The Post-Reunification Aufarbeitung of the SED-Dictatorship

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Doerre, Jason J.
Language:	English
Published:	Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK 2008
Subjects:	German literature GDR Stasi AUFARBEITUNG East German German Loest Ostalgie
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1210612137

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-bgsu12106121372021-08-03T05:28:38Z The Post-Reunification Aufarbeitung of the SED-Dictatorship Doerre, Jason J. German literature GDR Stasi AUFARBEITUNG East German German Loest Ostalgie The purpose of this thesis is to examine attempts in post-reunification Germany to process or deal with (Aufarbeitung) the second German dictatorship of the twentieth century, the German Democratic Republic. Part I deals with Germany's attempts to address politically the East German past. The first chapter focuses on the legal and political actions taken by the German government to help make right the wrongdoings of the dictatorship of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED). This chapter pays special attention to the trials against the East German border guards and political figures. Moreover, this chapter looks at the policies made by the federal government that address what was to be done with the enormous amount of documents left over by the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Stasi). Part II focuses on the literary Aufarbeitung of the SED-dictatorship. The artistic Aufarbeitung comprises the body of literature and films that was created in the post-reunification era that helps the collective coming to grips with the SED-dictatorship. Chapter two examines the foundations of a literary discourse on the topic of state control in the GDR. This chapter looks mostly at autobiographical texts written from personal experience in the GDR, as well as the early conflicts among the East German literati concerning the role of the writer in the GDR. The topic of chapter three is the use of fiction to analyze the experiences of East Germans. The primary example in this chapter is Erich Loest's Nikolaikirche which this thesis treats as the quintessential Wenderoman. Chapter four examines the usage of humor in depicting life in the GDR which ultimately led to the movement known as Ostalgie. This movement, which began with the comeback of East German consumer products, but produced literary and filmic representations of the GDR, caused a great deal of reaction from critics who claimed that to represent the GDR with nostalgia is to trivialize the misdeeds of the Unrechtsstaat. The final chapter assesses recent developments concerning the Aufarbeitung of the SED-dictatorship and questions whether or not these new developments mean a new paradigm of representing the GDR. 2008-07-25 English text Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1210612137 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1210612137 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	German literature GDR Stasi AUFARBEITUNG East German German Loest Ostalgie
spellingShingle	German literature GDR Stasi AUFARBEITUNG East German German Loest Ostalgie Doerre, Jason J. The Post-Reunification Aufarbeitung of the SED-Dictatorship
author	Doerre, Jason J.
author_facet	Doerre, Jason J.
author_sort	Doerre, Jason J.
title	The Post-Reunification Aufarbeitung of the SED-Dictatorship
title_short	The Post-Reunification Aufarbeitung of the SED-Dictatorship
title_full	The Post-Reunification Aufarbeitung of the SED-Dictatorship
title_fullStr	The Post-Reunification Aufarbeitung of the SED-Dictatorship
title_full_unstemmed	The Post-Reunification Aufarbeitung of the SED-Dictatorship
title_sort	post-reunification aufarbeitung of the sed-dictatorship
publisher	Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2008
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1210612137
work_keys_str_mv	AT doerrejasonj thepostreunificationaufarbeitungoftheseddictatorship AT doerrejasonj postreunificationaufarbeitungoftheseddictatorship
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The Post-Reunification Aufarbeitung of the SED-Dictatorship

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