RISEN FROM THE RUINS LAUNCH EVENT

Toge­ther with the Marx Memo­rial Library in London and our part­ner Tricon­ti­nen­tal: Insti­tute for Social Rese­arch, we invite you to an evening of discus­sion on the first edition of the “Studies on the DDR” series.

Event Details

This educa­tio­nal series on the socia­list agenda and reali­ties of the GDR explo­res aspects of ever­y­day life, provi­des facts about the country’s social achie­ve­ments, and exami­nes the poli­ti­cal and econo­mic foun­da­ti­ons of this socia­list state. By reflec­ting on the lived expe­ri­en­ces of daily life, which are gene­rally left out of the domi­nant narra­tive promo­ted by the market economy, the rese­arch centre Inter­na­tio­nale Forschungs­stelle DDR (IF DDR) and Tricon­ti­nen­tal: Insti­tute for Social Rese­arch intend to make a useful contri­bu­tion to the deba­tes curr­ently taking place within progres­sive move­ments. After all, milli­ons of people around the world are still fight­ing for advance­ments that were once a given in this socia­list system but were elimi­na­ted with its downfall.

This event will invite spea­k­ers to present their perso­nal expe­ri­en­ces within the GDR and explore the importance of rese­ar­ching its history. Spea­k­ers include:

Bruni de la Motte and John Green — authors of GDR: Stasi State or Socia­list Paradise?

Victor Gross­man - author, defec­ted from the US-Army in 1952 to the GDR

Ronnie Kasrils — former anti-apart­heid acti­vist and minis­ter in the ANC government

Floren­tine Mora­les Sand­oval and Fran­ziska Klei­ner — rese­ar­chers, Inter­na­tio­nal Rese­arch Centre GDR (IF DDR)

The event will be chai­red by Prof Marjo­rie Mayo (Marx Memo­rial Library/Goldsmith University).