The German Democratic Republic's Jewish Diplomacy and Coming to Terms with the Past

The project offers an examination of the German Democratic Republic's (GDR) contacts with Jewish organizations, communities, and individuals in non-socialist countries that took place as of the 1950s until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, as an essential component in the development of an East German notion of “coming to terms with the past” (Vergangenheitsbewältigung).

The project is the first to set the primary focus on Jewish communities of different types as a target group of the GDR international relations.

By initiating these contacts, the GDR developed distinctive political and ideological approaches to dealing with the National Socialist past, different from those developed in the Federal Republic.

Throughout the 40-year existence of the GDR exchange with Jews and Israelis was influenced by the East German stance towards Zionism as well as by geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War and the Soviet Union's interests in the Middle East conflict.

This research project aims to fill a significant gap in the existing body of knowledge on contemporary German and European post-1945 history.

The project also unveils a multitude of reactions from Jewish and Zionist players in response to the East German political approach towards its own history, Jews, Zionism, and Israel.

Importantly, this project introduces fresh perspectives on the concept of ""coming to terms with the past,"" particularly in light of the contemporary surge of right-wing populist trends in Germany and Europe.