Tailoring Truth: Politicizing the Past and Negotiating Memory in East Germany, 1945-1990

Olsen, Jon Berndt

ISBN 10: 1782385711 / ISBN 13: 9781782385714

Published by Berghahn Books, 2015

About this Item

262 pages. 9.25x6.25x1.00 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # x-1782385711

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Tailoring Truth: Politicizing the Past and Negotiating Memory in East Germany, 1945-1990
• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1782385711
• ISBN 13: 9781782385714
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.79 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

By looking at state-sponsored memory projects, such as memorials, commemorations, and historical museums, this book reveals that the East German communist regime obsessively monitored and attempted to control public representations of the past to legitimize its rule. It demonstrates that the regime’s approach to memory politics was not stagnant, but rather evolved over time to meet different demands and potential threats to its legitimacy. Ultimately the party found it increasingly difficult to control the public portrayal of the past, and some dissidents were able to turn the party’s memory politics against the state to challenge its claims of moral authority.

About the Author

Jon Berndt Olsen is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the Dean of Waldsee, the German language and culture immersion program of Concordia Language Villages. He has been the recipient of awards from the Fulbright Commission, the Robert Bosch Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council’s Berlin Program.