Suchergebnisse

A number of studies suggest that mortality rates among East German men increased in the wake of reunification, in particular between 1989 and 1991, in some age groups by up to thirty percent. This study first examines the developments of mortality and cause of death statistics based on detailed regional data. The results indicate that there was indeed an increase in mortality rates which cannot be dismissed as a statistical artefact. Next, the paper discusses various theories explaining mortality crises and their relevance for the case of East Germany. Based on individual-level panel data the relationship between exposure to stress and overall health is shown. Apparently, the increase in mortality can be explained by the increase in individual stress levels after the economic, cultural and political consequences of reunification.

E. Honecker's regime, which came to power eight years ago, introduced a new cultural policy based on the principle that there would be mutual trust between the Party & writers, who would henceforth have wide liberties to police themselves instead of being disciplined by censors. The relationship collapsed with the crisis involving W. Biermann, whose explusion was publicly criticized by over one hundred East German wirters & artists in an unusual display of independence. The regime's problems with writers stem from the fact that a new generation has emerged which has lived its entire adult life in the socialist society & which has become aware of conflicts & inequities which, according to the official view, do not exist. Consequently, the new tendencies in East German literature have been realism & greater inwardness; both have been viewed with suspicion by the government. The ambiguities inherent in the government's new policy of introducing greater controls where relaxation was promised has left East German writers confused & demoralized. S. Karganovic.

Despite the large-scale implementation of the West German political order, & more than ten years after unification, the East German party system still shows several peculiarities. These are the composition of the party systems in the East German Lander, voting patterns, but also processes of regionalization in East Germany. Analyzing the parties' different success stories in the East German Lander on the different electoral levels helps us to understand the quality of, & reasons for, their success & to answer questions about the importance of traditional voting patterns against possible new bases for the loyalties in a postsocialist environment. 7 Tables. Adapted from the source document.

Social, economic, and cultural aspects of German reunification. Contents: The conflation of National Socialism and the Socialist Unity Party; The colonization of the GDR and the construction of a dual society.

East German science fiction enabled its authors to create a subversive space in another time and place. One of the country's most popular genres, it outlined futures that often went beyond the party's official version. Many utopian stories provided a corrective vision, intended to preserve and improve upon East German communism. This study is an introduction to East German science fiction. The book begins with a chapter on German science fiction before 1949. It then spans the entire existence of the country (1949-1990) and outlines key topics essential to understanding the genre: popular literature, socialist realism, censorship, fandom, and international science fiction. An in-depth discussion addresses notions of high and low literature, elements of the fantastic and utopia as critical narrative strategies, ideology and realism in East German literature, gender, and the relation between literature and science. Through a close textual analysis of three science fiction novels, the author expands East German literary history to include science fiction as a valuable source for developing a multi-faceted understanding of the country's short history. Finally, an epilogue notes new titles and developments since the fall of the Berlin Wall.