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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.historikertag.de/Muenster2018/en/panels/der-kalte-krieg-als-chance-handlungsspielraeume-im-geteilten-berlin/
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SUMMARY:[Historikertag 2018] Doing Cold War Berlin
DESCRIPTION:Classical interpretations present the Cold War as a sequence of diplomatic crises and military conflicts scattered across the globe. Politicians and nuclear arsenals of two superpowers dominate many accounts. This narrative constrains divided Berlin to the role of a “stage” for the conflict, “showcase” for each side, or simply as a “pawn in a geopolitical chess match”. Accordingly, such characterizations threaten to reduce the city to a cipher, if local dynamics, horizons, and negotiations are neglected. Hence this panel highlights the active contribution of various actors to the development, persistence, and eventual erosion of the global competition as experienced locally.
The panel scrutinizes how actors in East and West Berlin not only endured, fueled, or regretted the conflict between two systems, but also tried to exploit the new bipolar order for themselves. Thus this panel reconsiders Berlin’s place within the history of the 20th century. Instead of pursuing a purely regional history, the aim remains to integrate the agency of urban actors within the scope of local, national, and global perspectives.
This panel focuses on the constructed character of “Cold War Berlin” as a potent symbol. Attributions such as “Outpost of Freedom” or “Capital of the GDR” had to be developed, popularized, ritualized, and transferred into material shape, but were also increasingly questioned. The global competition often provided a pivot for these local conflicts. The city’s unique situation and its fragmentation along overlapping political, social, and cultural divides could often be understood as an opportunity by local actors. Thus this panel’s central question is: Who developed which individual “Cold War Berlin” with which tactics, aims, and ultimate success?
Der Beitrag Doing Cold War Berlin erschien zuerst auf Historikertag 2018.
LOCATION:F1 (Fürstenberghaus
Domplatz 20-22
48143 Münster)
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