Историки СССР и ГДР во взаимодействии: воспоминания о 1976–1989 годах = Historians of the USSR and the GDR in Interaction: Recollections of the Years 1976–1989

Schippan, Michael (2026) Историки СССР и ГДР во взаимодействии: воспоминания о 1976–1989 годах = Historians of the USSR and the GDR in Interaction: Recollections of the Years 1976–1989. RUSSIANSTUDIES.HU, 8 (1). pp. 19-35. ISSN 2677-1640

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Abstract

The article examines the interaction between historians of the Soviet Union and theGerman Democratic Republic during the 1970s and 1980s through the prism of the author’sprofessional biography. From his years of study at Humboldt University in Berlin untilthe end of the GDR, the author was directly involved in Soviet-East German scholarlyexchanges. The article demonstrates that, although the institutional structures of MarxistLeninist historiography formally reported the fulfilment of party directives in the sphereof scholarship, effective cooperation took shape primarily at the grass-roots level – withindepartments, research groups, and concrete collaborative projects.A central place in the narrative is occupied by the figure of Eduard Winter and thecircle of his pupils and associates who turned to the study of Russian history (PeterHoffmann, Günter Rosenfeld, Erich Donnert, among others). Drawing on the experienceof academic conferences, international seminars of university teachers from socialistcountries, joint work on university textbooks, and editorial practice at the Zeitschrift fürGeschichtswissenschaft, the article analyses the mechanisms by which research agendaswere coordinated, the limits of permissible criticism, and the role of self-censorship.Particular attention is paid to key debates of the late Soviet period, including discussionson the origins of capitalism in Russia, historical alternatives, and the concept of “multistructured” socio-economic development (mnogoukladnost’).Special emphasis is placed on the impact of Perestroika on the professional selfunderstanding of historians. The final episodes – such as the author’s stay in Moscow andLeningrad in the spring of 1989, encounters with Soviet colleagues, and public revelationsof Stalinist terror – mark a turning point in the intellectual climate and the dissolutionof the previous model of scholarly exchange. At the same time, the article highlights thecontinuity of personal networks and collaborative projects beyond 1990.

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