From 26 to 29 May, students from the IWTG at TU Bergakademie Freiberg, together with students from JGU Mainz, went on a field trip to the east of the capital. The overarching course focused on ‘oral history’, that is, history as recounted orally by eyewitnesses. The history of the GDR remains highly fragmented and, in many respects, entirely unexplored. The students met with eyewitnesses as a means of addressing these significant gaps in our understanding. 

Contact with eyewitnesses therefore also played an important role on the field trip: the students were able to use the opportunity to put the knowledge they had acquired in the course into practice through interviews. The excursion also included a visit to the Stasi Museum and a guided tour of the former Stalinallee, the GDR’s boulevard. The excursion concluded with a small symposium on the oral history of the GDR, organised by the students themselves. 

We would like to thank the Keibelstraße Learning Centre, the Stasi Museum, Stalinbauten e.V. and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation for their expertise and support. Special thanks go to the Association of Friends and Supporters of TUBAF (VFF) and the Faculty of Economics, without whose support this excursion could not have been a success.