Tailoring Truth : : Politicizing the Past and Negotiating Memory in East Germany, 1945-1990 / / Jon Berndt Olsen.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2014-2015
• VerfasserIn: Olsen, Jon Berndt,
• Place / Publishing House: New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2015]; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Contemporary European History ; 15
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (276 p.)

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction. Tailoring Truth in East Germany -- Chapter 1. Mobilizing Memory in the Soviet Occupation Zone -- Chapter 2. The Politics of State Memory -- Chapter 3. Emotional Bonds -- Chapter 4. Broadening the Historical Roots of the State Narrative -- Chapter 5. The Collapse of State-Imposed Memory Culture -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index