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The GDR, Luther, and the German Question

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Stephen P. Hoffmann
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Abstract

The East German government's commemoration in 1983 of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth exemplifies its continuing effort to broaden domestic support by arguing over a thirty-year period that the regime's values are deeply rooted in German civilization. The representation of Luther in the German Democratic Republic has evolved from caricature to sophisticated portraiture. Fundamental to this reinterpretation has been the association of Luther with the bourgeois-democratic revolution, a process which the ruling Socialist Unity party claims to have completed in the course of establishing the GDR. Continuing interaction between East and West Germany has complicated the GDR's effort to utilize historical symbols in developing a unified political culture.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , Spring 1986 , pp. 246 - 263
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1986

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References

Notes

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