Culture in the GDR

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In the 40 years of the GDR's existence, culture in the GDR - with the various manifestations of everyday culture , manners and fashions , language and fine arts - stood in a field of tension between state requirements and individual aspirations, continuity and change. The freedom of art was not guaranteed in the reading country GDR . The content and forms of culture were under the control of the SED and subject to censorship . Contrary to the official guidelines and restrictions, however, some subcultures that could not be effectively prevented by the regime developed in the GDR , for example with artistic, religious or political references.

The public cultural life promoted by the GDR was mainly from the Kulturbund (KB), the Urania , the writers 'association of the GDR and the East German branch of the international writers' association PEN , the Academy of the Arts , the Association of Journalists , the Academy of Sciences , FDJ , pioneer organization , Society for Sport and Technology , the parties, organizations and companies of the GDR as well as the state-controlled kindergartens, schools and universities.

For an independent existence as an artist, membership in one of the professional associations was required, such as B. Association of Visual Artists of the GDR (VBK), Writers' Association of the GDR, Association of Composers and Musicologists of the GDR . The acceptance or rejection was made by resolution of the general assembly, whereby the processing of a corresponding application could take a long time. Commissioned works by social clients, i.e. companies and organizations, secured the livelihood of many artists. Some large companies had their own collections of socialist art, such as B. the Leuna works with their art collection.

Framework

According to the directives of the SED, the task of culture in the GDR was to promote socialism . Article 18 of the GDR constitution of 1968 stated:

“The socialist national culture is one of the foundations of socialist society. The German Democratic Republic promotes and protects the socialist culture that serves peace, humanism and the development of the socialist human community. It fights the imperialist culture that serves psychological warfare and the degradation of people. The socialist society promotes the cultural life of the working people, cultivates all humanistic values ​​of the national cultural heritage and world culture and develops the socialist national culture as a matter for the whole people. "

Socialist realism served as the guiding principle for any artistic activity . Which art met this demand depended on the current SED party line and on those responsible for approval issues. In the said constitutional article it said:

“The promotion of the arts, the artistic interests and skills of all working people and the dissemination of artistic works and achievements are the obligations of the state and all social forces. The artistic creation is based on a close connection between the cultural workers and the life of the people. "

Such an orientation had already been discussed by Otto Grotewohl in the 5th plenum of the Central Committee of the SED on March 17, 1951 : “Literature and the fine arts are subordinate to politics, but it is clear that they exert a strong influence on politics. The idea of ​​art must follow the direction of the political struggle. "

The government of the GDR wanted officially to give all GDR citizens access to cultural and social life and, according to the program, to educate the children and young people to become well-educated, humanist and internationalist , peace-loving "socialist personalities". Political, economic and also cultural activities were committed to this goal, similar to those in the USSR and other Eastern Bloc states, with cultural life in the USSR and the culture of the labor movement of the interwar period serving as a model in many areas.

Cultural institutions, activities and models in everyday life

Clubhouse of the union in Halle (Saale) 1959
Bitterfeld Kulturpalast in neoclassical style, built in 1954

In the GDR there were at last 18,118 libraries, 213 theaters, 719 museums, 190 music schools, 848 clubhouses, 594 FDJ youth clubs, 56,000 clubs run by volunteers, youth clubs and working people's clubs.

A specialty in the GDR were the cultural houses and pioneer houses , Spartakiads and workers' festivals - some of which also existed in other socialist and communist states . Orientation fields for adolescents existed in the youth consecration with the youth lessons, the code of conduct of the young pioneers , the Thälmann pioneers and FDJers . The specific terms used in GDR everyday culture included “ Brigade ”, “ Subbotnik ”, or “ Gallery of friendship ”. Activities desired in the socialist culture of the GDR were collecting waste paper, participating in demonstrations organized by the SED state party (on May 1, October 7, etc.), in Olympics in sciences such as mathematics, chemistry, biology, history or in Russian language , at holiday camps and harvest operations , on the FDJ academic year and on wall newspapers that are ideologically on the party line . Permanent institutions were or became the flag roll call and military education ( military instruction , military camp , pre-military training ). At the school, company sponsorships (sponsorship brigade , sponsorship class ), pioneer afternoons , education for internationalism and “work for peace”, for friendship between peoples and German-Soviet friendship ( DSF ), and for “anti-imperialist solidarity” and solibasars were promoted . The subjects of instruction included the socialist competition (“ street of the best ”) as well as plan and plan fulfillment (see planned economy ). Compulsory school subjects were Citizenship , Productive Labor (PA), Introduction to Socialist Production (ESP) and Russian . The Marxist-Leninist theory of history and society (again based on the model of the USSR) had a consistent role model.

Aspects of everyday culture

The inhabitants of the GDR had a comparatively large and varied cultural offer and were quite active in cultural life. This was not least due to the very low prices for cultural events, goods and services in comparison to the Federal Republic of Germany , which were made possible by subsidies . In particular, the offer for young people was made as attractive and extensive as possible, e.g. B. through youth clubs , discos, extracurricular events, adult education centers , working groups , sports groups, society for sports and technology organizations, where participation was mostly free or very inexpensive.

In a slightly ironic twist, Stefan Wolle characterizes the GDR's cultural scene in retrospect as a dictatorship of texts: “The symbols of the pictures, the tones of the pieces of music, film images, TV flickering or the play of the mimes were important but subordinate to the text. The word was decisive. At the top was the word of the classics, followed by the speeches of the First Secretaries and the party announcements. The word of the party organs and the other daily newspapers followed. Only then did the poet's word follow. It was seen as a weapon in the class struggle, as a productive force in production battles, as an example for the moral education of the nation. "

Cultural business for the work collective

A preferred area of ​​activity for cultural mediation in the officially so-called workers and farmers state GDR were the operational facilities of the various production and service locations in the country. Walter Ulbricht put a special emphasis on this at the 5th party congress of the SED in July 1958 with the slogan "to overcome the separation between art and life, the alienation between artist and people". The working class, already ruling in the state and in the economy, must now “storm the heights of culture and take possession of them.” This showed practical effects in the “pick up your pen, mate!” Movement, which was initially quite successful: hundreds of circles writing Workers, who were later joined by employees as well as teachers and students, produced texts with a focus on their own interests, and not as individual writers, but collectively. The resulting brigade diaries and wall newspapers were also able to provide the state organs with conclusions about the ideological reliability of the working people. The Bitterfeld path , aimed at a cooperation between writers and working people, was pursued only for a short time; the annual event, however, was the workers' festival, introduced in 1959 and held in June . The so-called brigade evenings or celebrations were part of everyday internal culture . This included joint excursions, visits to the theater or concerts and more or less regular get-togethers for the brigade members for a "cozy evening", which in the presence of the spouse was sometimes also associated with eating and drinking together as well as music and dance. Such brigade celebrations were financed from collective bonuses or from the brigade fund and occasionally also served painters as a motif.

Women's Day was also largely celebrated in the company collective : The respective bosses cheered “to the working women and mothers”, who also received pins to celebrate the day. “In the early GDR years there was a small fabric flower, in the later ugly plastic flower. In addition, the women in almost all institutions, companies and LPGs were given a small, thinly woven towel in screamingly bright colors and (or even only) a piece of moderately scented soap, in the worst case supplemented with cologne. ” Regina Mönch emphasizes in this context that it was not far from the equality of women in the GDR that they worked like men for at least 40 years, "hundreds of thousands in three shifts, in piecework, in toxic fumes or - like the women of Wolfen color film production - in complete darkness." But wages remained far behind those of men; and at home, working women did up to 70 percent of the household chores.

Architecture and living conditions

Housing problems were a core issue in everyday life in the GDR and were often associated with adventurous stories: "They reported the struggle with the authorities, petitions and letters to Honecker, bits of hussar, building occupations, search advertisements, dubious traders, ring exchanges, lousy tricks and permitted little tricks." In 1989, the toilets of more than a quarter of all apartments were in the stairwell and were often used by several tenants.

Prefabricated apartment blocks in Halle-Neustadt around 1978
Exemplary work of art in Halle: "Construction aid" by Rudolf Hilscher 1975

After the 16 principles of urban development from the beginning of the 1950s, which were committed to socialist classicism and aimed at representative buildings in the city centers, had hardly contributed to eliminating the housing shortage, more rational industrial production was relied on for the future and almost the aim was to procure housing exclusively on the prefabricated building . The construction of the chemical workers' complex Halle-Neustadt , planned as a socialist city for initially 70,000 people, which was built with Ulbricht's support from 1964 and gradually moved into from 1965, became an exemplary major project in this regard . The focus was on two or three-room apartments, based on the norm of the one- or two-child family. More than 150 works of fine art with references to nature and the present were installed: citing national heritage, agitating internationally, celebrating the achievements of socialism. All facilities for daily needs should be within easy reach in the centers of the residential complexes. Provision was made for nominally one hundred percent coverage with crèche and kindergarten places, with schools and an extended secondary school. Vocational schools, libraries and sports facilities were completed before the city center.

Other well-known large-scale prefabricated building complexes were built in Hoyerswerda , Rostock-Lichtenhagen and Berlin-Marzahn , among others . Uniformity prevailed not only in the external cuboid shape, but also in the layout of the apartments and their furnishings. "District heating, hot water, bathroom, indoor toilet and five-square-meter fitted kitchens with hatches were considered cultural achievements - and all of this without significant additional costs for heating and water consumption and with extremely low rents of around three percent of the family income." The standard size was 55 square meters and two and a half rooms for a maximum of four people. The social mix of the residents was program and reality: academic and working-class families lived wall to wall as neighbors in often noisy residential units. Activities tied to tenant obligations turned into meeting occasions, for example when house communities took care of the green spaces in front of the house as part of an “ economic mass initiative ”, as Peter Ensikat reports: “Then the professor raked the lawn and the cleaning lady who lived next to him , planted the flowers while the alcoholic anonymous picked up broken bottles. After such a community experience, also known as Subbotnik, you often sat together in the party room, which is rarely tasteful but always lovingly furnished, at a cozy house community party. "

The allocation of apartments for such new apartments resulted in an entry in the list of apartment seekers. Preference was given to people who were considered important economically or socially and who had started a family. For this reason, people were often married quickly and at an early age in order to escape the conditions in their own parental home. Subsequent requests for divorce and the associated high divorce rate over time led to a disproportionately high number of single women with children in the new building areas. Satisfaction with the living conditions in the prefabricated buildings was often divided. While the newcomers enjoyed the improvement in their previous living conditions, criticism and disappointment grew among others over the years: the children's room, bathroom and kitchen were perceived as too small; lack of storage space made it difficult to keep order. There was talk of “rabbit bays”, “residential silos” and “workers' lockers”.

Leisure, media and clubs

German television broadcasting (1968)

The leisure activities of GDR citizens beyond their professional and social obligations and in addition to the sometimes time-consuming procurement activities in supply bottlenecks extended to different areas, including cultural ones. The range of books, which were limited by the effects of the censorship but were available in large numbers, and the broad network of public ones Libraries gave the impression of a reading area . In the 1960s, the number of televisions in households increased rapidly; since 1969 it has also been broadcast in color. There were two state television channels and several state radio channels . In addition to sports competitions, the popular television programs included outsider front-runners , Ein Kessel Buntes , Willi Schwabe's lumber room and, for children, The Sandman and the Flimmerkiste . With the exception of those living in the “ Valley of the Unsuspecting ” outside the broadcasting range, the majority of the GDR population also had access to the West German television channels, which were in many respects more attractive and which reported - often critically - on the conditions in the GDR. In order to understand GDR society historically, says Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk , this connection is essential: "Hardly anything else has shaped and influenced it as much as the mass departure every evening at the push of a button."

In the GDR there were none of the few interested parties that could easily be set up on their own; rather, the so-called associations and clubs were based on initiatives within mass organizations such as the FdJ and Kulturbund and were subject to close state control. For example, numerous working groups, circles, interest groups and associations were funded by the Kulturbund, such as for philately , ornithology , mineralogy , prehistory and early history ( archeology ), local history , chess , numismatics , art, nature conservation, Esperanto . Chess was particularly promoted following the example of the USSR, since the game of chess was propagated as a “real weapon against capitalism and religious delusion” . The most successful chess grandmaster of the GDR was Wolfgang Ullmann from Dresden , who u. a. won the GDR championships eleven times, but also kept up with the world's elite for many years.

Vacation planning

The urge to leave the cramped living conditions behind in their free time was very pronounced among many GDR citizens. Peter Ensikat , who by his own admission lived in a prefabricated building for two years, outlined what was happening at the weekend: “On Friday afternoons I usually had to wait a long time for the elevator. So the families, all at about the same time, with sack and baggage, with children and kings, set out for their allotment gardens, which were called dachas . They came back on Sunday evening - all at the same time again - and the elevator was blocked for at least an hour. "

The demand for tourism offers in the GDR was only insufficiently satisfied. For a long time, most GDR citizens - with the exception of " travel cadres " - were not able to travel to the west . There were limited contingents for socialist countries abroad through the state travel agency. The lack of accommodation made individual travel difficult. An exception was the widespread camping tourism, where there was not enough space. Young people in particular improvised in this regard and used opportunities for mostly tolerated sleep in the open air. Discounted travel for young people was made possible by the state through youth tourist travel agencies and youth hostels. The FDGB also offered inexpensive trips . Many state-owned companies, schools and combines financed holiday camps for the children of the employees or for the pupils, where they could spend almost free holidays - in terms of accommodation. Each company had to set up a cultural and social fund for this.

Ostseebad Heringsdorf 1956

Many GDR citizens had a particular preference for holidays in the Baltic Sea , where the “holiday properties” were correspondingly popular. In 1987, for example, the beaches from Boltenhagen to Ahlbeck were populated by 1.4 million GDR holidaymakers. In the state holiday homes - in connection with the “reproduction of labor” - socialism should be made tangible and tangible, for example by designing so-called “red corners” to commemorate the workers 'movement, with well-known workers' leaders serving as namesake. A corresponding cultural program should promote the socialist awareness of the vacationers and give them appreciation for their achievements in fulfilling the plan .

A numerous followers used in the GDR nudism (FKK) after a 1954 judgment given ban met with vigorous opposition and was withdrawn 1956th After that, nudism spread not only on the entire Baltic coast of the GDR, but also on the inland lakes in the country. According to Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, in the 1970s and 1980s it was more those who bathed in textiles than nudists who were under pressure to explain . “FKK made possible in the GDR what was otherwise not given despite all promises: equality for all. The nudist was not identifiable as a state or society, he was only looking for sun, fun and relaxation. The ubiquity of the SED state broke on the beach of the naked. "

Remembrance days and youth consecration

Republic celebrations, anniversaries and memorial days were regularly celebrated by the SED leadership with considerable organizational effort. "The evocation of history gave the state, which was itself insecure, the appearance of dignity and respectability," said Stefan Wolle . For the Karl Marx year of 1953, “the surprised residents of Chemnitz were given a new namesake, although the bearded prophet from Trier had nothing to do with the Saxon industrial city.” On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution in 1967, “under an express appeal The first gold broiler restaurant opened in East Berlin in response to the legendary shots of the armored cruiser Aurora . ”Other major events for commemorations included the Luther year 1984, the Johann Sebastian Bach honor in 1985, the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987 ( which was celebrated in peaceful competition and coexistence with the western half of the city) and the Thomas Münzer anniversary projected for 1989 .

Soviet postage stamp from 1981 depicting Picasso and his 1949 dove of peace

The republic's birthday was celebrated annually with military parades and mass marches by, among others, fighting groups of the working class and members of the FDJ , including the 40th in 1989. “In the streets along the so-called protocol route and around the parade streets, the leaders of the house communities closed their doors Door to warn defaulting citizens to hang the flag out of the window. [...] The S-Bahn trains, trams and buses were adorned with small metal flags. On the right the state flag, on the left the red banner of the labor movement. "

The most sung song next to the GDR national anthem in the early years of the GDR - often in the mornings before school lessons began - was, according to Stefan Wolle, that of the "Little White Dove of Peace", whose illustration was based on Picasso : "Little white dove of peace, fly over Country; / You are well known to all people, big and small. / You should fly, dove of peace, tell everyone here, / That we never want war again, we want peace. [...] "

A festival day with political and private features was the youth consecration , which took place in the spring before the end of the 8th school year. They had been in 1954 as a government-sponsored alternative to the Protestant confirmation and Catholic Confirmation prevailed in the GDR and promoted as an element of anti-church propaganda first with a lot of pressure on students, parents, teachers and school administrators. As of the 1960s, the youth consecration, as it is closely linked to school and FDJ, was part of the common educational path of almost everyone. Only committed Christians, namely in the Christian regions of the Ore Mountains and Eichsfeld , did without this celebration. The one-year preparation for the youth consecration had to be carried out in monthly youth hours within the school framework. Part of the celebration, which took place in the presence of the invited relatives, was a vow by the youth consecration, in which they had to acknowledge their commitment to the GDR, socialism and proletarian internationalism. The official part was followed by celebrations with family and friends.

The SED superiors had less success than at the youth consecration with their - albeit more cautiously operated - campaign for socialist naming , which was to replace Christian baptism , combined with a confession of parents and, if necessary, godparents, the offspring in the spirit to educate socialism. The initiative launched in 1958, which barely a quarter of the target group has ever followed, only met with much less response from the 1970s onwards.

Dealing with religions

From an ideological point of view, religion and belief - according to Karl Marx, "the opium of the people " - were relics of a backward social order for the SED regime that had to be overcome. There was a strict separation between church and state for the education system that was supposed to make young people “socialist personalities” . For this reason, too, the anti-church state repression was particularly massive against the Young Community . Nonetheless, in 1950 the GDR had a population of 80.4 percent Protestant and eleven percent Catholic Christians, who were needed to rebuild the country. At that time the 1.2 million people who stated that they did not belong to any denomination were still in the single-digit percentage range. In 1945 the Soviet military administration in Germany (SMAD) showed consideration for the Christian churches by not including church property in the land reform . The SMAD also left the denazification of its employees to the churches themselves. However, the SED saw little reason to spare smaller religious communities: at least 12 of them were banned and their members were severely persecuted.

In everyday life, the SED's program of secularization was promoted beyond the examples of youth consecration and socialist naming. For example, Christmas was never about to be abolished; but efforts were made to conceptually break it out of the Christian context and rededicate it to the Christmas of Peace . Were Christmas celebrations in factories for years graduations Christmas money, year-end bonus . The fact that the process of secularization was actually progressing in the GDR was shown by the declining number of those who identified themselves as confessional: in 1989 it was still around six million, around a third of society.

The first Catholic community center in a new development area in Mecklenburg (1983)

Its own precarious situation between toleration and deliberate marginalization by the GDR authorities, which until the mid-1980s was reflected in constantly decreasing church baptisms, marriages, confirmations and burials, brought the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR to the ambiguous (and variable interpreted by the participants) formula “Church in Socialism” . The main concern of the church leadership was to avoid confrontation with the state to ensure that the state leadership respected the internal church autonomy and accepted events such as religious instruction, church services, church days, pilgrimages or youth meetings. However, since not all church people were ready to keep such a standstill agreement, tensions within the church remained.

The persistent special position of the Christian churches in the GDR was until the end that they were the only major institutions that “could act independently and independently of the SED and at the same time remained oriented towards the whole of Germany as institutions beyond the construction of the Wall”, says Kowalczuk. “The churches looked like places that had stood the test of time, like museums or architectural monuments, and the SED would have been happy if people had only perceived them as such,” says Stefan Wolle. "But long before the vigils on the doors and the stormy protests in the overcrowded ships of the churches, it was clear to everyone that the omnipotence of the state ended here."

Art and artists

Bronze sculpture The Step of the Century by Wolfgang Mattheuer at its previous location, the courtyard of the coach stable in Potsdam

The model for artistic creation in the GDR prescribed by the SED leadership was socialist realism . There was also art in different styles that differed from this; but it was hardly promoted. The party line given in each case provided the scope defined by the censors within which painting, sculpture, writing and music were to develop their effect. Since many artistically ambitious people did not accept such restrictions on their creative and creative aspirations, there were phases of increasing pressure and those with relative relaxation in the GDR art scene, in addition to latent tensions. For trained artists, painters, actors, musicians, architects, art and cultural scientists as well as museum employees who behaved according to the guidelines, there was a secure, state-financed income in the GDR.

From the anti-fascist cultural association to the Bitterfelder Weg

Immediately after the end of the war , the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) set the course for a new cultural life in its zone of occupation . Initially the plan was to overcome and replace the Nazi relics by an alliance of anti-fascists and bourgeois intelligentsia. By ordinance of the SMAD of May 13, 1945, “deserving scholars, engineers, cultural and artistic workers” were equated with “hard workers and workers in health care companies” in the food supply on cards. In June, classes were resumed at individual schools in Berlin, but in West Germany it took more than a year in some cases. Just one day before the arrival of the Western Allies in their sectors of Berlin , the “Cultural Association for the Democratic Renewal of Germany” was founded on July 3, 1945 in the large broadcasting hall at the Berlin radio tower .

From October 1945 the Kulturbund was on the air on the Berlin radio , and from July 1946 it published the weekly magazine Sonntag for cultural politics, art and entertainment. With the spread of these media, the number of members of the Kulturbund grew rapidly to over 45,000 in July 1946 and over 150,000 in December 1949. The first general German art exhibition from August to October 1946 in Dresden seemed to signal openness to artistic forms of expression Works by Max Beckmann , Paul Klee , Käthe Kollwitz , Oskar Schlemmer and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff were on display. The majority of the public reacted negatively to the expressionist part of the exhibition.

Before the founding of the SED in February 1946 , Anton Ackermann commented on the KPD's art and cultural-political “mission” : “The freedom for the scientist to pursue the research path he considers right, the freedom for the artist, the design Choosing the form that he himself considers to be the only artistic one should remain untouched. So what is right or wrong should not be judged hastily and in an amateurish way. [...] But if any pseudo-artist comes here to tear up rumors about humanism, freedom and democracy or the idea of ​​a community of nations, then he should feel the 'healthy popular feeling' just as sensitively as the pseudoscientist who works with others, but no less reprehensible means should try the same. Here the limits of freedom are drawn, beyond which to go would mean the death of all freedom and democracy. "

Sergei Prokofjew (left) with Dmitri Schostakowitsch and Aram Chatschaturjan (right), 1940

In November 1948, an article in the Daily Rundschau introduced the expansion of the Soviet anti-formalism campaign in the GDR, which dominated the art-political discourse for the next five years and had a lasting impact on GDR cultural policy. The formalism verdict, which in the Soviet Union initially specifically affected newer music, for example by Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev , was soon extended to all genres. In January 1951, the “tendencies of decay and decomposition, of mysticism and symbolism” as well as “vulgar naturalism” were again complained about in the Daily Rundschau. There was talk of the end of painting with reference to “stereometric figures, lines, points and other nonsense in the form of a cube”. Allegedly the representatives of such absurd painting hid behind Picasso , who, as is well known, painted not a few important pictures in the realistic style, e.g. B. his dove as a symbol of peace. Picasso's formalistic contortions, on the other hand, represent a waste of his extraordinary talent. Degeneration and decomposition are characteristic of a “society going into the grave”. For a rising class, on the other hand, it is a matter of representing the beauty of a newly emerging social order, "the new relationships between people and the new people themselves."

The Central Committee resolution of March 17, 1951 against formalism and cosmopolitanism stated, among other things: “The Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party considers the time has come to prepare the State Commission for Art Affairs, whose main task is to guide the work of the theaters and the state institutions for music , Dance and song, which will be institutes of the fine arts and art colleges and technical schools. ”The best way for artists to portray life in its upward movement is through the study of Marxism-Leninism .

Erwin Strittmatter at the first Bitterfeld Conference, April 24, 1959

The direction that GDR art and culture should have taken from the point of view of the SED leadership was programmatically marked by Walter Ulbricht in his speech at the first Bitterfeld conference to writers, brigades of socialist work and cultural workers in April 1959. The Bitterfeld chemical workers developed loudly Ulbricht is one of the most progressive people, "the type of socialist worker". In addition to their continuous training in specialist books, they also increasingly dealt with aesthetic literature. “The members of the brigades of socialist labor are not only acquiring a high level of specialist knowledge, but have also begun to storm the heights of culture.” Ulbricht called on the writers to study and work out the solution to major production tasks in collaboration with workers and technical intelligence.

The aim of the guideline, which was called the Bitterfeld Way after the congress , was to fix artistic and literary work to the world of work and to awaken artistic potential among workers and other laypeople. But, according to Hermann Raum , the administrative enforcement of this policy immediately demolished the approach, which was initially perceived as positive by many artists. In the favor of the SED leadership, for example, the painter Heinrich Witz, who had had a contract with IG-Wismut since February 1959 , in which he committed himself to "the movement of the working people of SDAG Wismut in their endeavors to form socialist communities, to support with all artistic means. ”His fee was 1,000 marks a month and should be offset against the purchase of paintings.

Between the building of the wall and Ulbricht's disempowerment

A large number of writing workers' collectives, painting circles, theater and cabaret groups, financially and organisationally sponsored by companies, unions and cultural institutions, set out on the Bitterfelder Weg. The construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 was also supported by well-known GDR intellectuals such as Stephan Hermlin . Against Heiner Müller soon premiered comedy The Umsiedlerin or Life in the country , by the cultural bureaucracy as counterrevolutionary was massacred and anti-humanist, you went with all hardness before: The author was expelled from the Writers' Union, the director BK Tragelehn for a year " sent to production for probation ”.

Shortly before the second Bitterfeld Conference in March 1964, Franz Fühmann distanced himself in a balanced way from the Bitterfelder Weg in a letter to the Minister of Culture. He would not write the “company novel” expected of him; he doesn't know the workers enough for that, despite long stays and “first nice and deep experiences”: “You go to a brigade and another, and another, and another - not much comes out of it.” The sculptors stopped during the event Fritz Cremer and the painter Bernhard Heisig made unintended pleadings for the artist to take responsibility for other requirements. Debates in this regard were, however, prevented by party forces and the publication of the unpopular speeches, contrary to other practice, was omitted. But afterwards the representatives of the Leipzig painting school Heisig, Wolfgang Mattheuer and Werner Tübke remained largely undeterred on their course away from socialist idealism towards symbols, allegories and subtle metaphors , including stylistic devices of Expressionism and Verism . A research report to the Ministry of Culture saw it as the "expression of a grown subjectivity". Hermann Raum, who had rejected the SED view of the "reactionary class-bond" of the design means of the modern age at this congress of the artists' association, thinks in retrospect that "the spokesmen of power" had to "quickly and inconspicuously" acquire some of the critic's theses , "So that we can continue to have a say."

Willi Sitte, self-portrait with tube and hard hat, 1984

In the mid-1960s, the painter Willi Sitte, on the other hand, turned completely to the SED guidelines and gave up dealing with topics such as Lidice or Stalingrad in order to pursue the future-oriented struggle to build socialism - as Ulbricht had already called for artists in 1948 to support. An example of this was Willi Sitte's painting Der Rufer (1964), "which, with the New Germany in hand, addresses the viewer directly following the pattern of appellative agit-prop art." For Hermann Raum, however, Sitte's work in the 1960s and 70s also continued " Standards for variety of topics, complexity, new image forms and increased expression. "

Wolf Biermann on December 1, 1989 in Leipzig

In December 1965, Erich Honecker turned for the SED Politburo against “harmful tendencies and attitudes alien to socialism”, including in DEFA film art. “The truth of social development,” says Honecker, is often not captured. “Collective groups and leaders of the party and state often face the individual as cold and alien power.” Of course, one is not opposed to the portrayal of conflicts and contradictions as they appear in the construction of socialism. What is important is “the partisan standpoint of the artist in the political and aesthetic evaluation of reality.” The orientation towards “the summation of errors, shortcomings and weaknesses” for the purpose of raising doubts about the politics of the GDR, such as that spread by Wolf Biermann , is not acceptable : "With his cynical verses written by opposing positions, Biermann betrays not only the state that made his highly qualified education possible, but also the life and death of his father who was murdered by the fascists."

In line with Honecker's film criticism, the 1966 film Spur der Steine ​​was discontinued and banned . The Ministry of Culture initially classified it as “particularly valuable” and 56 copies were to be released in cinemas, but after the intervention of the Leipzig SED leader Paul Fröhlich, it was panned has been. Instead of a positive review that was already ready for printing, a review appeared in Neues Deutschland which said: “In contradiction to reality, members of the working class party are almost without exception portrayed as indecisive people or opportunists who lag behind the demands of life and not the new capture. […] The film does not capture the ethos, the political-moral force of the party of the working class and the ideas of socialism, but instead brings scenes on the screen that rightly aroused indignation in the audience. "

Alternating looseness and hardening

With the replacement of Ulbricht by Honecker at the head of the SED and GDR in spring 1971, partly under the sign of relaxation of the East-West conflict and German-German relations, an opening signal was also to be set in terms of cultural policy. At the 8th party congress of the SED in June 1971, Honecker wooed artists and writers with the assurance that the party “showed full understanding for the creative search for new forms.” He called for people to use their own means of expression “on the character of the socialist To orient the personality of our time. ”On the occasion of the 4th ZK conference in December of the same year, Honecker added:“ If one starts from the firm position of socialism, in my opinion there can be no taboos in the field of art and literature. This applies to questions of content design as well as style - in short: the questions of what is called artistic mastery. "

The relative loosening that was promised and perceived as progress ended at the latest with the sudden expatriation of Wolf Biermann in November 1976. For Stefan Wolle, this case was the “acid test for Honecker's half-hearted liberalization policy”. The fact that Biermann always confessed to being a Marxist and a communist made him appear particularly dangerous in the eyes of the SED leadership. In the New Germany it was said to justify the expatriation that Biermann had done the measure in his Cologne concert with hatred, slander and insults “against our socialist state and its citizens”. He had "consciously and constantly violated the duty of loyalty to the state, which is connected with citizenship."

Manfred Krug in a duet with Etta Cameron (1970)

The protest expressed by numerous writers, artists and supporters across the country against Biermann's expatriation led to the SED regime once again putting the range of its instruments of repression into position - including imprisonments, which mainly affected lesser-known GDR citizens. “When the sanctions ended, some, the strangers, were either in jail or suffered professional and financial disadvantages; Most of the more or less prominent figures had only lost their honorary posts and were, if they belonged to the party, punished in different ways by the party for the same offense. ”To the protesters, who then saw no perspective for themselves in the GDR , belonged to the actor and jazz musician Manfred Krug . He justified his application to leave the country in April 1977 with the disadvantages he had experienced for a long time due to his friendship with Biermann, with the unfounded refusals of his appearances and engagements as well as with slander spread against him. “The isolation achieved by such means is painful. First acquaintances forego visits; when the year-end bonus was paid out, five in DEFA dared to shake hands with me; [...] a Berlin civics teacher tells her students that actors sell their opinions for money; [...] at a forum in Potsdam it is publicly stated that I am an enemy of the state and a traitor to the working class. I never was and never will be. ”From then on, granting permission to leave the country presented itself to the SED as a way of getting rid of prominent critics from within. Although individual artists had already left the GDR for the west, this became a constant practice until the end of the state.

In the meantime, the state-expected and promoted corporate cultural life went on its regular course, as for example the culture and education plan of the trade union group locksmiths in the VEB Neptun shipyard Rostock from 1970 shows. Accordingly, among other things, the “most important new publications of our socialist literature as well as works of world literature and classical heritage” should be conveyed and “this year 90 percent of our collective should be won over as permanent readers”; Interesting performances by the Rostock Volkstheater were to be attended together and with wives and a number of colleagues were to be won over for permanent subscriptions; “Discussions about major television games and films will be part of our intellectual and cultural life. […] On the occasion of the public accountability of the economic-cultural performance comparison between the Neptun-Werft and the Warnow-Werft, the artistic talents of our collective will introduce themselves. [...] In our brigade diary we will report on the work, life and development of our collective and of our individual colleagues. "

According to the resolution of the Central Council of the FDJ on February 16, 1978, the songs of the FDJ singing clubs - “a tool in socialist construction and a weapon in the anti-imperialist struggle, a bridge of international solidarity and a mirror of our socialist humanity” - spanned a wide range “from passionate confession to real life Socialism up to the self-confident claim to life in all its diversity. […] We sing about the hospitality of a Siberian collective farm and the work on the Druzhba route, the MPi Kalschnikow and the indispensability of the apprentices, '10 angry drivers' and 'Erna's pub'. And we have entire singing programs, pieces and cantatas, such as 'Manne Klein' with the beautiful fatherland song, the 'integration program', 'being a teacher', the 'peasant war program', 'Made in GDR' or the 'love layer'. The songs have become concrete, complex and demanding, as rich in thoughts and feelings as our present. "

Western beat , pop and rock music was still largely frowned upon by the GDR superiors in the 1960s and was only allowed with conditions: 60 percent of the publicly performed music had to come from the GDR or Eastern Europe, 40 percent were allowed to be taken over from the Be west. At the same time, rock and blues culture became a mass movement in the 1970s -80s, which the SED and FDJ could no longer ignore . The Puhdys , in particular, achieved great popularity in the GDR, some of which were songs such as Go to Her , When a Man Lives or Old Like a Tree .

Between self-assertion, rebellion and departure

In spite of diversifying their means of influence and exclusion, the Kullturobrigkeit succeeded less and less in bringing prominent artists and writers in the GDR to the party line. Sighard Gilles at the 8th art exhibition in Dresden 1978/79 presented the diptych Brigadefeier – Gerüstbauer was thematically in the classic spectrum of expectations of GDR art, but it sparked indignation because neither the alcohol-soaked mood of the brigade celebrations depicted nor the beer bellies of sweating scaffolders invited positive identification, but pushed forward into taboo zones of such an unacceptable socialist realism.

After two decades of artistic engagement, particularly with aspects of the division of Germany, Ralf Winkler, who had meanwhile adopted the stage name AR Penck , left the GDR in August 1980 "after a long, grueling scuffle with the cultural bureaucracy". His aim was to paint pictures that functioned as signals, detached from the painter and his studio. "For him, his stick figures are an expression of pictorial thinking, a means of depicting the process-like and fundamental principles of a society," explains Eckhart Gillen. With his understanding of art, which relied on analysis and empiricism, free from appearance and illusion, he saw himself as a socialist and realist, as his last letters to the Association for Fine Arts of the GDR showed; but instead of realism and analysis, says Gillen, "the functionaries preferred idealism and appearance."

In 1982 Tübke (left) explains the 1:10 version of the Peasants' War panorama to members of the Politburo in the Albertinum

In the 1980 conception of the IX. Art exhibition of the GDR was once again promised "an even clearer expression of the combative character of our art" and "the representation of the worker in the production process as well as the image of the class in the service of socialist national defense." The opening of the exhibition in October 1982 proved, according to Raum however, the “ungovernability” of the GDR art scene, since the majority of the exhibiting artists disregarded the aforementioned requirements. Also Tübke 1:10 scale-presented draft of the giant round image for the Peasants' War Memorial Bad Frankenhausen "called provocative the level of education and understanding of history of the contracting state officials heaus." The coordinated by the Ministry of Culture with the SED Politburo order on Early Bourgeois Revolution had been granted in 1975; The opening ceremony of the Peasants 'War panorama on September 14, 1989 made "the culmination of the given by the state in order history painting in the GDR and also its postmodern' questioning."

Also detached from the party-official, deterministic reading of history, Raum interprets Wolfgang Mattheuer's sculpture, first shown in 1985, The Step of the Century : "The disparate, in its parts diverging world, aggressive and endangered, advancing, but where to?" On October 7, 1988 Mattheuer declared his departure from the party the SED. He feels co-responsibility “in the narrow as well as in the wide” and does not think of delegating it upwards, devaluing himself as a follower. "I can't cheer and I can't say 'yes' where there is grief and resignation, lack and decay, corruption and cynicism, where unscrupulous exploitative industrialism so heavily depress life and where every change is programmatically excluded today and for the future."

Hein speaks at the large demonstration in Berlin on November 4, 1989

At the Xth Writers' Congress in November 1987, Christoph Hein tackled state censorship head on: “The censorship is anti-popular. It is an offense against the so often mentioned and vaunted wisdom of the people. ”To let an official decide what is wholesome for a people, what is unreasonable, stands for arrogance and the arrogance of the offices. Censorship is incompatible with the GDR constitution and harmful to the reputation of the GDR.

The theater scene was also familiar with conflicts with censorship. The Berliner Ensemble under the direction of Bertolt Brecht and the German Theater were the internationally known theaters of the GDR. In the 1980s, theater people also gained more freedom from the censorship officers, for example by performing plays that had been banned for many years. It is no coincidence that theaters became meeting points for critical discussion of the SED regime in the autumn of 1989, be it through involvement in demonstrations and rallies, through political demands being read out or public socio-political discussions taking place in theaters.

The professional cabaret experienced constant close support from censorship officers and employees of the State Security. The last time there were 13 professional cabarets in the GDR, the ensembles of which consisted mostly of trained actors. “Anyone who was once engaged and was not guilty of anything serious could become a satirical officer for life. And even if the programs were banned, the fee continued. ”The censorship exercised by the local party offices and state cultural administrations did not judge strictly in the same way:“ What was already regarded as pure counterrevolution in Berlin could still be allowed in Dresden or Leipzig ", testifies Peter Ensikat in retrospect and gives examples of how the dispute with the censorship was partly carried out:" As a precaution, some scenes that you suspected would be banned immediately were not submitted and later claimed that it was only created at the last minute and can therefore only be shown on the acceptance test. […] There sat in the auditorium doggedly listening cultural officials who were afraid of not hearing a hostile sentence. And on the stage stood insecure cabaret performers who tried to mumble away particularly explosive passages of the text or - if it was a musical number - put in one or the other dance step to distract from the bad text. Letting the wrong program go through could cost the censors their jobs. In addition to professional cabarets, there were hundreds of amateur cabarets in companies, schools and universities that could not be strictly monitored in the same way.

Subcultures in the GDR

In addition to the cultural operation in the GDR, which was covered by the SED leadership claim and the work of the censorship, and was often dependent on government contracts and funds, there was an increasing number of artistic activities that were only organized and presented in private circles. “It was teeming with poets who had never published a poem, with painters whose pictures were not in any exhibition,” writes Stefan Wolle, “with philosophers whose thoughts blossomed in secret because no publisher wanted to publish them. This did not affect their fame in the scene - on the contrary. It was a passport of quality, not being printed anywhere, since in their eyes the censorship only allowed nonsense and lies to pass. ”Even in the simplest living conditions, no one saw himself as a failure. Rather, those who had become established in the system were considered poor failures in this milieu. A subculture that largely refused to accept the hierarchies and mechanisms of the GDR system did not only exist in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg in the 1980s . "Even the dilapidated demolition districts of Dresden Neustadt, in the east of Leipzig or in the Giebichenstein district of Halle became biotopes of free life."

In many places, says Kowalczuk, who writes of a "second culture", there have been readings in private apartments with more than a hundred participants, as well as independent theaters without fixed stages and Super 8 film art screenings. "Many unadapted people moved to rural areas, where they settled on half-ruined farms."

Variants of youth culture

In addition to literature, especially in music, “a subversive counterforce to officially sponsored” developed, says Kowalczuk. As in the West, among the adolescents in the GDR there was - with a certain time lag - the milieus of hippies , bluesers , punks , skinheads and poppers , who, as unadjusted, represented a provocation to be combated by the SED regime. These groups formed only small minorities among the GDR youth. But their increasingly open rejection of conditions in the GDR contributed to the weakening of the system. According to Kowalczuk, GDR socialism increasingly lost its youth and thus its future basis in the 1980s.

Rock and punk musicians as well as songwriters played in cellars, backyards and sometimes in churches without a state examination or permission to play (“cardboard”). Gambling bans were often circumvented with renaming and pseudonyms. The usual means of state repression failed against this scene; Although prison sentences were still imposed on opponents in the 1980s, the unadjusted were now mostly allowed to go.

Diverse opposition culture

In more or less open opposition to the guiding principles and guidelines of the state party were not only idiosyncratic artists, writers and the subcultural music scene, but also civil rights groups dealing with peace , women's , human rights and environmental problems . These groups were under close observation by the State Security with the aim of breaking them up. They often found support and shelter in Protestant parishes, which for their part were in a precarious relationship with the GDR state power.

By exerting pressure on the church leadership, the SED leadership tried to keep the various expanding opposition currents under control. However, when it became clear that the Soviet Union under Gorbachev would no longer guarantee the repression of the opposition in the GDR with its own military means under the sign of glasnost and perestroika , the SED regime came to an end.

An overview of other aspects of GDR culture

Women in fine arts and poets

Tina Bara , Sonja Eschefeld , Ruthild Hahne , Angela Hampel , Doris Kahane , Yana Milev , Etha Richter , Mita Schamal , Cornelia Schleime , Gundula Schulze Eldowy , Anna Franziska Schwarzbach , Gabriele Stötzer , Karla Woisnitza and Doris Ziegler worked as visual artists . Well-known poets in the GDR were Annemarie Bostroem , Elke Erb , Sarah Kirsch and Gisela Steineckert .

Selection of sights and works of art that were created in the GDR


No longer existing sights

Cultural political events in the Soviet occupation zone in 1945

Cultural political events in the Soviet occupation zone in 1946

  • January 17th to January 18th: Conference of the theater experts of Saxony in Dresden , where Herbert Gute gave a lecture on the tasks of the theater.
  • January 20 to February 25: The universities in Berlin (January 20), University of Halle-Wittenberg (February 1), Leipzig (February 5), Greifswald (February 15) and Rostock (February 25) as well as the Bergakademie Freiberg (February 8th) resumed their teaching activities.
  • January 21: The publishing house Die Wirtschaft started its activities.
  • January 22nd: The training at the college for librarians in Berlin began with the first short course.
  • January 23rd: Order of the SMAD on the opening and operation of adult education centers.
  • January 28th: Association of the German Press founded as an organization affiliated to the FDGB .
  • February 1: The statutes for public libraries were established.
  • February 12: List of books to be retired. Department for popular education in the city council of Berlin.
  • February 12: An ordinance issued by the state administration of Saxony on the establishment of preparatory courses for studying at universities.
  • February 18: The first edition of the weekly newsreel Der Augenzeuge came to the movie theaters .
  • March 9th: Reopening of the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden .
  • May 5th: Mitteldeutscher Verlag in Halle (Saale) was founded.
  • May 8th to May 12th: Leipzig Peace Fair , during which the first Leipzig Book Fair took place.
  • May 10: "Free Book Day" in memory of the book burning of May 10, 1933.
  • May 13: The Allied Control Council ordered the confiscation of literature and works of a National Socialist and militarist character.
  • May 17th: Deutsche Film AG (DEFA) was founded in Potsdam-Babelsberg .
  • May 19 to June 30: First major art exhibition after the Second World War in Berlin in the armory on Unter den Linden, organized by the German Administration for National Education.
  • May 25th: State University for Music in Weimar opened (since October 22, 1956 University of Music "Franz Liszt" Weimar).
  • May 29: First performance of Leonid Rachmanov's play “Stormy Evening” at the Deutsches Theater Berlin . It was directed by Gustav von Wangenheim . The main actors were Gustaf Gründgens , Angelika Hurwicz , Gerda Müller and Paul Wegener .
  • May 31: Announcement by the state administration of Saxony regarding the abolition of reading fees in the public libraries.
  • June 9: Reopening of the Schumann Museum in the Zwickau City Museum . The State Beethoven String Quartet from Moscow was present as a guest at the opening ceremony .
  • June 14: Foundation of the Leipzig commission and wholesale book trade , from which the wholesale book trade in the GDR developed.
  • June 18: Order No. 177 from SMAD to return museum values ​​and reopen museums.
  • June 23 to August 31: 1st exhibition of art from the Erzgebirge in Freiberg , which took place annually until 1950.
  • June: The magazine Die Weltbühne appears again first half-monthly, from 1948 weekly.
  • July 1st: Order from SMAD to reopen the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin , whose activities began on August 1st; the publishing house technology and the publishing house for women was founded.
  • July 6th: Opening of the Central Museum of Saxony. In Pillnitz Castle , holdings from the Dresden New Masters Gallery and the German section of the Old Masters Picture Gallery were shown.
  • July 7: The cultural-political weekly newspaper “ Sonntag ” was published by the Kulturbund.
  • July 12th: The Märkisches Museum reopens as the first museum in Berlin.
  • July: The monthly magazine "Theater der Zeit" appeared.
  • August 1st: The German Academy of Sciences (AdW) in Berlin resumed its activities; the first summer course at the Palucca School in Dresden began.
  • August 6th: The Exchange Association of German Booksellers in Leipzig resumed its activities with the first head of the department, Ernst Reclam , on the basis of a license from SMAD on June 21st .
  • August 15: The formation of the general management of the broadcasting stations in the Soviet Zone. Hans Mahle was appointed general manager .
  • August 15 to August 17: 1st Pedagogical Congress in Berlin.
  • August 25: The "Börsenblatt für den Deutsche Buchhandel", founded in Leipzig in 1834, appeared again.
  • August 25 to October 31: 1st General German Art Exhibition in Dresden. For the first time after the Second World War, around 600 works of art by 250 artists from Germany will be exhibited. 74,000 visitors saw the exhibition.
  • August 26: The Club of cultural workers in the former club of Berlin in the Hunter Street was opened.
  • August 30th: Circular decree of the provincial administration of the Mark Brandenburg for the protection of cultural and artistic assets in the case of confiscated and sequestered property.
  • August - September: Leipzig art exhibition in the Natural History Museum Leipzig.
  • September 1st: Reopening of the Weimar University of Architecture and Fine Arts with the director Hermann Henselmann .
  • October 1: Reopening of the German State Library in Berlin; Reopening of the Dresden University of Technology; Reopening of the University of Music in Leipzig (since November 4, 1968 University of Music "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig).
  • October 4th: Opening of the rebuilt Kammerspiele of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin with the play "Captain Brassboud's Conversion" by George Bernard Shaw , directed by Gustaf Gründgens and the leading actress Käthe Dorsch .
  • October 4 to October 6: First meeting of librarians in Berlin.
  • October 10: Foundation of the General German Intelligence Service (ADN), which on April 2, 1953 was transformed into the GDR's state news office by a government decree.
  • October 15: The first DEFA film “ The murderers are among us ” was shown. It was directed by Wolfgang Staudte ; The main actors were Ernst Wilhelm Borchert , Hildegard Knef and Arno Paulsen .
  • October 26th to October 31st: Saxon Artists' Congress in Dresden following the 1st German Art Exhibition. Lectures on the development of the new art development were given by Alexander Dymschitz , Ilja Fradkin , Hans Grundig , Herbert Gute and Sergei Tjulpanow .
  • October 27 to November 24: Exhibition of Berlin Artists in Potsdam .
  • October: First exhibition of artists from abroad in Berlin after 1945. Works of French painting from impressionism to the present were shown.
  • November 9th: Theater der Junge Welt in Leipzig opens as the first theater in Germany to play for school children; Reopening of teaching at the Burg Giebichstein Art School - workshops of the city of Halle.
  • November 10th: Opening of the rebuilt Schillerhaus in Weimar.
  • November: Guest performance of the Soviet State Choir under the direction of Alexander Sveshnikov .
  • December 9th: The Neues Leben publishing house was founded as the FDJ publishing house .
  • December 19: A publishers' conference in Berlin. The main speech was given by Erich Weinert .
  • December 23: The Akademie-Verlag Berlin was founded as the publishing house of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin.
  • December: An exhibition of Lusatian artists in Bautzen .
  • Further art exhibitions: Personal exhibitions by Heinrich Burkhardt , Hermann Glöckner and Hans Theo Richter .

See also

literature

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ Article 18 of the Constitution of the GDR (1968)
  2. ↑ Otto Grotewohl: The art in the fight for Germany's future. Speech on the appointment of the State Commission for Cultural Affairs on August 31, 1951, in: Elimar Schubbe (Ed.): Documents on Art, Literature and Cultural Policy of the SED , Stuttgart, 1972, pp. 205–209, here: p. 208 .
  3. ↑ Stefan Wolle : The big plan. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1949–1961 . Berlin 2013, p. 136.
  4. ↑ Quoted from Wolfgang Emmerich : Die Literatur der DDR. In: Wolfgang Beutin and others: German history of literature. From the beginning to the present. Eighth, updated and expanded edition, Stuttgart and Weimar 2013, p. 530.
  5. ↑ Kretschmann 2012, p. 79 f.
  6. ↑ Peter Huebner : The brigade celebration. In: Martin Sabrow (Ed.) 2009, p. 242 f.
  7. ↑ Regina Mönch : The women's day. In: Martin Sabrow (Ed.) 2009, p. 149.
  8. ↑ Regina Mönch : The women's day. In: Martin Sabrow (Ed.) 2009, p. 150 f.
  9. ↑ Stefan Wolle: The ideal world of dictatorship. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1971–1989. Munich 1999, p. 301 (quote) to 309.
  10. ↑ Henning Schulze: "... happiness for everyone" considerations on the budget of ideas in the socialist city. In: Marcus Böick, Anja Hertel, Franziska Kuschel (eds.): From another country before our time. A reading tour through GDR history. Berlin 2012, p. 61 f.
  11. ↑ Adelheid von Saldern : The plate. In: Martin Sabrow (Ed.) 2009, p. 302 f. and 306.
  12. ^ Peter Ensikat: Popular GDR errors. A lexicon from A – Z. Berlin 2008, p. 148.
  13. ↑ Adelheid von Saldern : The plate. In: Martin Sabrow (Ed.) 2009, p. 304 f. and 307.
  14. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 67: What did the GDR people see when they watched TV? ) Munich 2009, p. 102.
  15. ^ Journal database (ZDB): Interest group letter .
  16. ^ Peter Ensikat: Popular GDR errors. A lexicon from A – Z. Berlin 2008, p. 149.
  17. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 51: Where did people spend their vacation? ) Munich 2009, p. 84.
  18. ↑ Christopher Görlich: The Baltic Sea. In: Martin Sabrow (Ed.) 2009, p. 326 f.
  19. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 56: Why was nudism so popular? ) Munich 2009, p. 90.
  20. ↑ Stefan Wolle : The big plan. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1949–1961 . Berlin 2013, p. 11.
  21. ↑ Stefan Wolle : The big plan. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1949–1961 . Berlin 2013, p. 12. “Nobody thought that was ridiculous,” notes Wolle, “neither the political celebrities who were called up on the occasion, nor the lovers of the delicious roast chicken.” (Ders. Ibid.)
  22. ↑ Stefan Wolle : The big plan. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1949–1961 . Berlin 2013, p. 14 f.
  23. ↑ Quoted from Stefan Wolle : The great plan. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1949–1961 . Berlin 2013, p. 156.
  24. ↑ Participation in the youth consecration increased from 18 percent of all 14-year-olds in 1955 to 44 percent in 1958 and 80 percent in 1959 to 98 to 99 percent from the 1970s onwards. (Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 56: Why were there churches in the GDR at all? ) Munich 2009, p. 112)
  25. ↑ Marina Chauliac: The youth consecration. In: Martin Sabrow (Ed.) 2009, p. 162.
  26. ↑ Stefan Wolle : The big plan. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1949–1961 . Berlin 2013, p. 354 f. and 357-359. "The ritual never really became popular, appeared less and less in public statements, and attempts to establish socialist baptism were secretly abandoned by the 1970s at the latest." (Ibid., P. 359)
  27. ↑ Ines Lange notes that the execution of name consecrations largely depended on the commitment of individual registry offices. "The numbers remained relatively stable where there was the possibility of holding such a celebration in small groups or individually per family." (Ines Lange: From the cradle to the grave. On the history of socialist celebrations for birth, marriage and death in the GDR . In: Kulturation 1/2004; accessed on March 23, 2014.)
  28. ↑ Stefan Wolle: The ideal world of dictatorship. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1971–1989. Munich 1999, p. 411.
  29. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 56: Why were there churches in the GDR at all? ) Munich 2009, pp. 112–114.
  30. ↑ Stefan Wolle : The big plan. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1949–1961 . Berlin 2013, p. 362 f.
  31. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 56: Why were there churches in the GDR at all? ) Munich 2009, p. 113.
  32. ↑ Stefan Wolle: The ideal world of dictatorship. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1971–1989. Munich 1999, p. 415.
  33. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 56: What did the “Church in Socialism” want? ) Munich 2009, p. 114 f.
  34. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 56: Why were there churches in the GDR at all? ) Munich 2009, p. 113. “They were and remained an institutional bulwark with an independent legal tradition in and against communism - regardless of how individual pastors and parishes feel and church leaderships. "(Ibid.)
  35. ↑ Stefan Wolle: The ideal world of dictatorship. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1971–1989. Munich 1999, p. 410.
  36. ↑ Gillen 2009, p. 16.
  37. ↑ Gillen 2009, pp. 15 and 18.
  38. ↑ Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 294.
  39. ↑ Gillen 2009, p. 20.
  40. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 316.
  41. ↑ Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 295.
  42. ↑ Gillen 2009, p. 24.
  43. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 317.
  44. ↑ Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 318 f.
  45. ↑ Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 322.
  46. ↑ Room 2000, p. 16.
  47. ↑ Gillen 2009, p. 163.
  48. ↑ Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 298.
  49. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 324 f.
  50. ↑ Gillen 2009, p. 328 f.
  51. ↑ Raum 2000, p. 87. “The reinforcement of this dam breach with an analytical plea by Günter Feist in the “ Bildende Kunst ” for art and art history freed from dogmatic fetters was hidden from the public by the crushing of the whole issue, but the spirit of a reform of the art relations lived on. "(Ibid.)
  52. ↑ Gillen 2009, pp. 65 and 174.
  53. ↑ Room 2000, p. 88.
  54. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 326 f.
  55. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, pp. 299 and 327.
  56. ↑ Quoted from Gillen 2009, p. 353.
  57. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Hrsg.) 1998, p. 300. “That sounded new,” notes Judt, “but what Honecker put his finger on remained unclear: on the interpretable and enforceable 'fixed position' or on saying goodbye all taboos? "(Ibid.)
  58. ↑ Stefan Wolle: The ideal world of dictatorship. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1971–1989. Munich 1999, p. 401.
  59. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 328 f.
  60. ^ Günter de Bruyn : Forty years. A life story. Frankfurt am Main 1996, p. 215 f.
  61. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 340 f.
  62. ↑ Stefan Wolle: The ideal world of dictatorship. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1971–1989. Munich 1999, p. 402.
  63. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 338 f.
  64. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 341 f.
  65. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 69: Were the Puhdys "old like a tree"? ) Munich 2009, p. 104.
  66. ↑ Gillen 2009, p. 396.
  67. ↑ Room 2000, p. 197 f.
  68. ↑ Gillen 2009, pp. 195-200; Quotations p. 196 and 200.
  69. ↑ Room 2000, p. 199.
  70. ↑ Gillen 2009, p. 426 f. “The viewer senses, trapped in the rotunda of the panorama building: There is no escape from this world without a beginning and an end. The painter revises the linear Marxist model of progress which, with the transformation of feudalism into capitalism, had left behind the theory of the cycle of historical time, which had dominated until then. ”(Ibid., P. 428).
  71. ↑ Room 2000, p. 202.
  72. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 347.
  73. ↑ Quoted from Judt (Ed.) 1998, p. 361.
  74. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 65: What could be seen on the theater stages? ) Munich 2009, p. 99 f.
  75. ^ Peter Ensikat: Popular GDR errors. A lexicon from A – Z. Berlin 2008, p. 86.
  76. ^ Peter Ensikat: Popular GDR errors. A lexicon from A – Z. Berlin 2008, pp. 86-89.
  77. ↑ Stefan Wolle: The ideal world of dictatorship. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1971–1989. Munich 1999, p. 383.
  78. ↑ Stefan Wolle: The ideal world of dictatorship. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1971–1989. Munich 1999, p. 384 f.
  79. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 64: What was the “second culture”? ) Munich 2009, p. 98.
  80. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 68: Were there hippies, punks and skins? ) Munich 2009, p. 103.
  81. ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: The 101 most important questions - GDR. (No. 64: What was the “second culture”? ) Munich 2009, p. 98.
  82. ↑ Stefan Wolle: The ideal world of dictatorship. Everyday life and rule in the GDR 1971–1989. Munich 1999, p. 423 f. and 494 f.
  83. ^ Christian Gampert: Latent Feminist. Kunsthalle Mannheim shows works by rebellious GDR artists. In: Deutschlandradio Kultur, June 30, 2011
  84. ↑ INDYJANE: female artists in the gdr. art gallery mannheim. In: Friday, July 1st, 2011
  85. ^ Department for popular education in the city administration of Berlin: Directory of the literature to be sorted out . Berlin 1946, wisc.edu