Focal Point

Dilemma 89

Twenty years after 1989, most former communist states in central and eastern Europe are members of the EU. Yet the transition from closed to open societies is far from “complete”.

Fierce debates rage over lustration and information surfacing from secret police archives, over corruption inherited from communist power structures, and over dominant representations of the communist past.

Clearly, 1989 is not only an historic moment of liberation, but also a political and social dilemma for the present day.

Gorbachev's go-ahead

András Schweitzer in conversation with Mark Kramer

Nothing was inevitable. If the Soviet Union had wanted, it could have easily stopped the process that led to the dissolution of the Communist bloc in 1989 – says Professor Mark Kramer, director of the Cold War Studies Program at Harvard University. As he sees it, the changes were ultimately caused by three factors, neither sufficient in itself: the fundamental change in Soviet policy reflected in Mikhail Gorbachev’s commitment to promote far-reaching reform and avoid the use of violence in Eastern Europe, the willingness of millions of ordinary people to go out onto the streets to demand freedom, and the rapid demoralization of hardline East European leaders as they realized that the Soviet Union would not come to their aid against internal rebellion.

Die Last der Freiheit

Polnische Kultur 1989-1999

Das Jahr 1989 markiert für Polen die Rückkehr von der sozialistischen Entfremdung zum eigenverantwortlichen Umgang mit der Geschichte. Dieser Umbruch war von Euphorie getragen, er brachte aber auch Risiken, Brüche und Belastungen mit sich. Die historische Herausforderung lag nicht zuletzt darin, die kulturellen Sphären der Dissidenz, des Exils und der offiziellen Politik wieder miteinander zu verbinden. Die Debatten der 1990er Jahre stellten das tradierte polnische Selbstbild oft fundamental in Frage. Die Kultur hat durch diese Debatten aber an Freiraum gewonnen.

As the fog lifted

Literature in eastern central Europe since 1989

After 1989, uncensored editions of many classics of contemporary eastern European literature became available, and numerous authors were discovered for the first time in the West. Meanwhile, a younger generation of writers, their imaginations liberated by events, were quick to respond to the new appetite for understanding the communist past. Katharina Raabe, editor for eastern European literature at Suhrkamp Verlag, surveys some of the most important of these authors and describes German publishers’ role in bringing them to western readers.

China through Zhuangzi's third eye

Twenty years after Tiananmen, the country is both different and same

Twenty years ago, the velvet revolutions swept communism from eastern Europe. On the other side of the globe, the Chinese government was cracking down on anyone who dared to speak out against the regime, with reprisals culminating in the Tiananmen Square Massacre on 4 June. In the twenty years since Tiananmen, writes Martin Hala, China has risen from the ashes by engaging the West economically and by manufacturing domestic, “patriotic” consent. But as the economic crisis deepens, writes Hala, these achievements might not be sufficient to make the “rising dragon” immune to history.

Focal Point

Dilemma 89

Related Focal Points

Mood of the Union 2024

Breaking bread

Ukraine in European dialogue

The writing on the wall