La République démocratique allemande comme histoire. Réflexions historiographiques

The German Democratic Republic as History. A. Ludtke. The GDR has ceased to exist. This article discusses both the history and the recent historiography of this "closed" past. Limits of access have been abolished almost totally. Anybody is entitled to study the case: except for few exceptions even the most recent maternals or, for that matter, secrets are available for academic scrutiny. Lüdtke outlines main lines of "reading" the history of the GDR, most of them originating in the context of global confrontation or co-existence during the pre-1989 era. Still, much of the debate revolves around the impact of control, whether external (i.e. Soviet) or internal, and the relative autonomy of societal processes versus penetration by the forces of domination. In difference, Lüdtke emphasizes those approaches which reveal people's socio-cultural perceptions, emotions, and practices. It is from this vantage point that the appearence of "stability" of the GDR which prevailed until her very collapse in 1989 can be dismantled. The simultaneity of acceptance and distance so characteristic for many people in the GDR was grounded in a multifacetted configuration. Important elements were: a specific temporality, the intensified sense for the local and, at the same time, generational fissures, but also the abandonment of the aesthetics of public space.Lüdtke Alf, Kalinowski Isabelle. La République démocratique allemande comme histoire. Réflexions historiographiques. In: Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 53ᵉ année, N. 1, 1998. pp. 3-39