Gender in GDR literature
The first volume in English about the German Democratic Republic and its legacy as a cultural phenomenon.
The first volume in English about the German Democratic Republic and its legacy as a cultural phenomenon.
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In: http://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb00052537-8
Fred Oldenburg ; Mit dt. Zsfassung ; Volltext // Exemplar mit der Signatur: München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek -- 4 Z 68.247-1988,48/57
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More than 40 years the political, social, economic and technical development in the two German states went different ways until 1990. This also applies to the education of civil engineers in the field of hydraulic engineering. The author undertakes the attempt to trace a picture of the related development in East Germany. During the GDR-period the Dresden University of Technology was the major place for university education of hydraulic engineers (GDR = German Democratic Republic). This is why the development of the education in Dresden and its relations to the hydro practice will be mainly considered here. In this paper the facts, the problems and the achievements are told and discussed. ; Bis 1990 ging die politische, soziale, wirtschaftliche und technische Entwicklung in beiden deutschen Staaten mehr als 40 Jahre getrennte Wege. Das trifft auch für die Ausbildung von Wasserbauingenieuren zu. Die Autoren unternehmen den Versuch, das Bild der zugehörigen Entwicklung im Osten Deutschlands nachzuzeichnen. Sie konzentrieren sich dabei auf die Technische Universität Dresden als den Hauptstandort der damaligen universitären Wasserbauausbildung in der DDR. Im vorliegenden Aufsatz werden die Tatsachen, die Probleme und das Erreichte dargestellt und besprochen.
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In: Brady , M 2018 , ' The hard work of socialist music in the GDR ' , Twentieth-Century Music .
This essay examines the labour of socialist music in the GDR, focussing on Choral Music No.5 (1976) of Paul Dessau. Famous for his collaborations with Brecht (he wrote music for Mother Courage and the opera The Condemnation of Lukullus ), Dessau was the most important avant-garde composer of the GDR. He passionately believed that only complex, modern music could convey the struggle(s) of socialism. This brought him into conflict with the authorities, who accused him of formalism. This essay examines this conundrum by focusing on Dessau's synthesis of aesthetic and political modernism, of Schoenberg and Brecht, and his use of quotation. Choral Music No.5 , a setting of Heiner Müller's distillation of a speech of leader Erich Honecker, reuses a musical cryptogram for the Socialist Unity Party (S-E-D) which Dessau first integrated into Lukullus . Dessau's piece is musically demanding and an embodiment of his belief in socialist music as rewarding hard work.
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Waren die Arbeitnehmer bei den Ereignissen 1989/90 in Deutschland involviert? Die meisten Untersuchungen über die Revolution und die darauffolgende Vereinigung Deutschlands verneinen dies; die vorliegende Untersuchung behauptet aber das Gegenteil. Durch die Kontextualisierung der Dynamiken in der ost- und westdeutschen Arbeitnehmerschaft schafft sie ein neues Bild von vermeintlich bekannten Ereignissen. Die Studie untersucht die unterschiedlichen Wege auf denen die ost- und westdeutsche Arbeitnehmerschaft zu entscheidenden Akteuren 1989-1990 wurden. Zunächst stellt sie die Beteiligung der ostdeutschen Arbeitnehmer an der Revolution heraus, durch das Aufdecken von vielfältigen Überschneidungen der Entwicklungen in den Betrieben und auf der Strasse. Dynamiken innerhalb der Arbeitnehmerschaft, so zeigt die Studie, waren ein Kernbestandteil der politischen Prozesse, welche das Ende der DDR markierte. Darauffolgenden konzentriert sich die Analyse auf die Politik von vier Westdeutschen Gewerkschaften (Metall, Chemie, Medien und Öffentlicher Dienst) und ihres Dachverband (DGB) und deckt die Einrichtung eines Krisenmanagement der ostdeutschen Wirtschaftreformen, zwischen der Westdeutschen Regierung, Arbeitgebern und Gewerkschaften auf. Bereits im Februar 1990 gegründet, führte dieses formelle und informelle Abkommen zur Erhaltung der existierenden Westdeutschen Institutionen, Normen und Akteure der sozialen Systeme und industriellen Beziehungen im vereinten Deutschland. Die Kehrseite dieser institutionellen Erweiterung war die schnelle Etablierung der Gewerkschaftsstrukturen in Ostdeutschland, der letzte Aspekt, welcher in der Arbeit analysiert wird. Die schnelle Verbreitung der DGB Gewerkschaften und der Arbeitgeberverbänden war eine organisierte "tour de force". Die Kosten für die Gewerkschaften waren die Unterwerfung der ostdeutschen Gewerkschaftsaktivisten unter die "neuen" Gewerkschaften und die Abkehr vom Kern der programmatischen Forderungen zu Hause. ; Was labour involved in the events of 1989-1990 in Germany? Most studies of the East German revolution and the subsequent unification of Germany say no. This study argues in the opposite direction and by contextualizing the dynamics of East and West German labour offers a new picture of supposedly well-known events. The study explores the different ways in which East and West German labour became crucial actors in 1989-1990. It first enlightens the participation of East German workers to the revolution, by revealing the multifaceted overlapping of developments in the shop floors and the streets. Dynamics within labour, the work shows, were a core constituent of the political processes that marked GDR''s end. The analysis then focuses on the politics of four West German unions (metal, chemistry, media, and public service) and of their federation (DGB) and unearths the setting up of a tripartite crisis management of the East German economic reforms, between the West German government, employers and unions. Set up as early as February 1990, this formal and informal agreement led to the adjunction of the "social" dimension to the Monetary, Economic and Social Union of May 1990, i.e. the preservation of the existing West German institutions, norms and actors of the social systems and industrial relations in unified Germany. The two collective bargaining partners became in charge of keeping social tension to a minimum during the economic reforms, through the tools of collective bargaining. The flipside of this institutional extension was the rapid setting up of trade unions structures in eastern Germany, a last aspect analyzed in this work. The rapid extension of the DGB unions and employers associations was an organizational "tour de force." But it came with a cost for the trade unions: the subjection of East German union activists in the "new" unions, and the renunciation to core programmatic claims at home.
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From before its inception in 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) pictured itself—in contrast to its West German neighbor—as the natural heir to the pantheon of German-speaking "humanistic artists." This concept of its cultural inheritance (Erbebegriff) was rooted in conversations that had taken place during the war among Soviet and German exile "Marxists" in Moscow.1 Back in Germany, the concept was put into operation in July 1945 with the founding of the Kulturbund zur demokratischen Erneuerung Deutschlands,whose mission was to "rediscover" and promote the "liberal humanistic, true national tradition of our people."2 Two films—Ludwig van Beethoven (1954, dir. Max Jaap, documentary) and Beethoven – Tage aus einem Leben (Beethoven – Days in a Life, 1976, dir. Horst Seemann, feature film)—illustrate this overarching cultural drive within the GDR; but they also served somewhat divergent purposes because of the different times at which they appeared. These works arise out of two distinct and consequential periods of GDR cultural and political history, and strive toward related yet different goals, which are indicative of how the GDR and East Germans understood themselves and their contemporaries. Each film delivers a Beethoven of its own, one that reflects the period in which it appeared, even as it served the historical and cultural goal of illuminating the GDR's heritage. ; Arts, Faculty of ; Central Eastern Northern European Studies, Department of ; Unreviewed ; Faculty
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With editor's note: Reprinted from the newsletter of the United States Committee for Friendship with the German Democratic Republic, with their kind permission. P.A.H.
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Together with its "Report on the State of the Nation 1972" the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany presented an extensive collection of studies. Drawn up by 50 experts, the report on the development in the two German states should, according to Willy Brandt, contribute to facilitate political judgement and to sobering political discussion. In our last edition we published a summary of the chapter on the State of the Nation's External Economy. This paper is a summary of the two German states' development aid. The author, in cooperation with Hans-Ludwig Dornbusch and Dieter W. Vogelsang, participated in the composition of this chapter.
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Until the early seventies the German Democratic Republic (GDR), in line with the CSSR and Bulgaria, was least disposed among CMEA countries to engage in cooperation activities with the West. One of the major reasons for the reserve shown by the GDR in this respect was probably that linkage through cooperation agreements of the GDR-owned production and distribution potential to Western partners was deemed to involve too great a political and economic risk. Since the political recognition in 1972 and 1973 however a reversal of views could be observed which is justified by GDR circles with a series of new trends in the world economy and in world politics.
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In the World Bank's last annual report the Federal Republic of Germany was described as a leading member of the World Bank Group (IBRD, IFC and IDA). The Federal Republic has subscribed about $ 1.4 bn to the capital of the World Bank and to date contributed $ 1.1 bn to IDA. The second German state, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), on the other hand, is taking a negative attitude to the World Bank Group. Why does it do so?
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Communication and Political Change: Proceedings of the 2002 International Colloquium on Communication 18th ICC 2002
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In: http://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb00052509-8
Fred Oldenburg ; Mit dt. Zsfassung ; Volltext // Exemplar mit der Signatur: München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek -- 4 Z 68.247-1988,25/33
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peer-reviewed ; Since the tumultuous events of 1989/1990, writers, film-makers and academics have responded to, reconstructed and reflected upon the process and impact of German reunification. Each milestone anniversary has generated a wave of new publications, thereby demonstrating an ongoing fascination with, and evolving interpretations of, the literary and cultural legacies of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) within a united Germany. In the years which have elapsed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, certain broad narratives of events have been established within general discourse, while access to unpublished materials and personal accounts has increasingly allowed a rich cultural landscape to be explored, both on its own terms and as an important foundation to our deeper understanding of contemporary German society. As early as 1990, Günder de Bruyn had warned against making the type of sweeping statements which risk downplaying the extent of different experiences and thought processes; instead, he pleaded for a nuanced engagement with difference, for open discussion and space for contradictory reactions and emotions. Such calls have all too often been disregarded. Bringing together academic articles and interviews from a wide range of backgrounds and voices, this volume, therefore, seeks to enrich current literary and cultural debates in multiple ways: the different contributions enhance our understanding of artistic responses in different genres, inform our reading and re-reading of literary reconstructions of pre- and post-"Wende" events, and combine in-depth reflection on literary expressions and nuanced critique of, and engagement with, past and present cultural and societal developments. In so doing, the volume demonstrates the diverse ways in which GDR literary and cultural traditions continue to enrich German literature and culture. ; ACCEPTED ; Peer reviewed
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In: http://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb00052378-4
Norman M. Naimark ; Mit dt. Zsfassung ; Volltext // Exemplar mit der Signatur: München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek -- 4 Z 68.247-1989,50/55
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The worldwide operation of the Big Power Triangle (US-USSR-China) impacts also on Germany. Situated on the remote eastern flank of the Soviet landmass, China nevertheless influences the GDR's policy and attitude, not bilaterally but via the Super Power circuits. The sharpening of the international political situation covering Africa and Asia in recent years has triggered the GDR's stringent critique of Beijing. Despite the age of detente, East Berlin's insecurity on the German Question vis-ä-vis Bonn remains, and China has reinforced that insecurity by means of its Intermediate Zone strategy designed to weaken Soviet bloc cohesion. East German criticism of, and moves against, China reflects, therefore, the GDR's perception of the latter as a threat to its fundamental values, which are cherished in the face of the German Question being kept open by Bonn.
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