Heritage policy and the German nation

These are exciting times for a new generation of students of the GDR past as they work with changing concepts of German history and national identity as it is perceived by new audiences in a transitional society.  2013 German election statistics confirm that marked differences still exist between the cultural, political and economic perspectives and expectations of former East Germans and their western neighbors (Heine, 2013; Neugbauer, 2013).  This paper looks at how unified Germany, a nation of many faces and variable successes of social engineering, has constructed remembrance through the presentation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in museums and memorial places. It attempts to identify and define the dynamic of representation in relation to memory – in particular the memory of everyday-life in the GDR (Alltag). Through selected implementations of heritage policy, the paper outlines the relationship between new approaches to the interpretation of GDR history as a part of rethinking the past.  It looks at the complex web of interaction between policy making, implementation and reception by public audiences. It discusses questions about political prescription, ‘playing politics with history’ (Beattie, 2008) and the interface of this with individual and collective memory in the context of coming to terms with the past (Aufarbeitung). In conclusion, the paper attempts to locate the changes in cultural heritage governance and policy in the broader context of the Realpolitik of the remembrance of the GDR, and to look at implications for the future of bringing this past into the present.