CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Dringenberg, Alison |
|---|---|
| Title | The Alternative Memory of the Alternative for Germany: Remembering the East German Revolution of 1989 on the Far Right |
| Summary | This thesis explores the contemporary manifestation of far-right revisionism surrounding the East German Revolution of 1989. Thirty years after the revolution transfigured the divided landscape of East and West, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) mounted an electoral campaign under the banner of the re-fulfillment of the revolution – now in the hands of the far right. The primary objective of this thesis is to investigate how the AfD conceptualizes the memory of the revolution in its political discourse, with a particular focus on the federal state election campaigns in Saxony, Brandenburg, and Thuringia in 2019. The invocation of the revolution can be traced back to the early months of the founding of the AfD. A close examination of the increasingly systematized mnemonic discourse surrounding the revolution during the election campaigns in the summer and fall of 2019 reveals that, on-and offline, the AfD employed the memory of the East German Revolution of 1989 by means of six overarching mnemonic claims: 1) the claim of analogous conditions; 2) the claim of dictatorial legacy; 3) the claim to the inheritance of the tradition of democratic resistance; 4) the claim of national unity; and 5) the claim of the value of East German identity; which culminates in 6) the claim of the necessity of a new revolution. The AfD thereby deploys memory as a flexible tool of mobilization, legitimization, and populist identity construction, with the revolution functioning as a master narrative that frames the party’s manifold and multidirectional understanding(s) of the past, present, and future. The mnemonic usage of the revolution and the concept itself also provide insight into the party’s heterogeneous nature as a far-right entity oscillating between radicalism and extremism. The thesis contributes to the ongoing scholarly discourse concerning the legacies of the revolutions of 1989; it offers insights into the nature and discourse(s) of far-right actors shaping the German political landscape; and it sheds light on the significance of the concept of revolution in contemporary far-right politics. |
| Supervisor | Iordachi, Constantin |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/dringenberg_alison.pdf |
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