Socialism, your world
Socialism, your world is a book published in 1975, which was presented as a gift for the festival of youth consecration in the GDR from its publication until 1982 . It was written by a collective of authors and has a foreword by Erich Honecker, then Chairman of the State Council . The focus is on “achievements of real socialism ” in the reconstruction of cities, in the military or in technology. Previously, the book Weltall Erde Mensch was given away on the same occasion; Successor was The Purpose of Our Life .
The work is divided into three large sections: “Our socialist worldview”, “Our century - the century of socialism” and “Your place in socialism”. The last post in the third section is "Because the world needs you ...".
Texts
The texts are up to five pages long. Authors include Karl Liebknecht , Paul Dessau , Gerhard Schürer , Egon Krenz , Juri Gagarin and Ernst Thälmann . Josef Wenig's contribution is titled “Uranium for Peace” and pays tribute to the workers of Wismut .
The work has been revised several times and shows some essential differences between the first edition from 1975 and the eighth edition from 1982, which reflect the development of the internal and external conditions of the GDR: In 1975 the work begins with a table of contents, in 1982 with a three-page table Foreword by Erich Honecker and a large photo of him and a representative of the FDJ. In 1975 there is a graphic on the inside of the cover showing Europe in the 1920s with Germany as an outline and also labeled as Germany. There is also a section entitled “The Russian Miracle” with an account of the “Achievements of the Soviet Union ” that is missing in 1982. In 1975 there was a double page in color depicting the “anti-fascist resistance in Germany from 1933 to 1945”; 1982 this graphic is missing. In 1982 the land distribution after 1945 is illustrated by a photo of dancing peasants; here the successes of the agricultural production cooperatives should be emphasized. The 1982 edition emphasizes the importance of the People's Chamber for young people by creating three categories of “young people” who have a seat and a voice in it, and differentiates between the 18 to 20 year olds, the 21 to 25 year olds and the 26 to 30 year olds. The 1982 edition also contains an explicit request to serve in the National People's Army (NVA): “Request for drafting”.
The image of the GDR excludes topics such as coming to terms with the Holocaust , environmental pollution , the decay of inner cities, religion and church and others.
photos
Socialism, your world is richly illustrated in color: it often shows photos of young people in the blue shirts of the Free German Youth (FDJ), be it in front of the Berlin World Clock , singing or at the Soviet memorial in Treptower Park , at a torchlight procession or in an encounter mt Komsomol of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union .
Among the people shown are Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels , Lenin , Ernst Thälmann , Wilhelm Pieck , Otto Grotewohl . FDJ boss Egon Krenz is pictured twice.
Other subjects are the Karl Marx Monument in Karl Marx Stadt and the Berlin Lenin Monument . Pictures of the reconstruction of the cities also show metropolises of other peoples in the Eastern Bloc such as Warsaw , Moscow or Prague .
Pictures and sculptures by artists living in the GDR are shown on the full page and in color: Bernhard Heisig , Fritz Cremer , Barbara Müller-Kageler , Josep Renau and Willi Sitte . In addition, Yevgeny Viktorovich Wuchetich's work based on the biblical motto Swords to Plowshares .
expenditure
- Heinrich Gemkow and editorial board for the Central Committee f. Youth consecration in d. German Democrat. Republic (ed.): Socialism, your world. New Life Publishing House , Berlin 1975
- second, revised edition, 1975
- third, revised edition, 1977
- fourth, edited and z. T. revised edition, 1978
- fifth, processed and z. T. revised edition, 1979
- sixth, edited and z. T. revised edition, 1980
- seventh, reworked and z. T. revised edition, 1981
- eighth edited edition, 1982
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry in the German National Library (accessed on May 8, 2017)
- ^ Matthias Rogg : Army of the People? Military and Society in the GDR. Links Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86153-478-5 , p. 192, note 632