How western science corrupts class consciousness

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria, was founded during the period of détente in 1972 to bring together scientists from East and West to research shared problems, and thus to build a "bridge" between the two opposed systems. The underlying image of knowledge was in stark contrast to the intellectual culture established in East Germany. This article reconstructs East Germany's role at IIASA. Even if participation was considered important for displaying East German science, I argue that its contribution was caught up in the precepts of the western scholar as a class enemy. Using the records of the party and the Stasi, I show this along the best documented case, the economist Harry Maier, who was one of the few social scientists who visited IIASA for two years between 1978 and 1980, and then, in 1986, used a conference visit to escape from East Germany.