A Transformation of History: The Official Representations of History in East Germany and Estonia, 1986-1991

Abstract

This article studies the post-Marxist transformation of the official representations of history in Estonia and the former GDR. The main focus is on school history and the main evidence consists of its syllabi, historico-educational articles and interviews. As history is considered to be vital in the formation of social identity, the representations of history tend to get manipulated by political leaders. The official representations have traditionally been ideologically framed 'grand narratives', the Marxist and nationalist histories being the most prominent narratives. In the GDR of the 1980s the authorities attempted a special combination of national and socialist identities. In Estonia around 1990 the socialist official representations were substituted by nationalist representations. The reception of the official representations of history was surveyed in East Germany in the mid-1980s. According to the results, the Marxist representations lacked street credibility and resulted in a double consciousness of history among young people. After the big change of 1989, according to another survey, unofficial nationalist representations were somewhat more relevant to the young Easterners than to the Westerners in Germany. In Estonia, towards the end of the 1980s, young people openly defied the official Marxist representations. A 1995 survey suggests that the new official nationalist 'grand narrative' had also been received by young people only in modest terms. On the whole, even if official representations of history are ubiquitous, the virtual street representations seem to be socially formed, through communication and on the basis of experience and everyday judgement.