Project News


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Lessons of the Unification Process - Jutta Günther gives a talk on the ambivalent legacy of the GDR innovation system after 1990

On August 4 and 5, 2021, the 10th meeting of the "German-Korean Consultative Board on Unification Issues" will take place. Prof. Dr. Jutta Günther, a member of the board since 2018, will present selected results of the Mod-Block-DDR research consortium at the conference.

Founded in 2010, the board…


Mod-Block DDR starts online colloquium

Online colloquium successfully held again in summer semester 2021

In spring 2020, soon after the Covid 19 pandemic broke out in Germany, we started the innovative format of a digital colloquium in our Mod-Block-DDR research consortium. The trigger was necessity: Despite obstacles we wanted to continue our scientific exchange within the network. Originally intended…


Prof. Dr. Heiko Pleines

Heiko Pleines receives award for outstanding doctoral supervision

The prize for outstanding doctoral supervision, which the University of Bremen is awarding for the second time, is going to political scientist and head of a Mod-Block sub-project Prof. Dr. Heiko Pleines this year.

We congratulate you very much!

For more information on the award, please see the …


“Legacies of Communist Modernization: Evidence from a Natural Experiment”

No doubt, state socialism has had a strong influence on the political and economic development in the respective countries up to the present day. However, the modes of impact are disputed in the academic debate. On 11 May, Alexander Libman (FU Berlin) will present newly gained insights into the…


Moderne Faserproduktion trifft devastierte Braunkohlelandschaft

UMPOBERE meets Mod-Block-DDR

On April 27, 2021, members of Mod-Block-DDR and the project „Umweltpolitik, Braunkohle und Rekultivierung im deutsch-deutschen Vergleich“ (UMPOBERE) met each other. The initiative of UMPOBERE director Helmut Maier was prompted by the thematic and methodological intersections between the two GDR…


Ansicht Tschernobyl

Does atomic energy have a future in Europe?

On March 11th, 2021, Heinrich Böll Foundation Bremen together with the Young DGO Regional Group Bremen (which is co-run by Mod-Block-DDR project members Dr. Mariia Shkolnykova, Mareike zum Felde and Olga Masyutina) organized an online event about the future of civilian use of atomic energy in…


MDR Podcast "Jahre nach dem Umbruch im Osten"

MDR-Podcast on the German Economic and Monetary Union in 1990

Mod-Block-DDR organised a panel discussion on economic and monetary union at the occasion of the 30-year anniversary of German unity. Participants and experts in economic transformation discussed successes achieved, mistakes made and useful lessons learned. The moderator Ine Dippmann (MDR) has now…


Bild der Teilnehmenden im Online-Modus

Reading and contemporary witness talk on "Madgermanes

It is a rather unknown chapter in the history of the GDR: More than 23,000 contract workers from Mozambique worked in agriculture, industry and handicrafts in the GDR for several years from 1979 onward on the basis of a bilateral agreement between the two socialist countries. However, their…


Lecture by Jutta Günther in the House of Science

On November 7, 2020, Jutta Günther gave a lecture at the Haus der Wissenschaft in Bremen to present research results from the joint project Mod-Block-GDR to interested citizens.

Due to the pandemic situation, the lecture was recorded and is available to all interested parties: …


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New publication on the entrepreneurial habitus of East Germans for the Deutschland Archiv

Jarina Kühn, Anna Steinkamp and Anna Schwarz working in the Mod-Block-DDR Research Association have written a new contribution on the entrepreneurial habitus of East Germans before and after 1990. They consider the controversial question in the literature as to the extent to which entrepreneurial…

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