Fieldwork in Dresden and Berlin

The grant was instrumental in enabling me to conduct fieldwork in Dresden and Berlin. I was able to interview relevant government, industry, and academic stakeholders, including TSMC’s Arrian Ebrahimi, TU University’s Dr. Susann Wagenknecht, Silicon Saxony’s Managing Director Frank Bösenberg, Saxon State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Labour, Energy, and Climate Protection Thomas Kralinski, the German Museums Association’s Dr. Juliane Haubold-Stolle, the Dresden Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s Tobias Runte, and Global Foundries’ Director of Communications and Government Relations Jen Drews, among others. Beyond interviews alone, the grant enabled me to gather comprehensive historical narr atives from Silicon Saxony’s archives along with invaluable insights from relevant museum collections. Some of the most significant museums and sites I visited to learn more about GDR, industrial, and labor history include various semiconductor fabs, the Reichstag building, Checkpoint Charlie, DDR Museum, Stasi Museum, East Side Gallery, Berlin Wall Memorial, German Museum of Technology, Palace of Tears, German Historical Museum, TV Tower, Mauerpark, Tempelhofer Feld, Teufelsberg, Robotron Kantine, TU Dresden, Dresden Museum of Technology and Industry, Dresden City Museum, and the Museum in der Kulturbrauerei.