Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Amnesia, Nostalgia, and Anamnesis as Reactions to the Wende
- 2 In the Shadow of the Wall: Political Oppression and Resistance in the GDR
- 3 The Wild West and East of Eden: The Red Army Faction and German Terrorism
- 4 History Lessons: The Enduring Appeal of Utopianism and the Specter of Violence
- Epilogue
- Works Cited
- Index
2 - In the Shadow of the Wall: Political Oppression and Resistance in the GDR
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 February 2023
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Amnesia, Nostalgia, and Anamnesis as Reactions to the Wende
- 2 In the Shadow of the Wall: Political Oppression and Resistance in the GDR
- 3 The Wild West and East of Eden: The Red Army Faction and German Terrorism
- 4 History Lessons: The Enduring Appeal of Utopianism and the Specter of Violence
- Epilogue
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
The Portrayal of GDR History in motion pictures made since 1989/90 has sparked lively debates in the trade press, in nationally renowned newspapers and magazines, and among leading cultural and political figures. Commentators have repeatedly and often passionately questioned who has the right to tell the history of the GDR, Easterners or Westerners? Those who lived through it and can vouch for the authenticity of their story based on eyewitness experience or those who never took part in the events and therefore have the distance to look back on history and reflect upon it objectively? Without falling into the trap of essential-ism that would privilege one voice over another based on some perceived innate truth (or arguing that history can only be told by contemporaries), it is important to note that in the Berlin Republic the position of former GDR citizens is structurally inferior to that of Westerners, and that the debate about a filmmaker’s place of origin is fundamentally about this inequality. Contentious film reviews in the trade press are symptomatic of the larger debates over the emerging GDR memory landscape.
Already at the time of the unification process, then Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble stated for the record that the West did not view the East as an equal partner but more as the prodigal son returning to the fold under the protection of the righteous father. Schäuble maintained:
My dear citizens, what is taking place here is the accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic, and not the other way around. We have a good Grundgesetz (Basic Law), which has proved its worth. We will do everything for you. You are welcome to join us. We do not wish callously to ignore your wishes and interests. However, we are not seeing here the unification of two equal states. We are not starting again from the beginning, from positions that have equal rights. The Grundgesetz exists, and the Federal Republic exists.
Entering into the union as the wayward state, the GDR and its citizens were given and accepted the mandate to shed their sovereignty and identity and adopt Western standards. This process of assimilation is far from over, and the distance between Easterners and Westerners continues today.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Post-Wall German Cinema and National HistoryUtopianism and Dissent, pp. 99 - 172Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012