The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945-1990

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Author :
Publisher : Longman Publishing Group
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 360 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945-1990 by : Mike Dennis

Download or read book The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945-1990 written by Mike Dennis and published by Longman Publishing Group. This book was released on 2000 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new book investigates communist rule in East Germany from the end of World War II to its rapid collapse after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Using newly available archival material, the early chapters trace the emergence of the GDR in 1949 from out of chrysalis of the Soviet zone of occupation. Later chapters cover the dramatic episodes of the 1953 uprising against Soviet dominance and the buildling of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The subsequent stabilization of the GDR and the establishment of an uneasy compromise between the ruling elites and the population in the later 1960s and 1970s are explained with reference to a range of internal social, economic and political factors. The disintegration of the regime in 1989, despite the comprehensive system of surveillance operated by the infamous Stasi, is explained in the light of * the chronic weakness of Gorbachev's Soviet Union * the bravery of the protestors * the enduring appeal of West Germany's social market economy and political pluralism.This clear and comprehensive survey marshals secondary and original primary sources in order to give a unique insight into the GDR's struggles and achievements.Mike Dennis is Professor of Modern History, University of Wolverhampton. His many publications include `The German Democratic Republic' (1988).

The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic

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Publisher : Transaction Pub
ISBN 13 : 9780765801197
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic by : Feiwel Kupferberg

Download or read book The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic written by Feiwel Kupferberg and published by Transaction Pub. This book was released on 2002 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most of the public debate on reunited Germany has tended to focus on economic issues such as the collapse of East German industry, mass unemployment, career difficulties, and differences in wages and living standards. However, the author of this text argues that the main problem is not persisting economic differences but the internal cultural divide between East and West Germans, which is based upon different moral values in the two Germanies. He shows that the invisible wall that has replaced the previous, highly visible territorial division of the German nation is rooted in issues of the past - the Nazi past as well as the GDR past.

The Stasi

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317876563
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (178 download)

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Book Synopsis The Stasi by : Mike Dennis

Download or read book The Stasi written by Mike Dennis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-07-30 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The East German Ministry of State Security, popularly known as the Stasi, was one of the largest and most intrusive secret police systems in world history. So extensive was the system of surveillance and control that in any given year throughout the 1970s and 1980s, about one in fifty of the 13 million East German adults were working for the Stasi either as an officer or as an informer. Drawing on original sources from the Stasi archives and the recollections of contemporary witnesses, The Stasi: Myth and Reality reveals the intricacies of the relationship between the Stasi enforcers, its agents and its targets/victims, and demonstrates how far the Stasi octopus extended its tentacles into people’s lives and all spheres of society. The origins and developments of this vast system of repression are examined, as well as the motivation of the informers and the ways in which they penetrated the niches of East German society. The final chapters assess the ministry’s failure to help overcome the GDR’s inherent structural defects and demonstrate how the Stasi’s bureaucratic procedures contributed to the implosion of the Communist system at the end of the 1980’s.

The German Democratic Republic

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN 13 : 9781350341517
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (415 download)

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Book Synopsis The German Democratic Republic by : Ned Richardson-Little

Download or read book The German Democratic Republic written by Ned Richardson-Little and published by Bloomsbury Academic. This book was released on 2025-02-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a succinct yet comprehensive history of East Germany which provides a differentiated picture of the communist state. It offers a sophisticated analysis of life under dictatorship which candidly confronts the abuses of the East German Communist Party (SED) and the Stasi state security service. Ned Richardson-Little delves into the central contradictions of the GDR as a state meant to overcome the horrors of the Third Reich and create a new utopia, while itself a brutal dictatorship. He also convincingly argues that while the existence of the GDR was a product of the Cold War, it was also entangled in international politics well beyond the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. In this way, the book offers a history of the GDR in a global perspective that illustrates the worldview of those who ruled it, those who rebelled against the strictures of state socialism, and those in between who sought a normal life under dictatorship. The German Democratic Republic traces the foundation of the GDR from its origins as the Soviet Zone of Occupation after the Second World War through key events such as the 1953 Uprising, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Helsinki Accords and the collapse of state socialism in 1989. Some of the key themes explored include the memory of Nazism and national identity, everyday life under dictatorship, the global politics of the GDR, the diversity of dissent and the competing visions for East Germany's democratic future.

The Rise and Fall of a Socialist Welfare State

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642225284
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (422 download)

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Book Synopsis The Rise and Fall of a Socialist Welfare State by : Manfred G. Schmidt

Download or read book The Rise and Fall of a Socialist Welfare State written by Manfred G. Schmidt and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-11-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive analysis of social policy in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, 1949-1990), followed by an analysis of the “Social Union”, the transformation of social policy in the process of German unification in 1990. Schmidt’s analysis of the GDR also depicts commonalities and differences between the welfare state in East and West Germany as well as in other East European and Western countries. He concludes that the GDR was unable to cope with the trade-off between ambitious social policy goals and a deteriorating economic performance. Ritter embeds his analysis of the Social Union in a general study of German unification, its international circumstances and its domestic repercussions (1989-1994). He argues that social policy played a pivotal role in German unification, and that there was no alternative to extending the West German welfare state to the East. Ritter, a distinguished historian, bases his contribution on an award-winning study for which he drew on archival sources and interviews with key actors. Schmidt is a distinguished political scientist.

The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic

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Publisher : Transaction Publishers
ISBN 13 : 9781412838757
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (387 download)

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Book Synopsis The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic by : Feiwel Kupferberg

Download or read book The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic written by Feiwel Kupferberg and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most public debate on reunited Germany has emphasized economic issues such as the collapse of East German industry, mass unemployment, career difficulties, and differences in wages and living standards. The overwhelming difficulty resulting from reunification, however, is not persisting economic differences but the internal cultural divide between East and West Germans, one based upon different moral values in the two Germanies. The invisible wall that has replaced the previous, highly visible territorial division of the German nation is rooted in issues of the past-the Nazi past as well as the German Democratic Republic past. In emphasizing economic differences, the media and academics have avoided dealing with typically German cultural traits. These include the psychological posture of West Germany, which emphasized not differences between East and West but the break with Germany's Nazi past. The adversarial posture of certain professional groups in East Germany towards the liberal and democratic values of West Germany have also been an obstacle. Reviewing the problems accompanying reunification, chapter 1 explores German culture and history and the moral lessons evolved from the Nazi past. Chapter 2 focuses on the East-West mindset and how differences in attitude affect efforts to adapt to reunification. Chapter 3 discusses the simulated break with Nazi Germany in the German Democratic Republic. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 analyze the roots of the adversary posture of the professional groups in East Germany towards the values of the Berlin Republic. Chapter 7 demonstrates the strong presence of inherited, typically German cultural traits among East Germans, such as a lack of individualism, suspicion of strangers, and obedience to authority. Chapter 8 documents the extent to which a right-wing extremist culture has remained latent in Eastern Germany. Chapter 9 documents the extent to which moral reasoning in the GDR relieves the individual of any kind of responsibility for the actions of the state, reproducing the way ordinary Germans rationalized their participation in the Nazi regime immediately after World War II. Chapter 10 concludes with an overview of the historical and sociological factors revolving around the discussion of Nazi Germany, the GDR and inner unification. This volume will be important for historians, political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and a general public interested in Germany's reunification.

State and Minorities in Communist East Germany

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Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN 13 : 0857451960
Total Pages : 254 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (574 download)

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Book Synopsis State and Minorities in Communist East Germany by : Mike Dennis

Download or read book State and Minorities in Communist East Germany written by Mike Dennis and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on interviews and the voluminous materials in the archives of the SED, the Stasi and central and regional authorities, this volume focuses on several contrasting minorities (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, ‘guest’ workers from Vietnam and Mozambique, football fans, punks, and skinheads) and their interaction with state and party bodies during Erich Honecker’s rule over the communist system. It explores how they were able to resist persecution and surveillance by instruments of the state, thus illustrating the limits on the power of the East German dictatorship and shedding light on the notion of authority as social practice.

Sport under Communism

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 0230369030
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (33 download)

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Book Synopsis Sport under Communism by : M. Dennis

Download or read book Sport under Communism written by M. Dennis and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on original Stasi and Communist Party archival sources, this book uncovers why East Germany was for two decades running one of the most successful nations in the Summer and Winter Olympics, exploring how the central elite sports system was beset by internal tensions and disputes.

The East German Economy, 1945-2010

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Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107030137
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis The East German Economy, 1945-2010 by : Hartmut Berghoff

Download or read book The East German Economy, 1945-2010 written by Hartmut Berghoff and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-07 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contributors to this volume consider the economic history of East Germany within its broader political, cultural and social contexts.

Creating German Communism, 1890-1990

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691228124
Total Pages : 465 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis Creating German Communism, 1890-1990 by : Eric D. Weitz

Download or read book Creating German Communism, 1890-1990 written by Eric D. Weitz and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eric Weitz presents a social and political history of German communism from its beginnings at the end of the nineteenth century to the collapse of the German Democratic Republic in 1990. In the first book in English or in German to explore this entire period, Weitz describes the emergence of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) against the background of Imperial and Weimar Germany, and clearly explains how the legacy of these periods shaped the character of the GDR to the very end of its existence. In Weimar Germany, social democrats and Germany's old elites tried frantically to discipline a disordered society. Their strategies drove communists out of the workplace and into the streets, where the party gathered supporters in confrontations with the police, fascist organizations, and even socialists and employed workers. In the streets the party forged a politics of display and spectacle, which encouraged ideological pronouncements and harsh physical engagements rather than the mediation of practical political issues. Male physical prowess came to be venerated as the ultimate revolutionary quality. The KPD's gendered political culture then contributed to the intransigence that characterized the German Democratic Republic throughout its history. The communist leaders of the GDR remained imprisoned in policies forged in the Weimar Republic and became tragically removed from the desires and interests of their own populace.

After Auschwitz

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Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN 13 : 178920853X
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (892 download)

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Book Synopsis After Auschwitz by : Enrico Heitzer

Download or read book After Auschwitz written by Enrico Heitzer and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2021-01-14 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the moment of its inception, the East German state sought to cast itself as a clean break from the horrors of National Socialism. Nonetheless, the precipitous rise of xenophobic, far-right parties across the present-day German East is only the latest evidence that the GDR’s legacy cannot be understood in isolation from the Nazi era nor the political upheavals of today. This provocative collection reflects on the heretofore ignored or repressed aspects of German mainstream society—including right-wing extremism, anti-Semitism and racism—to call for an ambitious renewal of historical research and political education to place East Germany in its proper historical context.

Sport under Communism

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Author :
Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9781349309801
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Sport under Communism by : M. Dennis

Download or read book Sport under Communism written by M. Dennis and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on original Stasi and Communist Party archival sources, this book uncovers why East Germany was for two decades running one of the most successful nations in the Summer and Winter Olympics, exploring how the central elite sports system was beset by internal tensions and disputes.

The Plans That Failed

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Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN 13 : 178238314X
Total Pages : 236 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (823 download)

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Book Synopsis The Plans That Failed by : André Steiner

Download or read book The Plans That Failed written by André Steiner and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The establishment of the Communist social model in one part of Germany was a result of international postwar developments, of the Cold War waged by East and West, and of the resultant partition of Germany. As the author argues, the GDR's 'new' society was deliberately conceived as a counter-model to the liberal and marketregulated system. Although the hopes connected with this alternative system turned out to be misplaced and the planned economy may be thoroughly discredited today, it is important to understand the context in which it developed and failed. This study, a bestseller in its German version, offers an in-depth exploration of the GDR economy's starting conditions and the obstacles to growth it confronted during the consolidation phase. These factors, however, were not decisive in the GDR's lack of growth compared to that of the Federal Republic. As this study convincingly shows, it was the economic model that led to failure.

Constructing Socialism

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Constructing Socialism by : Raymond G. Stokes

Download or read book Constructing Socialism written by Raymond G. Stokes and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trabant cars carried many East Germans westward after the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989. The car's 1950s design, obvious environmental incorrectness and all-plastic body became a symbol of the technological limitations of East German communism. But as Raymond G. Stokes points out in this text, eastern Germany in 1945 was one of the most highly developed, technologically sophisticated industrial areas in the world. Despite the evident failings of its technology by the late 1980s, the German Democratic Republic maintained advanced technological capability in selected areas. If the system itself was fundamentally flawed, what explains successes under the very same system? Why could the successes not be repeated in other areas? And if examples of success are so isolated, how did East Germany last as long as it did?

Past in the Making

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Publisher : Central European University Press
ISBN 13 : 6155211426
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (552 download)

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Book Synopsis Past in the Making by : Michal Kopeček

Download or read book Past in the Making written by Michal Kopeček and published by Central European University Press. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical revisionism, far from being restricted to small groups of ‘negationists,’ has galvanized debates in the realm of recent history. The studies in this book range from general accounts of the background of recent historical revisionism to focused analyses of particular debates or social-cultural phenomena in individual Central European countries, from Germany to Ukraine and Estonia. Where is the borderline between legitimate re-examination of historical interpretations and attempts to rewrite history in a politically motivated way that downgrades or denies essential historical facts? How do the traditional ‘national historical narratives’ react to the ‘spill-over’ of international and political controversies into their ‘sphere of influence’? Technological progress, along with the overall social and cultural decentralization shatters the old hierarchies of academic historical knowledge under the banner of culture of memory, and breeds an unequalled democratization in historical representation. This book offers a unique approach based on the provocative and instigating intersection of scholarly research, its political appropriations, and social reflection from a representative sample of Central and East European countries.

Between Reform and Revolution

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Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN 13 : 9780857457196
Total Pages : 596 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (571 download)

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Book Synopsis Between Reform and Revolution by : David E. Barclay

Download or read book Between Reform and Revolution written by David E. Barclay and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 1998-05-30 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The powerful impact of Socialism and Communism on modern German history is the theme which is explored by the contributors to this volume. Whereas previous investigations have tended to focus on political, intellectual and biographical aspects, this book captures, for the first time, the methodological and thematic diversity and richness of current work on the history of the German working class and the political movements that emerged from it. Based on original contributions from U.S., British, and German scholars, this collection address a wide range of themes and problems.

DEFA After East Germany

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Publisher : Boydell & Brewer
ISBN 13 : 1571135820
Total Pages : 367 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (711 download)

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Book Synopsis DEFA After East Germany by : Brigitta B. Wagner

Download or read book DEFA After East Germany written by Brigitta B. Wagner and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2014 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paints a complex portrait of East German film art and representation through examining eighteen key DEFA films following the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, East Germany's DEFA filmmakers had a brief window in which to critique GDR society on either side of the Wende, the sweeping political turn that surrounded the fall of the Berlin Wall andthe opening of the border. Building on the DEFA Film Library's retrospective Wende Flicks series and Indiana University's DEFA Project, this study examines the newly rediscovered filmic artifacts of this transitional cinema, introducing eighteen key films from 1988 to 1994 in essays by German scholars, film professionals, and cultural figures. Accompanying interviews and historical film reviews present a complex portrait of East German film art, itscommunist bloc influences, and its legacy for contemporary German film culture. The resulting anthology combines historical, autobiographical, cultural-political, and journalistic discourses to explore the tension between the hopes and frustrations these films express, the historical exigencies that overshadowed their production and reception, and the politics of their revival. Contributors: Skyler J. Arndt-Briggs, Peter Blank, Claudia Breger, Barton Byg, Knut Elstermann, Peter Kahane, Jennifer M. Kapczynski, Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Thomas Krüger, Helmut Morsbach, Benjamin Robinson, Katrin Schlösser and Frank Löprich, Nicholas Sveholm, Johannes von Moltke, Brigitta B. Wagner. Brigitta B. Wagner is an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in Film Studies at the Freie Universität and in Time-Based Media at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.