- Title:
- Narrating the Berlin Wall : nostalgia and the negotiation of memory, 20 years later
- Creator:
- Eedy, Sean
- Date Created:
- 2011
- Degree Awarded:
- Master of Arts
- Subjects:
- Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany, 1961-1989 History, Modern
- Geographical Focus:
- West Germany East Germany Germany
- Supporting Materials:
- n/a
- Description:
- Memory and commemoration are as much constructed narratives as is fiction. Using Svetlana Boym’s concept of restorative and reflective nostalgia and Paul Cooke’s notion of the West German colonization of GDR memory as its point of departure, this thesis argues that official commemorations of the Fall of the Berlin Wall marginalized the experiences of former GDR citizens in pursuit of a narrative that framed the actions of East Germans as part of an inevitable process toward German reunification. Newspaper articles, German government publications, the demonstrations and exhibitions on display for the anniversary presented a dichotomy that celebrated the continuation of the history of the Federal Republic as superior to that of the East and the accomplishments of East Germans themselves. This thesis examines the ways in which memory was reconstructed during the twentieth anniversary and in post-Wende literature and narrated to a mass audience. While commemoration employed claims of historical truth, fictions’ use of reflective nostalgia deconstructed notions of a collective East German memory and identity, arguing for a plurality of memory in narrated reconstructions of the GDR.
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- Eedy, Sean. 2011. "Narrating the Berlin Wall : nostalgia and the negotiation of memory, 20 years later", Department of History, Carleton University
- Link to this page:
- https://cuhistory.github.io/grads/items/hist_104.html
Rights
- Rights:
- Copyright the author, all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.