Rubble or Ruins?
Visions of the “Authentic Past” in East German Streetscapes

Scholars have compellingly documented a number of discursive changes in how notions of ‘authentic’ built heritage changed during the latter third of the twentieth century. Much of this focus, however, has remained centred on Western Europe. But are we able to trace similar discursive shifts in socialist Eastern Europe as well? Focussing in particular on Second World War ruins in East German cities, this project interrogates how the particular ideas of ‘history’ adumbrated by socialist regimes facilitated different notions of ‘authenticity’, as well as how these were contested among East German preservationists.