Alexander Leistner

Alexander Leistner is a research associate at the Institute for Cultural Studies at the University of Leipzig. There he is responsible for the two subprojects of the BMBF research network “The Contested Legacy of 1989”. Previously, he worked as a research assistant at the German Youth Institute and in the Saxon state parliament. For his dissertation “On the Emergence and Stabilization of Social Movements. A Historical Sociology of the Independent Peace Movement in the GDR” („Zur Entstehung und Stabilisierung sozialer Bewegungen. Eine historische Soziologie der unabhängigen Friedensbewegung in der DDR“) he received the “Max Weber Prize for Young Researchers” in 2016.
Most recently published: “Das umstrittene Erbe von 1989. Zur Gegenwart eines Gesellschaftszusammenbruchs”, Böhlau Verlag 2021 (together with Monika Wohlrab-Sahr) and the thematic issue “Die Friedensbewegung und der Krieg in Europa – eine Standortbestimmung”, Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen, 2022.

Lecture on 2.05.2023: “LAST YEAR TITANIC”. THE DEMISE OF EXPECTATION HORIZONS AND THE EFFECTS ON THE EAST GERMAN TRANSFORMING SOCIETY