Germany’s Traumatic Communist Past through Contemporary Radio Life Narratives

Iana Nikitenko

doi:10.5117/9789048574322_ch11

Germany’s Traumatic Communist Past through Contemporary Radio Life Narratives

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Traumas unique to East Germany predominantly remained fragmented and private, and have not yet been fully consolidated into the national consciousness of unified Germany. The chapter analyses how two contemporary German experimental radio dramas explore the lingering trauma of life under the communist regime: Sie sprechen mit der Stasi by Andreas Ammer and FM Einheit and Auf der Suche nach den verlorenen Seelenatomen by Susann Maria Hempel. Drawing on trauma and memory theories, the chapter employs an audionarratological approach to examine how, through the lens of postmemory, the stylistic and experimental storytelling techniques of these radio plays reinterpret the traumatic legacy of communism and its impact on individual and collective identities, facilitating the integration of these narratives into public consciousness.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Replaying Communism
Subtitle of host publication	Trauma and Nostalgia in European Cultural Production
Editors	Lucy Jeffery, Anna Váradi
Publisher	Central European University Press
Chapter	11
Pages	221-238
Number of pages	18
ISBN (Electronic)	9789048574964
ISBN (Print)	9789048574322
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5117/9789048574322_ch11
Publication status	Published - 24 Dec 2025

Publication series

Name	Memory, Heritage and Public History in Central and Eastern Europe
Publisher	CEU Press
ISSN (Print)	3004-1201

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The authors / Amsterdam University Press B.V. | Central European University Press, 2026. All rights reserved.

Keywords

trauma
postmemory
cultural memory
radio drama
DDR
Life writing

Access to Document

10.5117/9789048574322_ch11

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Persistent link

Cite this

Nikitenko, I. (2025). Germany’s Traumatic Communist Past through Contemporary Radio Life Narratives. In L. Jeffery, & A. Váradi (Eds.), Replaying Communism: Trauma and Nostalgia in European Cultural Production (pp. 221-238). (Memory, Heritage and Public History in Central and Eastern Europe). Central European University Press . https://doi.org/10.5117/9789048574322_ch11

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abstract = "Traumas unique to East Germany predominantly remained fragmented and private, and have not yet been fully consolidated into the national consciousness of unified Germany. The chapter analyses how two contemporary German experimental radio dramas explore the lingering trauma of life under the communist regime: Sie sprechen mit der Stasi by Andreas Ammer and FM Einheit and Auf der Suche nach den verlorenen Seelenatomen by Susann Maria Hempel. Drawing on trauma and memory theories, the chapter employs an audionarratological approach to examine how, through the lens of postmemory, the stylistic and experimental storytelling techniques of these radio plays reinterpret the traumatic legacy of communism and its impact on individual and collective identities, facilitating the integration of these narratives into public consciousness.",

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Germany’s Traumatic Communist Past through Contemporary Radio Life Narratives. / Nikitenko, Iana.
Replaying Communism: Trauma and Nostalgia in European Cultural Production. ed. / Lucy Jeffery; Anna Váradi. Central European University Press , 2025. p. 221-238 (Memory, Heritage and Public History in Central and Eastern Europe).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Research › peer-review

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AU - Nikitenko, Iana

PY - 2025/12/24

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N2 - Traumas unique to East Germany predominantly remained fragmented and private, and have not yet been fully consolidated into the national consciousness of unified Germany. The chapter analyses how two contemporary German experimental radio dramas explore the lingering trauma of life under the communist regime: Sie sprechen mit der Stasi by Andreas Ammer and FM Einheit and Auf der Suche nach den verlorenen Seelenatomen by Susann Maria Hempel. Drawing on trauma and memory theories, the chapter employs an audionarratological approach to examine how, through the lens of postmemory, the stylistic and experimental storytelling techniques of these radio plays reinterpret the traumatic legacy of communism and its impact on individual and collective identities, facilitating the integration of these narratives into public consciousness.

AB - Traumas unique to East Germany predominantly remained fragmented and private, and have not yet been fully consolidated into the national consciousness of unified Germany. The chapter analyses how two contemporary German experimental radio dramas explore the lingering trauma of life under the communist regime: Sie sprechen mit der Stasi by Andreas Ammer and FM Einheit and Auf der Suche nach den verlorenen Seelenatomen by Susann Maria Hempel. Drawing on trauma and memory theories, the chapter employs an audionarratological approach to examine how, through the lens of postmemory, the stylistic and experimental storytelling techniques of these radio plays reinterpret the traumatic legacy of communism and its impact on individual and collective identities, facilitating the integration of these narratives into public consciousness.

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Germany’s Traumatic Communist Past through Contemporary Radio Life Narratives

Abstract

Publication series

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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FWOAL1050: Broadcast Biographies. Innovations in Genre and Medium (1945- 2020)

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Germany’s Traumatic Communist Past through Contemporary Radio Life Narratives

Abstract

Publication series

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

FWOAL1050: Broadcast Biographies. Innovations in Genre and Medium (1945- 2020)

Cite this