The National People's Army as an Object of (Non) Remembrance
The Place of East Germany's Military Heritage in Unified Germany
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3616487 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nina Leonhard (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 150-163 |
| Publication date | 2008-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | German Politics & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1045-0300 • E-ISSN: 1558-5441 |
| Publisher | Berghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.3167/gps.2008.260409 |
| OpenAlex | W2058455042 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
On 3 October 1990, the National People's Army (NVA) of the German Democratic Republic, in which about 2.5 million East German citizens served their country, was dissolved. Its personnel either was removed from military service, placed into early retirement, or integrated into the Bundeswehr after a two-year selection and examination process. Since then, the NVA has turned into an object of history with no immediate significance for contemporary German society-despite efforts of former NVA officers to change the official interpretation of 1989-1990. This article examines the processes of remembering and forgetting with regard to East Germany's military heritage since 1990, contrasting the Bundeswehr's politics of memory and "army of unity" ethos not only with the former NVA soldiers' vision of the past, but also with the East German population's general attitude towards their former armed forces
Archaeology · Democracy · Economic history · Ethos · German · Military service · Political science · Politics · Sociology · World War II · European history and politics · German History and Society · History · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,57 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2024 (6) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |