Divided Memory: Dealing with the Past in the East German Town of Eisenhüttenstadt after the Upheaval of 1989–90

This paper explores perceptions of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in Eisenhüttenstadt, the “first socialist town of Germany,” following the collapse of the state socialist dictatorship in East Germany. Despite its being the most well-known “socialist town” in Eastern Bloc, no systematic research has been done into how the town dealt with its troubled past. By analyzing discussion and representation of the town’s past in the public space through the year 2010, this study investigates how a town like Eisenhüttenstadt, which has no pre-socialist history, dealt with its past as East Germany transitioned away from state socialism. It also examines the impact of the town’s unique past on its current identity. The author argues that Diktaturgedächtnis [the memory of dictatorship], the lack of a pre-socialist past, and the town’s rejection of radical strategies for dealing with the past have led to complex collective memories and town identity in Eisenhüttenstadt. This complexity manifests itself in the embrace of different symbolic representations of history in different parts of the town and in splits in the public and private, and internal and external, collective memories.