Honecker's Children
Honecker's Children: Youth and patriotism in East(ern) Germany, 1979-2002
Anna Saunders
Copyright Date: 2007
Published by: Manchester University Press
Pages: 264
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt155jfr2
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Honecker's Children
Book Description:

During the final decade of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), young citizens found themselves at the heart of a rigorous programme of patriotic education, incorporating school lessons, extra-curricular activities, ritual ceremonies and organised holidays. As the second generation born in the GDR, they knew nothing other than the ‘normality’ of German division. However, following the fall of the Berlin Wall, they not only became citizens of a new state, but the emphasis of official state rhetoric, textbooks and free-time activities changed beyond recognition; young soldiers were expected to swear an oath of loyalty to their former enemy, loyalists were denounced as opportunists or informers, and rebels became heroes. For this young generation, ‘normality’ was turned on its head, leaving a sense of insecurity and inner turmoil. Using a combination of archival research and interviews, together with educational materials and government reports, this book examines the relationship between young people and their two successive states in East(ern) Germany between 1979 and 2002. This unusual time-span straddles the 1989/1990 caesura which so often delimits historical studies, and thus enables not only a detailed examination of GDR socialisation, but crucially also its influence in unified Germany, and the extent to which a young generation’s loyalties can be officially regulated in the face of cultural and historical traditions, changing material conditions and shifting social circumstances. In this study, Anna Saunders highlights the nature of the GDR as a state where the divides between state and society, as well as dissent and conformity, were less distinct than is frequently asserted. Her original research finds GDR socialisation to be influential to post-unification loyalties through its impact on the personal sphere, rather than through the ideological propaganda of socialist patriotic education. At a time of globalisation and European expansion, this lucid study not only provides unique insight into the functioning of the GDR state and its longer-term impact, but also advances our broader understanding of the ways in which collective loyalties are formed. It will be of particular interest to those in the fields of German History and Politics, European Studies and Sociology.

eISBN: 978-1-84779-443-7
Subjects: History
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-iv)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. v-vi)
  3. List of tables and figures
    List of tables and figures (pp. vii-vii)
  4. Acknowledgements
    Acknowledgements (pp. viii-ix)
  5. List of abbreviations and key terms
    List of abbreviations and key terms (pp. x-xii)
  6. Introduction: Honecker’s Germany – a world of the past?
    Introduction: Honecker’s Germany – a world of the past? (pp. 1-23)

    The GDR exhaled its last breath on 3 October 1990, with the unification of the two German states. Its final year was one of intense emotion, turmoil and, ultimately, resignation; the one-time jewel in the Soviet crown disappeared from the map with few apparent mourners, and was expected by many to become little more than a footnote in history. Yet within less than a decade, the GDR had made a come-back, albeit repackaged to meet the consumer demands ofOstalgie(a conflation of the German words for ‘East’ and ‘nostalgia’): shops marketed T-shirts, postcards, mugs and numerous other items of...

  7. 1 The parameters of patriotism
    1 The parameters of patriotism (pp. 24-49)

    As the above quotations demonstrate, not only do the criteria for defining ‘normality’ change with time, but so too do those for concepts such as ‘nation’, ‘state’, ‘nationalism’ and ‘patriotism’. Several generations of scholars have attempted to provide definitions for such terms, all noting the ‘notoriously difficult and unsatisfactory’ nature of their complexity.³ Moreover, the discussion of these concepts relating to Germany is complicated by the frequent reshaping of twentieth-century German states and their nation(s). Yet without terminological clarity, the examination of identities during this period remains confused, and whilst the boundaries between the ‘nation’ and the ‘state’ are frequently...

  8. 2 Young people of the 1980s: a generation of loyal patriots?
    2 Young people of the 1980s: a generation of loyal patriots? (pp. 50-116)

    Speaking at the last Pedagogical Congress of the GDR, Eberhard Aurich typically demonstrated how the regime liked to believe its own propaganda, extolling the virtues of its young generation, and proclaiming the effective nature of its patriotic programme. On the one hand, the elaborate FDJ parades on national holidays confirmed this image of a loyal youth; on the other, however, the events of the autumn of 1989 illustrated a radically different group of young people, many of whom demonstrated against the GDR state or fled its borders. As the journalist Josef Joffe observes, these events suggested that ‘no GDR state...

  9. 3 October 1989–October 1990: the rise and fall of a GDR identity
    3 October 1989–October 1990: the rise and fall of a GDR identity (pp. 117-146)

    The fortieth anniversary celebrations of the GDR on 7 October 1989 marked not only the last major demonstration of SED power, but also the realisation amongst many young citizens that the party was losing control over the East German people. Rioting was evident on this day not only in Berlin and larger regional centres, but also in smaller towns such as Aschersleben. Even the most politically loyal of citizens began to realise the gravity of the situation, as they were called upon to help keep some semblance of order.² Yet the discontent of many citizens had been spreading during the...

  10. 4 Civic loyalties in the wake of unification
    4 Civic loyalties in the wake of unification (pp. 147-219)

    After a tumultuous year, five newLänderentered the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990. Eleven days later, regional elections took place in the east, ushering in a new phase of regional autonomy. As in the March elections earlier that year, the CDU emerged as the strongest party, once again demonstrating the popular desire to embrace the values of a new unified Germany. The formal conclusion of the GDR and the adoption of more apparently universal values did not, however, bring an end to division, and surveys from the 1990s revealed a growing divide between the populations of east and...

  11. 5 Conclusion: death of the GDR – rebirth of an eastern identity?
    5 Conclusion: death of the GDR – rebirth of an eastern identity? (pp. 220-233)

    During the months following Laurenz Meyer’s declaration of pride in March 2001 and Jürgen Trittin’s virulent riposte, the concept of pride became a subject of heightened public debate in Germany. Whilst the extreme nature of Trittin’s attack was widely condemned, a number of high-profile public figures such as President Johannes Rau and the singers Peter Maffay and Udo Lindenburg also rejected this outright expression of pride, largely as a result of its associations with the Nazi past.³ Others, however, including Chancellor Schröder, defended Meyer’s statement, and the CDU defiantly produced posters for regional elections bearing the slogan ‘Proud of Germany’.⁴...

  12. Select bibliography
    Select bibliography (pp. 234-245)
  13. Index
    Index (pp. 246-252)
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