The authors of the book and editor-compiler Thomas Gorssbölting try to answer the question of what the GDR was and what it means for today's Germany.

GDR: a peace-loving state, a reading country, a sports nation?

Almost twenty years have passed since the beginning of the political changes that in 1989 led to the end of the GDR and in 1990 to the reunification of Germany. But the theme of the German state, which was sent into oblivion in the penultimate decade of the twentieth century. The question of what the GDR was and what it means for today's Germany continues to be controversial. Was the GDR a state of the world, a reading country, a sports nation? Could it rightly call itself a hotbed of anti-fascism? Do women and men really have equal rights? And can Finland's recent PISA success be explained by copying the education system of the GDR? Sixteen well-known authors analyze the legends of the GDR, which have their impact to this day. The authors study in detail and without prejudice the judgments and prejudices regarding the socialist German state, shed light on certain spheres of the society of the GDR from different angles and counter the opinions with verified facts. “The history of the GDR is much more interesting, intellectually informative and, in a figurative sense, even more “instructive” than its oversimplified interpretations” (from the preface by Thomas Grossbölting). The book was published in Russian in 2017 by the Mysl publishing house as part of a joint project between the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and the Liberal Mission Foundation. The book can be borrowed from the office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation or downloaded in PDF format.