Out of the Closet behind the Wall: Sexual Politics and Social Change in the GDR

Slavic Review ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raelynn J Hillhouse
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Gay And Lesbian ◽  
Evangelical Church ◽  
Protestant Church ◽  
The Past ◽  
Gay And Lesbian Movement ◽  
East German ◽  
The Republic

The search for avenues to express changing cultural values has shaped recent politics in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). During the past decade tens of thousands of GDR citizens became involved in new social movements that included issueoriented groups within both the Protestant church and such mass organizations as the Kulturbund (League of Culture) and the Freie Deutsche Jungend (Free German Youth, FDJ). The rise of these issue-oriented movements evoked reactions from the former government ranging from repression to accommodation. Perhaps the most striking example of the old regime's response to social change can be seen in the emergence of a very visible gay and lesbian movement. Beginning with a handful of activists within the Evangelical church, the East German gay and lesbian movement expanded into state and party institutions throughout the republic. In 1985, partially in response to the growing movement, the state began a campaign to end discrimination on the basis of sexual and emotional orientation.

Homosexuality Under Socialism in the German Democratic Republic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Married Couple ◽  
West Germany ◽  
The Public ◽  
Protestant Church ◽  
East German ◽  
Western European

In general, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) did not treat its gay and lesbian citizens very favorably. Although the legal situation was more liberal than in the Federal Republic (West Germany) and other Western European countries, most homosexual East Germans lived in a state of invisibility at best, or suffered direct homophobia at worst, often at the hands of the government. In the mid-1980s, the public and government stance toward homosexuality liberalized slightly, leading to small improvements in the lives of gay East Germans. However, gay East Germans never experienced many of the same freedoms or opportunities that their West German, other Western European, or American counterparts enjoyed. Gay East Germans occupied a difficult position within the socialist ideology of the GDR. In theory, each East German was equal, enjoying universal rights and opportunities, and living free from discrimination. At the same time, however, the smallest building block of the society was the heterosexual, reproductive, married couple: a model into which same-sex desiring people could not fit. This doctrine of supposed equality probably contributed to the fact that homosexuality was decriminalized earlier in the GDR than in the Federal Republic, but it was also used by the SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands: the ruling, dictatorial party) as an excuse not to engage further with the specific needs of gay citizens until the mid-1980s. The GDR saw some limited gay activism in the 1970s in the form of the Homosexuelle Interessengemeinschaft Berlin (HIB); however, the group’s activities never really extended outside of East Berlin and did not lead to significant political or social change. More impactful activism occurred in the 1980s under the aegis of the Protestant Church as the only organization in the GDR that operated largely outside of state control. The SED eventually yielded to some of the demands of gay activists—by sanctioning publications and meeting spaces, for example—but did so primarily to draw gay activists out of the protection of Church structures and in order to be able to monitor and control them more easily. There are few East German literary or artistic works that engage with homosexuality, although a number of relevant literary works were published in the 1980s. These contributed to a fledgling discourse around homosexuality, shifting the issue from a taboo topic to one more acceptable for discussion in the public sphere. However, when East German audiences viewed Heiner Carow’s Coming Out in 1989—the first and only East German feature film to depict homosexual relationships—many claimed that it was their first exposure to homosexuality. And, since the GDR ceased to exist as a state fairly abruptly in 1990, one will never know how the trajectory of gay rights activism may have continued.

The National People's Army as an Object of (Non) Remembrance: The Place of East Germany's Military Heritage in Unified Germany

2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 150-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Leonhard
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Early Retirement ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
German Society ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
General Attitude ◽  
The Past ◽  
East German ◽  
Examination Process

On 3 October 1990, the National People's Army (NVA) of the German Democratic Republic, in which about 2.5 million East German citizens served their country, was dissolved. Its personnel either was removed from military service, placed into early retirement, or integrated into the Bundeswehr after a two-year selection and examination process. Since then, the NVA has turned into an object of history with no immediate significance for contemporary German society—despite efforts of former NVA officers to change the official interpretation of 1989-1990. This article examines the processes of remembering and forgetting with regard to East Germany's military heritage since 1990, contrasting the Bundeswehr's politics of memory and “army of unity” ethos not only with the former NVA soldiers' vision of the past, but also with the East German population's general attitude towards their former armed forces.

History, Politics, and East German Film: The Thomas Müntzer (1956) Socialist Epic

2006 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Walinski-Kiehl
Keyword(s):  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Essential Requirement ◽  
German Film ◽  
The Past ◽  
State History ◽  
East German ◽  
Scientific Laws

Historians in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), unlike their western counterparts, could never allow themselves the luxury of studying the past for its own sake because, in this Marxist-Leninist state, history and politics were always inextricably linked. The GDR's leaders were committed communists who had long recognized history's apparent political power. They were convinced that, for the new “Workers' and Peasants' State” to acquire legitimacy among its own people, a German historical narrative, based on the ascertainable “scientific” laws of Marxism, was an essential requirement. East German citizens had endured twelve years of anti-communist Nazi rule and, consequently, the task of integrating them into a republic, where an entirely different set of political values predominated, was a fairly daunting undertaking.

scholarly journals Memory Is Not About the Past

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Chahine
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Young Adolescents ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
The Past ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
East German ◽  
Time Position ◽  
The City

The short documentary "Memory Is Not About the Past" aims to understand how members of the so-called Third Generation East, individuals who experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall as children or young adolescents, remember East Germany 26 years after reunification. The field of research is the city of Berlin and all its former East German districts. Walking, as a performative practice, is at the centre of this ethnographic journey. With every step, the individuals reclaim their childhood neighbourhood and, at the same time, position themselves in the present. The urban space functions as a sounding board of the individual's inner thoughts and embodied experiences and is closely intertwined with stories of former communal solidarity, social change and an underlying level of estrangement from these areas.

Cola in the German Democratic Republic. East German Fantasies on Western Consumption

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena Veenis
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Scale Transformation ◽  
Main Character ◽  
The Past ◽  
Aged Woman ◽  
Middle Europe ◽  
Middle Aged Woman ◽  
East German ◽  
One Year

Coca Cola is frequently used to signal the large-scale transformation from socialism to capitalism in eastern and middle Europe, which began in East Germany in the autumn of 1989. In the famous German Wende-movie Goodbye Lenin, the caffeinated drink figures prominently. The main character in this movie is a middle-aged woman who has fallen into coma during one of the mass demonstrations in Berlin, in November 1989. When she finally wakes up, about one year later, her country no longer exists. Her children successfully hide this fact from her, surrounding her with the material remnants of the past. One day, when she gets out of bed, she sees people attaching a huge banner of Coca Cola to the large flat in front of her apartment bloc. The scene marks the beginning of her awareness that the world in which she used to live is definitively gone.

Judging the Past: The Prosecution of East German Border Guards and the GDR Chain of Command

1999 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter E. Quint
Keyword(s):  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Deadly Force ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
The Past ◽  
Chain Of Command ◽  
East German ◽  
The Subject

Transitions from dictatorship to democracy often raise the perplexing question of whether a new government may punish actions which, although reprehensible, were considered legal under the old regime. In these instances, the desire for condign punishment of evil acts confronts the principle that forbids retroactive criminal prosecutions. After German unification, problems of this type arose in trials of East German border guards for the use of deadly force at the Berlin Wall, along with prosecutions of military and civilian officials higher in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) chain of command. In this article, the author discusses these prosecutions and analyzes the response of the German courts to the difficult problems of retroactivity that the cases raise. In its concluding section, the article suggests that these cases may evoke issues concerning the legitimacy of the GDR that were the subject of bitter debates during Germany's divided past.

scholarly journals Potensi Arkeologi di Pulau Alor

KALPATARU ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
I Nyoman Rema ◽  
Hedwi Prihatmoko
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Communication Media ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
The Past ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

Abstract. Alor is one of the outer islands in Indonesia bordered with Democratic Republic of Timor Leste which has numerous significant cultural heritages from the past, from megalithic tradition to the development of major religions in Indonesia. This article is written to share about archaeological potentials in Alor island which can be developed to strengthen national identity, patriotism, and improve the prosperity of Alor community. The data of this research was collected through literature reviews. The completed data was then managed using descriptive-qualitative method by defining the archaeological remains, the function, and the meaning based on the result of the research, then to sum it up, a conclusion. Some archaeological potentials in this island are misba, traditional houses, moko, bulding structures, old Quran, burial urns, and mystical-growing pots. Those archaeological potentials prove that Alor community still upholds their high cultural values and also become a communication media that establishes a harmony with God, humans, and environment.Abstrak. Alor merupakan salah satu pulau terluar Indonesia yang berbatasan dengan Negara Republik Demokratik Timor Leste dan memiliki berbagai tinggalan budaya penting dari masa lampau, berupa tradisi megalitik hingga berkembangnya agama-agama besar di Nusantara. Tulisan ini bertujuan mengetahui potensi arkeologi di Pulau Alor, yang kemudian perlu dikembangkan untuk memperkuat karakter dan jati diri, cinta tanah air, dan meningkatkan kesejahteraan masyarakat Alor. Data penelitian ini dikumpulkan melalui studi pustaka. Setelah data terkumpul, pengolahan dilakukan secara descriptif-kualitatif dengan mendeskripsikan tinggalan arkeologi, fungsi dan maknanya berdasarkan hasil penelitian yang kemudian diakhiri dengan penyimpulan. Potensi tinggalan arkeologi di pulau ini berupa misba, rumah adat, moko, struktur bangunan, Al Quran kuno, kubur tempayan, kubur ceruk, dan periuk tumbuh. Berbagai potensi arkeologi tersebut membuktikan tingginya nilai peradaban masyarakat Alor, sekaligus sebagai media komunikasi dalam membangun hubungan harmonis dengan Tuhan, sesama, dan lingkungannya.

Constitutional Incorporation of the (Collective) Freedom to Govern Mineral Wealth: Comparing the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Zambia

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Alexandra Carleton
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Mineral Wealth ◽  
The People ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
The Republic

Constitutionalism may be gaining ascendancy in many countries in Africa. Yet thorough investigation of the extent to which current constitutions accord to the people their internationally recognised right to governance of their mineral wealth under Article 1(2) of the ICCPR has been lacking. Understanding the existing framework of rights which may support claims to land and natural resources is important. Constitutions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Zambia demonstrate the reality of multiple, overlapping land interests and the limitations upon a people's claim to freely govern their mineral wealth.

Moving Figures

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey Kai Nelson Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sixth Generation ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
Structures Of Feeling ◽  
Raymond Williams

This book examines how the films of the Chinese Sixth Generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke evoke the affective “felt” experience of China’s contemporary social and economic transformations, by examining the class figures of worker, peasant, soldier, intellectual, and entrepreneur that are found in the films. Each chapter analyzes a figure’s socio-historical context, its filmic representation, and its recurring cinematic tropes in order to understand how they create what Raymond Williams calls “structures of feeling” – feelings that concretize around particular times, places, generations, and classes that are captured and evoked in art – and charts how this felt experience has changed over the past forty years of China’s economic reforms. The book argues that that Jia’s cinema should be understood not just as narratives that represent Chinese social change, but also as an effort to engage the audience’s emotional responses during this period of China’s massive and fast-paced transformation.

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