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Machtwechsel in Ost-Berlin. Der Sturz Walter Ulbrichts 1971
JOCHEN STELKENS MACHTWECHSEL IN OST-BERLIN Der Sturz Walter Ulbrichts 1971 „Nach reiflicher Überlegung habe ich mich entschlossen, das Zentralkomitee auf seiner heutigen Tagung zu bitten, mich von der Funktion des Ersten Sekretärs des Zentralko mitees der SED zu entbinden. Die Jahre fordern ihr Recht und gestatten es mir nicht län ger, eine solche anstrengende Tätigkeit wie die des Ersten Sekretärs des Zentralkomitees auszuüben. Ich erachte daher die Zeit für gekommen, diese Funktion in jüngere Hände zu geben, und schlage vor, Genossen Erich Honecker zum Ersten Sekretär des Zentral komitees zu wählen."1 Eher nüchtern und scheinbar auch gefaßt verabschiedete sich Walter Ulbricht am 3. Mai 1971 auf der 16. ZK-Tagung der SED von der großen Weltpo litik, und man hätte auf den ersten Blick vermuten können, daß es sich - hauptsächlich wegen seines fortgeschrittenen Alters - um einen reibungslosen Übergang zu seinem Nachfolger Erich Honecker handelte. Hermann Axen, schon damals und noch bis 1989 Mitglied des Politbüros sowie Sekretär des ZK für internationale Verbindungen, nährte nach dem Fall der Mauer solche Mutmaßungen2: „Die Ablösung war kein Coup, kein Komplott. Es war nicht gemanagt. Hätten wir das nicht getan, wäre Walter Ulbricht frü her gestorben; wir haben sein Leben verlängert. Leicht ist ihm die Korrektur, die der VIII. Parteitag vornahm, und die Tatsache, daß er nicht mehr Erster Sekretär der Partei war, natürlich nicht gefallen. Schon auf dem 16. Plenum hatte er die Entscheidung ehrlich akzeptiert und Erich Honecker als seinen Nachfolger umarmt und beglückwünscht. Wir müssen Hochachtung vor Walter empfinden, der die Partei über alles stellte."3 Allerdings war schon ziemlich bald für DDR-Forscher im Westen klar, daß der Machtwechsel von Ulbricht zu seinem politischen Ziehsohn Honecker nicht so rei bungslos verlaufen war, wie ihn die SED nach außen darstellen wollte. -
The Layers of Memory at Sachsenhausen: from the GDR to Contemporary Germany
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga UTC Scholar Student Research, Creative Works, and Honors Theses Publications 8-2015 The layers of memory at Sachsenhausen: from the GDR to contemporary Germany Barry J. Bookheimer Jr. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.utc.edu/honors-theses Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Bookheimer, Barry J. Jr., "The layers of memory at Sachsenhausen: from the GDR to contemporary Germany" (2015). Honors Theses. This Theses is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research, Creative Works, and Publications at UTC Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of UTC Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Bookheimer 2 Introduction Memory is never shaped in a vacuum; the motives of memory are never pure.1 James E. Young Identity without memory is empty, memory without identity is meaningless.2 Robert Eaglestone When I visited the former Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp near Berlin for the first time, I very quickly realized that I was not fully prepared for what I saw. I expected to see victim-centric exhibits that told the story of those that were persecuted in the camp as well as interplay between authentic relics of the Holocaust era and representative works that collaborated to narrate the history of the place. I was prepared for a great deal of sorrow and suffering to characterize the tone of memory at Sachsenhausen. I did not anticipate, however, that I would encounter a massive East German monument to communist victory standing in the center of the former Konzentrationslager Sachsenhausen (Sachsenhausen-KZ). -
Television and the Cold War in the German Democratic Republic
0/-*/&4637&: *ODPMMBCPSBUJPOXJUI6OHMVFJU XFIBWFTFUVQBTVSWFZ POMZUFORVFTUJPOT UP MFBSONPSFBCPVUIPXPQFOBDDFTTFCPPLTBSFEJTDPWFSFEBOEVTFE 8FSFBMMZWBMVFZPVSQBSUJDJQBUJPOQMFBTFUBLFQBSU $-*$,)&3& "OFMFDUSPOJDWFSTJPOPGUIJTCPPLJTGSFFMZBWBJMBCMF UIBOLTUP UIFTVQQPSUPGMJCSBSJFTXPSLJOHXJUI,OPXMFEHF6OMBUDIFE ,6JTBDPMMBCPSBUJWFJOJUJBUJWFEFTJHOFEUPNBLFIJHIRVBMJUZ CPPLT0QFO"DDFTTGPSUIFQVCMJDHPPE Revised Pages Envisioning Socialism Revised Pages Revised Pages Envisioning Socialism Television and the Cold War in the German Democratic Republic Heather L. Gumbert The University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor Revised Pages Copyright © by Heather L. Gumbert 2014 All rights reserved This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (be- yond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher. Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid- free paper 2017 2016 2015 2014 5 4 3 2 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978– 0- 472– 11919– 6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978– 0- 472– 12002– 4 (e- book) Revised Pages For my parents Revised Pages Revised Pages Contents Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 1 Cold War Signals: Television Technology in the GDR 14 2 Inventing Television Programming in the GDR 36 3 The Revolution Wasn’t Televised: Political Discipline Confronts Live Television in 1956 60 4 Mediating the Berlin Wall: Television in August 1961 81 5 Coercion and Consent in Television Broadcasting: The Consequences of August 1961 105 6 Reaching Consensus on Television 135 Conclusion 158 Notes 165 Bibliography 217 Index 231 Revised Pages Revised Pages Acknowledgments This work is the product of more years than I would like to admit. -
The Fall of the Wall: the Unintended Self-Dissolution of East Germany’S Ruling Regime
COLD WAR INTERNATIONAL HISTORY PROJECT BULLETIN, ISSUE 12 /13 131 The Fall of the Wall: The Unintended Self-Dissolution of East Germany’s Ruling Regime By Hans-Hermann Hertle ast Germany’s sudden collapse like a house of cards retrospect to have been inevitable.” He labeled this in fall 1989 caught both the political and academic thinking “whatever happened, had to have happened,” or, Eworlds by surprise.1 The decisive moment of the more ironically, “the marvelous advantage which historians collapse was undoubtedly the fall of the Berlin Wall during have over political scientists.”15 Resistance scholar Peter the night of 9 November 1989. After the initial political Steinbach commented that historians occasionally forget upheavals in Poland and Hungary, it served as the turning very quickly “that they are only able to offer insightful point for the revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe and interpretations of the changes because they know how accelerated the deterioration of the Soviet empire. Indeed, unpredictable circumstances have resolved themselves.”16 the Soviet Union collapsed within two years. Along with In the case of 9 November 1989, reconstruction of the the demolition of the “Iron Curtain” in May and the details graphically demonstrates that history is an open opening of the border between Hungary and Austria for process. In addition, it also leads to the paradoxical GDR citizens in September 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall realization that the details of central historical events can stands as a symbol of the end of the Cold War,2 the end of only be understood when they are placed in their historical the division of Germany and of the continent of Europe.3 context, thereby losing their sense of predetermination.17 Political events of this magnitude have always been The mistaken conclusion of what Reinhard Bendix the preferred stuff of which legends and myths are made of. -
Reginlc ( 'Ulhaps..' Ill • Lit' P..'Un'flll Eas' (;..'
')h GERMAN POLITICS year. In the case of unemployed people who are older than this the duration of this right Reginlc ( 'ulhaps..' ill • lit' P..'un'flll Eas' (;..'.. 111.1 .. to unemployment benefit increases in steps, and reaches a maximum period of payment of two and a half years for the unemployed over 55. Revolution: tilt.' I~ul .., uf Middlt'-I ,"'Vt'l ()ffkials 62. Cf. Hubert Heinelt and Anne Lohmann, Immigranten im Wohlfahrtsstaat - am Beispiel der Rechtspositionen und Lebensverhiiltnisse von Aussiedlern (Opladen: Leske & Budrich, 1992). DANIEt~ 63. Jellinek, op. cit., p. 143. V. t:RII',I)III'IM M. Ibid., pp. 163 ff. 65. Cf. ibid., pp. 268 ff. In addition, local communities are also corporate bodies under public law- and this is precisely the case in Jellinek's view. The right offoreigners to vote at local elections, which is at present the subject of political controversy, could therefore During the autumn of 1989, the CommUlli.I·1 /t'g/IIII' /11 /' 1/.11 also be derived from a longer period of stay in these local communities that are not Germany lost its will to continue using repressiolllo sl(/.\' ill/IIIII'I'/ directly state ones. On the right of foreigners to vote at different state levels in the EC Rather than in Berlin, peacejlll dialogue with street demollslralor.1 member countries d. Philip Nanton, 'National Frameworks', op. cit., pp. 194 ff. 66. Ibid, p. 194. came in the regional capitals. The reason is that alt/wuf!.11 111/' 67. Cf. Heinelt and Lohmann op. cit., pp. 45 ff. on the group of Aussiedler. -
The Fédération Internationale Des Résistants (FIR) Its Activities During the Breakdown of the Soviet Bloc1
S: I. M. O. N. SHOAH: I NTERVENTION. M ETHODS. DOCUMENTATION. Maximilian Becker The Fédération Internationale des Résistants (FIR) Its activities during the Breakdown of the Soviet Bloc1 Abstract This paper offers an analysis of the activities of the communist-dominated Fédération Inter- nationale des Résistants (International Federation of Resistance Movements, FIR), the inter- national umbrella organisation of associations of victims of Nazi persecution from both Eastern and Western Europe between the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time, the collapse of the Soviet Bloc led to a deep crisis for the Eastern European organisations like the Polish Związek Bojowników o Wolność i Demokrację (Union of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy) representing the former anti-fascist resistance fighters and political prisoners of Nazi concentration camps, which had been part of the communist power apparatus, and therefore of FIR. The organisation, which had been mired in growing financial difficulties for at least two decades, then lost much of its influence and of its potential to spread its mes- sage among the public. Nevertheless, FIR tried to maintain its activities with a special focus on dealing with right-wing extremism, the preservation of the rights and pensions of former resistance fighters, a commitment to peace and disarmament, as well as to the politics of memory. In June 1991, the Fédération Internationale des Résistants (International Federa- tion of Resistance Movements, hereafter FIR) held its Eleventh Ordinary Congress Moscow. -
Youth Opposition in the GDR, 1945–1965
Youth Opposition in the GDR, 1945–1965 Mark Fenemore Mark Fenemore, born Abstract 1973 in Lancashire. Senior Lecturer in Modern European Die Sozialistische Einheitspartei (SED) der Deutschen Demokra- History at Manchester tischen Republik wies ein ambivalentes Verhältnis zu Heranwach- Metro politan University. senden auf. Die Propaganda zeichnete das Bild idealistischer, PhD in German Histo- junger Kommunisten der Zukunft. Versäumten diese jedoch die ry (2002) from University College London. Has Annahme dieser Rolle, reagierten die Parteispitzen mit verletz- held fellowships at the tem Stolz, Wut und Aggression. Im Laufe der 1950er-Jahre ver- Institute of Historical schob sich die staatliche Repression von den jungen Christen hin Research and the Library zu Maßnahmen gegen junge Menschen (vorwiegend Männer der of Congress. Arbeiterklasse) aus den Subkulturen (wie beispielsweise Bebop-, Rock- und Beat-Fans.) Der vorliegende Artikel verknüpft die Ar- chivrecherche mit Stanley Cohens Analyse „moralischer Panik“. The SED leadership had a whole arsenal of weapons of coercion at its disposal, which were regularly used on those young people who were seen to be straying from the path set out for them by the Party. In schools and on the streets, instanc- es of indiscipline and unruliness were routinely interpreted by the authorities as “attacks on the state”. The regime’s need to generate rituals and proofs of loyalty led to repression against individuals when they failed to live up to its expectations. It claimed to have a monopoly on youth and the power to mould young people as future citizens. Youth was prized as a particularly creative and malleable part of the population. -
I. Von Ulbricht Zu Honecker
I. Von Ulbricht zu Honecker 1. Die Machtzentren der SED: Politbüro und Sekretariat des Zentralkomitees Im Verlauf der Transformation der SED zu einer „Partei neuen Typus“ in den Jahren 1947/48 erhielt die zentrale Parteiführung eine völlig neue Struktur.1 An die Stelle des bisherigen Machtzentrums der Partei, des Zentralsekretariats, trat im Januar 1949 das Politbüro, welches „alle wichtigen Fragen der Parteiführung und Parteipolitik, besonders Fragen marxistisch-leninistischer Erziehung der Par- teimitglieder, zu beraten und zu entscheiden“ hatte.2 Zusätzlich zur bisherigen Leitungsstruktur wurde das „Kleine Sekretariat des Politbüros“ unter Vorsitz von Walter Ulbricht geschaffen. Es erhielt die Aufgabe, die Arbeit des Politbüros zu unterstützen, seine Beschlüsse vorzubereiten und ihre Durchführung zu kontrol- lieren. Es regelte weiterhin die Verbindung des Politbüros mit den Abteilungslei- tern und kontrollierte somit auch die Abteilungen des zentralen Parteiapparates. Mit dem Vorsitz des „Kleinen Sekretariats“, das sich kurze Zeit später in ein „Sekretariat des Zentralkomitees“ wandelte, übernahm Ulbricht eine Schlüssel- stellung sowohl in der Parteiführung als auch im zentralen Parteiapparat.3 Das vom dritten Parteitag (20. bis 24. Juli 1950) beschlossene Parteistatut fi- xierte all jene strukturellen, politischen und personellen Veränderungen, die im Zuge der Umwandlung der SED zur „Partei neuen Typus“ durchgesetzt worden waren. An die Stelle des Parteivorstandes trat das Zentralkomitee, das Zentral- sekretariat wurde endgültig durch das Politbüro ersetzt. Das Zentralkomitee sollte formell die gesamte Tätigkeit der Partei leiten und diese „im Verkehr mit anderen Parteien, Organisationen, staatlichen, wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Verwal- tungen und Institutionen“ vertreten.4 1950 umfasste das Zentralkomitee 51 Mit- glieder und 30 Kandidaten. Da es in der Regel nur vierteljährlich zusammentrat, konnte es die ihm laut Statut vorgeschriebene Führungsposition zu keinem Zeit- punkt ausfüllen. -
·F6reignaffairs Bulletin 1133'17 P~Blished ,By the ,I>Ress Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the GE,RMAN DEMOCRAT.IC REPUBLIC
Stiftelsen norsk Okkupasjonshistorie, 2014 ·f6reignAffairs Bulletin 1133'17 p~blished ,by the ,i>ress Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the GE,RMAN DEMOCRAT.IC REPUBLIC folume 14' 'Berlin. 22 October 1974 No: 30 Party of Germany and the Commun ·'Tw~ntY-fiveYears of Diplomatic'Reiations ist Party of the Soviet' Union, be ,with the Soviet Union tween the German Democratic -Re public and the Union of Soviet So cialist Republics. It is the history of ,Telegrams were exchanged between, German Democratic' Republic was a unselfish assistance and support ren GDR-Foreign Minister Otto Winzer great act of confidence by the Soviet dered by the Soviet Union to the and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Union in the just founded first Ger GDR in" all fields. - Gromyko on the occasion of the 25th man workers' and farmers' state. , annwerllaryof' the establishment of This assistance and the firm estab After the period of the rule of diplomatic'relations between the two lishment of the German c Democratic German imperialism and fascism, .countries. Republic in the dynamically develop which was disastrous for the relations ing ,c'ommunity of socialist states Foreign Minister Winzer addressed between our peoples, this s,tep marks under the leadership of the Soviet the following telegram to his Soviet the irreversible revolutionary turn Union constitute the 'decisive gua ,colleague: to relations of a completely new type rantee for all successes of our Re between our peoples and states public. On the occasion of the 25th anni- wh(j)se imperturbable foundation is On the occasion of today's anni ',' versary Of the establishment of dip- the loyalty tothe principles of Mar _.-.>.N 'ldnatl'c* r~l'i:tfioiiSbetween: "the"Ger":" - xism-Leninis~- and of proletarian in versary, esteemed Comrade Gromyko, man Democratic Republic and- the ternationalism. -
Global Iconic Events
Global Iconic Events: How News Stories Travel Through Time, Space and Media Julia Sonnevend Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 © 2013 Julia Sonnevend All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Global Iconic Events: How News Stories Travel Through Time, Space and Media Julia Sonnevend This dissertation examines how a news event may become a global social myth. In order to track this voyage from the particular to the universal, I developed a theoretical concept of “global iconic events.” I define global iconic events as news events that are covered extensively and remembered ritually by international media. I suggest five narrative aspects to consider in connection with them: (1) their narrative prerequisites; (2) their elevated and interpretative story; (3) their condensation into a simple phrase, a short narrative, and a recognizable visual scene; (4) their competing stories; and (5) their ability to travel across multiple media platforms and changing social and political contexts. I perform textual analysis on media representations from four distinct national contexts (West German, East German, Hungarian, and American) to examine two case studies. With the help of the central case study, the “fall of the Berlin Wall,” I exhibit the successful social construction of a global iconic event. The second case study, the 1956 Hungarian revolution, illuminates some factors, in particular local counter-narration, incoherent and contextual international representation, forgetting, and marginality of the event’s location, as instrumental in the failure of an event to become a global iconic event. -
Mikroelektronik in Der DDR SED, Staatsapparat Und Staatssicherheit Im Wettstreit Der Systeme Berichte Und Studien Nr
Gerhard Barkleit Mikroelektronik in der DDR SED, Staatsapparat und Staatssicherheit im Wettstreit der Systeme Berichte und Studien Nr. 29 Herausgegeben vom Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung e.V. an der Technischen Universität Dresden Gerhard Barkleit Mikroelektronik in der DDR SED, Staatsapparat und Staatssicherheit im Wettstreit der Systeme Dresden 2000 Herausgegeben vom Hannah-Arendt-Institut für Totalitarismusforschung e.V. an der Technischen Universität Dresden Mommsenstr. 13, 01062 Dresden Tel. (0351) 463 2802, Fax (0351) 463 6079 Layout: Walter Heidenreich Umschlaggestaltung: Penta-Design, Berlin Druck: Sächsisches Druck- und Verlagshaus AG, Dresden Printed in Germany 2000 Abdruck und sonstige publizistische Nutzung – auch auszugsweise – nur mit Quellenangabe gestattet. Belegexemplar gewünscht. ISBN 3-931648-32-X Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Einleitung 7 2. Steuerungselemente und Steuerungsmechanismen in der Zentralplanwirtschaft 9 2.1 Zum Forschungsstand 9 2.2 Das MfS auf dem Weg zum dritten Steuerungselement 11 2.3 Die Führungstrias in der Hochtechnologie 14 3. Mikroelektronik in der DDR – ein historischer Abriss 20 3.1 Die Anfänge in den 60er und 70er Jahren 20 3.2 Das Dilemma der 80er Jahre 23 3.3 Die Kooperationsverweigerung des Ostblocks 28 3.4 Das RGW-Forschungszentrum INTER-EWM 31 3.5 Fazit 32 4. Entscheidungsfindung und Implementierung – Fallbeispiele 34 4.1 Beschluss zur „Beschleunigung der Entwicklung, Produktion und Anwendung der Mikroelektronik in der DDR“ auf der 6. Tagung des ZK der SED im Juni 1977 35 4.2 Politbürobeschluss zur Profilierung des Kombinates Carl Zeiss Jena vom 24. Mai 1983 53 4.3 Entwicklung des Bezirkes Erfurt zu einem Zentrum der Hochtechnologie 73 4.4 Technologietransfer unter Embargobedingungen 97 4.5 Das Kombinat Carl Zeiss Jena auf dem Weg zum General- lieferanten kompletter Bauelementefabriken 109 5. -
The Wolf Biermann Story
University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1980 There is a life before death: The Wolf Biermann story John Shreve The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Shreve, John, "There is a life before death: The Wolf Biermann story" (1980). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 5262. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/5262 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1976 Th is is an unpublished m a n u s c r ip t in w h ic h c o p y r ig h t sub s i s t s . Any further r e p r in t in g of it s contents must be approved BY THE AUTHOR. Ma n s f ie l d L ib r a r y Un iv e r s it y o f-M ontana D ate: 198 0 THERE IS A LIFE BEFORE DEATH THE WOLF BIERMANN STORY by John Shreve B.A., University of Montana, 1976 Presented 1n p a rtial fu lfillm e n t of the requirements fo r the degree of Master of Arts UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA 1980 Approved by: & Chairman, Board of Examiners Deari% Graduate Scho6T S'-U- S'o Date UMI Number: EP40726 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.