After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of the New Germany, 1989 to the Present

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, its history, meaning and legacy remain contentious, even as the Berlin Wall has joined the Holocaust as a focus of German memory policy. Dr. Harrison's new book examines a multiplicity of methods the Germans have adopted for grappling with the history of the Berlin Wall. It also highlights the role of key German memory activists as well as a more diffuse global memory of the Wall in the formulation of German historical narratives about the Wall. Dr. Harrison will discuss these and other issues, including renewed East-West cleavages in Germany, as part of a conversation with HAPP Director Christian F. Ostermann.

Dr. Hope M. Harrison is Associate Professor of History and International Affairs at The George Washington University. She is the author of the new book, After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of the New Germany, 1989 to the Present (Cambridge University Press, 2019). Her previous work includes the prize-winning Driving the Soviets up the Wall (Princeton University Press, 2003) which was also published to wide acclaim in German translation (Ulbrichts Mauer, Propyläen, 2011). She received her B.A. in Social Studies from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. Dr. Harrison is the recipient of fellowships from Fulbright, the Nobel Institute, the American Academy in Berlin, Harvard, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Dr. Harrison has served on the staff of the National Security Council as Director for European and Eurasian Affairs, (2000-2001), directed the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs (2005-2009), and currently serves on the board of four Berlin-based institutions: the Berlin Wall Association; the Allied Museum, the Black Box Cold War Exhibit at Checkpoint Charlie, and the Foundation for German-American Scientific Relations. She has appeared on CNN, the History Channel, the Science Channel, C-SPAN, the BBC, Deutschlandradio, ZDF, and Spiegel-TV.

The Washington History Seminar is co-chaired by Eric Arnesen (George Washington University) and Christian Ostermann (Woodrow Wilson Center) and is sponsored jointly by the National History Center of the American Historical Association and the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. It meets weekly during the academic year. The seminar thanks the Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest and the George Washington University History Department for their support.