The German Democratic Republic: A Blind Spot
100 Years of Osteuropa without East Germany
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
East European Studies ignores East Germany. However, the German Democratic Republic, which belonged to the Soviet alliance system in Eastern Europe for four decades, had a completely different view of Eastern Europe. This may still have consequences to this day. Even in the journal Osteuropa, the view to the east overlooked the GDR. The GDR’s expertise in Eastern Europe has been ignored, the history of East Germany’s entanglement with Eastern Europe has been marginalized. Also not addressed is the question to what extent specific experiences from the Socialist era are reflected in the uncritical view of Russia that parts of East German society still hold. It is time to take a look at the GDR as a double periphery: from the perspective of Bonn and that of Moscow.
(Osteuropa 4/2025, pp. 195–204)