Rising from the Ruins: A Case Study of East German Memory Work, 1983–1984

ABSTRACT: This article focuses on the photo exhibition “Rising from the Ruins” hosted by the East Berlin tourist office. Opening in 1983 in the ruins of a bombed-out church, the exhibition contrasted the rubble of 1945 Berlin with the city’s postwar rebuilding, and in 1984, 1930 was added as a third comparative. Laying out the exhibition in its first two years while building on theory of GDR memory culture, this analysis argues that in this period 1983–1984, state control over the narrative presented faltered. As such, the exhibition can be viewed as a precursor of the eventual public rejection of GDR memory culture.