Research Colloquium | Juliane Tomann (Regensburg) | Historische Reenactments in der DDR. Lebendige Geschichte zwischen eigensinniger Freizeitgestaltung und Geschichtspolitik

Abstract:

the talk will be in German:

Historische Reenactments erfreuen sich in der Gegenwart großer Beliebtheit, sowohl beim Publikum als auch bei den Darstellenden. Als Großereignisse sind die nachgestellten historischen Schlachten zu global-vernetzten Phänomenen geworden. Trotz ihrer Bedeutung für die rezente Geschichtskultur wissen wir über die Entstehungsgeschichte des Phänomens in Europa bisher wenig - das gilt besonders für die Entwicklung in der DDR und dem östlichen Europa. Im Vortrag stelle ich die Reenactment-Szene in der DDR von ihren Anfängen in den 1970er Jahren bis 1989 in den Mittelpunkt und beleuchte damit einen spezifischen Aspekt der DDR-Alltagskultur.

Historical reenactments are particularly popular today among both audiences and actors. As large-scale events, the reenacted historical battles form part of a globally-networked phenomenon. Despite their significance in contemporary historical culture, we know relatively little about the origins of this phenomenon in Europe. This is all the more the case for the former German Democratic Republic and Eastern Europe. This talk offers an outline of the reenactment culture of the GDR from its beginnings in the 1970s through to 1989, illustrating a particular aspect of everyday life and culture in East Germany.

Juliane Tomann:

Juliane Tomann studied cultural studies at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) and Wroclaw (Poland). She specialized in history and focused on Eastern Europe and focuses on performative practices in historical culture (doing history), historical reenactment (USA, Germany, Poland), digital public history, gender in public history, post-industrial spaces and landscapes, the contemporary history of Poland and the cultural history of the GDR.

She obtained her doctorate in history (specializing in modern history) in 2015 from Freie Universität Berlin. Her thesis on historical culture in structural change in the Upper Silesian city of Katowice was awarded the Scientific Award of the Ambassador of Poland in 2015. From 2014 to 2021, Juliane Tomann was a research associate at the Imre Kertész Kolleg at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Since 2017 she was head of the research area "History in the Public Sphere". During this period, she conceived and coordinated, along with colleagues, the international Jean Monnet network "Applied European Contemporary History". She was also Managing Editor of the Cultures of History forum. During the academic year 2016-2017, she worked in research and teaching at Princeton University in the USA. Since December 2021, Juliane Tomann has been Junior Professor for Public History at Universität Regensburg. Since February 2022 she has been working as Director of Research at the Center for Commemorative Culture (Zentrum Erinnerungskultur) at the University of Regensburg. She is an associated researcher at the Leibniz ScienceCampus and PI at the Graduate School.