In autumn 1989, ever-growing waves of popular protest swept through East Germany and led to the crumbling of the communist state. After thousands of East Germans had tried to escape the country during their summer vacations by seeking asylum in West German embassies in other communist countries, a growing number of East Germans took their discontent to the streets in East Germany itself. Demanding more democracy, free elections, freedom of speech and movement, the protestors defeated the state and peacefully forced the opening of the Iron Curtain separating East from West on 9 November 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down.
From Die Zeit, 22 September 1989: ‘Bürger rufen nach Reformen’ by Marlies Menge
The East German Studies Archive holds files with clippings from British, and East and West German newspapers covering the events of thirty years ago. To remember the ‘Autumn of Popular Protest’ along with its newspaper coverage, follow our ‘Popular Protest Remembered’ tweets https://twitter.com/EastArchive?lang=en
Heimatkunde 3
The book opens with large images of Erich Honecker, General Secretary of the SED, the Television Tower and the city council building in the GDR, and captions explaining what each image is.
The narrative of Fascists vs. Antifascists is described, and the book tells the story of the antifascists being taken away to concentration camps. Readers also learn that Ernst Thälmann, the leader of the Communist Party in Germany, was killed in the Buchenwald concentration camp after spending 11 years in solitary confinement. There are images depicting the antifascists being captured.
The book describes the destruction left over by the war, mentioning how families lived in holes in the ground due to their houses being destroyed. The bottom right image shows the Soviet soldiers marching through a crowd of people raising their hats to them.
The further shaping of the developed socialist society in our republic. This page features a very patriotic image of athletes marching with GDR flags. The text emphasises the party’s commitment to the people, stating that they have kept their word to do anything for the happiness of the citizens of the GDR. Erich Honecker states that the GDR will flourish and that life in socialism will improve for everyone.
The book describes the extensive future building projects, such as the rebuilding/modernisation of almost a million apartments and the construction of new schools, playgrounds and shopping centres. The rent for families living in these beautiful new apartments will be affordable. There is a need for more young people to become builders and more firms to produce the parts, such as windows and pipes and baths, for these homes. At the end of the text, there are comprehension questions for the students to answer.
The book covers a wide range of concepts and skills, including plants and the weather, how to read from maps, or how farm animals are reared. These explanations are accompanied by clear diagrams and questions at the end of texts. At this time in East Germany, around 10% of the population worked in agriculture, which might explain why there is information particularly about farming and animals.
Despite a lot of fascinating books, brochures, and magazines, my favourite object was the pin of the Freie Deutsche Jugend (FDJ)/Free German Youth (founded 1946), the only officially recognised and supported youth organisation in East Germany; it stood under the control of the GDR’s ruling party, the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED)/Socialist Unity Party. The pin shows a bright yellow sun rising into a blue sky – a symbol of hope as a ‘new day is breaking’ after war and disaster. From the beginning, the Communists in the eastern part of Germany tried to mobilise young people for their socialist project.
writers, editors, translators, designers and publishers. To employ so many people to communicate in English (and other languages not represented in the Archive) shows a state willing to commit significant resources to reaching out to the world, particularly the West.
though, other publications contained articles written from scratch and were designed eye-catchingly with glossy paper, colour photos and coloured text. In this category, the Archive has 130 copies of GDR Review from 1978-1990. Even for the earlier issues of this magazine, the entire front cover was devoted to a colour photo and at least half the photos inside were in colour.
GDR Culture. Issue 5 of this magazine, for example, reported on topics including artistic activity in Gera and the youth radio station DT 64. Travel, too, features strongly in the Archive’s holdings, reflecting the GDR’s efforts to attract tourists and their foreign currency.
Perestroika was a political concept (1980 -1991) within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In the 1980s, the economy in the USSR was crumbling, which resulted in poor living conditions, environmental problems, political disengagement, and disintegration of society. Gorbachev pursued a new approach to tackle the problems, believing that more openness in discussing problems would initiate a democratization and consequently engagement of people in much needed reforms. This included more freedom of speech and less censorship for the media and opposition groups either political or religious. These political changes were reflected in Sputnik magazine, which became a means of promoting and disseminating the new course in the Soviet Union internationally.
The June issue from the end of the 1980s reflects the political transformation in the Soviet Union. It compiles articles critical of social, political, and economic developments and endorses non-conformity and free speech. The front cover of the issue shows a young punk, an example of openness and tolerance of individuality, in this case of a subculture. The acceptance of other groups or subcultures who did not follow ‘the socialist norm’ is here seen as a progressive step towards reform.