»Movement and Stagnation« – Travelling Exhibition Explores East Germany’s Final Year of University Study
From 15 January to 25 February 2025, an exhibition in the foyer of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar’s University Library will shed light on a formative phase of recent German history, featuring photographs and documents from the final academic year before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
At a time of profound social upheaval, students in East Germany found themselves caught between two worlds. On the one hand, the ideological principles of the socialist state continued to dominate; on the other, aspirations for freedom, transformation, and a life free from rigid political control grew. The exhibition highlights selected themes in order to depict the everyday lives and struggles of students in East Germany, more formally known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR): How did political directives shape daily student life? What role did the education system play in preparing people for working life? And how did the escalating social protests impact students’ lives and prospects for the future? Insights into everyday student life at the university reflect the contradictory feelings of uncertainty and hope that defined the lives of young people during that final academic year – a pivotal time that ultimately led to the collapse of the GDR and reunification.
The travelling exhibition is a joint initiative of the universities of Chemnitz, Halle/Saale, Jena, Leipzig, Magdeburg and Weimar. The exhibition opening in Weimar will include a complete evening of programming. Writer and Prof. Ines Geipel will deliver the opening lecture entitled »Between the ban on Sputnik magazine and the fall of the wall – student life amidst the loss of control of a state«. As a student in Jena, Geipel experienced this phase of political upheaval at the end of East Germany. The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Geipel and historian Justus H. Ulbricht, who will explore »Generation Wall« – the generation that was raised in a country surrounded by walls and barbed wire yet full of longing for change. This depiction of student life at the end of the GDR offers a comparative perspective for the students of today.
The exhibition seeks to raise awareness among the younger generation of the risks associated with an ideological university system and to inspire reflection on dictatorship and democracy.
Exhibition
Movement and stagnation – The final year of university study in East Germany
15 January to 25 February 2025
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Foyer of the University Library
Steubenstraße 6, 99423 Weimar
Opening
15 January 2025, starting at 5 AM
Further information on the exhibition is available at: www.studienjahr1988.de
Programme for the opening
5 pm
Welcome: Prof. Peter Benz/President of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
5:10 pm
Introduction to the topic: Dr Christiane Wolf, Martin Bülling/Modernist Archive Weimar
5:20 pm
Opening lecture: »Between the ban on Sputnik magazine and the fall of the wall – student life amidst the loss of control of a state«, Prof. Ines Geipel, writer and university lecturer
5:40 pm
Panel discussion: »Generation Wall?« – Prof. Ines Geipel and Dr Justus H. Ulbricht, historian and German studies scholar
6:15 pm
Reception and tour of the exhibition
Contact
Dr Christiane Wolf and Martin Bülling, Modernist Archive/University Archive of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, e-mail: archiv[at]uni-weimar.de
»Movement and Stagnation« – Travelling Exhibition Explores East Germany’s Final Year of University Study
From 15 January to 25 February 2025, an exhibition in the foyer of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar’s University Library will shed light on a formative phase of recent German history, featuring photographs and documents from the final academic year before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
At a time of profound social upheaval, students in East Germany found themselves caught between two worlds. On the one hand, the ideological principles of the socialist state continued to dominate; on the other, aspirations for freedom, transformation, and a life free from rigid political control grew. The exhibition highlights selected themes in order to depict the everyday lives and struggles of students in East Germany, more formally known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR): How did political directives shape daily student life? What role did the education system play in preparing people for working life? And how did the escalating social protests impact students’ lives and prospects for the future? Insights into everyday student life at the university reflect the contradictory feelings of uncertainty and hope that defined the lives of young people during that final academic year – a pivotal time that ultimately led to the collapse of the GDR and reunification.
The travelling exhibition is a joint initiative of the universities of Chemnitz, Halle/Saale, Jena, Leipzig, Magdeburg and Weimar. The exhibition opening in Weimar will include a complete evening of programming. Writer and Prof. Ines Geipel will deliver the opening lecture entitled »Between the ban on Sputnik magazine and the fall of the wall – student life amidst the loss of control of a state«. As a student in Jena, Geipel experienced this phase of political upheaval at the end of East Germany. The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Geipel and historian Justus H. Ulbricht, who will explore »Generation Wall« – the generation that was raised in a country surrounded by walls and barbed wire yet full of longing for change. This depiction of student life at the end of the GDR offers a comparative perspective for the students of today.
The exhibition seeks to raise awareness among the younger generation of the risks associated with an ideological university system and to inspire reflection on dictatorship and democracy.
Exhibition
Movement and stagnation – The final year of university study in East Germany
15 January to 25 February 2025
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Foyer of the University Library
Steubenstraße 6, 99423 Weimar
Opening
15 January 2025, starting at 5 AM
Further information on the exhibition is available at: www.studienjahr1988.de
Programme for the opening
5 pm
Welcome: Prof. Peter Benz/President of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
5:10 pm
Introduction to the topic: Dr Christiane Wolf, Martin Bülling/Modernist Archive Weimar
5:20 pm
Opening lecture: »Between the ban on Sputnik magazine and the fall of the wall – student life amidst the loss of control of a state«, Prof. Ines Geipel, writer and university lecturer
5:40 pm
Panel discussion: »Generation Wall?« – Prof. Ines Geipel and Dr Justus H. Ulbricht, historian and German studies scholar
6:15 pm
Reception and tour of the exhibition
Contact
Dr Christiane Wolf and Martin Bülling, Modernist Archive/University Archive of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, e-mail: archiv[at]uni-weimar.de
Kontakt
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
Claudia Weinreich
Pressesprecherin
Tel.: +49(0)3643/58 11 73
Luise Ziegler
Mitarbeiterin Medienarbeit
Tel.: +49(0)3643/58 11 80
Fax: +49(0)3643/58 11 72
E-Mail: presse[at]uni-weimar.de
Web: www.uni-weimar.de/medienservice