UCSB Hist 133C, L 22:
The Opening of the Berlin Wall, I
by Prof. Marcuse, Feb. 27, 2004

Turn in web option papers
Again: What brought the wall down?

  • Clip from video: "Germany Reunites" (1990), 21 min.
  • EIEIO and the end of East Germany
  • Panel this afternoon, 6020 HSSB, 2-4pm: "Survivors of Trauma" -- extra credit

Video (1990), 21 mins.

  • BBC series: "Eastern Europe: Breaking with the Past"
  • unification was just emerging as a possibility -> no "historical perspective" yet
  • Starts w/ 1986=25th anniv. of wall footage (compare the 1981 celebration in The Promise)
  • What did people like about life in East Germany? (think about Harald)
  • "Imperialism as highest stage of capitalism"
  • Jugendweihe (youth consecration): replaces Christian confirmation; militarization
  • Stasi "smell brigade" (W. German TV): biological DNA detection device?

Rosa LuxemburgRosa Luxemburg

  • "Freedom is always also the freedom of those with dissenting opinions"
  • East Germany: "Freedom is the insight into necessity"

Stasi Principles: antithetical to democracy

  • Every person is a potential security risk
  • Know everything in order to be secure
  • Security has precedence over law

page by H. Marcuse, prepared for web March 1, 2004, update 11/15/04
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