Search

The village Reppichau in Sachsen-Anhalt, situated near the towns Dessau, Köthen and Aken (former principality of Anhalt), is closely connected with Eike von Repgow – the author of the most famous mediaeval German law book "Saxon Mirror" (Sachsenspiegel). The law book was written by him between 1220 and 1235. Based on this fact, representatives of science, politics and justice periodically organized in collaboration with the villagers anniversary celebrations, for example 1934 (700st year of the death of Eike von Repgow) and 1959 (800st year of the first documented mention of the village Reppichau). So it happened that the minister of justice of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Hilde Benjamin (1902–1989), held a keynote speech in Reppichau on 28 June 1959. She was one of the leading representatives of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany during the early years of the GDR. She became famous as a presiding judge in political show trials with court rulings including exceptionally harsh punishments up to the death penalty. This women, who was also known as "Red Hilde" or "Bloody Hilde", used the opportunity of her speech in Reppichau in order to integrate Eike von Repgow, the Saxon Mirror and the villagers into the ruling ideology of the early GDR. Furthermore, she attacked the NATO in general and the Federal Republic of Germany in particular with propaganda phrases. The text of this speech, representing an interesting example of contemporary legal history, is edited here for the first time based on an original copy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does postmodern mean capitalist? This article aims at providing an answer to this question by comparing postmodernism in two socialist contexts: the People’s Republic of Poland, where in the 1980s the planned economy was progressively eroding and postmodern architecture was mostly sponsored by non-state clients (private individuals, small housing cooperatives and the Catholic Church), and the German Democratic Republic, where throughout the 1980s the institutions of the state-planned economy remained in power while commissioning prominent postmodern projects. The article argues that while the difference in economic regimes did not lead to prominent stylistic discrepancies, they strongly influenced the significance and perception of these projects in their specific national contexts.

The socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the east part of former divided Germany, which existed between 1949 and 1990, saw the emancipation of women as a national objective. In this paper we examine the gender ideologies of young people in the GDR in relation to state socialist ideas of gender equality. First, we outline the GDR's socialist state policy in favour of maternal full-time employment, even with young children, between the 1950s and the 1980s. We then present the results of our analysis of gender ideologies using survey data collected by the GDR's Central Institute of Youth Research in 1984. By applying latent class analysis, we identify two patterns of egalitarianism in the analytic sample, which we term 'all-inclusive-egalitarians' and 'not-in-my-backyard-egalitarians' ('nimby-egalitarians'). The former supported gender equality in both the public and familial spheres. The nimby-egalitarians, by contrast, had ambivalent attitudes, as they supported gender equality in the public sphere and at the same time held more traditional attitudes towards the private sphere. Our study demonstrates that after almost 40 years of propagating gender equality, state socialism in the GDR had some success in shaping societal gender ideologies. However, we reveal ambivalences which researchers have previously often overseen, especially in contrast to the Western part of Germany. The top-down shaped GDR patterns of egalitarianism also bear similarities to the stalled gender revolution in contemporary Western democratic societies. Beyond the results, the paper proves the richness and principle usability of hitherto rarely used data sets preserved from the GDR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Second World War, East Germany achieved great success in sports in a short time despite its political and geographical disadvantages. East Germany was imitating the strategies of the Soviet Union. For this reason, they decided that the best way to show the success of the sports system as the success of its own ideological system and to introduce itself to the world public is sports. For this reason, they have established all sports institutions in line with this purpose and have shaped the sports management structure accordingly. The decision of the International Olympic Committee to recognize the East Germany Olympic Committee in 1965 and it was the most important point of the country's sport. After that, East Germany took the first place in the medal ranking in all Olympic Games it participated in summer and winter sports. The achievements of East Germany attracted great attention around the world. The sports management structure and organization that provided these achievements has been a matter of curiosity. However, with a population of only 17 million, these achievements shortly after its establishment have raised serious questions. With the unification of East and West Germany in 1990, some documents came to light. These documents showed that questions were not unjustified. These documents were labeled "Top Secret" by the East Germany. A project called “State Plan 14.25” of East Germany was implemented. They brought together scientists who were experts in many fields of science. Thus, it has been revealed that they research on athlete performance and doping. In the statements of the East German athletes of the period, which were also recorded in the court minutes, it was mentioned that this plan was not only about research, but that drugs were produced for the performance enhancement of the athletes within the scope of this plan. It was determined that these drugs were tested on the athletes and that the athletes who refused to use the drugs were exposed to threats and exclusion, and many violations were committed. The purpose of this study is to examine the sports management structure of the Republic of East Germany (GDR) and the practices behind its sporting achievements in accordance with the State Plan 14.25.

Copyright of Sportif Bakış: Spor ve Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi is the property of Sportif Bakis: Spor ve Egitim Bilimleri Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines a little‐known chapter both in the history of socialist labor relations and the history of psychology: Social Psychological Training (SPT) for industrial leaders in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Based on previously untapped archival sources, it uncovers the transnational genesis of SPT and its intricate relationships with Western "therapeutic culture" of the 1970s. Governmental perspectives are addressed, as well as the level of individual appropriation of SPT and possible unintended side effects of techniques that were drawn from the social psychological and therapeutical fields. This case study helps to explore the functions of psychological expertise in authoritarian political contexts, as well as the polyvalence of group methods of change, the effects of which could turn out repressive as well as liberating on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The history of SPT solicits a polycentric view on therapeutic culture, capturing its diverse manifestations and interconnections between different societies and political economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pravnik is the property of Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of State & Law and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

For over 30 years, Lieutenant General Markus Wolff headed the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of State Security of the German Democratic Republic. Today, there is neither that state nor that service, and Wolf died in 2006. However, Wolff is certainly the most impressive figure in the intelligence world, above all in the period from the end of the Second World War to the end of the Cold War, and with his ability and results he established himself as the most capable Cold War head of the intelligence service. However, his fate is a tragic one, Wolff perished in the vortex of complex political-security relations between the East and the West, where the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact were decisive for his personal and professional fate. The article analyzes and sheds light on the causes and impacts of complex social phenomena that trace broader social relations, with an emphasis on how these relations can affect an individual who is in a responsible position. The life story of Marcus Wolff is not only a story about him, about two Germanys, about the Cold War, but also a story that has a much deeper background, it is a story about sacrifice, betrayal and suffering in intelligence world.

This exploratory study contributes to the work of the Section for Dynamic Group Psychotherapy – a section of the Society for Medical Psychotherapy of the GDR. Conferences and symposia organized by the section in the period from 1969 to 1990 were analyzed with qualitative content analysis to identify thematic hotspots. The results of the qualitative content analysis show high relevance values in the subject areas of «practice» and «theory» during the entire period. «Research» became relevant at the end of the 1970s and achieved high relevance values in the 1980s. Group psychotherapy was increasingly combined with various group therapy methods and applied to different target groups. From 1974 to 1986, the intended dynamic group psychotherapy determined the methodological focus of the section's work. The 3rd symposium for group psychotherapy (1990) shows thematic specificity. In contrast to previous conferences, aspects of socialization, pedagogy and the treatment of different age groups determine the professional exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last months of the Second World War, as the Red Army approached Berlin, the Wehrmacht suffered catastrophic losses, resulting in thousands of war graves on East German soil. In the aftermath of the war, the Soviet Occupation Zone (1945–9) and the German Democratic Republic (1949–90) committed to a socialist 'politics of history' which centred on the liberation of Germany by the Red Army, disowning the German fallen. This article, based on my PhD research and current British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship, outlines how the central authorities of the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR managed the thousands of German Wehrmacht war burials on East German territory. I focus, in particular, on how Wehrmacht war burials came to constitute political and ideological liabilities, prompting concerns about their appropriations by the German Lutheran Church and West Germany. In doing so, I uncover a little-known yet highly significant dimension of the transition between the Third Reich and the German Democratic Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Kriminologisches Journal is the property of Julius Beltz GmbH & Co. KG Beltz Juventa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Research on the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the 1980s shows a high level of congruence between conservative social policy deterring mothers from employment and traditional societal gender norms. In contrast, little is known about whether people in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) agreed with the socialist idea of continuous full-time maternal employment. Based on unexploited GDR data from 1984 and a description of contemporary social policy, this study examines attitudes towards maternal employment, whether they were related to individual preferences for work or children, and their congruence with the socialist policy. The same questions are examined for the FRG using data from 1982. Results for the GDR indicate that one third of respondents rejected the socialist idea of maternal full-time employment, with individual work preferences being decisive for respondents' assessments. In the FRG, there was a high degree of agreement with the gender norm of maternal non-employment, with this being dependent on individual preferences for children. These findings complement post-reunification evidence on East-West-differences in gender norms and provide insights into attitudes under Eastern European state socialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friendship associations were once important transnational actors in East-West relations. In Spain, the Asociación Guillermo Humboldt para el Conocimiento y la Amistad entre España y la República Democrática Alemana (Wilhelm Humboldt Association for Knowledge and Friendship between Spain and the German Democratic Republic) was founded in 1979, which, in connection with the Liga für Völkerfreundschaft of the GDR, was intended to serve as an instrument of propaganda and informal diplomacy. The main aim of this article is to examine the Liga für Völkerfreundschaft's propaganda activities in Spain, the role played by the Wilhelm Humboldt Association and its limitations. It uses Spanish and German sources and makes a comparative exercise with similar organisations linked to the Soviet Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents how the Polish novel Popiół i diament (Ashes and Diamonds) by Jerzy Andrzejewski was received by censors in the German Democratic Republic. The novel was first published in East Germany in the 1960s, although attempts to release it were made as early as sixteen years earlier. The author of the article recalls the reviews by German censors who refused to give consent to the novel's publication on the East German market and whose decisions were affected not by the content of the book alone, but also by the social and political situation in both the Polish People's Republic and the German Democratic Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the 1980s shows a high level of congruence between conservative social policy deterring mothers from employment and traditional societal gender norms. In contrast, little is known about whether people in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) agreed with the socialist idea of continuous full-time maternal employment. Based on unexploited GDR data from 1984 and a description of contemporary social policy, this study examines attitudes towards maternal employment, whether they were related to individual preferences for work or children, and their congruence with the socialist policy. The same questions are examined for the FRG using data from 1982. Results for the GDR indicate that one third of respondents rejected the socialist idea of maternal full-time employment, with individual work preferences being decisive for respondents’ assessments. In the FRG, there was a high degree of agreement with the gender norm of maternal non-employment, with this being dependent on individual preferences for children. These findings complement post-reunification evidence on East-West-differences in gender norms and provide insights into attitudes under Eastern European state socialism. * This article belongs to a special issue on “Demographic Developments in Eastern and Western Europe Before and After the Transformation of Socialist Countries”.

This article examines how the German radical-right populist party the Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland) and its politicians have engaged with the public memory of the East German past via Twitter and how this has impacted the use of social media as a tool of political commemoration in Germany. The article analyses the mnemonic wars over 'anniversary tweets' related to four events: the East German Uprising (1953); the construction (1961) and fall (1989) of the Berlin Wall; and German reunification (1990). The article surveys when and how Twitter became a platform for these events' political commemoration and the role of the Alternative für Deutschland therein. It also outlines the mnemonic discourses that the Alternative für Deutschland has deployed on Twitter around these events' anniversaries and explores the sorts of digital contestation and transnationalization evident at these times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AN INSTRUMENT OF CONTAINMENT, SUBDIVISION, OWNERSHIP OF SPACE, COLONISATION, AND RACIAL AND POLITICAL DIVIDE, THAT MOST UBIQUITOUS OF ARCHITECTURAL TOOLS – THE WALL – CAN ALSO BE DÉTOURNED, REAPPROPRIATED, DEMOLISHED AND RE‐ADORNED. ARTIST AND DESIGNER, AND CO‐FOUNDER OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE YEJU & CHAT, CHAT TRAVIESO LOOKS AT DIFFERENT WAYS OF SUBVERTING THE FUNCTION OF A WALL AS A BARRIER BY EITHER DISREGARDING IT, APPROPRIATING IT, CIRCUMVENTING IT OR ABOLISHING IT, AND THE POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THESE ACTIONS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on three East German descriptive picturebooks from the 1950s that explain the production of bread, milk, and fish. These production stories not only convey knowledge by means of the juxtaposition of text and images but also emphasize the achievements of the five-year plan with respect to the provision of food for the citizens of the German Democratic Republic. This combination of information and propagandistic messages served to encourage the child readers' identification with the agenda of the socialist state. Hence, the presumptive role of the child reader as naive consumer merges with the idea of the politically engaged socialist child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with questions of the sociopolitical involvement of classical music performance spaces. During the last twenty years of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the Gewandhaus in Leipzig provided opportunities for its users to emancipate themselves from Socialist Unity Party oppression. Through its architecture, music, and visual art, the Gewandhaus symbolized an agonistic space that aided in disrupting its sociopolitical surroundings, because it made visible what real-existing socialism was lacking: unity, openness, transparency, and internationality. Examining how the Gewandhaus interacted with its sociopolitical surroundings sheds light on its ability to engage with public discourse within the restricted society of the GDR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Psychosozial is the property of Psychosozial-Verlag GmbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article deals with the so-called Gemischte Gesellschaften (joint ventures), a special form of economic cooperation between the GDR and the West. Using the example of the Gemischte Gesellschaft of the foreign trade organization of Carl Zeiss Jena in London, the article outlines its foundation in the 1960s and its development from the 1970s to 1989. The article reveals that the Gemischte Gesellschaft was a comparably successful form of distribution for the VEB Carl Zeiss but also points out the different problems it faced. Furthermore, the article argues that the Gemischte Gesellschaften were a space of cooperation between West and East, but also assisted the GDR to assert its economic interests against the Western competition in capitalistic markets. The case study illustrates that in order to overcome the contradictions between cooperation and competition between East and West, control mechanisms were necessary to ensure that the interests of the socialist state were enforced within the Gemischte Gesellschaften. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the cultural centrality of sport during the Cold War, the East German communist authorities constructed an elaborate system of surveillance to prevent flight to the West by sport personalities and to control private interactions between East and West Germans, encounters that increased exponentially in the détente era. East German football fans met up with West German counterparts to watch games in East Berlin as well as at high-profile matches in Eastern Europe that involved clubs such as Bayern Munich and the West German national team. Cross-border interconnections were especially close between supporters of Hertha Berlin in the West and those of Union Berlin in the East whose bitter rivalry with the Stasi-supported BFC Dynamo frequently erupted in violence. Widespread outbursts of ‘hooliganism’ and East-West football entanglements testified not only to the fracturing of Cold War polarities but also to the prevalence of autonomous activities in society that contributed to the cultural ‘defeat’ of GDR-style socialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relations between Britain and the German Democratic Republic (Gdr) have always been quite blurry: on the one hand, they were included in the more general relations with Central-Eastern Europe, but on the other hand, they were part of a “triangular relationship” between London, Berlin and Bonn. The Federal Republic of Germany was a constant and often cumbersome presence that infl uenced and often limited contacts with the Gdr. In this “asymmetrical triangle”, historiography has also focused on the relations between the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic, and only in recent years have a few volumes been published dealing with the relations between London and the “other Germany”. Similarly, in analyzing the events of 1989-90, the focus has almost always been on German reunifi cation, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s fervent hostility to such a prospect, and the strained relations between Britain and West Germany that resulted from it. In reality, the complexity of dimensions and this multi-level context emerged predominantly in the fi nal phase of the Gdr: the purpose of the article, based on the diplomatic documents of the National Archives of the United Kingdom, is to try to shed new light on a topic only marginally treated, that is the British image of the Gdr crisis of 1989-90. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition of the Stomatology Clinic into the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery at the Medical Academy Carl Gustav Carus in Dresden shows how healthcare evolved in East Germany after the Second World War. Founded in 1954 to tackle medical staff shortages, the department grew and specialised over time, becoming a key hub for surgical dentistry in Saxony. Through structural changes, it became a semi-autonomous unit, emphasising patient care and research. By 1983, it evolved into a full Section of Stomatology, streamlining care and training, enhancing expertise and promoting collaboration. Overall, this transformation reflects a significant shift in dental healthcare and academic leadership, shaping surgical dentistry in the region., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

This article discusses the underground cinema of the German Democratic Republic during the 1980s in regard to its contributions to the arts and the avant-garde. While scholars including Claus Löser and Katrin Frietzsche have contributed greatly to the remembrance of the East German underground cinema, its influences have been disregarded by film studies, not least within the anglophone field. As a result, little to no research has been conducted regarding its contributions to the avant-garde or through the scope of other art movements as the political aspect continues to be emphasized. This article draws upon multiple art developments such as dada, surrealism, performance and body art as well as Eastern European-specific movements. Therefore, it evaluates how the East German underground interprets those influences and further contributes to them. Significant works by Cornelia Schleime, Gabriele Stötzer, Thomas Frydetzki and Tohm di Roes are subject to analyses to reveal anarchist feminist tendencies and surrealism with anarchist aspects. It concludes that the East German underground must be seen as a contribution to the less-researched necrorealism as an art movement paralleling the constitutional socialist realism. As such, political implications cannot be subtracted altogether but shall rather be viewed alongside the emergence of anarchist surrealism during the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I analyse Ulrich Plenzdorf's novel kein runter kein fern, an often-overlooked text critiquing the society of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the late 1970s that focuses primarily on the theme of disability. Plenzdorf's protagonist, a boy with a mild learning disability, is pressured to develop a masculine body to overcome his mental handicap. Analysing the story from a perspective based on Klaus Theweleit's Male Fantasies and Julia Hell's Post-Fascist Fantasies, I argue that Plenzdorf is showing the GDR as a militarized, masculine society, unable to deal with disability in a humane manner. His protagonist therefore has no other choice but to cope with his disability by becoming what he calls a 'panzermann', that means a man whose feelings are cut off with a tank-like body. Furthermore, by drawing on a rich collection of archival materials, I show how Plenzdorf's depiction of disability, masculinity, and GDR society caused a major literary scandal, and how he radicalized these topics in later adaptations. Reviewing this material that has not been published before, I argue that Plenzdorf widened his criticism during the Wende years and transformed his criticism of the GDR society to a criticism of the German society as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Recht & Psychiatrie is the property of Psychiatrie Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of the article is to show the changes in the perception of Germans and Polish-German relations in the education of the People's Republic of Poland. This problem is related to the changes in the domestic politics of post-war Poland and both German states. The paper is devoted to the evolution of the perception of Poland's western neighbor from the post-war period to the end of the Polish People's Republic, i.e. until 1989. The study presents the beginnings of the anti-German narration, caused by war trauma, which has intensified since 1949 due to pressure which has been exerted by communist government. The next part shows in which places the end of Stalinism and the takeover of power by Władysław Gomułka softened the perception of Federal Republic of Germany. The next phase was opened by the recognition of the western border of Poland by the Federal Republic of Germany on December 7, 1970. This event entailed a gradual liberalization of the recognition of the German problem in the curricula. Undoubtedly, this tendency deepened in the decade of Edward Gierek's rule due to the problems of the Polish People's Republic with the repayment of foreign debt, partly also in West Germany. In the early 1980s, the establishment of The Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarność brought a new quality. Thanks to them the methods of showing Germans (and Polish education as a whole) started a slowly evolution to eliminate the communist propaganda. The school subjects which received the most attention were history, German language, Polish language and geography, because during these lessons the issues related to Germany were most often discussed. The work was created on the basis of selected textbooks and curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses ambiguous tactics of German Communist resisters in the Third Reich. The official historiography of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) portrayed Communist resisters as unfaltering heroes. By contrast, revisionist studies published after 1990 presented Communists as traitors and renegades. This study transcends these approaches that revolve around legitimation or de-legitimation of the dictatorship, and examines the dubious manoeuvring of three German Communists who strategically collaborated with the Nazis, namely Theodor Bottländer, Friedrich Schlotterbeck and Wilhelm Knöchel. While Knöchel's attempts to outwit the Gestapo failed and could not prevent his execution, Schlotterbeck and Bottländer found ways to survive - largely without betraying their comrades. Even so, the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD), as well as its successor in the GDR, the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED), reprimanded venturesome, inventive and obstinate Communists, excluded them from the party and brought them to court. The harsh reactions are indicative of the inability of Communist historiography to acknowledge 'Eigen-Sinn', and highlight a central shortcoming of the antifascist doctrine. Likewise, more recent revisionist approaches have failed to recognise various attempts of Communists to minimise harm and survive in the grey zone between betrayal and loyalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, research found that populism employed a new strategy by using nostalgia, a sentimental longing for the past, as a communication tool to persuade citizens to support their political agendas. In populist campaigns, nostalgia is used to affectively link (alleged) crises with longing for a cherished past. In this article, we applied a mixed-methods approach to understand how populists exploit nostalgia in their communication and how nostalgic rhetoric has the potential to persuade people to support their claims. In Study 1, we conducted a case study based on a qualitative content analysis of Alternative for Germany’s (AfD) online election campaign in the 2019 Thuringia election in East Germany. The analysis revealed that the campaign was built around the nostalgic narrative of the 1989 peaceful revolution as a proud historical moment for former German Democratic Republic citizens while at the same time creating a sense of crisis supposedly caused by false post-reunification politics. To further investigate the persuasiveness of nostalgia, Study 2 used a statement from the campaign and found that participants tended to agree more with populist statements if they contained nostalgic rhetoric (compared to non-nostalgic populist and control rhetoric). These findings suggest that right-wing populists can effectively exploit nostalgia and that it may ‘sugarcoat’ populist messages.

The reunification of the socialist German Democratic Republic and the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany presents a unique setting for studying the impact of socio-economic and political change on migration. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the interdisciplinary literature on migration between East and West Germany since reunification, conducted in disciplines such as economics, demography, sociology, and human geography. We synthesise the literature with regard to data-related challenges as well as individual and contextual determinants of migration. We clarify some misinterpretations and discrepancies in previous studies, identify research gaps, and suggest directions for future research. Our review demonstrates that East-West migration mainly occurred in line with what could have been expected based on migration theory with regard to migrants’ sex, age, education, labour market position, and social networks. West-East migration, in contrast, was strongly affected by return migrants who often stated non-occupational motives for moving. On the contextual level, differences in wages are better able to explain East-West migration over time than differences in unemployment rates. West-East migration, however, cannot be explained well with such macroeconomic models. This paper contributes a point of reference for future research on this topic, as well as on internal migration and socio-economic disparities in general.

This article centers on four petitions (Eingaben) presented to the East German Central Committee in the 1970s and 1980s by men attracted to other men. The East German legal apparatus required that the state address all petitions. An analysis of these Eingaben written by non-activists demonstrates a growing boldness to use the available legal structures to claim one's rights. The petitioners used the Eingaben system to assert their legitimacy as GDR citizens, forcing officials to deal with them as any other citizen. This article moreover calls for the still young field of East German homosexual history to more fully incorporate the untold number of Eingaben written by homosexuals in the former GDR. This would help to develop a more comprehensive historical narrative as such documents provide an invaluable and unique window into everyday life under socialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on Spanish, German, Polish and Romanian archives, this article explores some aspects of the Cold War that have hardly been studied until now: the activities of the Eastern Bloc secret services in Spain; the surveillance of Spanish diplomats; and Eastern European spies in Spain. The article examines the history of East-West relationships but adds the perspective of everyday life, using oral history and the records of the security police. The focus is on the importance of the surveillance of Spain as a Cold War country, which has almost never been researched in its connection to the Eastern Bloc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until 1973 Spain refused to have political relations with the GDR because of the Franco regime's anti-communism and its support for the West German Hallstein Doctrine. The GDR did not want relations with Spain either, as the former struggle of the International Brigades legitimised the East German regime and its ruling party (SED) supported the PCE's anti-Franco struggle. However, in 1973 the GDR became the first socialist country to exchange embassies with Spain, which - with the exception of China - did not happen again until 1977. This article attempts to explain why through documentary, newspaper and bibliographical sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reunification of the socialist German Democratic Republic and the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany presents a unique setting for studying the impact of socio-economic and political change on migration. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the interdisciplinary literature on migration between East and West Germany since reunification, conducted in disciplines such as economics, demography, sociology, and human geography. We synthesise the literature with regard to data-related challenges as well as individual and contextual determinants of migration. We clarify some misinterpretations and discrepancies in previous studies, identify research gaps, and suggest directions for future research. Our review demonstrates that East-West migration mainly occurred in line with what could have been expected based on migration theory with regard to migrants' sex, age, education, labour market position, and social networks. West-East migration, in contrast, was strongly affected by return migrants who often stated non-occupational motives for moving. On the contextual level, differences in wages are better able to explain East-West migration over time than differences in unemployment rates. West-East migration, however, cannot be explained well with such macroeconomic models. This paper contributes a point of reference for future research on this topic, as well as on internal migration and socio-economic disparities in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1968, a monument for Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) was erected in Weimar. It is presumably the fi rst of its kind honouring the doctor, theologian, and pacifi st, who was internationally renowned for his engagement in Lambaréné’s hospital in Gabon. The erection of the statue was organised by the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and, thus, represented the socialist state’s ardour and support for Albert Schweitzer. In particular, the Christian Democratic opposition party, together with its chairman Gerald Götting, sought to popularise Albert Schweitzer in the GDR. The monument though – sculpted by Gerhard Geyer in 1968 – employs a racialised imagery that contributes to a colonialist iconography of Albert Schweitzer, a phenomenon not restricted to East Germany. In Weimar – a showcase of state socialism – the monument represents a specifi c place of encounter and memorial and, thus, enacts a historical politics of remembrance. Nonetheless, common knowledge of the history of aid for Lambaréné is rare in Weimar and Eastern Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Journal of Political Science Studies (EJPSS) is the property of Electronic Journal of Political Science Studies (EJPSS) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

With the example of one of the German Democratic Republic's (GDR) most renowned high-tech companies, Carl Zeiss Jena, this article argues that despite global and regional pressures, Thailand's international trade relations have been nurtured largely without reference to ideological bias. Founded in 1846, the Carl Zeiss Jena Company grew to become an important patent holder in the production and export of precision optical instruments. By the 1930s, Carl Zeiss Jena was already an important international player, attracting military institutions and land surveying specialists, including clients from Siam/Thailand. In the decads to come, Carl Zeiss Jena's relations with Thailand transcended the major global conflicts of the twentieth century, most notably the acrimonious Cold War period and Germany's partition. This stability is a testament to the flexibility with which Thailand's diplomatic and military elites have been willing to engage with diverse partners regardless of political affiliations and fundamental ideological differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]