Tag: Germany

Everything you need to know for #VirtualGSA2020

Access our new German Studies catalog here to view our latest titles!

We are pleased to invite you to visit our virtual stand at the German Studies Association annual meeting taking place online from 30 September to 4 October 2020. Please see below for information about special offers from Berghahn Books for titles purchased through our website.

For anyone who would have liked to discuss their manuscript with us at the conference, our editors are happy to arrange for a chat over email or virtually. Visit our GSA page for virtual booth hours or contact Chris Chappell to set up a meeting.

A wide range of German Studies titles

Visit Berghahn’s GSA page for featured books and journals, virtual booth hours, and more.

GSA Special Offer

Enjoy 30% off all German Studies titles (in both print and eBook formats) until 6 November, 2020! Read our newsletter for recommended titles and discount information.

Visit us at the conference

Catch us at the GSA exhibit hall and visit our virtual booth here.

A Divided Germany

This week marks the fifty-eighth anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall. The Iron Curtain was assembled in the middle of Berlin in August 1961 and expanded over the following months to ultimately divide West Berlin from the surrounding East Germany, prohibiting East Germans to pass into West Germany for decades. Browse our relevant titles on the history and ramifications of a divided Germany.

Continue reading “A Divided Germany” →

Victory Day to commemorate the end of WWII

Victory Day celebrated through Europe on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces marketing the end of World War II in Europe. Victory Day in Russia, as well as some former Soviet Union republics, is celebrated on May 9 as Germany’s surrender was signed late in the evening on May 8, 1945 when it was already May 9 in Russia. For most European nations, and especially for the Russian people, that war had a profound impact on national memory and its trauma is still very much alive.
In recognition of the day Berghahn is pleased to offer a selection of our WWII History books and relevant Berghahn Journals special issues (access to journals until May 16).
Please note that this year Berghahn Books turns 25 and to mark this important milestone, we are offering 25% off all print and eBooks throughout the site. For print titles, please add the coupon code BB25. For eBooks, the discount is automatic.

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In Paperback

EXPERIENCE AND MEMORY
The Second World War in Europe
Edited by Jörg Echternkamp and Stefan Martens

Volume 7, Contemporary European History

CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2011

Continue reading “Victory Day to commemorate the end of WWII” →

German Unity Day

Two weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, on 28 November 1989, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl announced a 10-point program calling for the two Germanys to expand their cooperation with the view toward eventual reunification. On 18 May 1990, the two German states signed a treaty agreeing on monetary, economic and social union. On October 3rd, 1990, Federal Republic of Germany and the Democratic Republic of Germany were reunited to create one single federal Germany, now celebrated as German Unity Day!

Take advantage of our offer of FREE access to the journal, German Politics and Society until the end of the year! Please use code GSA18 and redeem here.

 

We are also currently offering free access to the article: Politics of Emotions: Journalistic Reflections on the Emotionality of the West German Peace Movement, 1979-1984 in recognition of International Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons until October 10.

Berghahn is honored to present some of the relevant titles on the History of German Unification:

 

A History Shared and Divided: East and West Germany since the 1970sA HISTORY SHARED AND DIVIDED
East and West Germany since the 1970s
Frank Bösch
Translated from the German by Jennifer Walcoff Neuheiser

Continue reading “German Unity Day” →

The Berlin Wall Is Built

On August 13, 1961, Berlin woke up to a shock: the East German Army had begun construction on the infamous Berlin Wall. The Wall was initially constructed in the middle of Berlin, and expanded over the following months. It entirely cut off West Berlin from the surrounding East Germany, prohibiting East Germans to pass into West Germany.

The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the “will of the people” in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period. The Berlin Wall came to symbolize the “Iron Curtain” that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.

Browse Berghahn relevant titles on History of divided Germany:

Memorializing the GDR: Monuments and Memory after 1989MEMORIALIZING THE GDR
Monuments and Memory after 1989
Anna Saunders

Continue reading “The Berlin Wall Is Built” →

Has Germany’s turn away from nuclear power been a mistake?

Taking on Technocracy: Nuclear Power in Germany, 1945 to the Present By Dolores L. Augustine, author of Taking on Technocracy: Nuclear Power in Germany, 1945 to the Present.

 

Energy policy has recently gained a good deal of public attention. “Germany, as far as I’m concerned, is captive to Russia because it’s getting so much of its energy from Russia,” President Trump argued at the NATO summit on July 11, 2018. Let’s set aside the faulty data underlying this argument and Trump’s own friendly policies towards Russia and turn instead to a more fundamental question: How wise have German energy policies been? Germany has taken a very different path from that of the United States, deciding in 2011 to abandon nuclear power by 2022. However, Germany has also committed itself to reducing use of fossil fuels. Has this placed German policymakers in a bind? Would life have been easier for Germany if it had not turned away from nuclear power? To understand the present-day situation, we must first look at its historical roots.

Why did Germany turn away from nuclear power? Continue reading “Has Germany’s turn away from nuclear power been a mistake?” →

Why monuments still have a future

Memorializing the GDRby Anna Saunders, author of Memorializing the GDR: Monuments and Memory after 1989.
 

Recent years have witnessed fierce debates about the existence of controversial monuments around the world – most notably Confederate monuments and memorials, but also numerous structures built in honour of wealthy benefactors with murky pasts. The outcomes of such debacles have been varied. In the UK, Oriel College, Oxford, has recently stated its intention to keep its statue of Cecil Rhodes, whereas Bristol’s Colston Hall – named after the slave trader Edward Colston – will be renamed when it reopens in 2020. It seems that the future of monuments may be limited. Yet this depends on our understanding of the role of such structures. In this context, it is worth casting an eye towards Germany, a country whose twentieth century history has prompted the destruction – and construction – of monuments and memorials at a pace rivalled by few others. Continue reading “Why monuments still have a future” →