Voluntariness and care are system-relevant demands accompanying us in our everday lifes. This postdoc project examines them as special transformation experiences which are shared by caregivers and persons in need of care in East Germany and Central Eastern Europe before and after 1989. The relationships that delevoped between volunteers, affected persons and the respective organisations of welfare work give an indication of everyday practices, but also of social organisation during the shift from socialist to post-socialist society. Within the scope of the project, interviews will be conducted with (former) volunteers and helpers in the tri-border region (East Germany, Poland, Czech Republic), focusing here on individual motivations, experiences, interpretations and memories of the acting persons. The project's aim is to investigate the motivations and perceptions of volunteers related to the transformation and to make visible their willingness to help in the field of tension between state, market and family. The proposal contributes to the project network Multiple Transformations with a view on spaces of social life and an orientation for the common good, which existed and still exist under different political systems. Organisations like the Volkssolidarität in East Germany or the national Red Cross Societies are considered "established problem solvers" who, before and after the year of upheaval, supported the elderly, sick and those in need of care with their respective needs.

At HAIT, the project fits into the research field "Transformations in internationally comparative perspective established in 2018, headed by PD Dr. Friederike Kind-Kovács.

This action is partly government-financed based on the budget passed by the Saxon State Parliament.