Obračun sa titoistima u sovjetskoj okupacionoj zoni Nemačke: Slučaj Leonard

The aim of this article is to analyze the position of the Yugoslav representatives in Berlin and Yugoslav propaganda in Germany prior to and following the Yugoslav-Soviet split, as well as the mechanisms which the leadership of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany used in dealing with the opposition within the party ranks. It follows the activities of a German communist, Wolfgang Leonhard, in the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany, his escape to Yugoslavia in 1949, and his arrival to West Germany in 1950. The article is based on the unpublished documents from German and Serbian archives, Wolfgang Leonhard’s memoirs, and relevant literature.

Introduction

This chapter draws on two pioneering approaches to East German power structures in order to unfold the dynamics of urban dystopia. It marginalizes East German regions and disappointing planning outcomes through diversion of resources from the Bezirke or districts to Berlin as a cause that contributes to the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (DDR). It also mentions Brian Ladd, who implied that a failure to provide adequate housing by 1989 could fuel public support for preservationists and activists who are committed to preserving old neighborhoods. The chapter uses Leipzig as a case analysis to sketch out a multi-layered schematic of how the East German planning mechanism interlocked at the central, Bezirk, municipal, and private levels. It offers a glimpse into how civic life functioned in the city that started the Peaceful Revolution and ended Socialist Unity Party (SED) rule.

Building the Stasi in the German Democratic Republic

This chapter examines the creation of the East German Stasi in February 1950 and the training of new officials in the 1952 Campaign to Build Socialism. It places the founding of the Stasi in the context of a radical shift in the internal culture of the leading Socialist Unity Party, which was transformed from a mass organization to a ruling elite through terror and expulsions between 1948 and 1951. Throughout, it explores the shift from Soviet to East German jurisdiction in the security forces, police, and courts. It concludes with a discussion of the uprising in Germany in June 1953 and its consequences for the Stasi’s structure and personnel.

NATIONAL REVOLUTIONISM TO MARXISM – A NARRATIVE OF ORIGINS OF SOCIALIST UNITY CENTRE OF INDIA

The national revolutionaries of India while in detention in the first half of 1930s came in contact with Marxist literature. Imbibed by the Marxist view of social change they gave up ‘terrorism’ after coming out of jails/camps. However, a sharp debate developed among them on the perception of the Comintern, its colonial policy in general and the policy with respect to the Indian freedom struggle in particular. Instead of joining any of the existing Marxist political parties, these revolutionaries formed their own parties. The RSP and SUCI are two such parties. RSP was formed in 1940. However, a group of young revolutionaries who were with the RSP dissociated themselves and formed a ‘platform of action’ as SUC in 1946 and then gave birth to yet another political party, SUCI, on the Marxist-Leninist lines in 1948. The process of formation of SUCI has been analysed in this paper.

State Power and ‘Everyday Criminality’ in the German Democratic Republic, 1961–1989

Friedrich Engels claimed that the removal of the perceived causes of crime in a society—capitalist economic and societal conditions—would automatically lead to the eradication of crime. This did not prove to be the case in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), where instances of everyday criminality such as theft, robbery and assault never fell below 100,000 per annum throughout the period of the state’s existence, from 1949 to 1989. This article examines the ruling Socialist Unity Party’s (SED) perceptions of the causes of everyday criminality in the GDR. It shows that the SED concluded that crime persisted because citizens’ ‘socialist sense of legal right and wrong’ (sozialistisches Rechtsbewußtsein) was underdeveloped. The regime measured this by the extent to which citizens supported and participated in socialist society. Thus, crime could be eliminated by co-opting as many citizens as possible into the Party’s political project. The SED’s ideological tunnel vision on the causes of everyday criminality meant that it dismissed hints about the real causes of crime, such as poor supply and living conditions, identified by its analysts. Its failure to address these issues meant that citizens continued to break the law. Thus, the Party’s exercise of power contributed to the creation of limits to that power. Moreover, analysis of opinion polls on GDR citizens’ attitudes to criminality shows that they accepted crime as a part of everyday life.

Memory, Heritage and the Demolition of the Potsdam Garnisonkirche, 1968*

In 1968, the ruling Socialist Unity Party demolished Potsdam’s Garnisonkirche (Garrison Church). This article analyses the way in which the demolition of the Garnisonkirche opened up a spectrum of reflections on the meaning of the Prussian and Nazi pasts in the GDR and the ways it ought to be mediated through the urban landscape. Using petitions sent by everyday citizens to the local political authorities as well as debates within the SED itself, this article demonstrates how the public discussion about the demolition of the church navigated the many problems posed by Potsdam’s ‘burdened’ past in its urban spaces. While a number of individuals believed that this history could be transcended through the construction of a ‘new’ Potsdam, others believed that effectively handling the recent past required a direct confrontation with its architectural symbols.

Undoing GDR Iconoclasm: The Return and Interpretation of a Spiritual and Academic Heritage through the Building of the Paulinum in Leipzig

On the first Sunday of Advent in 2017, a new university church was consecrated at Leipzig University in Germany. This celebration brought to an end the five-decade-long absence of a church within the old university. The inauguration of the Paulinum—as the combined church and assembly hall was named—visibly reconnected the university with a church history involving the active participation of personalities such as Martin Luther, Johann Tetzel, Felix Mendelssohn, and Johann Sebastian Bach. Under scrutiny in this article is the 1968 destruction of the University Church of Saint Paul, originally a medieval monastery, by the Socialist Unity Party (SED) as a kind of socialist iconoclasm. Through the destruction of the University Church of Saint Paul, I argue, the church became something of an architectonic and cultural martyr. Although the Paulinum is not viewed as a direct continuation of the university church, its completion and refurbishing with art treasures from the old church has, however, come to be viewed as a counterpart to SED barbarism and as an undoing of some aspects of the destruction. Moreover, some episodes from the university church and its destruction have been passed on and attached to the Paulinum as a mnemonic layer, much valued by the university, city, and region.