of Paradigms West German Action and East German Personal Reactions Contact Zones: American Studies (East) Meets American Studies (West) Exceptions Prove the Rule Conclusion and Postscript Notes 14. Handling GDR Colonial Historiography Notes