East Germany turned anti-racism into state-policy, i.e. it outlawed racism out of existence, but did it really erase racism? How did GDR officials define “anti-racism?” Why was Angela Davis a celebrity in the East? How did Socialist Globalization shape the way East Germans thought about difference? What accounts for the racially motivated violence after 1990, particularly in the East? How has the history of colonialism, the Holocaust, Antisemitism and Islamophobia influenced discourses on race and racism in both countries, before and after Reunification? Is race and racism as important to the German public discourse as it is in the US?
Educators: Teaching this unit? Check out our interactive classroom materials on race and racism.
