Lecturers > Barbara Koenczoel

Name
Dr. Barbara Koenczoel

College
Pembroke College

What is your field of history?
20th century German History, with a special focus on History of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) – East Germany before Germany was unified late in the twentieth century - the politics of memory, political myths and rituals. I did my PhD on the commemoration of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in the GDR.

How did you come to specialise in this area?
As a student I attended the University of Leipzig and became very interested in the History of East Germany.

What sort of source material do you tend to use, and what are its strengths and weaknesses?
Archive material from various German archives (e.g. Bundesarchiv, Stasi files etc.), newspapers and other publication of the period, visual material and movies.

These materials can when critically analyzed give an insight in a wide range of activities, discourses and attitudes in the party and the mass organisations. To make a detailed analysis of the reception in the everyday life of GDR citizens it helps to combine these source materials with findings from e.g. oral history.

Which individuals, events or forces are especially important in your area of history?
Individuals: Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Ernst Thälmann, Wilhelm Pieck, Walter Ulbricht, Otto Grotewohl, Erich Honecker, Kurt Hager, Robert Havemann, Wolf Biermann, Stalin, Willy Brandt, Helmut Kohl, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Forces: KPD, SED, mass organisations in the GDR, opposition groups in the GDR such as the “Initiative Frieden und Menschenrechte”.

Events:

• 15 January 1919 - murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
• Cold War
• 7 October 1949 - founding of the GDR
• 17 June 1953 - Uprising
• February 1956 - XX. Party Congress of the CPSU
• 13 August 1961 - Building of the Berlin Wall
• May 1971 - Honecker becomes First Secretary of the SED Central Committee
• January 1988 - members of dissident groups try to attend the official Liebknecht-Luxemburg-Demonstration
• 9 November 1989 - Fall of the Wall

Which areas of your field most urgently need further exploration?
Comparative history.

Where should somebody interested in your area of history go for further information?
Useful websites:
http://www.stiftung-aufarbeitung.de
http://www.bstu.bund.de
http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/
http://www.umass.edu/defa/
http://www.zzf-pdm.de/
http://www.germanhistorysociety.org