The Lao Động Party, Culture and the Campaign against “Modern Revisionism”

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-129
Author(s):  
Martin Grossheim
Keyword(s):  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Second Indochina War ◽  
North Vietnam ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Indochina War

The article tries to make a contribution to the reassessment of the Second Indochina War and of the significance of culture in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam before and during the conflict. By making use of as-yet untapped sources from the German Democratic Republic archives, DRV periodicals and interviews with Vietnamese informants, I highlight the cultural dimension of the campaign against modern revisionism in 1964, and thus present the Lao Động leadership as an actor on the cultural front of the Vietnam conflict. Moreover, I show that even after the beginning of the war an anti-revisionist undercurrent in cultural policy persisted and that the anti-revisionist campaign in 1964 was closely related to the Anti-Party Revisionist Affair in 1967. The article also sheds light on the impact of the Sino-Soviet conflict on North Vietnam.

scholarly journals Culture in the service of politics. The German question and relations between the German Democratic Republic and the Polish People’s Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-419
Author(s):  
Marek Ostrowski
Keyword(s):  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
German Question ◽  
Publishing Houses ◽  
Parallel Fashion

The politics of memory and culture of the Polish People’s Republic alludes to Ideologiekritik in its idiosyncratic way characterized by Marxist utopianism. In reality, this leads to reversing this theory. The causes of fascism are seen in “German imperialism”. For political and strategic reasons the German Democratic Republic becomes one of the main partners of the Polish People’s Republic, with regard to which it is capable of accomplishing the guidelines of its policy in the cultural dimension. This is accompanied by an intensive cultural exchange between the two countries. In the language of official politics manifested, for instance, in the strategy of publishing houses of the Polish People’s Republic the culture of the two countries develop in a parallel fashion, which is an obvious product of the propaganda.

“The Miracle on the Oder”

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 204-222
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Opiłowska
Keyword(s):  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Narrative Interviews ◽  
Native Land ◽  
Border Area ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
Mutual Relations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Way

This article aims to analyze the impact of the policy of détente in the 1970s on the development of the German-Polish borderland and on grassroots cooperation. Opening the border for non-visa and non-passport traffic on 1 January 1972 was of great importance to mutual relations between the residents of the border regions. In the first period, German citizens used the opened border mainly for traveling to the so-called native land in order to look at their former households and houses, to “one more time cover the way back home from school.” The Polish, in turn, started shopping, mainly for children’s goods and food. It soon turned out that the German Democratic Republic had not been prepared for such a large number of Polish customers. Because of this conflicts arose and new prejudices appeared. Even so, for the first time since the war had ended the open border enabled direct contacts. New acquaintances were made. The number of Polish-German marriages significantly increased. Based on archive sources and written memoirs as well as narrative interviews this paper will investigate what influence this period had on the Polish-German relations in the border regions and how it is reflected in the memories of the border area residents.

The Role of Weapons in the Second Indochina War

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-80
Author(s):  
Martin Loicano
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Second Republic ◽  
Military Aid ◽  
Inaccurate Information ◽  
Military Strength ◽  
Second Indochina War ◽  
Indochina War ◽  
The Way

This article examines attempts by the Second Republic of Vietnam (RVN) to call attention to perceived and real quantitative and qualitative disparities of weapons between their forces and those of their enemies. It also looks at the way Chinese, Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and US propaganda efforts complicated these attempts. Sài Gòn’s leaders tried and failed to gain additional military aid, to use weapons to improve their relations with the Southern Vietnamese public, and to redress what they saw as inaccurate information about their own military strength and that of their enemies.

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