Privatdozent Dr. Rainer Erices

The healthcare system of the GDR is often viewed positively in public cultural memory. The polyclinics, in particular, became a central symbol of a comprehensive and integrally organised system of care, which was also linked to extensive prevention and health monitoring. Nevertheless, by the 1980s, the system was structurally overburdened and no longer economically viable. German reunification brought about a complete shift to the West German model of private medical practices, leading to an abrupt institutional break. This break, which in retrospect appears as a watershed in German healthcare history, forms the starting point of the project.
The focus is on the scope for political action, local conflicts and the long-term structural consequences for healthcare provision. The aim is to analyse the transformation of the GDR healthcare system not merely as a regional phenomenon, but as an exemplary case of German reunification policy.
The study is based on an analysis of archive holdings at federal and state level, regional administrative sources, contemporary media and quantitative data on the healthcare provision situation. The findings will be published in academic journals and made available to the public. In this way, the project makes a twofold contribution: to the critical reappraisal of the history of German reunification and to the reflection on current health policy reform issues, particularly with regard to equity in healthcare provision, shortages of skilled staff and regional inequalities.

-> To the current Fellow cohort

-> Find Fellows of previous years