INTERVIEWS
Interviews are an important part of the IF DDR’s research. This page features an interview archive, which will grow continuously alongside the research projects of the IF DDR. The individual videos feature thematic excerpts from the interviews.
It is possible to sort the videos by topic or by person.

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Dr. Rüdiger Feltz — “from patients to customers”

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Uwe Trostel describes his path to the GDR’s state apparatus and coming to appreciate the communists

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Victor Grossman on international students in the DDR

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Dr. Heinrich Niemann answers: “What could have been done better in the DDR’s health policy?”

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Hans Watzek on the collectivisation of agriculture in East Germany

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Helmut Dunkhase’s critique of market-oriented reforms in socialism

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Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the central elements of the DDR’s health care system

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Helmut Dunkhase on the necessity of centralisation in a planned economy

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Victor Grossman recalls the Rosenberg case

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Helmut Dunkhase describes the debate on pricing in the GDR during the 1960s (the law of value)

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Sigrun Lingel remembers schooling in Tanzania and Zanzibar

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Hans Watzek on the objective of the 1945/46 land reform

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John Green reflects on his work and the social struggles he reported on

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Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the political responsibility of the doctor

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Jörg Roesler on the GDR’s economic solidarity

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Uwe Trostel describes the basic character of the GDR’s planned economy

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Dr. Heinrich Niemann on health protection in the workplace in the DDR

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Hans Modrow on socialist democracy

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Jörg Roesler on the phases of the DDR economy

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John Green on the DDR’s international film traineeship

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Helmut Dunkhase describes the origins of market-oriented reforms in the socialist states (1950s/60s)

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Regina Klein recalls health care in the workplace

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John Green describes his childhood and early interest in film

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Victor Grossman on antifascist beginnings

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John Green describes reporting on Namibia’s liberation struggle

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John Green recounts how he came to study in the DDR

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Victor Grossman reflects on the integration of international groups in the DDR

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John Green describes reporting on everyday life in West Germany

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John Green recounts beginning to work for DDR television

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Monika Strauß contrasts the standing of women in East and West Germany

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Helmut Dunkhase on alternatives to market reforms in the real socialism of the 20th centrury

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Dr. Rüdiger Feltz on ensuring an adequate distribution of doctors in the DDR

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Victor Grossman on internationalist festivals in the DDR

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Victor Grossman on the Democratic German Report

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Hans Modrow on the “New Economic System of Planning and Management”

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Victor Grossman on Allende’s legacy in the DDR

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Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the medical brain drain from the DDR

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Uwe Trostel describes the starting conditions and trajectory of the GDR’s planned economy

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Victor Grossman on the economic baseline of the German Democratic Republic

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Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the composition of the student body

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Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the DDR’s health insurance system

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Wolfgang Herrmann remembers the arrival of the Red Army

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Sigrun Lingel on colonialism and the DDR’s self-perception

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Sigrun Lingel on shortcomings in the DDR’s solidarity

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John Green describes increased political stringency in DDR television in the 1980s

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Dr. Heinrich Niemann on the emergence of the polyclinic in the DDR

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Jörg Roesler on moral (non-material) work incentives

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Helmut Dunkhase summarizes the difference between market and planned economies

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Wolfgang Herrmann discusses advising the Sandinistas on writing a new constitution

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Helmut Dunkhase explains the problem of price formation in socialism

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John Green recalls reporting on Portugal’s Carnation Revolution

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Jörg Roesler on the “New Economic System” (NÖS)

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Monika Strauß on women in leadership

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John Green recounts reporting on the conflict in Ireland

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Victor Grossman recalls fleeing from US military persecution

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Hans Watzek recalls te post-war years and land reform in East Germany

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Hans Modrow on the initiation of economic planning in East Germany

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Wolfgang Herrmann describes how he became a party advisor to the Sandinistas

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Victor Grossman on support for Angela Davis

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Wolfgang Herrmann on his tasks as a party advisor to the Sandinistas (FSLN)

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Hans Modrow on the unrest of 17 June 1953

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Jörg Roesler on Walter Ulbricht’s thesis of socialism as a “relatively independent social formation”

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John Green remembers DDR solidarity with Mozambique

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Uwe Trostel explains the economic planning process in the German Democratic Republic (GDR)

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Dr. Heinrich Niemann recounts his post-war childhood

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Victor Grossman on the final years of the DDR

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Sigrun Lingel contrasts DDR solidarity and West German aid

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Hans Watzek on the Peasants’ Mutual Aid Association and Machine-Tractor Stations

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Hans Watzek on the role and development of the Democratic Peasants’ Party (DBD)

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Victor Grossman on worldwide acts of solidarity

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Dr. Rüdiger Feltz on the basics of prophylaxis in the DDR

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Wolfgang Herrmann reflects on socialism

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Dr. Heinrich Niemann discusses the DDR’s approach to vaccinations

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John Green describes his team’s production method

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John Green describes why and how he worked as a covert reporter

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Sigrun Lingel reflects on the DDR apartment buildings in Zanzibar

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Wolfgang Herrmann reflects on internationalism
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