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HI136 The History of Germany Lecture 15

HI136 The History of Germany Lecture 15. East Germany. Introduction. Debates over the history of the GDR – objective assessments are still difficult to arrive at. Continuity with German history (especially with the Nazi period)? ‘Periodization’ of East German history:

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HI136 The History of Germany Lecture 15

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  1. HI136 The History of GermanyLecture 15 East Germany

  2. Introduction • Debates over the history of the GDR – objective assessments are still difficult to arrive at. • Continuity with German history (especially with the Nazi period)? • ‘Periodization’ of East German history: • Direct occupation by Soviet forces (1945-49) • From establishment of the GDR to the building of the Wall (1949-61) • ‘Golden Age’ of consolidation & economic liberalization (1961-71) • Honecker Period (1971-89) • Disintegration & Collapse (1989-90)

  3. The Socialist Unity Party (SED) • June 1945: Soviets legalise political parties. • Poor performance of Communists elsewhere in Poland & Hungary leads to pressure for ‘socialist unity’. • April 1946: Merger of SPD & KPD in the Soviet Zone to form the SED. • 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). • 1948-51: SED Stalinised into ‘New-Type Party’; purge of former Social Democrats & loss of parity principle. • SED membership: rose from 1.3 (1946) to 2.3 million (1986), including many careerist members. • Functionaries (i.e. officials) liked to list themselves as ‘workers’ but had they really become middle-class? • ‘Politbureaucracy’ lived sheltered existence in Wandlitz compound, including all mod cons. Wilhelm Pieck (KPD) shakes hands with Otto Grotewohl (SPD) on formation of SED, April 1946.

  4. The Constitution of the German Democratic Republic • Preamble: “The German People, imbued with the desire to safeguard human liberty and rights, to reshape collective and economic life in accordance with the principles of social justice, to serve social progress, and to promote a secure peace and amity with all peoples, have adopted this constitution.” • Article 3: “All state authority emanates from the people. Every citizen has the right and the duty to take part in the formation of the political life of his Gemeinde (community), Kreis (county), Land (state) and of the German Democratic Republic. [...] State authority must serve the welfare of the people, liberty, peace and the progress of democracy.Those active in public service are servants of the community as a whole and not of any one party. Their activity is supervised by the popular representative body.” • Article 5: “The generally recognized rules of international law are binding upon state authority and every citizen. It is the duty of state authority to maintain and cultivate amicable relations with all peoples. No citizen may participate in belligerent actions designed to oppress any people. “ • On paper very similar to the Basic Law: • Bicameral parliament elected every 4 years. • Separation of powers between Prime Minister and President. • Guarantee of fundamental human rights. • In reality little direct democracy: • People just asked to approve or reject pre-determined distribution of seats • Ministries controlled by the SED

  5. Walter Ulbricht (1893-1973) • Born in Leipzig, joined the Spartacist League in 1918. • Co-founder of the KPD, elected as a Reichstag Deputy in 1928. • 1933-45: In exile in the USSR. • 1949: Appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the GDR. • 1950: Became General Secretary of the SED. • 1960: Became Chairman of the Council of State. • Favoured ‘hard line’ of constructing socialism in half a country rather than pursuing reunification; in 1953 under heavy fire from Politburo colleagues, but ‘saved’ by 17 June uprising. • 1960s: Limited economic reforms, but unable to change with the times. • 1971: Ousted by ‘palace coup’ by Honecker, with Soviet backing.

  6. June 1953 Uprising • Growing unrest due to high demands placed on workers and poor living standards. • Stalin’s death in 1953 added pressure to the hard-liners in the SED. • 16 June: building workers on Berlin’s Stalinallee strike for economic 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.

  7. Politics • 1949 Constitution = ‘People’s Democracy’: bi-cameral parliament elected every 4 years, Prime Minister & President. Guarantee of fundamental human rights. In reality people just asked to approve or reject pre-determined distribution of seats, ministries controlled by SED. • 1952: Border with the Federal Republic closed (except in Berlin). • 1954: Return of full sovereignty to the GDR. • 1955: Formation of an East German army, foundation of the Warsaw Pact. • 1960: President Wilhelm Pieck died – the office of President abolished & replaced by a Council of State (Staatsrat) dominated by the SED. • 1968 Constitution = Declared the GDR a ‘socialist state’ & acknowledges the ‘leading role’ of the SED. • 1971: Ulbricht replaced by Erich Honecker (1912-94). Hopes for a more liberal regime, but Honecker unwilling to give up the SED’s monopoly on power & politics stagnated under his rule.

  8. Erich Honecker (1912-94) • 1912: Born in the Saarland, the son of a miner. • 1922: Joined the Communist Party’s youth organization. • 1930-1: Studied in Moscow. • 1935: Arrested by the Nazis and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for his involvement in the Communist underground. • 1945: Became head of the Communist youth movement. • 1958: Elected full member of the Politburo. • 1971: Ousted Ulbricht to become chairman of the National Defence Council. • 1976: Became general secretary of the SED and chairman of the Council of State. • 1989: Resigned as leader of the GDR. Fled to Moscow but extradited back to Germany by Boris Yeltsin. • 1992: Tried for ordering killings of East Germans trying to cross into the West. • 1993: Dying of cancer and allowed to go into exile in Chile, where he died a year later.

  9. The Economy • 1945-46: Wide-ranging land reform, expropriation of businesses & nationalization of key industries: 40% of industry under state control; 100 hectares (247 acres) of land redistributed to peasants & refugees. • GDR at an economic disadvantage compared to the West – had only 30% of industrial capacity, few natural resources & a smaller population. • Planned economy focusing on building up heavy industry at the expense of essentials & consumer goods – meat, butter & sugar rationed until 1958, luxury goods like chocolate almost unobtainable. • Growth fell from 8% in 1950 to 2.3% between 1960 & 1962. • 1963: ‘New Economic System’ – more freedom for producers & consumers = better living standards. • 1961-70: Improved growth – the GDR became the strongest economy in the Eastern Bloc. • Increased ownership of ‘white goods’ like fridges, washing machines and TVs in the 1960s and 70s: by 1965 over 25% of East Germans owned fridges and 48% owned televisions. By 1970 these figures had risen to 36.4% and 69.1%. • Economy underpinned by generous welfare provision, but this put big financial strains on the planned economy. • 1980s: Economic stagnation & financial crisis.

  10. Emigration • Republikflucht (flight from the Republic):500,000 people left for the West between 1949 & 1955. • By 1961 1.65 million people had defected. 50% were under the age of 25, most were skilled workers & professionals. • 1952: border between East & West closed & fortified. • 1961: Berlin Wall built. • ‘Shoot to kill’: around 1,000 East Germans killed while trying to escape to the West. • Visits to the West strictly controlled. Some liberalization in the 1970s. • The Wall led to a more stable labour market & resignation to the way things were.

  11. The Police State • MinisteriumfürStaatssiicherheit (Ministry of State Security, Stasi)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’. • InformelleMitarbeiter (IMs) (‘informal collaborators’ or informants: growing reliance for ‘total surveillance’ on coopted members of public. • By the 1980s had as many as 91,000 agents, plus as many as 300,000 civilians informants. Stasi HQ in Berlin-Lichtenberg. Ulrich Mühe as Stasi agent Weisler in Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others, 2006).

  12. Society & Culture • Mass organizations extended the reach of the Party into everyday life: Free German Trades Union Federation (FDGB), Free German Youth (FDJ) and Democratic Women’s Association (DFD). • Membership not strictly speaking compulsory, but failure to join could hamper employment prospects etc. • Religious education banned in schools & replaced with compulsory classes in Marxism-Leninism. Schools & Universities teach history, economics etc. from a Marxist viewpoint. • Jugendweihe – ‘coming of age’ ceremony in which children pledged themselves to the Party and the socialist state. • 1962: Compulsory 18 months military service for all young men introduced. • Official persecution of the churches, despite the fact that over 90% of East Germans were practicing Christians in 1950. • Church attendance lessened by the 1970s, but the churches remained important institutions and a focus for dissent. • Strict control of cultural life – ‘Socialist Realism’ – art has an ideological message.

  13. Anti-Fascism • Marxist-Leninist doctrine always interpreted fascism as an outgrowth of capitalism; therefore antifascism linked to anti-capitalism (big business as Hitler’s stringpullers). • Fascism also interpreted as a political class war (mainly v. KPD), rather than racial war (v. Jews); GDR paid no reparations to Israel & anti-Semitic attacks on graveyards persisted. • West German Federal Republic viewed as haven of former Nazis, protected by Anglo-Americans (especially in 1950s/60s); antifascism thus had contemporaneous function of anti-westernism (e.g. Berlin Wall officially labelled ‘Antifascist Defence Rampart’). • SED leadership (mainly Soviet exiles) had ambivalent attitude to ‘real’ antifascist veterans (marginalised ‘inland’ resisters, dissolved veterans’ organisations). • Antifascism an affective moral argument for wartime generation; but younger generations increasingly indifferent to abstract antifascism. Buchenwald memorial: unveiled in 1958, this group represents the KPD’s leading role in the resistance, with a (historically dubious) myth of the camp’s self-liberation. Buchenwald was the GDR’s main memorial site for school visits and veterans meetings.

  14. Support for the Regime • Initial support for the regime – many welcomed an anti-fascist and/or socialist state, land reform & nationalization popular, many optimistic for the future. • However, problems of identity: Germans or East Germans? • In the 1960s increased acceptance/tolerance of the regime, but little enthusiasm for it. • Most people joined the Party in order to get on rather than because they were committed Communists. • Increased dissatisfaction in the 1970s & 80s – Churches (one of the few organizations which remained outside SED control) acted as focus & sanctuary for opposition groups; growing environmental movement; liberalization in USSR after 1985 had knock-on effect (but not at state level).

  15. Historiography • Totalitarian Interpretations • A Modernising Dictatorship? • Collective Biographies

  16. Totalitarian Explanations • 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 • Also popular with many former GDR citizens; but is this because it denies personal responsibility? • Authors: Klaus Schroeder, Der SED-Staat (1998), Eckard Jesse (ed.), Totalitarismus im 20. Jahrhundert (1998), Anthony Glees, The Stasi Files (2003)

  17. A 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

  18. Collective Biographies • GDR lasted more than one generation; post-1949 generation ‘born into’ socialism. • Are we patronising GDR citizens by treating them all as ‘released prisoners’ & victims? • Gaus, Locating Germany (1983): ‘niche society’, relatively normal private life possible behind public conformity. • Material culture: 1990s growing interest in popular culture of GDR. • Ostalgie/’Eastalgia’: re-issuing of GDR brands (see the Spreewald gherkin episode in Goodbye Lenin); fight to preserve minor symbols of difference (traffic light man). • Danger of ‘commodifying’ the GDR past & relativising idealistic motivations. Goodbye Lenin (2003): Alex with his allegorical mother/motherland who cannot survive the fall of the Wall. The GDR green man.

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