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The GDR Goes Global

Culture, Cooperation, and Conflict

  • Open Access
The GDR Goes Global cover

The GDR Goes Global

Culture, Cooperation, and Conflict

  • Open Access
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Pre-order. Available 04 Mar 2027
£76.50 RRP £85.00 Website price saving £8.50 (10%)

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Description

This open access book explores the German Democratic Republic's local and global relationships. It considers the extent and nature of relationships both established and attempted by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) within the fields of national security and power projection, labour relations, medicine, science, and health, visual media and aesthetics, and philosophy and culture.

The GDR Goes Global shows that the GDR, while often viewed as a vivid symbol of the physical and ideological post-war division of Europe, was far from an insular state. The book shines a light on the GDR's shared culture and myriad relationships with West Germany, as well as its efforts to seek global recognition and international leverage with socialist and non-socialist countries alike.

Bringing together established and emerging scholars from diverse disciplines and regions in both East and West Europe, this volume offers rich interdisciplinary discourse that fosters a nuanced and multifaceted understanding of the GDR's international networks, partnerships, rivalries, and exchanges.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the European Research Council.

Table of Contents

Foreword Ned Richardson-Little (ZZF Potsdam, Germany)
Editors' Introduction
Part I: Projecting the GDR
1. The Cold War from Below: Honecker's 1980 Visit to Austria in Local Media Falko Schnicke (Johannes Kepler University, Austria)
2. 'Gästelehrgänge': The Training of Foreign Security Forces by the German People's Police (DVP) in the GDR Yves Müller (State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, Germany)
3. 'Weg zum Nachbarn': The GDR in Oberhausen Owen Evans (Edge Hill University, UK)
4. 'A law is always the political expression of the will of state power': The Legal Form of the Law as a Means of International Recognition Bianka Trötschel-Daniels (University of Erfurt, Germany)
Part II: Labour, Trade, and Economic Relations
5. A Puzzling Paradise: Cuban Contract Workers Remember Racism and Exploitation in the GDR Ulrich Mücke and Miene Waziri (both University of Hamburg, Germany)
6. Between State Guidelines and Individual Life Plans: Mozambican Labour Migrants in the late GDR Tom Drechsel (Friedrich Schiller University, Germany)
7. A Foothold in Africa: GDR-Ghanaian Relations, 1957-1966 Ulf Schmidt and Will Studdert (both University of Hamburg, Germany)
PART III: Medicine, Science, and Health
8. Fit (be)for(e) Reunification: Sportive Self-Care in the GDR Magazine Deine Gesundheit (1980-1993) Lukas Bartl (University of Erfurt, Germany)
9. The Transnational Networking of GDR Scientists Beatrix Hoffmann-Ihde (University of Bonn, Germany)
10. The GDR's Polio Centres: A Synthesis of Eastern and Western Influence Peter Banks (University of Hamburg, Germany)
PART IV: Visual Media and Aesthetics
11. International Exhibitions, Socialist Style: The Case of Danish Artists at Exhibitions in the GDR, 1951-1989 Kristian Handberg (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
12. Capturing the Everyday: The Transnational Aesthetics of Social Documentary Photography in the GDR Katja Schmidt-Mai (University of Hamburg, Germany)
13. Queer GDR Literature and Culture in the GDR's Cultural and Information Centres and Partner Institutions Franziska Haug (University of Regensburg, Germany)
PART V: Philosophy, Politics, and Culture
14. On the Spectres of Marx and the Unacknowledged Heritages of our Times Zvonimir Glavaš (University of Zagreb, Croatia)
15. Women for Peace: GDR Activists in a Transnational Feminist Movement Kate Docking and Will Studdert (both University of Hamburg, Germany)
16. Power from the Eastside: The Socialist Rock and Pop Alternative Michael Rauhut (University of Kristiansand, Norway)
17. The Diasporic Aesthetic of the Greek Political Refugees in the GDR Mary Ikoniadou (Leeds Beckett University, UK)
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 04 Mar 2027
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Pages 352
ISBN 9781350580671
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 20 bw illus
Dimensions 234 x 156 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Ulf Schmidt

Ulf Schmidt is Senior Professor of Modern History…

Anthology Editor

James Farley

James Farley is Senior Research Fellow and at the…

Anthology Editor

Will Studdert

Will Studdert is Senior Research Fellow at the Uni…

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