Renate Kießling
Chair: Eva Wille
The history of the German Chemical Society has been well researched. There is also research on the history of the GDCh. In contrast, very little is known about the development of the Chemical Society of the GDR (known as the CG), which was founded in 1953 and existed for just over 35 years.
In 2013, at the annual conference of the GDCh Division "history of chemistry", I gave a lecture on the founding history of the Chemical Society of the GDR, one of the largest scientific societies in the GDR. This was followed by two publications (1). In a further lecture at the 2017 Conference, I presented its subsequent development, focusing in particular on the differences in the activities of the CG and GDCh.
In 1990, the Chemical Society of the GDR dissolved, and most of its members joined the GDCh. This process was also reported on. The 2017 lecture resulted in a publication that examines the individual points in greater detail and contains extensive statistical material.
Issue 10/2017, page 1019, of „Nachrichten aus Chemie“ contains the article „Chemistry behind the Wall“ by Brigitte Osterath, which was also produced using information from me. Issue 12/2021 of „Nachrichten aus der Chemie“ reported on the dissolution of the CG (2).
(1) Nachrichten aus Chemie, issue 12/2013, page 126; Communications of the history of chemistry Division, volume 23 (2013), page 145 ff.
(2) Communications of the history of chemistry Division, volume 26 (2020), page 251 ff; Nachrichten aus Chemie, issue 12/2021, pages 22–25
