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1 History of the relations between Ireland/ Northern Ireland and the GDR Ireland adopts the Hallstein doctrine Before embarking upon this journey in the archives of the Stasi, it is ecessary to give a picture on the relations between Ireland and the n former German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) to set the scene. After the defeat of Nazi Germany in May 1945, the Soviet Union occupied the eastern area of the country. Serious disagreements between the Western Allies and the Soviets led to the division of Germany which would last until 1990: in May
During the final decade of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), young citizens found themselves at the heart of a rigorous programme of socialist patriotic education, yet following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the emphasis of official state rhetoric, textbooks and youth activities changed beyond recognition. For the young generation growing up during this period, ‘normality’ was turned on its head, leaving a sense of insecurity and inner turmoil. Using a combination of archival research, interviews, educational materials and government reports, this book examines the relationship between young people and their two successive states in East(ern) Germany between 1979 and 2002. This time-span straddles the 1989/1990 caesura which often delimits historical studies, and thus enables not only a detailed examination of GDR socialisation, but, crucially, its influence in unified Germany. Exploring the extent to which a young generation's loyalties can be officially regulated in the face of cultural and historical traditions, changing material conditions and shifting social circumstances, the book finds GDR socialisation to be influential to post-unification loyalties through its impact on the personal sphere, rather than through the official sphere of ideological propaganda. This study not only provides insight into the functioning of the GDR state and its longer-term impact, but also advances our broader understanding of the ways in which collective loyalties are formed.
4 ‘When your neighbour changes his wallpaper’: The ‘Gorbachev factor’ and the collapse of the German Democratic Republic Peter Grieder The ‘Gorbachev factor’ Gorbachev and the collapse of the GDR Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) on 12 March 1985.1 His subsequent policies of glasnost (‘openness’) and perestroika (‘restructuring’) aimed to rejuvenate communism but ended up destroying it. This chapter will assess the part he played in the downfall of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), also
Introduction: Honecker’s Germany – a world of the past? The GDR lives on . . . (Good Bye Lenin!, 2003) The GDR exhaled its last breath on 3 October 1990, with the unification of the two German states. Its final year was one of intense emotion, turmoil and, ultimately, resignation; the one-time jewel in the Soviet crown disappeared from the map with few apparent mourners, and was expected by many to become little more than a footnote in history. Yet within less than a decade, the GDR had made a come-back, albeit repackaged to meet the consumer demands of
1 The parameters of patriotism In securing and further strengthening the alliance between the Soviet Union and the other states of the socialist community, [the working class and all working people] are promoting the development of the socialist German nation in the GDR . . . The socialist patriotism of the working class and all working people is revolutionary. (Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the GDR, 1978)1 We in Germany – today we say this with pride in our country, selfcritically but also self-confidently patriotic. We want to modernise and we want to
11 Popular music on East German television: Constructing the televisual pop community in the GDR Edward Larkey Popular music in the GDR media was always subject to intense political scrutiny so that Western influences, if they could not be prevented altogether, would at least be incorporated into discursive structures largely controlled by the ruling Socialist Unity Party (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands; SED). Before the 1970s, television programmes were supposed to help develop a musical alternative to capitalist pop music, to distance GDR music
2 Young people of the 1980s: a generation of loyal patriots? The young generation of today, which has been born into socialism and grown up under its influence, sees and self-confidently exploits its achievements on a daily basis. With full confidence in the party of the working class, the words and actions of this generation show that socialism will always exist on German soil and will continue to develop well. (Eberhard Aurich, First Secretary of the FDJ, June 1989)1 Speaking at the last Pedagogical Congress of the GDR, Eberhard Aurich typically demonstrated
emerged as the strongest party, once again demonstrating the popular desire to embrace the values of a new unified Germany. The formal conclusion of the GDR and the adoption of more apparently universal values did not, however, bring an end to division, and surveys from the 1990s revealed a growing divide between the populations of east and west.2 It is no surprise that this coincided with a growing number of problems in eastern Germany, such as high unemployment, economic inertia, environmental pollution and right-wing extremism; unification was far from the ready
9 Undercover: How the East German political system presented itself in television series Sascha Trültzsch and Reinhold Viehoff Entertainment: The significance of fictional programmes in GDR television The former East Germany – the German Democratic Republic, or GDR – was an authoritarian state governed by the Socialist Unity Party (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands; SED). The party and a network of affiliated institutions controlled all media and other forms of public communication. The avowed aim was to propagate the SED’s ideology and guidelines