Making the History of 1989: The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe
Item
Title
Making the History of 1989: The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe
Creator
The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (CHNM) at George Mason University, Principal Investigator T. Mills Kelly.
homepage
https://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/
Description
What is it?
Making the History of 1989: The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe utilizes Omeka to highlight the events leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the decline of Communism in Eastern Europe.
What does it have?
The website showcases primary sources (such as propaganda posters, government documents and videos), scholarly interviews and essays from the years leading up to 1989 to provide context and information about the fall of Communism. The site also has case studies analyzing specific sources, such as Soviet health posters, as well as detailed lesson plans and teaching modules for classroom use.
What does it do?
The site provides various resources to understand political, social and cultural contexts within Eastern Europe that contributed to the fall of Communism, as well as providing numerous lesson plans for teachers to use.
Making the History of 1989: The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe utilizes Omeka to highlight the events leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the decline of Communism in Eastern Europe.
What does it have?
The website showcases primary sources (such as propaganda posters, government documents and videos), scholarly interviews and essays from the years leading up to 1989 to provide context and information about the fall of Communism. The site also has case studies analyzing specific sources, such as Soviet health posters, as well as detailed lesson plans and teaching modules for classroom use.
What does it do?
The site provides various resources to understand political, social and cultural contexts within Eastern Europe that contributed to the fall of Communism, as well as providing numerous lesson plans for teachers to use.
Requirements
No special knowledge is required to use the website, as it is easily readable, well-organized and simple to navigate.
Alternatives
Many websites contain information about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the fall of Communism. However, only Making the History of 1989 includes the various scholarly interviews and lesson plans.
Get Started
A general background about the time period would be useful but is not required.
Accessibility
Photographs have descriptions that can be read aloud for blind users, and videos have complete transcriptions for those hard of hearing.
Bibliographic Citation
Rushford, Tom. Making the History of 1989: The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. Roy Rozensweig Center for History and New Media, 2007, https://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/. Accessed 22 Sept. 2021.
Audience Education Level
High school education and higher