Searching for the Past : Remembrance Practices in Social and Individual Memory in Berlin

The collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1989 marked a crucial shift in German and global history, which then emerged in intense debates about its legacy. The fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification of Germany came with polarizing narratives about life in the GDR, ranging from viewing it as a repressive Unrechtsstaat (illegitimate state) to the past that has nostalgic qualities. This thesis explores the remembrance practices of a group of former East German citizens, focusing on how the memories of the GDR are negotiated, mediated, reconstituted in private and public spaces in Berlin. Within two months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2022, the study sets out to analyse intersections between individual and social remembrance practices. By analysing commemorative gathering, the life stories of individuals, and material legacy of the GDR, this study steps into illustrating the intersubjective nature of memory-making. Through an anthropological lens, this thesis challenges fixed models of totalitarianism and static binaries such as victim versus. perpetrator, or nostalgia versus illegitimate state. Instead, it nuances the ways memory is revoked and recontextualised by community or individuals that go beyond these dychotomies. Drawing on key theoretical framework found in the disciplines of memory studies and cultural anthropology, thesis situates memory within the lived experiences of former East German citizens, demonstrating how remembrance is informed and shaped by social and cultural contexts.