Life in the GDR

Aims: - Build new residential communites, Create Socialist Towns, In 1979 it was announced that 3 million homes would be built by 1990, 14% of housing had been destroyed during the war and they needed housing near industrial sites - Halle-Neustadt.

+ Between 1971 and 1975, 400,000 homes had been built with the rapid constructution of Plattenbeau housing which used large concree slabs

+ 290,000 builds were refurbished and by the end of the 1980s they had invested DM200 billion on the programme

- Inequality = industrial workers lived in run down districts, still remained a housing shortage so married couples had to live with their parents.

-Stone deserts = bleak and had a high crime rate, Halle-Neustadt had 20% higher than the nearby town of Halle.

Issues before 1949: WW2 had left education in chaos with buildings damaged, 80%  of teachers were dismissed as they were associated with Nazism.

Aims: Wanted to achieve technical skills, reinforce party loyalty, wanted to use it to transform society, promote gender equality and help towards communism.

Sucesses: - They moved towards a more progressive, comprohensive route, they all studied at a polytechnic until the final two years when they were offered to go into academic or vocational education.

-The Law on the Unified Socialist Education System, introduced by Margot Honecker in 1965 emphasised the role of socialism within educations e.g. making them study Russian instead of English, they also had to study political ideas of the state e.g socialist ideals.

-Polytechnics had links with industry, therefore allowing work experience.

- The SED was careful in ensuring that those following a polytechnic route could still go into higher education.

-On work experience opportunities many were dissolusioned by poor working conditions.

-Jugendweihe skippers or those who didn't do military servie (introuced in 1962) found it difficult to secure uni places. They could only become 'construction soldiers' which highlighted them as being unloyal and hindered education and career choices.  

Aims: Needed women to help increase the population, ideological aims of acheiving greater gender equality.

Sucesses: 1949 Constitution = equal pay and opportunities for men and women

+ 1966 Family Code = emphasised womens equality in marriage and the family, it was expected that husbands and wives would have arrangements to promote their careers etc, giving women control over their lives.

+1972 Abortion = legalised abortion and made contraceptives available for free.

+Creches and nursery schools expanded in 1974, 60% of children up to 3 were involved (exceeded West) and maternity leave increased to 26 weeks - aimed at mothers not women

+By late 1980s 90% of women employed

-Women took up low skilled jobs, they were underrepresnted in management positions, no women in the Politburo.

Aims: - Believed health was vital for maintaining productivity, healthcare systems were provided on a collective basis, several polyclinics in every district, concerns came about in the Ninth Party Congress (1976) and they therefore tried to help mothers, the disabled, early diagnose etc.

Sucesses: -20% increase of wages after the Ninth Party Congress

-Mothers with children until 18 were entitled to shorter working hours and more paid holiday.

-Just almost 150 doctors per 100,000 people, which was almost 250 by 1989.

-Mothers of disabled children allowed extra days off.

Failures: -Lack of basic medical equipment, particularly gloves and syringes in the 1970s.

-The elderly and disabed were less cared for, often placed in care homes with carers who didn't have much training.

-The Minister of Health's reforms were thwarted by the influence of Mittag at the Ministry of the Economy.

-Founded in March 1946, for 14-25 year olds, with Erich Honcker as the head, organised leisure activities to promote Marxist-Leninist theory, also arranged discos such as 'Lipsi' which was a state sponsered dance.

Sucesses: + Membership was 2.3 million in 1980.

+ Had an official newspaper, Junge Welt (Young World) which had the largest cirulation of any GDR newspaper.

+Most people attended as if they didn't it would jeopardise places at universities or career choices.

+The statute of the GDR was to 'prepare its best members for admission as candidates into the Communist Party.'

-Tried to prevent people from joining peace or environmental groups, which highlights dissidence.

-Most young people put up with the propaganda so they could gain access to leisure based activies.

Aims: They wanted all culture to be based on ideological principals, they wanted to reduce Western influence. The intelligenstia was targeted in particular as it was thought that they would be most like to cause an uprising like the Prague Spring.

Sucesses: +‘Production literature’ – work produced for the support of the regime, for example ‘the heart as a meeting place’ was a musical comedy about improving railway timetables.

+Made in GDR – manufactured their identity.

+Journalists were trained by the state and selected for their loyalty and political views.

+Some writers were actually Stasi Agents like Sashcha Anderson.

Failures: -Most writers and artists stuck to guidelines, whilst most people watched Western shows, these were mostly reality TV (Dallas and Dynasty.)

- There was an assissination attempt in 1982 on Honecker, the GDR didn't report this for 2 weeks whilst the West did and even when it was mentioned they twisted the story.

-Revisionist historians like Mary Fullbrook believe that workers did co-operate with the system and some did desire to create a Socialist state, they also argue that the SED was more responsive to the Workers than others argue.

-Some believe it was a Niche society, which was coined by an FRG journalist. It argues that due to the slow lives of GDR citizens they could express themselves in various private niches. These historians argue that they pretended to conform because they didn't have another choice.

-Support for the GDR could be fundamentally based on the fact that people were normalized to their routines, they were used to conforming on the outside and rebelling in their private lives.

-However, it could be argued that there was more non-comformity than at first expected, as sentiments of rebellion were suppressed after the Prague Spring of 1968, and the retreat into niche life could highlight this rebellion.

Background- Set up in 1950 to counteract any acts of sabotage, particularly agents working for the West.

Membership - at the beginning there were 1,000 members but by the 1953 uprising there were 4,000 members.

-By the late 1980s there were 90,000 and 175,000 IMs

Methods - Phone tapping, opening bank statements, viewing medical records, psychological torture.

-By the late 1970s the Stasi upped it's policy due to Abegrenzung, they operated at least one brothel to find out information. They bugged at least 1,000 telephones a day in Leipzing, these methods were used to break down opposition over time, or 'operational decomposition'.

-They also had a department working in foreign countries bringing members of terrorist groups like IRA for army training support and financial aid.

-They felt it was the only way to reach communist Utopia.

-Others were attracted by material awards, the Stasi wouldn't give cash rewards but they would give out apartments, cars, telephones and holidays, others were forced to so they could get their disabled children into special schools.

-They also used coercion to recruit collaborators, this was a last resort, but they would blackmail those due to things like affairs, drug use, homosexuality etc.

(BY 1985 THERE WAS ONE IM PER EVERY 120 CITIZENS.)

-It was only possible under strict conditions (for sports events and diplomatic meetings) and they were monitered by the Stasi.

-'Secret-carriers' were banned from leaving as they held state secrets, this included army officers, scientists and SED officials.

-Workers had to be carefully vetted by the Stasi, married, 26 and over, if they passed all this they could then be given the status of 'travel cadre'. This meant they could travel to the West several times a year for 6 weeks at a time and get a taste for fruit not had in the GDR, kiwis, pineapples, bananas etc.

-This wasn't a threat as people needed an unblemished career to be allowed to travel meaning people would strive for this.

-They had no restrictions placed on them in the West which could have been threatening, but it is doubtful that they would have stayed in the FRG as they would have been employed at a much lower cost.

-The SED introduced higher exchange rates in the 1970s and 80s to stop those travelling east

TV- 1972- became legal to transmit Western channels, Beat-Club showed Western pop groups and was especially popular.

Films - Western films had a limited budget and they were therefore shown three years after release. But by the early 1980s many Hollywood blockbusters were disttributed in the GDR and cinema audiences were 70% made up of young people. (James Bond films were banned by the GDR but Honecker loved them)

Popular Music- Radio Luxembourg transmitted across the GDR, DT64- Beat music channel, Western music was limited to 40% air time, Bravo was a West German Magazine linked to the Beat Music phrase and became popular in the 1960s, influenced how young people dressed.

Impact - Dissilusionment listened to this music as a type of rebellion to the state. For example in Leipzig in 1965 there was a protest of 2,500 people rebelling against restrictions placed on Beat groups performing, but 1,500 were police informers, showing SED paranoia.

-In 1949 there were 15 million protestants, but churches and religious organizations were banned in 1946.

-The CDU (set up in 1945) were quickly swallowed up by the National Front which was completely controlled by the SED.

-The establishment of Jugendweihe in 1951 intensified discriminations against protestant youth groups in school. Pastors including 'the red bishop' spoke out against it saying people should only follow the word of God, however 90% of people were doing this by the late 1960s.

-Until 1960 the Stasi was told to increase operations within the Church, but in 1960 he used the CDU to influence the church. By 1964, nearly 1/3 of citizens were atheists. 

-In 1953, the Junge Geminden (popular in rural areas) was banned from using writing and badges. The FDJ also staged demonstrations at universities to call for the dismissal of young Christians -primarily accused of espionage and being influenced by the West.

-Compromise between church and state in the constitution of 1968, it recognised religious freedoms and made clear concessions to the church.  

-After 1969 the church split from the west, and after Ostpolitik both church and state thought it was right to improve relations.

-Increased emphasis on social policy meant the church could play more a role, it played an important role in taking care of the elderly and ran more than 50 hospitals, orphans etc. 

-By the mid-1970s church-state relations were relatively peaceful and basket three of the Helsinki accords proved this. 

HOWEVER... 

-Pastor Oskar set himself alight publicly in protest to the less hostile attitude the church had to the SED (communist).

-The Concordat in March 1978 was the first meeting between church and state leaders in 20 years, and they promised to build new churches, access to radio and television stations etc. The SED was also about to introduce compulsory military training for 15-16 year olds which they knew the church would be against, they thought the accord would help.

-Although the SED continued to use Stasi infiltration, these IMs believed they were helping to strengthen the church in the long term.