Central working group - Happy holidays for all children

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The Central Working Group (ZAG) - Happy Holidays for All Children was an interest group that campaigned for the intensification of child social tourism in West Germany and West Berlin in the post-war years . She organized trips to the GDR . ZAG was founded in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1954 , and was then actively represented in the state committees in Bavaria , Baden-Württemberg , Lower Saxony , Hesse , Rhineland-Palatinate , Schleswig-Holstein , Hamburg , Bremen and Saarland . There were also connections to West Berlin.

Officially, the ZAG was a non-partisan, charitable association, although some members had communist roots and are now actively committed to the holiday recreation of children in the GDR. “In the Federal Republic of Germany there was not only fear that the children would be influenced by communism, but also that society in general would be infiltrated by communist cover organizations.” The fact is that the ZAG functionaries were instructed and supported by the SED and the GDR government. The holiday campaigns in the most beautiful holiday camps in the GDR were planned together.

On July 7, 1961, the ZAG was banned under Article 9, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany .

Activities and mode of operation

As an organization of social tourism, the ZAG mainly turned to large, unemployed and destitute families in West Germany and arranged for their children to have free or inexpensive vacations in holiday camps in the GDR. The invitations for the vacation stay came from the SED hosts, whose aim was to convince the children of the advantages of socialism. Children from the immediate environment of the KPD were not disproportionately represented. Against this propagandistic measure of the GDR was reacted accordingly in West Germany and the means for the child tourism were increased considerably.

For the many financially underprivileged West German families, the invitation from the GDR - z. B. to go on vacation at the Baltic Sea - a welcome affair. The living conditions in the two German states were still comparable in the post-war years. "For the GDR, this campaign was a successful propaganda coup in the competition between the systems."

In 1954, 20,400 children took part in the campaign, and in the following year over 64,000 children visited eastern Germany. In 1960 the number of travelers decreased to around 10,000. Contemporary witnesses have little recollection of the politicization of camp life; they primarily remember the adventures and sporting activities in the camp. Nevertheless, the different pedagogical approach that the children from the two German states were used to became visible.

For the supervisors (travel companions) who came from the Federal Republic, there was a systematic training in the GDR on the basis of the pedagogical principles of the communist system. In 1959, the GDR declared guidelines on the care of West German children and helpers during the holidays to be binding.

From 1961 until the political change in 1989 there were activities to invite West German children to GDR pioneer camps during the summer vacation. These holiday campaigns were mainly aimed at sympathizers of the GDR regime.

literature

  • Thomas Schaufuß: Holiday leisure time with games, sports and adventure. Child and youth social tourism. The company holiday camp in the GDR and its predecessors . OEZ Berlin Verlag, March 2017, ISBN 978-3-942437-28-8 .
  • Bild-Zeitung from July 19, 1954, article: 850 parents bluffed! Dizziness with vacation .
  • Rheinische Post from December 23, 1959, article: The special train .
  • Children's leisure in court . Die Tageszeitung Junge Welt, August 24, 2016. Accessed August 28, 2017.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Publication “Holiday Recuperation for School Age”. Justification and suggestions for a comprehensive holiday work, presented by: Central Working Group “Happy Holidays for All Children”, approx. 1954–1956, BArch DC 4/164, pp. 527–533
  2. ↑ Dr. Jens Niederhut: Happy holidays in the GDR. . Communism and Anti-Communism in the 1950s. State archive, North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf. Retrieved August 28, 2017
  3. ↑ Dr. Jens Niederhut: Happy holidays in the GDR. . Communism and Anti-Communism in the 1950s. State archive, North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf. Retrieved August 28, 2017
  4. ↑ Thomas Schaufuß: Holiday leisure time with games, sport and adventure Child and youth social tourism. The company holiday camp in the GDR and its predecessors. OEZ Berlin Verlag, March 2017, ISBN 978-3-942437-28-8 , document collection p. D64
  5. ↑ Thomas Schaufuß: Holiday leisure time with games, sport and adventure Child and youth social tourism. The company holiday camp in the GDR and its predecessors. OEZ Berlin Verlag, March 2017, ISBN 978-3-942437-28-8 , p. 108
  6. ↑ Red poison for children. . The background to the Pankow holiday campaign: a silent infiltration. Union in Germany, Information Service of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union, Bonn September 1, 1960, No. 35, p. 1/2. Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Retrieved August 28, 2017