Playing Politics with History

Andrew Beattie studied history and German studies in Australia and Germany, and has had fellowships in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy. In 2005 his University of Sydney dissertation received the Jean Monnet Thesis Prize, Contemporary Europe Research Centre, Melbourne. He teaches German and European studies at the University of New South Wales, and previously taught German studies at the University of Technology, Sydney.

"This is a timely, well-written and original take on a topic that has generated a great deal of controversy. Ever since its inception the Enquête Commission has been a magnet of attention for anyone interested in the dynamics of history and memory in post-communist Europe. But what Beattie so skillfully explores here are the dynamics of history and power, how the Commission's work was part of a wider and prolonged struggle in which the competing parties and their constituencies have sought to tap the past as a source of political legitimacy since 1989. The outcome is an engaging yet level-headed investigation into the Vergangenheitspolitik of unified Germany."  ·  Corey Ross, University of Birmingham

• AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroductionChapter 1. Establishing the commission of inquiryChapter 2. The inquiries at workChapter 3. The SED’s dictatorship from the beginningChapter 4. Implementing and resisting socialism in the GDRChapter 5. Vergangenheitsbewältigung: good and badChapter 6. The double totalitarian pastConclusion: Victor’s justice or an antitotalitarian consensus?AppendixesBibliographyIndex