ABSTRACT
Introduction At the time of German reuni¿cation in October 1990, any one village in the former GDR might have a mélange of ¿ve distinct and often conÀicting memories, those of (1) returning large landowners who had been expropriated immediately after World War II (Alteigentümer, ‘old proprietors’); (2) returning farmers of medium and large-sized farms (Groȕbauern, ‘large farmers’) who had Àed during collectivization; (3) returning farmers of smaller parcels who had also Àed during collectivization (Kleinbauern, ‘small farmers’); (4) German-speaking refugees from further east as well as industrial workers and landless farm labourers, who had been newly established after the war on land expropriated from the large landowners (Neubauern, ‘new farmers’); they had been the early bene¿ciaries of the expropriated estates and eventually became members of collective farms; (5) long-term settled farmers, who had remained and became members of farming collectives or worked on state farms.
