Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 December 2008
I am very much indebted to Peter Hübner for his advice and support in the early stages of working on this article, to Inska Benes for her translation, and to the editors, particularly Guy Baldwin and Helmut Gruber, for their input and patience.
1. An English-language introduction to this debate is offered in Fulbrook, Mary, “New Historikerstreit, Missed Opportunities or New Beginning,” German History 12 (1994):203–7.Google Scholar
2. I orient myself closer to Alf Lüdtke's concept of Eigensinn than to GDR research that takes the repressive political system in a more narrow sense as its main starting point. Lüdtke, Alf, Eigen-Sinn. Fabrikalltag, Arbeitererfahrung und Politik vom Kaiserrich bis in den Faschismus (Hamburg, 1993).Google Scholar
3. Herbert, Ulrich, “Arbeiterschaft im ‘Dritten Reich:’ Zwischenbilanz und offene Fragen,” Geschichte und Gesellschaft 15 (1989):320–60;Google Scholar Timothy Mason, “The Containment of the Working Class in Nazi Germany,” in idem., Nazism, Fascism and the Working Class (Cambridge, 1995), 231–73; Niethammer, Lutz, ed., “Die Jahre Weiss man nicht, wo man die heute hintun soll:” Faschismuserfahrungen im Ruhrgebiet (Bonn, 1983).Google Scholar See also Lüdke, , Eigen-Sinn, 406ff;Google ScholarRoseman, Marc, “World War II and Social Change in Germany,” in Total War and Social Change. ed. Marwick, Arthur (London, 1988), 58–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. According to internal GDR opinion polls of youth, the mid-1970s were the high point of a positive identification with the GDR, less for political reasons and more due to economic strength and success in sports. See Friedrich, Walter, “Mentalitätswandlungen in der Jugend der DDR.” Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 16–17 (1990): 25–37.Google Scholar
5. I refer to my own earlier attempt to sketch an East German identity after the end of the GDR: Wierling, Dorothee, “Is There an East German Identity? Aspects of a Social History of the Soviet Zone/German Democratic Republic,” Jahrbuch für deutsche Geschichte (Tel Aviv, 1990), 193–207.Google ScholarWriting in 1970, Uwe Johnson looked with a clear and cold perspective on the still-successful GDR. Johnson, , “Versuch eine Mentalität zu erklären.” in Kopfbahnhof Almanach 2: Das falsche Dasein (Leipzig, 1990). 233–44.Google Scholar
6. Hübner, Peter, “Sozialgeschichte der Industriearbeiterschaft in der SBZ/DDR: Bemerkungen zu Forschungstendenzen in Deutschland seit 1989,” Jahrbuch für historische Kommunismusforschung (Berlin, 1993), 284–89. See the pertinent articles in Hartmut Kaeble.Google ScholarKocka, Juergen, and Zwahr, Hartmut, eds., Sozialgeschichte der DDR (Stuttgart, 1995).Google Scholar
7. Proclaimed as the “primary aim” at the 9th SED Party Day in 1976.
8. Zwahr, Hartmut. Ende einer Selbstzerstörung. Leipzig und die Revolution in der DDR (Goettingen, 1993), especially 11ff.Google Scholar
9. Campbell, Joan, Joy in Work—German Work (Princeton, 1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. See Thaa, Winfried, “Die legitimatorische Bedeutung des Arbeitsparadigmas in der DDR,” Politische Vierteljahresschrift 30 (1989):94–113.Google Scholar
11. See Garland, John, “The GDR's Strategy for ‘Intensification,’” Studies in Comparative Communism 20 (Spring 1987):3–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. In October 1965, for example, the following educational measures, among others, were recommended in the administrative district around Leipzig for the disciplining of young Beatles fans: “the unions are to combat work shirkers and flagrant violations against work discipline … those who do not pursue proper work are accordingly … to be taken to work camps.” Staatsarchiv Leipzig, Bestand SED-Bezirk. IV A2/16/464.
13. Arendt, Hanna, “A Report from Germany: The Aftermath of Nazi Rule, Commenary 10 (1950):342–52.Google Scholar
14. On the image of women, see especially Dölling, Irene, Der Mensch und sein Weib(Berlin. 1991), ch. 4;Google Scholar and Merkel, Ina, “Leitbilder und Lebensweisen von Frauen in der DDR,” in Sozialgeschichte der DDR, ed. Kaeble, Hartmut, Kocka, Juergen, and Zwahr, Hartmut (Stuttgart, 1995), 359–82. Both authors show that deeply traditional and even sexist representations are hidden in these images of women “who act like men.”Google Scholar
15. For an overview see Zimmermann, Peter, Industrieliteratur der DDR. Vom Helden der Arbeit zum Planer und Leiter (Stuttgart, 1984).Google Scholar
16. On such self-presentation, especially in the early GDR, see Hübner, Peter. “Um Kopf und Kragen: Zur Geschichte der innerbetrieblichen Hierarchien im Konstituierungs prozess der DDR-Gesellschaft,” Mitteilungen aus der kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschung 33 1993):210–32.Google Scholar
17. See the reports from Kindergärten und Kommissionsbericht an den V. Paedogogischen Kongress 1956, Bundesarchiv, Abteilung Potsdam, R-2/3513.
18. Cited in Bühl, Harald et al. , Handbuch für den Kulturfunktionär (Berlin, 1961), 10.Google Scholar
19. Zimmermann, , Industrieliteratur;Google ScholarRuether, Guenther, “Greif zur Feder, Kumpel,” in Schriftsteller, Literatur und Politik in der DDR 1949–1990 (Düsseldorf, 1991).Google Scholar
20. As an example of the attempt to better grasp the social structure of the GDR through western categories, see Schupp, Juergen and Wagner, Gert, “Basisdaten fuer die Beschreibung und Analyse des soziooekonomischen Wandels der DDR,” Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 43 (1991):322–33.Google Scholar
21. Broszat, Martin and Weber, Herrnann, eds., SBZ-Handbuch (Munich, 1990), 1070ff.Google Scholar
22. See the detailed statistical analysis of Kabermann, Heinz, “Die Bevölkerung des sowjetischen Besatzungsgebietes. Bestands- und Strukturveränderungen 1950–1957,” in Bonner Berichte aus Mittel- und Ostdeutschland 31 (Bonn/Berlin, 1961).Google Scholar
23. The number of employed women rose between 1949 and 1989 in a curve that leveled off after the 1980s: The number rose from 2,989,000 to 4,178,000—from 40.9 percent to 48.9 percent—of all those employed. Statistisches Jahrbuch der DDR 1990, 17.
24. Between 1961 and 1964 the birth rate reached seventeen for every 1,000 residents, a level not subsequently surpassed. It fell in 1975 to 10.8 and rose following the establishment of welfare measures in the 1980s to over fourteen per 1,000. Ibid., 64.
25. Winkler, Gunnar, Sozialreport DDR 1990: Daten und Fakten zur sozialen Lage in der DDR (Stuttgart. 1990), 107.Google Scholar
26. Statistisches Jahrbuch der DDR 1990, 64.
27. The whole issue of social restructuring is still under-researched, and especially numerically hard to pin down. Hübner, Peter, “Die Zukunft war gestern: Soziale und mentale Trends in der DDR-Industriearbeiterschaft,” in Kaeble, Kocka, and Zwahr, eds., Sozialgeschichte der DDR. 176.Google Scholar
28. These figures are from the census of people, housing, and buildings of Januar 1, 1971. Volks-, Berufs-, Wohnraum- und Gebäudezählung am l. Januar 1971, vol. 5 (Berlin, 1972), 56.
29. Among fully-employed men, the proportion over the age of sixty-five was 8.1 percent in 1969; among working women the proportion over the age of sixty was 10.4 percent. The numbers fell by 1989 to 1.7 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively. Statistisches Jahrbuch der DDR 1990, 131.
30. Hofmann, Michael. “Die Kohlearbeiter von Espenhain: Zur Enttraditionalisierung eines ostdeutschen Arbeitermilieus, in Soziale Milieus in Ostdeutschland, ed. Vester, Michael. Hofmann, Michael. and Zierke, Irene (Cologne, 1995), 91–135.Google Scholar On the concept of milieu and on the comparison of East and West German milieus, see Michael Vester, “Milieuwandel und regionaler Strukturwandel in Ostdeutschland.” in ibid., 7–50.
31. Latent generational conflict is suggested, for example, by the different values registered in a 1987 survey of different age groups in the GDR. According to this, those over the age of 50 rated the value of discipline, achievement, and contribution to peace “very important” at 80, 70, and 64 percent, respectively. But these values were held very important by only 41. 37. and 29 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 25. Of these, however, 45 to 53 percent valued high earnings and entertainment to be very important. This held true for only 32 percent of those over 50. Gensicke, Thomas, “Mentalitätsentwicklungen im Osten Deutschlands seit den 70er Jahren. Vorstellung und Erläuterung von Ergebnissen einiger empirischer Untersuchungen in der DDR und in den neuen Bundesländern von 1977–1991,” in Speyerer Forschungsberichte ed. Forschungsinstitut für öffentliche Vewaltung bei der Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaft Speyer (Speyer, 1992), 25.Google Scholar
32. How far these egalitarian pretensions went is shown, for instance, in the reactions to the modest living standards of the GDR leadership (in contrast to the West German elite) in the community of elites in Wandlitz near Berlin that was visited by GDR citizens at the end of 1989.
33. Alf Lüdtke gives an example of a turbine plant in 1957 in which a foreman could count on a monthly income of 665 marks, while a turner in the highest income category had an average income of 1,100 marks. Workers who had reached the level of foreman found themselves reverting to worker status. Lüdtke, , “Helden der Arbeit,” in Sozialgeschichte der DDR, ed. Kalble, Hartmut, Kocka, Juergen, and Zwahr, Hartmut (Stuttgart, 1995), 188–213.Google Scholar
34. For a critique of the collective workplace contracts, see the political pamphlet published by the West German SPD leadership, Die Kollektivverträge als System der Ausbeutung in der Sowjetzone (Bonn. n.d.).
35. In 1949, 53 percent of all those employed worked in collectively owned or cooperative enterprises; in 1959, 71.7 percent: in 1969. 84.8 percent; and in 1979, 94.5 percent. Statistisches Jahrbuch der DDR 1990. 17.
36. Horst Brezinski only dedicates a few remarks to illegal activities and only values their contribution to the national income at one percent. “The Second Economy in the GDR: Pragmatism Is Gaining Ground,” Studies in Comparative Communism (Spring 1987):85–101.Google Scholar
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39. Interesting in this context are the results of a study on work dissatisfaction comparing older workers in an outdated and even dangerous plant and young workers in a newly erected plant. It was found that the work satisfaction of those who actually fought more than worked with their completely dilapidated machines was unexpectedly high. Hofmann, Michael, “Das aesthetische Wirkungspotential moderner Produktionsanlagen. Eine soziologische Studie.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Leipzig. 1982.Google Scholar
40. Kohli, Marin. “Die DDR als Arbeitsgesellschaft? Arbeit. Lebenslauf und soziale Differenzierung.” in Sozialgeschichie der DDR, ed. Kaeble, Hartmut, Kocka, Juergen. and Zwahr, Hartmut (Stuttgart, 1995), 31–61.Google Scholar
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42. Belwe, Katharina, “Zu den Hintergründen der Fluktuation in der DDR.” Deutschlandarchiv 1980, 601–611.Google Scholar
43. On the situation in the 1950s see Hübner. “Um Kopf und Kragen.”
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49. A female worker explained the fact that she did not want to become a SED member, despite pressure to do so. by saying it was an organization for white-collar employees and “the educated.” who “had to stick to this straight path, or wouldn't have amounted to anything. But those in production, they weren't tied socially.” Wierling. “Randbemerkungen über Moral.” 59.
50. For examples of the women's commissions, see Clemens, Petra, “Frauen helfen sich selbst. Die Betriebsfrauenausschüsse der 5Oer Jahre in kulturhistorischer Sicht,” Jahrbuch fuer Volkskunde und Kulturgeschichte (Berlin, 1987), 107–42.Google Scholar
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