This public lecture will examine the arc of memory politics in Germany since 1989, including the impact of the rise of the far right as well as German plans for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Wall.

The history, meaning and legacy of the Berlin Wall remain controversial three decades after its fall. Approaching the 30th anniversary on 9 November, Germans are engaged anew in debates about the history and aftermath of communist East Germany and its Wall. This public lecture will examine the arc of memory politics in Germany since 1989, including the impact of the rise of the far right as well as German plans for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. 

Hope M Harrison is Associate Professor of History and International Affairs at the George Washington University. Her new book is After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of the New Germany, 1989 to the Present and has been called “a tour de force,” “riveting,” and “superbly informed and often moving”. She is the prize-winning author of Driving the Soviet up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953-1961 (2003) and has appeared on the BBC, CNN, and Deutschlandradio. She serves on the board of three institutions in Berlin connected to the Cold War and the Berlin Wall.

Roham Alvandi is Associate Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Director of the LSE IDEAS Cold War Studies Project. He is the author of Nixon, Kissinger, and the Shah: The United States and Iran in the Cold War (Oxford University Press, 2014), which was selected by the Financial Times as one of the best history books of 2014. He edited the recent volume The Age of Aryamehr: Late Pahlavi Iran and its Global Entanglements (Gingko Library, 2018). 

LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is LSE's foreign policy think tank. We connect academic knowledge of diplomacy and strategy with the people who use it.

The LSE's Department of International History (@lsehistory) teaches and conducts research on the international history of Britain, Europe and the world from the early modern era up to the present day. 

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEBerlinWall

Podcast

A podcast of this event is available to download from 30 Years after the fall of the Berlin Wall: German historical memory and national identity.

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