The Other Germany: A History of the GDR

In the aftermath of 1945, Germany was divided. This course provides an insight into the political and social history of the Soviet Occupied Zone and later GDR. “The first anti-fascist state in Germany” saw forty years of hope, disillusion, oppression and failure. In 1989, a system collapsed with its people being confronted with tremendous challenges. This course will look at the GDR’s past in national and international politics as well as the social and mental reality of ordinary people who since 1961 found themselves “fenced off” by the regime. We will look at former East German society and their everyday lives between conformity and opposition, between shortage and privilege.

A reader will be made available.