PROJECT 89: From the Trabant to Tank Man

BA History, Politics and Economics Student Group Presentations

Thirty years ago in Eastern Europe, a chain of revolutionary events changed the face of the world: demonstrations on the streets, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of Communist party-rule, and, finally, the break-up of the Soviet Union.

How are we to understand these events? As the result of economic collapse? As the result of the decisions of an exhausted political leadership, or of ordinary people demanding democracy?

In our final-year course on 1989, as students of BA History Politics and Economics, we have taken a different path. In our multi-media group projects, we have explored the fate of particular “objects”, including:

• the Trabant motor-car,
• the image of “Tank Man”, lone demonstrator on Tiananmen Square;
• the reburied corpse of Hungarian leader, Imre Nagy
• the East German National Football Team

Looking at these “objects” illuminates 1989 and its economic, political and culturally meaning. Come along, enjoy our presentations, and find out more.