East German Perspectives on Transformation after 1989

Experiencing, Remembering, and Responding to Unification
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-64014-203-9
Verlag: Camden House

Buch, Englisch, Band 264, 270 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 549 g

Reihe: Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture

Examines eastern Germans' diversity of experiences of 1989/90 and its continuing effects as reflected in biographical, creative, and collective representations, demonstrating the ongoing impact of die Wende in contemporary Germany.

As the fall of the Berlin Wall and the official unification of Germany recede into the past, their impact on questions of identity and belonging in Germany endures. For many eastern Germans, the process of change and adaptation that began in 1989/90-in German die Wende, the turning point or transition-is not yet over; indeed, recent public discourse and events in Germany have caused controversy by questioning established narratives of unification. Rather than viewing the Wende as a phenomenon of 1989/90 and its immediate aftermath, this volume presents it as a complex and ongoing process.

By examining eastern German representations of, and responses to, the Wende from varying perspectives-including life stories, fictional representations, and collective visions-the contributions in this volume present above all a narrative of diversity: just as "the East" cannot be understood as a homogenous space, neither can the Wende be seen as a unified-or unifying-experience. From an eastern German perspective, the period since 1989 has been marked by continuity as much as rupture, with the promised freedom and democracy often being overshadowed by violence and alienation. By focusing on the longer-term sociocultural implications of transition, this volume provides insights into past and present experiences of the Wende, as well as multiple imaginations of Germany's future.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Saunders, Anna

Summers, Caroline

Weitere Mitwirkende

Drechsel, Tom

Ehrig, Stephan

Frese-Renner, Lea

Hähnel-Mesnard, Carola

Hines, Matthew

Morina, Christina

Okunew, Nikolai

Saunders, Anna

Summers, Caroline

Ward, Elizabeth M

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Deutsche Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Deutsche Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
Glossary of Key Terms and Abbreviations

Part I: Shifting Narratives of the Wende
Introduction: Wende ohne Ende? Unfinished Narratives of Transformation
Anna Saunders and Caroline Summers
Chapter 1: Beyond the "Shining Moment": The Revolution of 1989 and the Making of Contemporary Germany
Christina Morina

Part II: Private Spaces: Life Stories in Transition
Chapter 2: From Inclusion in the Late GDR to Exclusion in the Newly Unified Germany? Mozambican Labor Migrants and the Transformation of East German Migration Policy
Tom Drechsel
Chapter 3: Making Sense of Postsocialism and Masculinity: Homepages of East German Men in the 1990s and 2000s
Lea Frese-Renner
Chapter 4: Translating the Personal into the Literary: The Afterlife of East German Experience in Post-Unification Texts
Caroline Summers

Part III: Creative Spaces: Cultural Representations of Change
Chapter 5: Staging Violence: The Wende and its Aftermath in Recent Theater Productions
Carola Hähnel-Mesnard
Chapter 6: Ende ohne Wende? The Transformationsjahre and Disgust in Manja Präkels's Als ich mit Hitler Schnapskirschen aß and Bahati Glaß's Das Geschenk meines Vaters
Matthew Hines
Chapter 7: Spaces and Places of Economic Transformation in Hans-Christian Schmid's Lichter, Thomas Stuber's In den Gängen, and Vanessa Jopp's Vergiss Amerika
Elizabeth M. Ward

Part IV: Public Spaces: Reclaiming the Wende
Chapter 8: Between GDR and "Mitteldeutschland": Identity and Television in East Germany in the Early 1990s
Nikolai Okunew
Chapter 9: Re-Narrating Unification -Shifting Generational Perspectives on 1989/90 and its Aftermath
Stephan Ehrig
Chapter 10: The Long Path to Memorialization: Envisioning Leipzig's Freiheits- und Einheitsdenkmal
Anna Saunders

Notes on Contributors

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Summers, Caroline
CAROLINE SUMMERS is Associate Professor in Translation and Transcultural Studies at the University of Warwick.

Summers, Caroline
CAROLINE SUMMERS is Associate Professor in Translation and Transcultural Studies at the University of Warwick.

Saunders, Anna
ANNA SAUNDERS is Professor of German at the University of Liverpool.

Saunders, Anna
ANNA SAUNDERS is Professor of German at the University of Liverpool.