The Last East German and the Memory of the German Democratic Republic

2010 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-41
Author(s):  
A. James McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Ordinary Citizen ◽  
East German

The author ponders over the identity of the last self-identifying East German and wonders what he or she will say before leaving memories of the region behind. He distinguishes among three possible candidates for this honor: the ordinary citizen with little aspiration to political or social notoriety; the enthusiast with an interest in perpetuating the old regime's values; and the dissident activist dedicated to transforming that order. After identifying the likely last East German, the author speculates about the message our protagonist will have to share with the leaders of unified Germany. Finally, he provides reasons for why the Federal Republic can benefit from this advice.

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.

Living Next Door to Germany: Denmark and the German Problem

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
KARL CHRISTIAN LAMMERS
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
European Country ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
West Germany ◽  
West European Country ◽  
Special Position ◽  
German States ◽  
East German ◽  
West European

This article analyses Danish relations with the two German states. After 1949 Denmark found itself in a special position as the only West European country that was neighbour to both Germanys, having a land border with the Federal Republic and a sea border and important communications links with the German Democratic Republic. But Denmark recognised only the Federal Republic as the legitimate representative of Germany. Germany had historically constituted a serious problem for Denmark, and even in the after-war period Danish relations with its big neighbour were beset with problems. After 1955, when the minority question was settled and Denmark and the FRG were both members of NATO, relations with West Germany improved. Relations with the GDR were much more troubled because Denmark was to an extent forced to bow to West German interests, but could not ignore the existence of the East German neighbour state.

Wilsonianism Redux: Inadvertent Publication of Secret Protocol, Hungarian-East German Agreement on Visa Requirements

1990 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 281-283
Author(s):  
T. M. F.
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
The Status ◽  
East German ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Government

This treaty between the (East) German Democratic Republic and Hungary concerning visa requirements was deposited with the United Nations in accordance with Article 102 of the UN Charter. When the Government of Hungary decided to permit East Germans visiting Hungary to emigrate to the Federal Republic of Germany (West), the authorities in Budapest informed the East German authorities that the treaty had become inoperative. Among the reasons cited was its inconsistency with the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, to which Hungary had acceded on March 14, 1989.

THE POLITICS OF TIME AND STATE IDENTITY IN THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 223-251
Author(s):  
Marcus Colla
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Historical Consciousness ◽  
Official Language ◽  
German Federal Republic ◽  
State Identity ◽  
East German

ABSTRACTThe communist regimes of Eastern Europe carried a particular set of assumptions about the way past, present and future related to one another. In the case of the German Democratic Republic (the GDR), these assumptions manifested themselves in official language and propaganda as a defence of the regime's dynamic and forward-looking historicity against the ‘ahistorical’ and ‘nostalgic’ modes of understanding that supposedly typified the historical consciousness of its West German adversary. By this view, the German Federal Republic – and the capitalist West more generally – lacked both a meaningful past and a meaningful future. This article investigates how the East German regime articulated its historicity as a direct expression of its state identity. In particular, it examines how it sought to rationalise newly emerging historical and cultural practices in the GDR within the framework of a modern and progressive socialist historicity, and how it deployed these as an argument against the ‘nostalgic’ practices of the Federal Republic.

The Principles of State Governance of the German Democratic Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 1(21) ◽  
pp. 37-51
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Kuźnik
Keyword(s):  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
German States ◽  
East German ◽  
State Governance ◽  
Council Of Ministers ◽  
National Defence

The aim of this article is to present the principles underlying the political system in force in the German Democratic Republic between 1949 and 1990, with a particular emphasis on the issue of the state of emergency law. The article describes the two Constitutions from 1949 and 1968 and the state institutions established under them, including the GDR People's Chamber, the Council of Ministers, the GDR State Council and the National Defence Council. It also discusses the constitutional solutions within the scope of the emergency law. The legal basis for the protection of the border between the two then existing German states was also considered. This article is based on the two East German Constitutions, other legal acts and on the principles of East German and Polish doctrine. The article consists of an introduction, three parts and a summary.

Everyday Communism: New Social History of the German Democratic Republic

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
SANDRINE KOTT
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
North Carolina ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Social History ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Chapel Hill ◽  
History Of ◽  
East German

Konrad Jarausch, ed., Dictatorship as Experience. Toward a Socio-Cultural History of the GDR (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1999), 388 pp., £14.00 (pb), ISBN 1-57181-182-6.Thomas Lindenberger, ed., Herrschaft und Eigensinn in der Diktatur (Cologne, Weimar and Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 1999) 367 pp., €39.90 (hb), ISBN 3-412-13598-4.Annegret Schüle, ‘Die Spinne’. Die Erfahrungsgeschichte weiblicher Industriearbeit im VEB Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2001), 398 pp., €18.00 (pb), ISBN 3-934565-87-5.Patrick Major and Jonathan Osmond, eds., The Workers' and Peasants' State. Communism and Society in East Germany under Ulbricht 1945–71 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002), 272 pp., £15.99 (pb), ISBN 0-7190-6289-6.Joshua Feinstein, The Triumph of the Ordinary. Depictions of Daily Life in the East German Cinema 1949–1989 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 331 pp., £19.50 (pb), ISBN 0-8078-5385-2.

scholarly journals Full Spectrum

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-146
Author(s):  
Tina Martin ◽  
Katrin Schwalenberg
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Scientific Exchange ◽  
Political Borders ◽  
Earth’S Interior

The German Geophysical Society (Deutsche Geophysikalische Gesellschaft, DGG) was founded in 1922 in Leipzig, Germany, on the initiative of the famous German seismologist Emil Wiechert (1861–1928), known for his fundamental work to record earthquake waves to study the earth's interior. Facing the German historical background of the early 20th century, the 24 founding members wanted to lead German geophysicists out of isolation and toward outreaching activities. DGG always understood and defined geophysics as a discipline beyond political borders, religious belief, or race, and promoted the scientific exchange between geophysicists in the Federal Republic of Germany, the former German Democratic Republic, and internationally.

Occupation, Reparations, and Rebellion: The Soviets and the East German Uprising of 1953

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-250
Author(s):  
Wayne Geerling ◽  
Gary B. Magee ◽  
Russell Smyth
Keyword(s):  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Internal Resistance ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
Local Production ◽  
Soviet Occupation ◽  
East German ◽  
Regional Factors ◽  
Local Companies

Abstract Analysis of the link between the Soviet occupation of East Germany and internal resistance within the German Democratic Republic reveals that ongoing payment of reparations by East Germans out of local production—via the Soviet’s ownership of prominent local companies—affected both the incidence and the intensity of unrest at the precinct level during the uprising of June 17, 1953. This result is robust when controlling for variation in the presence of Soviet military bases and deaths in Soviet nkvd Special Camps, as well as a host of regional factors potentially correlated with differences in unrest.

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