The second consortium meeting of "Mod-Block-DDR" took place on 16 September 2019 at the TU Berlin. On the agenda were the presentation of the current projects, the organisation of two conferences in the jubilee year 2020 and the discussion of a new perspective on the development in the GDR and the new federal states since 1990.

At the beginning, the members of the research consortium presented the design and preliminary results of their subprojects. The questions and comments of the participants demonstrated the internal connection potential and the benefits of the interdisciplinary orientation of the research project. The constructive dialogue stimulated a deepening and expansion of cooperation between the research teams. There were also already signs of the advantages that a long-term perspective and an extension of the reference system, such as to socialist Poland, could provide for a better understanding of East German development.

Building on on this basis, the scientists discussed the questions of the kick-off meeting and discussed them in an enriching way with the other participants, including Ksenia Gonchar and the advisory board member Dr. Johannes Staemmler. They controversially discussed the scientific usefulness of the modernization concept with its multitude of definitions and references, as well as its ideal-typical and deterministic connotations. The participants noted that the development in the GDR could be regarded as one of the many paths into "modernity". The project members also shared the perspective that it makes sense to openly examine the processes in the GDR and to ask how the relationship between economy and science had functioned in the GDR. This allowed both "potentials" and "blockades" to be identified, and then the question of the significance of transformation policies in reproducing, changing and eliminating the "GDR heritage" could be examined.

In addition to organizing two conferences in Gdansk and Berlin in 2020, which will carry the debate and previous results of the research consortium in science and public, the further task of the consortium is to combine the results of the subprojects in order to enable an overall interpretation and, if necessary, re-evaluation of the "GDR" and the transformation process.