Transit to East Germany: The Distribution and Reception of Once Upon a Time in the West in the German Democratic Republic

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Stott
Keyword(s):  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
East Germany ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Business Professionals ◽  
The West ◽  
Nation States

This chapter examines the relocation, transition, and appropriation of the Spaghetti Western in a hitherto under-researched context: the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), prior to its unification with the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in 1990. It explores the selection, distribution and reception of Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il West, Sergio Leone, 1968) in the German Democratic Republic as a case study of how international cultural transfer causes objects of cultural production to be repositioned as they enter a new reception context. It also examines the ideological, economic, and sociological concerns underpinning the decisions of those who facilitated the movement of film across the political, cultural, and linguistic boundaries of nation states. In East Germany, the facilitators involved in the selection, censorship, dubbing, and promotion of films were mainly government administrators rather than film business professionals, because film was a state-controlled industry. The chapter focuses on the ‘official’ reception of the film on the basis of available censorship protocols and government policy papers, as well as print media sources.

scholarly journals The Berlin Wall after Fifty Years: Introduction

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hope M. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
East Germany ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
The West ◽  
West Berlin ◽  
East And West ◽  
East West

Fifty years ago on 13 August 1961, the East Germans sealed the east-westborder in Berlin, beginning to build what would become known as theBerlin Wall. Located 110 miles/177 kilometers from the border with WestGermany and deep inside of East Germany, West Berlin had remained the“last loophole” for East Germans to escape from the communist GermanDemocratic Republic (GDR) to the western Federal Republic of Germany(FRG, West Germany). West Berlin was an island of capitalism and democracywithin the GDR, and it enticed increasing numbers of dissatisfied EastGermans to flee to the West. This was particularly the case after the borderbetween the GDR and FRG was closed in 1952, leaving Berlin as the onlyplace in Germany where people could move freely between east and west.By the summer of 1961, over 1,000 East Germans were fleeing westwardsevery day, threatening to bring down the GDR. To put a stop to this, EastGermany’s leaders, with backing from their Soviet ally, slammed shut this“escape hatch.”

scholarly journals Przyrodnie siostry – sytuacja kobiet z byłej RFN i NRD 30 lat po zjednoczeniu Niemiec

2020 ◽  
pp. 155-179
Author(s):  
Joanna Trajman
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
German Reunification ◽  
The West

The goal of this article is to present the transition in the situation of women in the former West Germany and East Germany as a consequence of German reunification. Starting with an outline of the legal framework defining gender equality, as well as the actual circumstances of females in society as part of a family and on the labour market in both German countries, the situation of women in the united country is analysed within the context of their professional activity, remuneration and pension amounts and promotion prospects as well as the ability to combine their professional and family lives. I try to answer whether women in the former East Germany became underprivileged due to the German reunification process and whether the situation of the West German women changed as a result of certain equality incentives which could be considered the heritage of the German Democratic Republic.

Eastern Germany Ten Years After Unification

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Ertman
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
The West ◽  
Eastern Germany ◽  
Structural Weakness ◽  
Present Pattern

On October 3, 1990 the territory of the German Democratic Republic was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany, thereby ending forty-five years of German division. At the time, assessments varied widely about whether the wholesale introduction of the West German political, legal, and socioeconomic systems into the formerly communist east would be a success, and what the implications of success or failure would be for the new united Germany. Ten years later, opinions on these fundamental questions remain divided. One group of optimistic observers maintains that the full integration of the east into an enlarged Federal Republic is well underway, though these observers acknowledge that progress has been slower and more uneven than first anticipated. A more pessimistic assessment is provided by those who claim that, if the present pattern of development continues, the east will remain in a position of permanent structural weakness vis-à-vis the west in a way analogous to that of Italy’s Mezzogiorno.

The Wisdom of a Socialist Defector

2020 ◽  
pp. 58-62
Author(s):  
Harry R. Targ
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
The United States ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
The Cold War

Victor Grossman's A Socialist Defector: From Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee is at once an exciting adventure story, an engaging autobiography of a radical opponent of U.S. imperialism, and a clear-headed assessment of the successes and failures of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) at the onset of the Cold War until 1990, when its citizens voted to merge with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany). Most poignantly, Grossman compares the benefits workers gained in the GDR, the FRG, and even the United States during the Cold War.

Political Development in the German Democratic Republic

1981 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-166
Author(s):  
John Starrels
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
East Germany ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Do So ◽  
National Growth

HAS ORGANIZED COMMUNISM GONE SOUR IN THE GERMAN Democratic Republic? Various signs suggest that it indeed has. Since late 1975, the regime of Erich Honecker has employed increasingly severe measures to combat internal dissent; and these measures have also been directed against West German media representatives, no less. On the economic front, estimates of national growth for 1979 vary rather widely — from 3 to 5.6 per cent. Yet no matter which figure is accepted, it is increasingly evident that growing international indebtedness to Western financial institutions (calculated to be between $5–6 billion), plus chronic energy shortages and recent agricultural failures have made East Germany's economic prospects gloomier than they have been since the late 1960s. The wave of emigration requests which eeted East Germany's signature of the Helsinki Agreement or1975 at least suggests that average citizens will take action on their own when the occasion allows them to do so. Added to the above consideration, of course, is the 'trade in humans' (Menschenhandel) which has resulted in the 'sale' of approximately 11,000 individuals from East Germany to West Germany between 1964 and 1975, according to one informed Western writer.

scholarly journals Lizenz- und Gestattungsproduktion westdeutscher Unternehmen in der ČSSR und der DDR

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-487
Author(s):  
Pavel Szobi
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
The West ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Institutional Conditions ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Business Relations

Abstract The article deals with economic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany, German Democratic Republic and Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Using the example of licensed production, its aim is to illustrate that in spite of ideological boundaries, business relations between West and East flourished in the period of the 1970s and 1980s. The author characterizes institutional conditions for this cooperation, names individual cooperation attempts, and uses the example of the well-known German brand Nivea as a symbol of the West and an example of a successful cooperation. The article reveals the intensive activities of West German companies and their investments in the GDR and Czechoslovakia long before 1989 and shows the potential of analyzing the German-German and the European transformation after 1989 more under the perspective of continuities and discontinuities.

The Costs of German Division: A Research Report

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Werner Pfennig ◽  
Vu Tien Dung ◽  
Alexander Pfennig
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Research Report ◽  
German Unification ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Opening Up

In many countries, the process of German unification is of continued interest. While the fact that peaceful unification was possible is generally appreciated, the costs of unification seem to still be of great concern. Yet, they have always to be seen in relationship to costs of division. It may be impossible to work out exactly the final sum of costs of German division. We searched for costs that occurred for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) since 1949 and what we put together is, admittedly, an incomplete compilation, as it is a difficult undertaking which has not been done before. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to calculate the costs the German Democratic Republic (GDR) paid for division. Thus, we can only present an estimate. Costs of division as juxtaposed to unification costs will show that unification in Germany is not even twice as expensive as was division. Many of these costs facilitated normalization and the opening up of East Germany—in the end they turned out to be a most valuable prepayment for German unification.

“The Socialist Nation of the German Democratic Republic” or The Asymmetry in Nation and Ideology between the Two Germanies

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Pletsch
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
German Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
The West ◽  
German Press ◽  
German Nation ◽  
The Asymmetry ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Socialist Unity

This paper is a semiological attempt to derive meaning from the recent reconceptualization of the German nation: the thesis of the separate socialist nation as advanced by the Socialist Unity Party (SED) of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Before entering upon the question of how the-socialist nation of the GDR is defined and what this definition means in contrast to the definition of the nation current in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), we may well ask whether it makes any difference. In spite of the furor aroused by this idea in the West German press, non-Germans may legitimately wonder whether it is not silly to quibble over whether to the GDR a separate state or a separate nation.

The Purge of Lawyers after the Breakdown of the East German Communist Regime

1995 ◽  
Vol 20 (01) ◽  
pp. 223-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erhard Blankenburg
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
The West ◽  
The Core ◽  
East German ◽  
Communist Past

When in East Germany communist rule broke down, West Germans stood ready to take over. The end of communism also meant the end of the German Democratic Republic state; unification came as unconditional surrender to the western Federal Republic of Germany. The purge of the former regime's leaders therefore became intertwined with the West German takeover. With the takeover came Western politicians, managers, and professionals, forcing East Germans to compete fur jobs and influence. Opportunistic strategies with regard to the future buildup thus mixed with the desires for revenge and justice toward those responsible for the communist past. In this article I focus especially on the screening of the East German legal profession for reemployment in the unified Germany. In the West German tradition the legal profession forms the core of the civil services. In communist states lawyers had remained relatively marginal to the center of political power. Thus Western perceptions of the role of law account for the demise of the East German legal profession. That demise is taking place at a time when the Western regime is in need of many more legally trained people than ever worked in East Germany.

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