The cluster’s last meeting of 2018, which took place on 12th December, focused on the new research project “Knowing the Secret Police: Secrecy and Knowledge in East German Society”, which commenced in October 2018 and is led by Dr Anselma Gallinat (PI) in collaboration with Dr Joanne Sayner (NCL) and Prof Sara Jones (University of Birmingham) as CIs.

Anselma and Grit, one of the research assistants, explained the research project that entails three strands: Networks (1), Representations (2), and Memory (3). The first strand consists of four sub-studies into the religious, literary, political and social networks that East Germans shaped and transmitted knowledge about GDR’s state security (Stasi) in everyday life. These studies aim to collect data through oral history and life story interviews with East Germans as well as through archival work. The second strand focuses on representations of the Stasi through analysis of various texts written by East German lay authors (as knowledge) and autobiographies (as retrospective representation).  The last strand comprises various forms of public engagement with the ongoing memory work about the East German past, such as in a bilingual touring exhibition and in teaching materials for A-level students.

Anselma highlighted two main challenges that emerged from her pilot study, which she conducted in the past summer. Firstly, for interlocutors to recall everyday life, that is, episodic memory is a difficult task, since remembering works best in relation to its emotional impact – whether positive or negative – that often revolves around extraordinary events. Secondly, since the Stasi and its representation in public discourse and popular culture have also influenced and reshaped East Germans’ memory, how can a researcher account for these changes in the past thirty years? In a relaxed atmosphere – helped by hot drinks and mince pies – the participants discussed these two issues fruitfully and expressed their interest in hearing more about the research’s progress in the future.

Follow the project on Twitter @SecretsStasi.