Is the “Wende” (lit. ‘turning point’) over? - A travelling exhibition on Germany’s reunification in 1990

Explanation: "Wende" is a German term that literally means "turning point" or "change." It refers to the period of profound political, social, and economic transformation in East Germany (the former GDR) that began with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and led to the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990.

The basis and idea for the exhibition project was developed at the Berlin branch of the BMBF-funded Research Institute for Social Cohesion (FGZ) as part of the research project "Cohesion and resentment in times of crisis: Memories of the Wende and Post-Wende Periods in an East-West Comparison (duration: 06 / 2020 - 05 / 2024). "We conducted around 50 interviews with people in East and West Germany. The focus was on the question of memories of the reunification and post-reunification period," say project managers Dr Felix Axster and Dr habil Mathias Berek, adding: "People who were particularly affected by the social upheavals of the reunification period and who have so far been little heard are having their say." Excerpts from these interviews can be experienced at audio stations in the exhibition "Is the Wende over?". They show "that the fall of the Berlin Wall was largely perceived as a profound turning point, whereby - this is particularly true for the interviewees from East Germany - euphoric experiences of a democratic awakening and experiences of social declassification in the wake of unemployment often went hand in hand," say the project managers.

Memory workshop and echo chamber in Dresden

The exhibition curated by Anujah Fernando and Niels Hölmer sees itself as a mobile workshop of remembrance. It is part of the Science Year 2024 - Freedom and will be making stops at six locations in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg from March to September - in Spremberg, Apolda, Nordhausen, Freital, Bautzen and Strausberg. It shows how diverse the memories of the 1990s are, visualising experiences such as disappointment, powerlessness and democratic agency. And it also asks whether and to what extent there are similarities between the supposedly separate experiences. Overall, the exhibition paints a multi-layered picture of the time of reunification and its aftermath.

The exhibition also invites visitors to contribute their own experiences and perspectives: Performance artists Hans Narva and Anna Stiede are on site and ask people to talk about their memories of the reunification and post-reunification period or to sketch them briefly on postcards. Excerpts from these conversations, postcard sketches or even photos of the stations - all of this comes together again. And it's all coming together again at the Dresden Hygiene Museum, where “Ist die Wende zu Ende?” is currently occupying a room as part of the "VEB Museum" exhibition on the history of this museum in the GDR. "We designed part of the Epilogue room as a cooperation project, as an interface to the 1990s and the present," say Axster and Berek. They continue: "The voices from Spremberg, Apolda, Nordhausen, Freital, Bautzen and Strausberg will be heard in the Dresden exhibition. In other words, they will create an echo in the Saxon capital - and beyond. This will create an archive of memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which will also be realised as an exhibit."

Conclusion of the exhibition “Is the ‘Wende’ over?”

The next stops for the exhibition are Freital and Bautzen. But one thing is already clear: "The response has been greater than we expected. Many people have visited the exhibition at all previous locations, some of them spending several hours in it. And we have had countless interesting conversations. It is clear that there is an enormous need for dialogue about the reunification and post-reunification period in the East," say Axster and Berek. Whether the situation would be similar in West German cities would have to be determined in a second round of the remembrance workshop.