The "Discovery" of Modern Islam in East Germany after 1979: Iran, the Resurgence of Religion, and the Coming Crisis of Dependent Capitalism

Abstract

This article explores the sudden, unexpected emergence of Islam after 1979 as a central topic of research in Middle Eastern Studies conducted in East Germany, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). Drawing on archival research, East German publications, and personal conversations, this contribution argues that the Iranian Revolution and the resurgence of religion which it symbolized constituted a shock moment for Marxist approaches to Area Studies. At first, East German researchers were struggling to handle this challenge and could barely muster substantial expertise to integrate the study of religious phenomena into their rigid worldview. With the global promise of the Iranian Revolution waning in the early 1980s, however, established socialist perspectives became more defensible again. This meant denouncing "sensationalist"and shallow Western approaches to the Islamic revival while also advancing claims that the Iranian Revolution had not fulfilled its potential because the Shii clerics at its helm could not be expected to overcome their own capitalist background. Nevertheless, the latter, owing to their insistence on anti-imperialism and modern readings of the Islamic heritage, had unwittingly prepared all the right ingredients for a worsening of class conflict and, consequently, a second revolution in Iran that would finally pave the way toward socialism and secularization.