Project description
The German Democratic Republic and the non-socialist Jewish world
From the 1950s to 1989, the GDR maintained contacts with Jews and Israelis in non-socialist countries, adopting a distinct approach to addressing the National Socialist past compared to the Federal Republic. The dynamics of the Cold War and Soviet interests in the Middle East conflict influenced this 40-year exchange. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the GDRJEWS project explores the GDR’s interactions with Jewish organisations, individuals, and communities in non-socialist countries during this period. It marks the first examination of Jewish communities as a target group in the GDR’s international relations, seeking to bridge a significant knowledge gap regarding post-1945 German and European history and providing insights into the process of 'coming to terms with the past' (Vergangenheitsbewältigung).
Objective
"
The project offers an examination of the German Democratic Republic's (GDR) contacts with Jewish organizations, communities, and individuals in non-socialist countries that took place as of the 1950s until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, as an essential component in the development of an East German notion of “coming to terms with the past” (Vergangenheitsbewältigung). The project is the first to set the primary focus on Jewish communities of different types as a target group of the GDR international relations. By initiating these contacts, the GDR developed distinctive political and ideological approaches to dealing with the National Socialist past, different from those developed in the Federal Republic. Throughout the 40-year existence of the GDR exchange with Jews and Israelis was influenced by the East German stance towards Zionism as well as by geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War and the Soviet Union's interests in the Middle East conflict. This research project aims to fill a significant gap in the existing body of knowledge on contemporary German and European post-1945 history. The project also unveils a multitude of reactions from Jewish and Zionist players in response to the East German political approach towards its own history, Jews, Zionism, and Israel. Importantly, this project introduces fresh perspectives on the concept of ""coming to terms with the past,"" particularly in light of the contemporary surge of right-wing populist trends in Germany and Europe."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
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Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
37129 Verona
Italy