My Experiences in the ‘Unbelievable Society’: The German Democratic Republic
12:00 p.m., Monday, Nov. 24, 2008
Webster Hall Auditorium
Admission: free

Dr. Franz Loeser, an East German dissident and intellectual, was the author of the 1984 book, The Unbelievable Society: Where is the GDR Going?. Having committed the crime of “Fleeing the Republic” the year before, Loeser wrote a critical expose of the dictatorship of the Communist Party in East Germany. Loeser in his book predicted the overthrow of the Communist Party dictatorship. During this critical time period (1983-1984), Dr. Rader conducted part of his dissertation research at the University of Greifswald in the German Democratic Republic where he met and shared in the experiences of an East German family.

Dr. Rader will give a personal account of changing life and conditions in the former East Germany during the 1980s, leading from the “Fall of the Berlin Wall” in November 1989 to the re-unification of East Germany with West Germany and beyond. The presentation will conclude with an account of the state of the new German Reich following 40 years of division and separation.

Dr. Gary Rader, a Joplin native, graduated from MSSU with a degree in English and political science. He completed his master’s at Pittsburg State University in political science and his Ph.D. in East German-Soviet studies, European comparative politics, and international relations at the University of Kansas. He lived in Germany from 1979 to 1997 conducting his dissertation research and teaching political science and history for the University of Maryland-European Division on American air force and army bases. Dr. Rader is fluent in German and conducted research in West and East Germany as a Fulbright travel grant recipient as well as the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships for study in Germany at the Universities of Erlangen, Bonn, and Greifswald in the former German Democratic Republic. In 1997 Dr. Rader returned to the United States and Drury University in Springfield, where he founded and directed the Drury online education program from 1999 to 2008. Since September, he has been the director for online education at Missouri State University.