Project MUSE®: German Yearbook of Contemporary History - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in German Yearbook of Contemporary History.daily12026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 5 (2021) through current issue
Latest Articles: German Yearbook of Contemporary HistoryTWOProject MUSE®German Yearbook of Contemporary History2509-74582509-744XLatest articles in German Yearbook of Contemporary History. Feed provided by Project MUSE®Introduction to Estranged yet Entangled: Perspectives on East German History
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979237
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Recent debate over the place of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in German and European history has been marked by the revival of Cold War oppositions. In these discussions, the West is often portrayed as the source of today's problems, whether it is the continued gap in wealth and income between western and eastern Germany or the relative lack of East German representation among the institutional elites in post-unification Germany. In the heat of discussion, it is easy to forget that in the early 1990s, immediately following the collapse of the GDR, both East and West Germans were much more concerned about dismantling communist power and the Stasi's far-flung networks. After all, the Peaceful Revolution of
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallIntroduction to Estranged yet Entangled: Perspectives on East German History2026-01-08text/htmlen-USIntroduction to Estranged yet Entangled: Perspectives on East German History2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®1104192026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08"Saboteurs" or "Activists"? West German Workers in the GDR, 1949–61
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979238
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On May 27, 1952, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) instituted a "new border regime"1 on the demarcation line. Characterized by barbed-wire fencing, restricted zones, and close monitoring by armed guards, it intensified the divide between the two Germanys and created an insuperable barrier for thousands of cross-border commuters. From that May day onward, farmers east and west of the line were prohibited from cultivating their fields on the other side. Commuters lost their jobs in the lignite mining district near Helmstedt, while the East German Harbke power station had to generate electricity for mining operations without its West German workforce. These measures were a reaction to the signing of the Bonn
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmall"Saboteurs" or "Activists"? West German Workers in the GDR, 1949–612026-01-08text/htmlen-US"Saboteurs" or "Activists"? West German Workers in the GDR, 1949–612026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®1404822026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08Cold War Commuters: Resisting Politics and Securing Pensions across the German-German Border
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979239
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Postwar Germany's Soviet zone of occupation infamously had fewer natural resources than the Western zones, but slate was an exception to the rule. Thuringia boasted Europe's largest slate quarry, which employed nearly a thousand workers mining and exporting the "blue gold" at its peak. Many of those skilled workers lived close by in Bavaria. Their long-standing commuting patterns had posed little problem until the imposition of occupation zones after German defeat; although they traveled no further, they had to cross an increasingly fraught demarcation line. Meanwhile, the quarry managers were eager to return to business as usual, and slate was a hot commodity in a Europe actively rebuilding from the war. The
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallCold War Commuters: Resisting Politics and Securing Pensions across the German-German Border2026-01-08text/htmlen-USCold War Commuters: Resisting Politics and Securing Pensions across the German-German Border2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®393382026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08Unvarnished Truths: A Confidential Conversation between Gerhard Schürer, Chief Economic Planner of the GDR, and the Stasi in April 1978 about the SED's Economic Policies
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979240
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For a long time the mechanisms by which the inner coterie of the leadership of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED—Socialist Unity Party of Germany) formed opinions and took decisions remained hidden from researchers because the relevant archival materials were either inaccessible or lacking altogether. The conflicts that emerged within the Politburo during the 1970s regarding the party's economic policy were analyzed for the first time in a series of interviews with economic experts from the highest planning authority of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) conducted during the 1990s,1 and later verified and confirmed as applying likewise to the 1980s by archival materials that had in the meantime
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallUnvarnished Truths: A Confidential Conversation between Gerhard Schürer, Chief Economic Planner of the GDR, and the Stasi in April 1978 about the SED's Economic Policies2026-01-08text/htmlen-USUnvarnished Truths: A Confidential Conversation between Gerhard Schürer, Chief Economic Planner of the GDR, and the Stasi in April 1978 about the SED's Economic Policies2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®1084402026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08The More Political, the Less Economic: A Comment on Andreas Malycha's "Unvarnished Truths"
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979241
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When is economics really a question of politics? According to Andreas Malycha, it is when politicians ignore economic reality with impunity. His short survey of the East German economy under Erich Honecker, who ruled the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1971 to its collapse in 1989, foregrounds the tensions between the country's economic needs and the party leadership's insistence on ignoring them. Alongside an engaging analysis of the GDR's economic development, Malycha's tale includes examples of palace intrigue, sycophantic yes-men, Cassandra-like truth tellers, and a security apparatus willing to spy on its masters. These players infuse what is otherwise a dismal portrait of foreseeable economic ruin and
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallThe More Political, the Less Economic: A Comment on Andreas Malycha's "Unvarnished Truths"2026-01-08text/htmlen-USThe More Political, the Less Economic: A Comment on Andreas Malycha's "Unvarnished Truths"2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®587272026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08The Leipzig Educational Program for Journalists during the Ulbricht Era
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979242
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In the final years of rule by the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED—Socialist Unity Party of Germany) it became virtually impossible for the party leadership to find out what ordinary East Germans thought about politics—at any rate, not from the state-run mass media. Ultimately it was not until 1989, the year of the revolution, when the basic model of media reporting determined exclusively by the state began to change, giving way to a process of political decision-making based on comparative observation that took the population into account as a relevant factor.1 As a consequence of this new media policy, all citizens were now able to read and hear about issues such as freedom of the press and
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallThe Leipzig Educational Program for Journalists during the Ulbricht Era2026-01-08text/htmlen-USThe Leipzig Educational Program for Journalists during the Ulbricht Era2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®2109902026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08The Contours of East German Exceptionalism: The Schooling of Journalists under Ulbricht
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979243
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In the 1990s I spent years reading internal reports of the Communist apparatus—in Berlin and Leipzig, but also Prague and Warsaw—and became inured to its language and learned to take certain expressions for granted, like versöhnlerisch (conciliatory) or Feinde entlarven (unmasking enemies), but now, after a pause of several decades, the first thing that strikes me is the bizarre phraseology that state socialist functionaries took for granted.The language is not the conventional one of bureaucracies that alienate people across the globe, but instead reflects the unusually stringent aspirations and concerns of a different and now bygone world.1 SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands—Socialist Unity Party of
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallThe Contours of East German Exceptionalism: The Schooling of Journalists under Ulbricht2026-01-08text/htmlen-USThe Contours of East German Exceptionalism: The Schooling of Journalists under Ulbricht2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®446262026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08Divided but Not Disconnected: Transboundary Waters as a German-German Environmental Problem
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979244
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In the wake of the East German revolution in 1989/90, when the official taboo on environmental issues was lifted, a survey of the natural environment in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) revealed a state of affairs that was almost as shocking as the state of the East German economy.1 In January 1990 the news magazine Der Spiegel carried a cover story entitled "the poison kitchen of the GDR" and illustrated its ecological horror story with an image of a bubbling round-bottom flask.2 Following reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany invested billions in environmental protection and in cleaning up contaminated sites in the former GDR; Joachim Radkau called this "the world's most expensive
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallDivided but Not Disconnected: Transboundary Waters as a German-German Environmental Problem2026-01-08text/htmlen-USDivided but Not Disconnected: Transboundary Waters as a German-German Environmental Problem2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®2205782026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08The Greenest Nation and Its Borders: Astrid M. Eckert's "Divided but Not Disconnected" in the Context of Cold War History
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979245
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By the time of the Wende (the fall of the Berlin Wall) the ecological situation in East Germany had become catastrophic. Over 9,000 lakes were biologically dead.1 In some places, for example near the notorious Bitterfeld chemical combine, the groundwater had a pH somewhere between vinegar and battery acid.2 East Germans seemingly all had stories of black snow, acid rain, or needing to keep windows shut even in the summer because the very air stank, causing watering eyes and scratchy throats.The pollution was so bad that it led to the creation of a number of environmental activist groups, who pioneered ways of trying to pressure the regime despite the absence of any freedom of speech. These included the clever 1987
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallThe Greenest Nation and Its Borders: Astrid M. Eckert's "Divided but Not Disconnected" in the Context of Cold War History2026-01-08text/htmlen-USThe Greenest Nation and Its Borders: Astrid M. Eckert's "Divided but Not Disconnected" in the Context of Cold War History2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®467632026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08The Cat-Pee-Smell Affair: Cross-border Odor Conflicts between the Federal Republic of Germany, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, and the German Democratic Republic, 1976–89
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979246
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In fall 1976 a malodorous mixture of unknown composition wafted through northeastern Bavaria. It settled over urban and rural areas, crept through cracks and hatches, infiltrated barns and houses, and filled nostrils with its smell. The first reports about the adverse effects of this mixture came from the districts of Upper Franconia, the Upper Palatinate, the Sechsämterland, and the Fichtel Mountains. They told of severe physical reactions: headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Windows had to remain shut; some people even covered their faces. A term was soon agreed upon to describe the smell, which featured prominently in a June 1977 broadcast by the Bavarian television show Jetzt red i (Now I'm talking). Moderated by
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallThe Cat-Pee-Smell Affair: Cross-border Odor Conflicts between the Federal Republic of Germany, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, and the German Democratic Republic, 1976–892026-01-08text/htmlen-USThe Cat-Pee-Smell Affair: Cross-border Odor Conflicts between the Federal Republic of Germany, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, and the German Democratic Republic, 1976–892026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®2081672026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08Walled Off but Not Disconnected: The GDR's Place in Central Europe
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979247
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Bodo Mrozek and Doubravka Olšáková's excellent article on cross-border odors examines the intersection of territory, pollution, and diplomacy in Cold War central Europe. Tracing the debate around a foul smell that "wafted" through northeastern Bavaria in 1976, the authors highlight the complicated relations and negotiations between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (CSSR).1 Although the focus of this issue of the German Yearbook of Contemporary History is on the GDR, Mrozek and Olšáková's article does not entirely fit that description. In some ways the GDR—presumably the source of the "Katzendreck [cat pee] smell"—falls into the
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallWalled Off but Not Disconnected: The GDR's Place in Central Europe2026-01-08text/htmlen-USWalled Off but Not Disconnected: The GDR's Place in Central Europe2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®276352026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08About the Contributions to this Yearbook
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979248
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The contributions by Julia E. Ault, John Connelly, Eli Rubin, Lauren Stokes, and Jonathan R. Zatlin were written specifically for this volume and have not appeared previously.Peter E. Fäßler's article was published originally as "'Diversanten' oder 'Aktivisten'? Westarbeiter in der DDR (1949–1961)," Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 49, no. 4 (October 2001): 613–42.Andreas Malycha's article was published originally as "Ungeschminkte Wahrheiten: Ein vertrauliches Gespräch von Gerhard Schürer, Chefplaner der DDR, mit der Stasi über die Wirtschaftspolitik der SED im April 1978," Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 59, no. 2 (April 2011): 283–305.Christian Schemmert's and Daniel Siemens's article was published
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallAbout the Contributions to this Yearbook2026-01-08text/htmlen-USAbout the Contributions to this Yearbook2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®25212026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08List of Contributors
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/979249
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Julia E. AultAssociate Professor, University of Utah.julie.ault@utah.eduJohn ConnellySidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of European History, University of California, Berkeley.jfconnel@berkeley.eduAstrid M. EckertProfessor of Modern European History, Emory University.aeckert@emory.eduPeter E. FäßlerProfessor of Modern History, Paderborn University.peter.faessler@uni-paderborn.deDierk HoffmannStaff Historian, Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History; Affiliated Professor of Modern History, University of Potsdam.hoffmann@ifz-muenchen.deAndreas MalychaFormer Staff Historian, Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History.malycha@t-online.deBodo MrozekStaff Historian, Leibniz Institute for Contemporary
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-12T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/840/image/coversmallList of Contributors2026-01-08text/htmlen-USList of Contributors2026-01-082026TWOProject MUSE®35222026-05-12T00:00:00-05:002026-01-08