Martin Thiele-Schwez: Handgefertigte Gesellschaftsspiele in der DDR. Zwischen Bastlerkultur und politischer Subversion, in: Jahrbuch für Historische Kommunismusforschung 2021. Berlin: Metropol Verlag, pp. 195-214.
Abstract
In several theories of the last centuries, games are described as a way to construct an alternative world alongside the real one. Furthermore, games (with their contents, their mechanics, their materiality) make a statement about the time and space in which they were created. Thus the game turns out to be a reflection or possibly counterpoint of the existing world. This essay examines self-made and copied board games which were created in the GDR and their appearance in the former East German society. Only by the game-historical research, and the exhibition project »Nachgemacht – Spielekopien aus der DDR« (»Remade – game-copies of the GDR«), which was carried out more than 20 years after German reunification did the meaning of this cultural phenomenon during the Cold War come to light. It can be seen as a nationwide cultural phenomenon that was heretofore unexplored. What are the peculiarities of the phenomenon of private self-made games in the GDR and what are the general conditions that caused it to be so concentrated? Where are political and social structures interacting with cultural technology? Or could the procedure of making games in the GDR itself be defined as a genuine political behavior?
Über den Autor
Martin Thiele-Schwez, Dr. phil., geb. 1985 in Saalfeld an der Saale. 2004–2011 Studium der
Medienwissenschaft an der Universität Bayreuth, der Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne und der Universität Potsdam. 2013–2017 Promotion an der Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig zum Thema »Spiel, Staat und Subversion – Nachgemachte Gesellschaftsspiele in der DDR«. Seit 2015 tätig als Game Designer seines Unternehmens »Playing History« mit dem Schwerpunkt der Vermittlung komplexer Inhalte durch Spielformen. Veröffentlichungen u. a.: DIN SPEC 91380:2018-06: Serious Games Metadata Format, Berlin 2018; »Playing History – Wie wird Geschichte durch Spiele vermittelt?«, in: Anna von Arnim-Rosenthal/Jens Hüttmann: Diktatur und Demokratie: Der Fall DDR, Berlin 2017, S. 247–252 (mit Michael Geithner); Michael Geithner/Martin Thiele (Hg.): Nachgemacht – Spielekopien aus der DDR, Berlin 2013.
