The transfer of the archaeology and its institutions in the GDR into the scientific system of the Federal Republic of Germany – success story or disaster?

Abstract

The transfer of the GDR archaeology into the system of the Federal Republic of Germany varied, in terms of personnel and in practice it was directed by representatives of colleagues from the old federal states. This happened also, even when persons were available which were as well recognized scientists as politically untainted. Hereby the Academy of Sciences is a symbol for the total break: as an institution it was closed as a whole. The DAI (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut) took over a larger number of archaeologists which there formed the basis of the newly founded Eurasian Department and the Scientific Department, which likewise was newly founded. On the contrary, in the archaeological services of the federal countries there was a large continuity. At the universities, most professorships were filled either with scholars from the West or from abroad. New institutes were founded at Jena, Leipzig and Greifswald. Of the two supra-regional museums in Berlin, the Museum for German History as a propaganda institution was closed, while the merging of the Museums for Pre- and Protohistory ran fairly easily.