Embarking for New Shores: Intellectual Developments in (Former) East Germany Since November 9, 1989

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS Embarking for New Shores: Intellectual Developments in (Former) East Germany Since November 9, 1989 Heinz-Uwe Haus Berlin Actor, director, drama critic, German Studies scholar, andforemost authority on Brecht and Shakespeare, Heinz-Uwe Haus has directed stage productions in Berlin's prestigious Deutsches Theatre, in Cyprus, and in Greece. In addition to his post as Artistic Director of the International Classical Theatre, Haus has held guest professorships and directed dramatic performances at several Canadian and American universities. In 1990, Haus began a threeyear guest professorship in stage production at the University of Delaware's Professional Theatre Training Program. A resident of Berlin (East), Haus has worked primarily outside of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) since 1982. Except for a few opportunities to guest-direct stage performances in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), he was not given a work permit until the fall of 1989. An active political advocate of the unification of Germany, Haus was a member ofthe steering committee oftheparty "Democratic Awakening" (Demokratischer Aufbruch). Since this party's fusion with the Christian Democratic Union in the fall of 1990, he has chaired the group Europapolitik and founded the German-American Coalition "The Praxis Group. " Haus speaks here from an insider's perspective about the effects of the "peaceful revolution" on intellectual and cultural life. THE GENERAL INTELLECTUAL SITUATION We must look at today's intellectual scene in light of the nature of the revolution and ongoing democratization in the eastern part of Germany. The dismantling of the Berlin Wall indeed seemed to symbolize that everything dividing the Germans would soon be overcome. Yet last year's mutual and unreserved understanding has grown into a stubborn need for self-justification. Germans from the East, subjugated for decades, now stand in helpless intimidation. Their low self-confidence contrasts sharply with the assuredness ofthe established West Germans. Even long after political unification, earning power and adaptability to democracy will signal social differences. The media in the new Federal States, still more or less managed by the 237 238Rocky Mountain Review cadres ofthe past, have used these discrepancies to spread a fear and insecurity suppressing any chance for a reconciliation with the past. The peaceful course of shattering the regime thus has a hidden cost: the communist old boy network was never really abolished. It was only recycled as we "changed direction." Shapeless strategies did indeed immobilize the dinosaur of oppression, yet the revolutionaries, "whose virtue was political and [who] dreamed of peace, . . . justice and the preservation of nature" (Neubert 69), were unable to fill the vacuum of power left in December 1989. Instead of taking over the government—by force, ifneed be—the leadership, ignorant ofits own political strength, chose to sit down at the round table with representatives of the old regime. They even allowed themselves to be chaperoned during the transitional Modrow government until the first free elections on March 18, 1990. Meanwhile, the Socialist Unity Party/Party of Democratic Socialism (SED/PDS) clique had converted the old structures into "legitimate" ones, translated ill-gotten influence and property into legal claims, and assured the continued existence ofthe Party in the post-communist era. (The SED was not dissolved, but first transformed into the SED/PDS and ultimately the PDS, securing for the old apparatus a fortune in West German marks, a vast majority of which had likely been stolen from the people.) The persistent effort to characterize the Fall Revolution as a mere change in direction (Wende) eloquently reflects the counter-revolutionary attempt to legitimize the old regime. The tolerance of the citizens' movement deserves much credit here. The tendency of the newly formed democratic movement to accommodate is primarily motivated by Christian principles. Deeper causes stem from allencompassing socio-critical reflections among intellectuals who wish to see a connection between the immediate and future tasks (see Bahro or Neubert). The fall of 1989 saw a need for theories which, freed from the East-West conflict, would question the origin ofthe identity crisis, search for criteria for new social ethics, and demand viable political ideas. While these intellectual ambitions are of only limited use to the actual tasks of restructuring, they are important conceptualizing tools. They help...