The Shadow Dream of Unification After the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Germany at the Crossroads and in the Crosshairs of Capitalism

Presenter: Piper Rosier

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Fall

Faculty Mentor: Michaela Grobbel

Department: Modern Languages & Literatures

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1GGCKQGQTmVxTtoM2gUh59W9rOAxSPVC8

Abstract:
On November 9, 1989, a wave of excitement overtook many East Germans released from their cage behind the Berlin wall. Possibilities were in the air. Was this a chance for the real democratic socialist state that so many in the east desired? Could East Germany keep a sense of community and supportive infrastructure, but now have a chance to liberate silenced voices? Would they pursue equality and harmony with nature, with the bonus of access to western markets, and the world? In my final project I look at feminist, socialist and environmental activists, whose writings carried a hope for these dreams of the best of both worlds to materialize: a rising to the top of what had been on the bottom, as Christa Wolf said in a rousing speech. But in the upheaval to come, in the Shock Therapy bonanza of both privatization and austerity measures brought to bear, realization settled painfully. East Germany would be the latest conquest of capitalist globalization. East German culture would be rapidly transformed, with feminists, socialists, and anti-imperialists left aside in the shadows, holding to their dreams. Nevertheless these thinkers and dreamers continued to be a shining light in the war of ideas, reminding everyone of what has passed and what still can be.