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Wilson Center Scholar Publishes First Documented Account of Cold War Flashpoint

Christian Ostermann, director of the Center's Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) and a Fellow at the National Security Archive at George Washington University recently published "Uprising in East Germany, 1953: The Cold War, the German Question, and the First Major Upheaval behind the Iron Curtain."

The volume is the first documented account of this early, often forgotten Cold War flashpoint from both sides of the Iron Curtain. The result of an international and multi-archival collaborative effort led by the Archive and CWIHP, the collection includes declassified transcripts of East German Communist Party (SED) politburo meetings, Soviet foreign ministry documents, CIA and State Department reports as well as now formerly secret Polish, Czech, Bulgarian and Hungarian government and party files on the origins, course and fall-out of the crisis.

Detailed introductory essays to provide the necessary historical and political context precede the documentary chapters. Highly relevant to the current debate within Germany about the ability of the Party of Democratic Socialism, the SED successor, to come to terms with its pre-1989 past, the book has already won critical acclaim by DER SPIEGEL and other European press.

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Cold War International History Project

The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.  Read more