Suchergebnisse

The first volume in English about the German Democratic Republic and its legacy as a cultural phenomenon.

Widely praised in its first edition, the second edition of The GDR was updated to cover events through the spring of 1988, examining in particular the impact of new leadership in both Bonn and Moscow and of the changing world economy on the prospects of the GDR.

This essay explores the existence of a political religion, or the sacralization of politics, in the former East German party-state. Ulbricht & Honecker were very charismatic leaders in the GDR, & their political 'ideology' closely resembled a secular-religious vision based on faith in science, legitimated with political rituals & mass festivals. The authors consider political religion against the background of the equally charismatic Max Weber's sociology of religion & theory of rationalization, the latter of which supports secular beliefs such as nationalism & socialism. They point out how a sacralized politics can meet the people's yearning for something beyond themselves in their everyday lives. The history of this rationalization in the Soviet Union & later in the GDR & elsewhere in Eastern Europe is closely examined. J. Stanton

This book analyzes the changing portrayal of GDR literature in German Gymnasium textbooks 1985-2015. Addressing the need for textbook research to broaden its focus from GDR history to GDR literature, the author presents case studies of well-known GDR authors (Bertolt Brecht, Johannes R. Becher, Anna Seghers, Wolf Biermann, and Christa Wolf), each examining a particular aspect of the societal discourse about GDR literature and the tension between (literary) text and (historical) context. Taken together, the case studies reveal the frequently underestimated power of ideology in literature textbooks. They also show how attempts to package these authors into simplified categories ultimately reveal the profound complexities of the GDR literary legacy. By examining the clear tension between literature and politics in textbooks and curricula, the author demonstrates how ideological messages are transmitted in all textbooks, as well as the importance of attending to overt and covert ideology.

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.

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.

A review essay on books by (1) Dolores L. Augustine, Red Prometheus: Engineering and Dictatorship in East Germany, 1945-1990 (Cambridge, MA & London: MIT Press, 2007); & (2) Kristie Macrakis, Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasi's Spy-Tech World (Cambridge & New York: Cambridge U Press, 2008).