Eastern German News

 

 Newsletter of the Eastern German Studies Association

 #25 (April 1999)

In-progress version of the EGSA Newsletter

This is the on-line version of the April 1999 EGSA newsletter.

Table of Contents:

EGSA News

EGSA 1998 Conference Report

Over 50 people participated in the EGSA conference. Attentive readers will note a new abbreviation, EGSA instead of EGSG. The members decided to change the name to Eastern German Studies Association, since President Laurence McFalls reported that the funding sources he found for the conference were initially not sure what to make of a group, whereas they knew what an association was.

The conference had the usual wide range of papers concerning Eastern Germany. If sufficient money remains, a selection will be published. Lively discussion followed most papers, and all agreed that Laurence McFalls had done an excellent job of organizing the gathering.

At the business meeting, Scott Gissendanner reported that we finally have U.S. IRS approval and that the EGSA is solvent. The treasurer's report is as follows:

 Balance: 4/1996    $2.631.17
 INCOME    
   Dues 855.00
   Interest and other income 293.29
 EXPENSES    
   Newsletter Postage 330.00
   Travel grant 1995 200.00
 IRS Penalty 31.25
   Deposit, Ritz-Carlton 750.00
 CURRENT BALANCE   2,468.21
 AFTER DEPOSIT RET    3,218.21

The members approved up to $800 in travel grant for graduate students or underemployed participants who had not received other travel support.

Laurence McFalls, who had assumed leadership in 1995 on a platform of working to end the then EGSG, having fulfilled at least part of his promise by encouraging the new name "Eastern German Studies Association," was re-elected president for 1998-2001. Scott Gissendanner, Ellen Anderson and Randall Bytwerk were re-elected as well. New executive committee members are Bradden Weaver and Meredith Heiser. Henry Krish continues by virtue of his status as past president.

After considerable discussion, the members agreed that the Eastern German Studies Association continues to serve a useful role in the scholarly landscape, though it might make sense to "move" the organization to Canada, perhaps placing it under the aegis of the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies. The executive committee was voted the authority to make such changes as it thought best for the organization's future.

The next EGSA conference will be in 2001, probably in Montreal or Toronto.

Call for papers for the 1999 New Hampshire Symposium

The call for papers for the 25th New Hampshire Symposium is available.


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Conference Announcements and Reports

Conference on the GDR and its history
Rückblick und Revision: Die DDR im Spiegel der Enquête-Kommission
17/18 September 1999

Programme

The Centre is very grateful for the support given by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung which made the organisation of the conference possible.

Friday 17 September

Saturday 18 September

Further details of the conference can be obtained from:


Dr Peter Barker,
The University of Reading,
Dept. of German Studies,
Whiteknights PO Box 218,
Reading RG6 6AA
Tel: 0118 9318422
Fax: 0118 9318333
Email: p.j.barker@reading.ac.uk

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Miscellaneous News

DEFA Films Now Available

ICESTORM International, a new company, in collaboration with the DEFA film library at the University of Massachusetts, is making available a large variety of DEFA films on video, some with English subtitles. Films already available include Die Mörder sind unter uns, Einer trage des anderen Last..., Jakob der Lügner and Spur der Steine. For further information, contact Hiltrud Schulz or write:

ICESTORM International
78 Main Street
Northhampton, MA 01060
Phone: (413) 587-9334
Email: info@icestorm-video.com

Weimar Documentary

Samuel N Koltinsky writes: "I am an American who has lived and worked in the New States since the fall of the wall. I just finished producing and directing a 58 minute documentary on Weimar to be released worldwide in Spanish, French, German, and English. With several anniversaries this year, Goethe, Bauhaus, Weimar Republic,
Reunification, Culture City of Europe, I felt it was long time overdue to tell Weimar's story. Maestor Kurt Masur is also featured several times in the documentary. If you would like more information, please contact me. I will be leaving for Germany next Thursday to start on a two part documentary on German's 50th Anniversary. Later this year I will be shooting another documentary on Dresden and the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche."


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New Reading

New Books

Marilyn Rueschemeyer, ed., Women in the Politics of Post-Communist Eastern Europe, London and Armonk, New York:M.E.Sharpe Publishers, 1998. The book includes an extensive article on women in eastern Germany by
Marilyn Rueschemeyer and an historical overview on women in western Germany by Eva Kolinsky.

Dietrich Rueschemeyer, Marilyn Rueschemeyer, and Bjorn Wittrock, editors, Participation and Democracy East and West, London and Armonk New York, M.E.Sharpe Publishers, 1998. This book contains a chapter on eastern Germany by Marilyn
Rueschemeyer and on western Germany by Bernhard Wessels.

Rosewitha Skare & Rainer B. Hoppe (eds), Wendezeichen? Neue Sichtweisen auf die Literatur der DDR, Amsterdamer Beiträge zur neueren Germanistik, 00046) Rodopi, 1999. 243 pages. ISBN 90-420-0645-5 32,- DM.

Gerhard Wettig, Bereitschaft zu Einheit in Freiheit? Die sowjetische Deutschland-Politik 1945-1955 (Munich, Olzog, 1999).

Articles

W.H. Berentsen, "Socioeconomic Development in Eastern Germany in Comparative Perspective: 1989-1998", Post-Soviet Geography and Economics, 40 (1), 27-43.

Marilyn Rueschemeyer, "Social Democrats After the End of Communist Rule: Eastern Germany and the Czech Republic," Sociological Analysis, Vol. 1, No.3, September 1998, pp.41-59.

Recent Theses and Dissertations:

Adrianus Schriel, "The History of the Hans-Otto-Theater Potsdam and its Reflection of the Cultural Politics of the German Democratic Republic," Dissertation, University of Georgia.

SAPMO Bibliotheksbriefe

The latest issues of the SAPMO library's list of its holdings include:

Randy Bytwerk can provide a photocopy for those find a particular issue interesting.

Cold War International History Project

CWIHP Bulletin 11 (among other things with several Khrushchev conversations on the 1958/62 Berlin Crisis) has appeared. You may request a copy via email, or visit the CWIHP web site.


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Requests and Queries


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Go to EGSA home page

EGSA Officers for 1998-2001

President:

Laurence McFalls
Department de science politique
Université de Montreal
C.P. 6128
succursale Centre-ville
Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7
Canada

Email: laurence.mcfalls@umontreal.ca

Past-President:

Henry Krisch
Dept. of Political Science
University of Connecticut
341 Mansfield Road
Storrs, CT 06269-102

Phone: (860) 486-5334
Fax: (860) 486-3347
Email: henryk@uconnvm.uconn.edu

Treasurer:

Scott Gissendanner
bei Gnielka
Potsdamer-Str. 82
15711 Koenigs Wusterhausen
Germany
Email: gissendanner@t-online.de

Membership:

Meredith Heiser
707 Laurel Ave.
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Email: mah2369@fhda.edu

Newsletter:

Randall Bytwerk
CAS Department
Calvin College
3201 Burton SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546

Phone: (616) 957-6286
Fax: (616) 957-6601

Members- at-Large:

Bradden Weaver
583 Valley View Dr.
New Holland, PA 17577
Email: bweaver@zedat.fu-berlin.de

Ellen Anderson
Center for German and European Studies
School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057

Tel. 202-687-8073
Fax 202-687-8359
Email: 75103.371@compuserve.com


In -progress version of the April 1999 EGSA Newsletter
Last updated 7 April 1999
Web Page by Randall Bytwerk
Calvin College
URL: <http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/egsg/latest.htm>