Fellow Lecture by Dr. Stefanie Eisenhuth (Fellow of the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald/Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam)
How the new socialist person should develop, live and work has been described many times. But what should it look like? This question was the subject of intense debate in the young GDR. The conclusion: beauty should no longer be a privilege. It thus became a socio-political task - with an external impact, as a well-groomed appearance was seen as an expression of a cultivated lifestyle and proof of the achievements of socialism. Using archive sources, contemporary media and interviews, the lecture shows which political, economic, social and cultural factors shaped beauty ideals and practices at the time and asks: Was there a beauty culture specific to the GDR?
Stefanie Eisenhuth is a research associate at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and researches the cultural and social history of Germany after 1945. She completed her doctorate at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in 2018 with a study on the US military presence in West Berlin and was a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC. As an Associate Habilitation Candidate at the Chair of Modern History at the University of Greifswald, she researches ideas of beauty and practices of beautification in the GDR. In the academic year 2024/25,
Stefanie Eisenhuth is a Junior Fellow at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Annelie Ramsbrock
