Science under Socialism: East Germany in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Drawing on interviews with, among others, the legendary spy chief Markus Wolf and members of the East German Politburo, this text examines the role of science and technology in the former German Democratic Republic. The result is a multi-layered analysis of the scientific enterprise. The book is organized around general policy issues, institutions, disciplines, and biographies. The contributors take the reader on a journey from the view of science policymakers, to the construction of socialist insitutions for science, to the role of espionage in technology transfer, to the social and political context of the chemical industry, engineers, nuclear power, biology, computers, and finally the career trajectories of scientists through the vicissitudes of 20th-century German history.