Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The goal of this thesis is to describe and explain the process of comeback of the Czechoslovakian trademarks and products from the time of socialism. The thesis is divided into the theoretical and the practical part. The beginning of the theoretical part focuses on the genral introduction of the "ostalgia", including the brief description of the process of "ostalgia" in other countraies of the former Eastern Block. Another part of this thesis focuses on the reasons why today´s population of Czech republic tends to these nostalgic memories. What´s the reason of the comeback of trademarks like Kofola, céčka, botas etc. Why do people tend to these old trademarks and if it is somehow connected with people´s wish to get the time and way of living in socialism back. Or if this is just the regular nostalgia or the real "ostalgia"? The practical part of my thesis consists of the questionnaire regarding the "ostalgia", the fact hbow the middle generation remembers their youth in the socialism, how they feel about the comeback of the old trademarks or if there´s some more former trademarks they wish to come back. The questionnaire was also presented to a young generation to be able to compare the different opinions of two generations. The final part of the thesis consists of the analysis of the questionnaire and its results.

This thesis deals with the perception of the Cold War in selected German feature films. Sonnenallee (Leander Haussmann, 1999), Die Unberührbare (Oscar Roehler, 2000), Good Bye Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003), Herr Lehmann (Leander Haussmann, 2003) and Das Leben der Anderen (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006) have been selected for a comparative analysis that focusses on narratives of the Cold-War era after reunification, and for an examination of how the social impact of German unification has been addressed in these films. In terms of methodology, the thesis uses Pierre Sorlin's social history of cinema and Pierre Nora's concept of lieu de mémoire to describe the social imagination and nostalgic representation of memories. There is a research gap in previous studies concerning how the Cold War has become a topic in recent German feature film production, and this study aims to complement those earlier works.

This thesis Ostalgie in Czech art summarizes recent history of art aimed to fifties and sixties of the twentieth century and also the fundamental notion of Czech cultural time - socialist realism. In opposition to the term 'socialist realism', there is a term 'ostalgie', which is focused on a nostalgic memories during normalization. In the theoretical part of this thesis author presents and explains the two main terms and focuses on the cultural aspects which were brought or denied to the nation by to the socialistic system in those times. In the practical part the author follows the theoretical part, especially in creating posters, which is influenced by nostalgic spirit.

This thesis focuses on phenomenon "ostalgie" in current society in Czech Republic. I will analyze the attitude of contemporary witnesses to the period of sixties in 20th century in Czechoslovakia and try to clarify whether their potential nostalgic feelings are based on rational facts (better standard of living, working conditions, social security etc.) or whether they are caused by subjective perception of the past in connection with aging. In the first part of my thesis I will explain the ways how this "ostalgie" occurs in life of former GDR citizens. Then I will transfer those individual aspects to the environment of Czech society and analyze them in more detailed way. The thesis will be based on unpublished sources, followed by monographs and special studies of Czech, German and English origin, by use of the methods of oral history, social history and the history of everyday life.

No description available.

<p>This essay is a case-study of a phenomenon called “ostalgie” which could be described as GDR-nostalgia. “Ostalgie” is a compound of the two German words “ost” (east) and “Nostalgie” (nostalgia.) It is, like a similar phenomenon referred to as “communist nostalgia”, a type of nostalgia. However, if one were to define “ostalgie” as “communist nostalgia” important aspects of the phenomenon would be left out. Despite the vast research (mainly by German scholars) on the reunification process of the two German states, little has been said about the positive retrospective evaluation of the former GDR among eastern Germans. The purpose of this study is to examine what constitutes “ostalgie” and what it could lead to. To answer what ostalgie is I examine research literature and analyze so called “ostalgie” consumption products such as movies and souvenirs with GDR-symbols. Drawing on two alternative hypotheses, one related to political socialization and one related to unification related hardships, I discuss the possible explanations for the emergence of “ostaglie”. To answer what ostalgie could lead to I also analyze and discuss existing research and make my own interpretations based on personal experiences with the reunification process. This study is thus mainly based on a qualitative literature analysis but is also illustrated by quantitative measurements of “ostalgie-related” attitudes among Germans. I argue that “ostalgie” should be considered as an outcome of political socialization as well as unification related hardships and that it would be misleading to assume that “ostalgie” could be explained exclusively by one of the hypothesis discussed. “Ostalgie” is an expression for eastern Germans’ will or need to reminisce about the good aspects of the GDR. The consequences of “ostalgie” are first and foremost that it trivializes the GDR dictatorship. It has also been noted that nostalgic people have more negative attitudes towards the German democracy than non-nostalgic people. I conclude the paper by discussing the difficulties of measuring how widespread “ostalgie” sentiments are due to the problems of definition.</p>

Since the fall of the Wall, a new era of East German literature has emerged. This genre of literature exists even though East Germany’s borders dissolved over a decade and half ago and is challenging the way we think about the former German Democratic Republic. East German author Thomas Brussig is pivotal in this new genre of literature. His novels Helden wie wir (1995), Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee (1999) and Leander Haußmann’s cinematic adaptation, Sonnenallee (1999), confront the negative associations and stereotypes connected with East Germany to deconstruct how formal history has portrayed its past and its citizens. Brussig’s texts take a completely different approach to remembering the GDR, which simultaneously challenges history’s dominant perspective as well as the Ostalgie phenomenon. Through his texts’ recollection, Brussig subverts the East German state in hindsight and begins the construction of a new mythology with which to associate former East Germany.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the representation of the normalisation era as drawn in contemporary Czech literature after 1989. The thesis is based on reminiscent fiction about childhood and youth in the socialist era, dealing with so-called small history - family memories, depiction of childhood, youth and teenage years. This thesis deals with the typical codes for recalling the socialist era, identifies what is recalled and how, and examines what influences remembering of childhood and youth in the era.