Elena Marie Elisabeth Kiesel is a historian and Research Associate at the Chair of Modern and Contemporary History and History Didactics, University of Erfurt, and Co-Investigator in the Research Unit on Voluntariness. Her research focuses on voluntary participation in the GDR, social history of the GDR, provenance research, and the history of confessional welfare.
By Elena M. E. Kiesel
“Mach Dir einen Kopf, Kollege!” – an appeal to potential “Neuerer” to participate in the workplace suggestion scheme of the GDR. Abaut what it meant to be a “Neuerer” we talked to contemporary witnesses in Eisenach last September.
On Thursday, November 10, 2022, Elena will share aspects of her research for her dissertation project with us. You are invited to her talk on “Neuerertum als Machtausübung? Freiwilligkeit und politische Partizipation in der DDR-Neuererbewegung” on campus in Erfurt!
On Friday, September 30, 2022, Elena and Christiane from the subproject “Voluntariness and Dictatorship” invite former “Neuerer” in the GDR to talk about their personal experiences. We are hosting an event called “Bürgerforum” and looking forward meeting you in Eisenach!
On June 20, 2022, our teams of the subprojects “Voluntariness and Decolonization” and “Voluntariness and Dictatorship” – Carolyn, Iris, Elena and Christiane – welcome Swiss historian Sandrine Kott (University of Geneva) for a workshop and evening lecture at the Forschungskolleg Transkulturelle Studien in Gotha.
On January 18, 2022, Elena M. E. Kiesel and Christiane Kuller, project investigators of our sub-project on voluntariness and dictatorship, will be participating at the “Fuldaer Abende” and explore voluntary participation within the ‘Neuererwesen’ of the GDR.
By Elena M. E. Kiesel and Markus Dolinsky
Pagans against Christians, brothers against brothers, free will against fate: in the Canadian-Irish television series Vikings viewers are immersed in a conflict-laden world characterized by a search for religious…
