E
introduction
Divided and Connected
Perspectives on German History since the 1970s
Frank Bösch
O
ver the last decade, the fi eld of contemporary German history has
changed considerably. It has been enriched by a broader thematic
and methodological scope, as well as transnational perspectives that
have propelled scholarship in new directions. Yet despite these shifts,
historians still tend to approach the history of East and West Germany
separately. Rather than peering over the Wall, scholars have contextual-
ized developments in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) primarily
with an eye toward Western industrialized nations or to the global South.
For many historians of West Germany, the German Democratic Republic
(GDR) was seen as a truly separate country whose history was the pur-
view of research institutes in East Germany or Berlin. Even in the mul-
tifaceted theoretical debates surrounding a transnational, “shared,” or
“entangled” history, the idea of a German-German history was conspicu-
ously absent.^1 Perhaps because the focus of these endeavors was to trace
the “trans-state” history of a later reunited nation, a national narrative
seemed to be out of place. Similarly, general overviews of contemporary
German history have continued to approach the FRG or the GDR sep-
arately, even when they extend beyond reunifi cation.^2 German-German
perspectives have mostly been reserved for the bilateral relations and
encounters between the two German states, ranging from Willy Brandt’s
Ostpolitik to Biermann’s expatriation and Kohl’s plans for reunifi cation.^3
By consciously adopting a German-German perspective, this book
suggests a diff erent approach to the history of contemporary Germany.
Departing from the already well-researched diplomatic level, it off ers a
comparative look at changing social structures in East and West Ger-
