Negotiating Identities: The Party of Democratic Socialism between East German Regionalism, German National Identity and European Integration

Abstract

For many East Germans, the Party of Democratic Socialism has been a political and social environment in which German national identity, GDR biographies, post‐unification East German experiences and European integration could be successfully negotiated. The PDS enabled GDR identifiers to arrive at a critical evaluation of GDR history while maintaining self‐respect for their individual biographies and avoiding the temptations of GDR nostalgia. As it found its place in the regionalized pluralism of the new German party system, PDS supporters came to terms with the dual transformation that ended the post‐1945 socialist experiment as well as GDR statehood. Far from deepening the continuing cultural divisions between East and West Germans, the expression of regional East German interests and identity by the PDS contributed to the integration of post‐unification German society.