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The German Revolution As Party Politics GDR, Frmly in His Grip; "The Real Threat to Him David Childs May Not Have Been "Present at Came from Moscow" (P

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The German Revolution As Party Politics GDR, Frmly in His Grip; David Childs. The Fall of the GDR: Germany's Road to Unity. London: Longman, 2001. xvii + 188 pp. $17.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-582-31569-3. Reviewed by William G. Gray Published on H-Diplo (December, 2002) The German Revolution as Party Politics GDR, frmly in his grip; "the real threat to him David Childs may not have been "present at came from Moscow" (p. 9). The twenty-two mem‐ the creation," but he has spent the better part of a bers of the Politburo in 1988 were "men of limited lifetime observing and reporting on developments experience and limited intellectual horizons" (p. in Germany. His frst book-length analysis of con‐ 9). This represents a fair judgment, no doubt, yet ditions in East Germany appeared in 1969; his is a sad commentary on a group that included six 1983 work The GDR: Moscow's German Ally, re‐ survivors of Nazi prison camps and three veter‐ vised in 1988, remains useful as a guide to the ans of the Spanish Civil War (alongside six veter‐ pageantry and party congresses of the ruling So‐ ans of Hitler's Wehrmacht). cialist Unity Party (SED). In 1996 he co-authored a The following chapter provides background volume on East Germany's security organ, the on "The GDR's Flawed Development." Here, with Stasi.[1] Now professor emeritus of German poli‐ precision, Childs runs through the standard list of tics at the University of Nottingham, Childs offers social and economic difficulties faced by the us his account of the precipitous demise of the regime: the strains caused by higher oil prices, the regime he studied for so long. misplaced effort to develop a microchip industry, The result is a densely packed narrative of the the inadequacy and poor quality of housing, and events of 1989-90. Childs assumes familiarity with popular resentment over travel restrictions. He the European scene since 1945 on the part of his observes that in the eyes of East German citizens, readers, opening with a chapter entitled "The GDR "virtually every aspect of the GDR and its allies in 1988--A Stable State?" He offers capsule biogra‐ seemed drab, dreary and provincial compared phies of the country's geriatric leaders and de‐ with the Federal Republic" (p. 32) Even the GDR's scribes how the SED had secured a "leading role" currency, with its lightweight coins, looked and in all facets of East Germany's bureaucratic exis‐ felt shabby in comparison with Western curren‐ tence. Erich Honecker held the party, and thus the cies. That will probably do as an evocation of the H-Net Reviews ghastly ordinariness of everyday life in East Ger‐ Leipzig," when party officials, security forces, and many, but historians may wish their students to civic representatives agreed on the principle of have a deeper exposure to the concepts (such as non-violence. How did there suddenly come to be niche society and Eigen-Sinn) that scholars have 70,000 marchers circling Leipzig on October 9, used in the past decade in exploring how East 1989? Childs' rapid-fire coverage of events does Germans came to terms with their fate.[2] not stop to reflect on broader explanations. As might be expected, Childs has much of in‐ Tellingly, none of the chapters in this book have terest to report on "The Stasi and Internal Securi‐ concluding sections. ty in the GDR." He reminds us that Erich Mielke's Childs returns to his metier, party politics, in Stasi wielded not only an "army of informers," but the next chapter. With near-encyclopedic atten‐ also more traditional means of frepower. "Those tion, he follows the emergence of oppositional in charge of dismantling the MfS in 1990 found groupings: New Forum, Democracy Now, the So‐ 124,593 revolvers, 76,592 sub-machineguns, 3,611 cial Democratic Party, Democratic Awakening, sniper rifles, 449 light machine guns, 766 heavy and more. All save one "seemed to be vaguely eco‐ machine guns, 3,357 anti-tank weapons, 342 anti- logical and vaguely social democratic. Abolition of aircraft machine guns, and 3,303 fare pistols" the GDR did not seem to be part of their aims" (p. (pp. 37-8). Here, as in many other passages, Childs 81). Childs's unromantic attitude toward these presents lists that charm with their exaggerated groups allows him to stay focused on another, level of detail. Several well-chosen examples perhaps more dramatic development, the reform demonstrate the extent of the Stasi's penetration of the ruling SED itself. Party membership plum‐ of the schools, academia, and the literary world. meted in October and November, but those who The agency's success in stage-managing crowds-- remained insisted on a thorough purge of the cor‐ the "Potemkin village" effect--is illustrated with rupt Politburo and later the Central Committee as two significant cases: the 1973 World Festival of well. In the midst of all this upheaval, the party Youth and Students in East Berlin, and the 1981 leadership dropped the ball on travel reform, un‐ visit by Honecker and Helmut Schmidt to Gn‐ intentionally prompting a dramatic breach in the strow. Finally, Childs makes plain how grim life Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. could become for dissidents and those who fled After a quick survey of international respons‐ official requests to emigrate. es, ranging from Margaret Thatcher's apprehen‐ One of the author's less satisfactory chapters sion to Francois Mitterrand's ambiguity to Helmut concerns the sudden emergence of the crowd as a Kohl's surprise announcement of a ten-point plan force for change in East Germany. He emphasizes for German unity (as a confederation, not neces‐ that in the early months of 1989, business was sarily as a centralized political entity), Childs ex‐ running as usual. Prominent West German visi‐ plores how reform communist Hans Modrow at‐ tors came a-courting, yet border guards were still tempted to keep the GDR from dissolving. Mod‐ gunning down escapees at the Berlin Wall. What row restored the singing of the GDR's national an‐ follows next is a tumble of remarkable events: ac‐ them, which Honecker had suppressed for its na‐ cusations of blatant fraud (echoed by Gorbachev tionalist implications. Modrow also moved to re‐ himself) in the May 1989 elections; the opening of structure the Stasi as an Office for National Secu‐ the Hungarian-Austrian border, which offered rity, only to press for an outright abolition of the East German vacationers an immediate escape secret police soon thereafter. Curiously, Childs route; the pathetic ritual of the GDR's fortieth an‐ makes no mention of a key moment in popular niversary celebrations; and the "miracle of memories of the revolution: the storming of the 2 H-Net Reviews Stasi headquarters in Berlin's Normannenstrasse On balance, instructors may fnd this text use‐ on January 15, 1990. ful when preparing lectures (this reviewer has), From here, the story is one of West German but Childs's matter-of-factness is unsuited to pro‐ politicians crowding onto the East German scene. voking thoughtful responses from students. De‐ Childs covers the East German Volkskammer elec‐ spite the promising series title--Themes in Modern tions of March 1990 in loving detail, outlining the German History--there is nothing thematic about various electoral alliances and expounding on the the author's approach. For this reason, the stan‐ character of the election law before moving on to dard works by Konrad Jarausch (1994) and present the outcome: an overwhelming victory Charles S. Maier (1997) remain more satisfactory for the "Alliance for Germany" led by Kohl. With‐ as English-language interpretations of East Ger‐ out venturing into partisanship, Childs fnds it "as‐ many's downfall.[3] The best moments in Childs's tonishing" that some, in hindsight, question the text involve personal anecdotes from the months validity of the results; after all, 93.4 percent of eli‐ of revolution. In September 1989, Thatcher grum‐ gible voters turned out, a higher proportion than bles to Childs that there is no German Question. in any West German election before or since. Three months later, Childs encounters erstwhile Based on his own interviews of voters in March SED reformers at the SED/PDS party conference 1990, Childs concludes that East Germans opted looking slightly dazed and not quite comprehend‐ "not for the Greens or the SPD, who were ambiva‐ ing that their time had passed. Undoubtedly lent about re-unification, but for the parties most Childs could produce a lengthy and insightful vol‐ clearly identified with it and all things Western" ume based on individual episodes; such a "unifi‐ (pp. 128, 132-33). cation journal" from the pen of a veteran GDR ob‐ server would represent a welcome addition to the The newly elected Volkskammer had one cen‐ growing memoir literature of 1989-90. tral mandate: to prepare the ground for a unified German state. It was during these months that the Notes Treuhandanstalt and the Gauck Authority--two [1]. David Childs, East Germany (New York: principal agents of the GDR's self-dismantling-- Praeger, 1969); The GDR: Moscow's German Ally took shape. Childs notes that the purge of schools (Boston: Allen and Unwin, 1983); and David Childs and university faculties also began during these and Richard Popplewell, The Stasi: The East Ger‐ months of transition, well before political unifica‐ man Intelligence and Security Service (New York: tion on October 3, 1990. Some promises were New York University Press, 1996). quickly betrayed. For example, the People's Army [2]. For an undergraduate survey text that did not retain an independent existence after all, does introduce these concepts, see Mike Dennis, and a strikingly low proportion of former East The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Re‐ German officers and NCOs found a welcome place public, 1945-1990 (London: Longman, 2000).
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