I had the honour and pleasure to speak with the performer and activist Anna Stiede about “Aftershocks of the Past: Reunification and Resentment in East Germany” for the second episode of the podcast “This Authoritarian Life” hosted by Kristóf Szombati and Erdem Evren:

“Resentment may lay dormant for decades, before suddenly erupting and inundating public life. In this second episode of This Authoritarian Life, we continue to explore the ‘Origins’ of authoritarianism by asking how the past can exercise a decisive influence in and over the present. We do this by focusing on the case of East Germany, where guests 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐝𝐞 and 𝐄𝐥𝐬𝐤𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐝 have conducted research and staged artistic performances.

How does the experience of a curtailed revolution inscribe itself into the human body? How does it play into East Germans’ overwhelming sense of political abandonment? And how has the far right taken advantage of all this?

To find out, tune into the second episode of This Authoritarian Life, with Kristóf Szombati and Erdem Evren.”

For more on Anna’s work check:
https://annastiede.com/ANNAMEDEA-2024