Learning to Say "I" Instead of "We": Recent Works on Women in the Former GDR: Review Essay

Learning to Say "I" Instead of "We": Recent Works on Women in the Former GDR Dorothy J. Rosenberg Review Essay Sabine Berghahn and Andrea Fritzsche. Frauenrecht in Ost und West Deutschland. Bilanz/Ausblick. Berlin: Frauenbuch bei Basisdruck, 1991. Erica Fischer and Petra Lux. Ohne uns ist kein Staat zu machen. DDRFrauen nach der Wende. Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1990. Cordula Kahlau, ed. Aufbruch! Frauenbewegung in der DDR. München: Frauenoffensive, 1990. Freya Klier. Lüg Vaterland. Erziehung in der DDR. München: Kindler, 1990. Irene Kukutz and Katja Havemann. Geschützte Quelle. Gespräche mit Monika H. alias Karin Lenz. Berlin: Basisdruck, 1990. Karen Margolis. Der springende Spiegel. Begegnungen mit Frauen zwischen Oder und Elbe. Frankfurt a. M.: Luchterhand, June 1991. Marlies Menge. "Ohne uns läuft nichts mehr. " Die Revolution in der DDR. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1990. Anna Mudry, ed. Gute Nacht, du Schöne. Frankfurt a. M.: Luchterhand, April 1991. Ohne Frauen ist kein Staat zu machen. Ed. Unabhängige Frauenverband. Hamburg: Argument, 1990. Katrin Rohnstock, ed. Handbuch. Wegweiserfür Frauen in denfünfneuen Bundesländern. Berlin: Frauenbuch bei Basisdruck, 1991. Katrin Rohnstock, ed. Frauen in die Offensive. Texte und Arbeitspapiere. Berlin: Dietz, 1990. Gislinde Schwarz and Christine Zenner, eds. Wir wollen mehr ab ein "Vaterland. " Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1990. Women in German Yearbook 7 (1991) 162Recent Works on Women in the Former GDR Christa Wolf. Reden im Herbst. Berlin: Aufbau, 1990. Ypsilon. Zeitschrift aus Frauensicht. Berlin, appears monthly. Subscription address: Y-LeserinnenService, PF 103215, W-2000 Hamburg 1. Trying to sort out fact from ideological fantasy in the process of German unification is not an easy task and it is not made easier by the current boom of publications exploiting the new Marktlücke in the everpopular field of German Selbstbetrachtung. While there is no shortage of works in every price range celebrating, illustrating, or explaining what "really happened" in and to the GDR, looking for reliable documentation or thoughtful reflection can be quite frustrating. Works by and about women and the Wende are no exception to the rules of German publications marketing. Unfortunately, the pressure to rush into print within the brief space of the postmodern attention span often leads to publications of very mixed quality and limited lasting value. A second caveat is that, even given the relative speed of German publishing, not even the most recent of these works address the catastrophic conditions currently confronting women in the former GDR.1 What follows is a brief attempt to evaluate a selection of titles that appeared in 1990 and 1991. Two reference works, both published in the Basisdruck Frauenbuch series, that I would highly recommend, are the Handbuch. Wegweiserfür Frauen in denfünfneuen Bundesländern and Frauenrecht in Ost and West Deutschland. The first volume consists principally of a geographical listing (by state and city) of women's projects, centers, cafés, etc., with contact addresses. It also includes the names and addresses of central women's organizations for the ex-GDR region, and a potentially useful listing of women's studies researchers and their project areas and addresses, along with a listing of women artists and Federal women's organizations and ministries. The Zentrum interdisziplinäre Frauenforschung (Zif) at the Humboldt University (Unter den Linden 6, 1086 Berlin) published a special Netzwerk bulletin in October 1990 that lists women's studies researchers arranged by subject area, which is easier to use, but is available only from ZiF. The Frauenrecht volume is primarily intended as a handbook for women in the GDR, but provides an excellent overview of women's legal status under the GDR system compared to women's less advantageous legal situation in the FRG. The book also includes commentaries, examples, and transitional regulations. Another publication that I would strongly recommend is Ypsilon. Zeitschrift aus Frauensicht. Now in its second year, Ypsilon has gone through editorial committee and format changes, but has retained both its literary and graphic freshness (fortunately, the artwork has now been Dorothy J. Rosenberg163 subdued to the point that it no longer makes actually reading the texts impossible). It has also retained its specifically east German perspective and offers some of the best current information on...