hem|mungen

The Radical Potential of Ostalgie

Ok, the title is a little jargony, but I was thinking about Tom's response to my post about the Ostalgie panels and I think he makes a good point that maybe better expresses some of the things I was getting at:

No matter how hard I try, I don't have the freedom to be objective regarding the GDR (not 'unfortunately,' I just don't). But this ambivalent (or multivalent) position in relation to the GDR on the one hand and to one's own history and the degree of 'arrival' [or 'at-home-ness'–h] in contemporary Germany on the other apparently creates a push-pull effect with considerable potential. It may be that, after the first wave–largely ignored in the West–and the second, more superficial wave of Ostalgie, we're now facing a third. Given that the "social advertising campaign" [of the federal govt., I assume–h] has run its course and capitalism can return to business as usual, this third wave might orient itself more towards the social basis and the conditions on/in relation to which the GDR was founded.

Hmm. Sounds very interesting to me. What resonance might the founding ideas of East German socialism have now (regardless of their later abuse)? How do they compare with what's going on in the FedRep at the moment? And in fact, could we maybe get similar results by turning to the roots of the SPD, which seems to be pretty far afield these days?

for Tom's original text,

So sehr ich mich auch bemühe, die Freiheit, objektiv zu sein, habe ich im Blick auf die DDR nicht. (nicht: leider, nur: nicht;) Aber genau diese ambivalente (oder multivalente) Haltung zur DDR einerseits, zur eigenen Geschichte und dem Grad des Ankommens im jetzigen Deutschland andererseits ergibt offensichtlich ein Spannungsfeld mit viel Potential. Möglicherweise steht uns nach der, im Westen kaum beachteten, ersten und der oberflächlichen zweiten Ostalgiewelle bald noch eine dritte bevor, die sich angesichts dessen, daß der Kapitalismus nach der sozialen Werbekampagne in Westdeutschland nun wieder zur Tagesordnung übergeht, auch an den sozialistischen Grundlagen und den Umständen der Entstehung der DDR orientiert.

Posted by Heather at April 15, 2004 09:20 AM