Events

From the moment of its inception, the East German state sought to cast itself as a clean break from the horrors of National Socialism. Nonetheless, the precipitous rise of xenophobic, far-right parties across the present-day German East is only the latest evidence that the GDR’s legacy cannot be understood in isolation from the Nazi era nor the political upheavals of today. The provocative collection („After Auschwitz: The Difficult Legacies oft he GDR“, Berghahn Books 2021) reflects on the heretofore ignored or repressed aspects of German mainstream society—including right-wing extremism, anti-Semitism and racism—to call for an ambitious renewal of historical research and political education to place East Germany in its proper historical context. The book was published on behalf of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation and the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum. It was first published in German in 2018 („Nach Auschwitz: Schwieriges Erbe DDR“, Wochenschau Verlag 2018). Historian of modern German and European history Astrid M. Eckert (Emory University, Atlanta, USA) presents the expanded edition of the book translated into English in conversation with the editors (Anetta Kahane, Enrico Heitzer, Patrice Poutrus, and Martin Jander).

Time:

May 4, 2022, Berlin (Germany) 6 – 8 pm  / Atlanta, GA (USA) 12 – 2pm Livestream via YouTube

Presentation:

• Prof. Astrid M. Eckert,  Historian of modern Germany and modern Europe, Emory University, Atlanta (Georgia), USA.

Participants:

• Anetta Kahane is a writer and chair of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which she founded in 1998.
• Dr. Enrico Heitzer is a research assistant at the Sachsenhausen Museum and Memorial / Brandenburg Memorials Foundation.
• Dr. Patrice Poutrus is a research fellow in the Department of Modern and Contemporary History and History of Didactics at the University of Erfurt.
• Dr. Martin Jander is a lecturer and teaches at the Berlin campuses of Stanford University and Freie Universität Berlin (FU-BEST).

Hosted by:

Amadeu Antonio Foundation & Sachsenhausen Museum and Memorial

The event will be held in English.