Life and Lie in GDR

1. Life and Lie in GDR How did the Wall influence the life of East German citizens politically, economically and socially between 1961-1989 ?

2. THE COLLAPSE/OVERTHROW [?] OF THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC 1961: The Berlin Wall exposes the GDR’s unpopularity 1975: Helsinki Accord guarantees civil liberties all over Europe 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the Soviet leader Jan. 1988: Small protest rally in East Berlin May 1989: Dissidents expose fraudulent municipal elections; Hungary opens its border with Austria Summer 1989: 140,000 East Germans emigrate Oct. 9, 1989: Leipzig authorities capitulate to protest marchers Oct. 17, 1989: Honecker replaced by Egon Krenz Nov. 9, 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall March 1990: East Germany’s first free elections Oct. 3, 1990: The Day of German Unity

3. Walter Ulbricht says, "Heavy Industry: The Foundation of Independence and Prosperity" (German Democratic Republic, 1952)

4. The “superworker” Wolf Hennecke fills out his (exaggerated) production record as a hewer of coal, which then set the “norm” for other coal miners.

5. The Open Border • 1945 interzonal borders policed by Allies • Berlin: quadripartite city with access via U-Bahn & S-Bahn • Grenzgaenger (border-crossers): by 1961 50-60,000 E. Germans commuted to W. Berlin; others simply shopped there • Currency speculation across Berlin-Berlin border at 1:5 East:West marks • Republikflucht (flight from the Republic): defection by ca 1 in 6 of GDR population • 1952 Stasi fortify inner-German border; tourist visits to FRG cut drastically • 1953 travel liberalised, but abused for more defections; 1957 plans to leave criminalised with 3 years’ prison; Berlin became chief exit point • Hirschman’s ‘exit/voice’ model of flight & protest; remaining E. Germans could blackmail system for goods such as housing; regime unable to introduce conscription Potsdamer Platz, 1952, before the Wall Movements across German-German border, 1949-61: note peaks in 1953, mid-50s when tourist viasa available, & eve of Wall

6. 17 June 1953: A People’s Uprising? • March 1953: Stalin dies; power vacuum? • May: new Moscow leadership order more liberal ‘New Course’; Ulbricht criticised • But workers excluded from some reforms (ration cards, work quotas increased) • 16 June: building workers on Berlin’s Stalinallee strike for economistic reasons • 17 June am: spontaneous strikes in cities; Berlin strikers march on ministerial district • 17 June pm: more political demands (free elections, national unity); late afternoon Soviet tanks impose martial law • East German explanation: CIA-organised putsch (‘Tag X’) using teenager thugs • West German explanation: people’s revolt against Soviet tyranny ‘The People’s Uprising of 17 June’, West German poster

8. The Berlin Wall, 13 August 1961 • Failure of 1958 economic drive to overtake West German consumer production • 1960 economic problems & growing E. European subsidies • 1961 Warsaw Pact states agree to seal off W. Berlin; initially fences were erected (see right) to test the West’s response; since the barrier was within E. Berlin territorial limits it was treated as internal affair • 1964 old age pensioners allowed to visit West • 1971 Berlin Agreement permits ‘grade-1 relatives’ to visit West; in the 1980s West German loans were tied to the human rights liberalisation • Shoot to kill: all told approx. 1,000 persons died at the inner-German border; it was also mined until 1984; after fall of the Wall border guards who shot received suspended sentences fro manslaughter; those higher up in the Army or Politburo received prison sentences Temporary barriers on 13.8.61 Border troops’ sketch of Berlin Wall (post-1975 version): a double wall with a sandy area between & alarmed fences & anti-grip final wall

9. “On August 13, 1961, the peace of Europe was saved.”(GDR poster from 1986)

10. Totalitarianist interpretations • Popular in 1950s West German interpretations; revival post-1989 • Comparisons drawn with brown dictatorship of National Socialism • Stress illegitimacy of Soviet occupation & East German ‘puppets’ • State ideology of ‘socialist personality’ within collective • ‘Leading role’ of ruling party enshrined in constitution • Stasi secret police • State control of economy • Control of media • Control of economy • Berlin Wall as epitome of state control of individual • Breached UN human rights on freedom of travel • Klaus Schroeder, Der SED-Staat (1998) • Eckard Jesse (ed.), Totalitarismus im 20. Jahrhundert (1998) • Anthony Glees, The Stasi Files (2003) • Also popular with many former GDR citizens; but is this because it denies personal responsibility?

11. Modernising dictatorship? • Complex industrial economy required ‘rational’ not ‘ideological’ elite • More university graduates enter party apparatus from 1960s • Peter C. Ludz, The Changing Party Elite in East Germany (1968/72) • Economic reforms of 1960s (New Economic System) • Attempt at decentralisation and incentivisation of economy • Technological revolution • Special role of intelligentsia in GDR (see dividers on state emblem) • Precision engineering from Dresden & Leipzig • 1980s gamble on microchip technology (too high investment costs) • Welfare dictatorship (Konrad Jarausch) • Indirect use of ‘social power’ to predispose groups to choose socialism • Full employment, hospitals, education system > fond memories • Educational dictatorship (Erziehungsdiktatur)? • Party ‘in loco parentis’, knowing what was good for the people • Rolf Henrich, The Guardian State (1989); party man turned dissident

12. The Achievements of Socialism Katarina Witt, Olympic ice-skating champion & GDR ‘ice princess’: the GDR measured its success against the FRG in gold medals Charité hospital, Berlin: GDR polyclinics are one of the few legacies adopted by united Germany First GDR cosmonaut in 1976; from the 1960s astronomy was on all GDR school curriculums East Germany’s ‘honours system’: the state was adept at rewarding participation with a mania for badges

13. Following the Berlin Wall • In 1961, communist East Germany built a wall to stop its citizens from fleeing to the West. • Anyone attempting to defect was shot on sight. • Even planning an escape was grounds for imprisonment. • By the 70s, the Berlin wall was part of a fortified border that split Germany in two. Officially, it kept the West out. • But in reality, it kept East German citizens in while their government sought ways to demonstrate communist superiority to the rest of the world. • Rare glimpses of life behind the Wall suggested a sporting revolution.

14. Life behind the wall • Talented children were handpicked for special sports schools. Coaches and doctors were employed full-time to train them. • Sports festivals became highly anticipated national events. • As a promising ten-year-old, Ute Krause joined the Magdeburg school to be trained as a swimmer.

15. UTE KRAUSE: Swimmer • UTE KRAUSE: I had this idea that we’d be doing sport all day instead of reading and writing and arithmetic, we’d spend the whole day dancing, ice skating, doing gymnastics, swimming. • That was my fantasy and I thought it was going to be amazing.

16. Spartacus Games in Leipzig • The student athletes participated in major sports shows and festivals. The best of the best got to compete in the Spartacus Games in Leipzig—a showcase of the country’s physical health. • Shows like these were carefully choreographed to build support for the socialist state, and distract the East Germans from the economic boom on the other side of the wall.

17. Communist equivalent of fame and fortune • Successful athletes enjoyed freedoms not available to their fellow citizens. • This was the communist equivalent of fame and fortune—they became the public face of the German Democratic Republic.

18. KATHARINA BULLIN • KATHARINA BULLIN: You get to travel abroad, to go to capitalist countries. I went to Italy when I was 15. Going to Italy was unheard of, impossible for the average GDR citizen. •  I had privileges; I got great food; bananas, oranges. One just couldn’t get them normally. Sometimes I felt embarrassed and I’d sneak food home with me.

19. East German Sports Performance Committee • But good food and training were only the beginning. • By 1974, and with the Montreal Olympics only two years away, Party leaders met with the East German Sports Performance Committee to decide how best to guarantee gold medals and international glory.

20. “state plan theme 14-25.” • What they came up with was “state plan theme 14-25.” • The protocol was based on the work of chemists and pharmacologists at a secret lab in Leipzig.

21. For six years, the scientists had been testing male hormones: • For six years, the scientists had been testing male hormones on one of their female Olympic stars—a shot putter named Margitta Gummel. • Bolstered by the hormones, which were given to her in a pill called Oral Turinabol, Margitta improved her throws by more than 8 feet between the ‘68 and ‘72 Games. • Oral-Turinabol, or O-T, was an anabolic steroid derived from testosterone. • Produced by the state-run pharmaceutical company, Jenapharm, it would now be given to other promising athletes.

22. Anabolic Steroids similar to Testosterone • O-T and other anabolic steroids increase muscle mass and hasten recovery time, allowing athletes to train harder and build up more strength. • And because they are similar to testosterone, they have a greater impact on women, who have less real testosterone in their bodies to begin with.

23. Secrecy • To prevent questions, the athletes were not told what pills they were getting. • Club doctors like Ulrich Suender took care of the distribution. • ULRICH SUENDER: The word “doping” just wasn’t used. In the GDR the word doping didn’t exist. These were “supporting drugs,” they “supported” training. That made it sound much better. • For the youngest athletes, the pills were slipped in with other, less potent supplements.

24. NO Doping • We usually got the tablets after very hard water-training sessions. Vitamin C, Vitamin B, potassium, calcium, magnesium, all kinds of pills. It was a real cupful. • UTE KRAUSE: There was an unspoken taboo about asking questions about these things because if you asked questions, you were put down with nasty remarks or given a real telling off. • Many of the girls had barely reached puberty when they began receiving the hormone pills. Their parents, too, were kept in the dark. • The parents did discuss between themselves possible consequences

25. Prior to the Montreal Olympics of 1976 …. • As the ’76 Games drew closer, East German expectations were high. 3000 coaches had 10,000 young athletes in their care. • Despite a chronic shortage of hard currency, the government pored money into gymnastics, track and field, cycling, rowing, swimming and volleyball. • And the anabolic steroids continued to flow. The drugs were now being given to athletes throughout the Olympic training program. • To maximize muscle strength, the steroids were combined with a punishing training regimen.

26. The pressure was onAs the athletes trained, the scientists at the Sports Science Institute in Leipzig worked to refine their understanding of the drugs. • Coaches and doctors were contractually obligated to produce medals. • ULRICH SUENDER: Each club had clearly defined targets for each sport and what they had to deliver in world championships or at Olympic Games. Afterwards you took stock. For instance, in athletics the club TSC Berlin had to win a gold and a silver medal. The targets were set right at the start of the Olympic cycle. • They studied athletic performance and the biochemistry of movement, always looking for ways to make the steroids more effective. • Ute Krause remembers the lung capacity test well… • And swim and swim against the current until a buzzer went. It didn’t take long before you ran out of air under the mask and your lungs and your muscles and everything hurt. It was really exhausting; sometimes you swam until you found your arms were dragging along the bottom of the pool. It was dreadful.”

27. Irony : capitalist incentive •  Ironically, the Party used a dose of capitalist incentive to ensure that coaches pushed their athletes to the extremes. • ULRICH SUENDER: This was the basis for how much coaches were paid because their pay was determined by how well their athletes performed in competition.

28. Results • It paid off. The Montreal Olympics was the first major international test for the GDR’s doping program… and the East German athletes exceeded all expectations. • East Germany won an incredible 40 gold medals, six more than the powerful Americans. • The female swimmers stood out. • East German women won eleven out of thirteen events, crushing the U.S. favourites in the pool.

29. American Athletes Recall : • “They were very strong women; they were very fast; Americans thought they were machines. Here were four of America’s best athletes ever put together on a team and every single day the East German women were winning every, every event. • The losses were heartbreaking to the Americans, and suspicions of East German cheating ran rampant. The U.S swimmers only managed one gold—in the freestyle relay—the very last race.” • The Americans had their gold, but in Berlin, GDR leaders were celebrating a grander victory. • East Germany had excelled on the international stage. • .

30. The doping program had worked, and the government was taking vigilant steps to ensure its continued success. • The entire operation was now closely guarded by the Stasi, the East German security police commanded by Soviet-trained Erich Mielke. • Sports doctors were forced to sign a confidentiality agreement that forbade them from discussing doping with anyone who had not signed. • Stasi informers watched and listened to ensure adherence to the pledge. • Dr. Rainer Hartwich was a Party member and an expert on steroids. Not surprisingly, his skills were in high demand. • DR. RAINER HARTWICH: Sport was one area in which this small state, the GDR, could really outrun the rest of the world.

31. Doctors / Cohesive Part of the Plan • Doctor Hartwich was one of more than 3,000 Stasi moles within the sport system—scientists, coaches, and even athletes who secretly reported every move they and their colleagues made. • The web of informers meant the athletes had to be wary of what they said—probing questions or dissent were immediately and harshly punished.

32. Doctors / Cohesive Part of the Plan • Doctors already knew that the drugs could wreak havoc on the girls’ reproductive systems. • They kept the knowledge secret, but began giving doped athletes contraceptives as soon as they hit puberty. • The birth control pills served two purposes. They kept the athletes training by giving them regular periods. And, they protected the entire system from the Russian Roulette of steroid-induced pregnancy complications.

33. Jorg Sievers • The consequences were sometimes deadly. • In 1972, 16-year-old swimmer Jorg Sievers, was found dead in the pool. • At the time, word circulated that Jorg had simply drowned. It would be decades before the truth was finally uncovered.

34. Beneath the veneer of prosperity, citizens faced severe shortages of basic consumer goods. • By the late 70s, East German athletics were thriving, and Party leaders boasted of political stability and economic growth. • As times got tough, the Stasi tightened its grip on the population. • With the 1980 Olympics approaching, the State once again expected its top athletes to spark nationalist fever with their success. • The pressure was especially intense at the Stasi’s own Dynamo sports club in Berlin, where Katharina Bullin lived and trained. Katharina broke a bone in her foot, but the team doctor insisted she get back to practice before the cast was even off her leg.

35. East vs West on Doping • Doping in the West was always a clandestine thing, it was in small circles so it had nothing of the dimension and the thoroughness it had in the East. • Doping in the GDR was different from the doping in the West of the world but it was also different from the doping in other parts of the East. • It was German, it was orderly, it was bureaucratic, it was written up.

36. Doping for Gold – Drugs and East German sport State Plan 14.25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfF7hd3IsGo 38 minutes or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRrf24MH2SU

41. State Plan 14.25 • A secret program (B14-25) was conducted by East Germany’s sports federation, headed by Manfred Ewald. • The program was monitored and the security maintained by the Ministry of State Security (Stasi). • It was not as one might expect from a Communist country, an effort to bring the joy of sports to all children. • Rather it was an effort to identify gifted children and to prepare them in elite schools, including boarding schools where they would not have to deal with parental interference. • And then the East German authorities took it on step further--the administration of drugs including steroids to young athletics, many children just entering into puberty. • Some were only 12-years old. This was done without the knowledge of the children (who thought they were receiving vitamins) or their parents

42. Effects • Most of the children affected were girls because they competed at a younger age and the drugs had a greater enhancement impact on girls than boys. • Over 10,000 East German athletes over the years were subjected to the drugs. • East Germany was not the only Communist country to engage in doping, but they had the largest and most sophisticated program. • Individual athletes in the West took drugs but not on the scale of the plan 14. 25

43. Pseudo Science • The East Germans not only administered drugs as a matter of state policy, but they also had a sophisticated research program enabling them to elude the drug tests administered in international competitions. • The results were spectacular. • Easter German athletes beginning at the Montreal Olympics (1976) amazed the world. • Tiny East Germany ranked second in gold medals behind the Soviet Union.

44. Outcomes • Their success was especially notable with their young girl swimmers. • Since the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), some details on the East German program have become public. • And many former athletes have reported serious health problems, especially the younger girls who received the drugs. • This is an issue which the German Government today has little desire to pursue. The Government has financially compensated a handful of the athletes involved through Germany's Olympic Committee. • After the Berlin Wall fell, some East German sports doctors moved to China whose athletes have been using similar anabolic pills

45. Erich Honecker, SED leader, 1971-89 • Spent most of Third Reich in prison • 1946 leader of Free German Youth • From late 1950s responsible for internal affairs in GDR • 1971 acquired Moscow’s backing to remove Ulbricht • EH formed an unwritten ‘social pact’ (the Unity of Economic and Social policy) which subsidised popular standard of living (at height in mid-70s); increasingly paid for by loans from West, turning GDR into loan junkie by 1980s • Gorbachev’s arrival as a Soviet reform communist leader in 1985 caused SED a succession crisis as ‘gerontocracy’ hung on to power; EH was hospitalised at crucial points of the 1989 crisis • Famous in GDR for panama hat & natty pale suits; died 1994 in exile in Chile

46. Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) • June 1945 Soviets relegalise political parties • Autumn Communists decide on merger with Social Democrats; local resistance from some SPD, but pressure from SMAD • United workers’ party of SED founded April 1946 (debates: was this the spontaneous will of workers, learning lessons of divided labour movement in 1933, or creature of Soviets?) • 1948-51: SED Stalinised into ‘New-Type Party’; purge of former Social Democrats & loss of parity principle • 1946 free elections: SED polls 48% • SED functions as hub of Antifascist Bloc including Christian Democrats and Liberal Democrats, and later National Democrats and Farmers; elections also fought as single Bloc list (aka National Front) • SED membership: rose from 1.3 (1946) to 2.3 million (1986), including many careerist members; women’s shared only reached 35.5%; functionaries (i.e. officials) liked to list themselves as ‘workers’ but had they functionally become middle-class? • ‘Politbureaucracy’ lived sheltered existence in Wandlitz compound, including all mod cons • ‘Foot soldiers’ often true believers, working hard & living frugally (see Landolf Scherzer, Der Erste/Number One, 1988, shadowing hardworked local party secretary) Wilhelm Pieck (KPD) shakes hands with Otto Grotewohl (SPD) on formation of SED, April 1946 Propaganda poster for unity

47. The Stasi (MfS): Shield and Sword of the Party • Founded as clone of KGB under Soviet occupation • Early on used mainly for counter-intelligence (to keep out or kidnap western spies) • Markus Wolf’s Foreign Section scored notable successes in planting moles with West German Chancellor Willy Brandt in 1970s • 1952 Stasi given control of border; later policed the border troops • Poor early warning for 1953 uprising & temporarily demoted from ministerial status • Central Evaluation & Information Group (ZAIG) monitored popular mood • Self-image as pro-active ‘social workers’ or agents of the ‘invisible frontier’; ‘operative missions’ included infiltration & decomposition from within of suspected dissident groups • 1960s MfS adopts more sophisticated techniques & ‘total surveillance’ • Informelle Mitarbeiter (IMs) (‘informal collaborators’ or informants: growing reliance for ‘total surveillance’ on coopted members of public • ‘Destasification’: prominent cases show difficulty of proving if suspect was indirectly reported or IM (Manfred Stolpe, minister-president of Brandenburg) • Timothy Garton Ash, The File (1997) • Mike Dennis, The Stasi: Myth and Reality (2003) Erich Mielke, Minister of State Security, 1957-89 Manfred Stolpe, dogged by IM accusations Stasi HQ at Normannenstrasse, Berlin

48. Erich Mielke’s Ministry of State Security employed 100,000 full time plus 200,000 informants, and maintained files on 6 million of 15 million citizens

49. ARTICLE VII OF THE HELSINKI DECLARATION,August 1, 1975 • “The participating States will respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion…. • “Within this framework the participating States will recognize and respect the freedom of the individual to profess and practice, alone or in community with others, religion or belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience…. • “In the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the participating States will act in conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [from 1948].”

50. Stasi emblem HQ in Berlin