Graf GDR Paneur1970s-Workshop
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Cybernetics, Economics, and Philosophy in the German Democratic Republic
Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University History Theses Department of History Spring 5-7-2011 Red Helmsman: Cybernetics, Economics, and Philosophy in the German Democratic Republic Kevin T. Baker Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Baker, Kevin T., "Red Helmsman: Cybernetics, Economics, and Philosophy in the German Democratic Republic." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2011. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses/47 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RED HELMSMAN: CYBERNETICS, ECONOMICS, AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC by KEVIN T. BAKER Under the Direction of Jared Poley ABSTRACT Cybernetics, despite being initially rejected in the Eastern Bloc throughout the 1950s for ideological reasons, rose to a high level of institutional prominence in the 1960s, profoundly influencing state philosophy and economic planning. This thesis is an examination of this transition, charting the development of cybernetics from the object of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands’s (SED) opprobrium to one of the major philosophical currents within the party intelligentsia. INDEX WORDS: East Germany, Marxism, History of science, Economics, Cybernetics, Philosophy, Cold War, Information theory, Georg Klaus, Walter Ulbricht RED HELMSMAN: CYBERNETICS, ECONOMICS, AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC by KEVIN T. BAKER A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of the Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2011 Copyright by Kevin T. -
KEY QUESTION 5 : West and East Germany 1949 to 1991 West and East Germany 1949 to 1991
COMPONENT 2 - PERIOD STUDY 2B. THE DEVELOPMENT OF GERMANY 1919-1991 KEY QUESTION 5 : West and East Germany 1949 to 1991 West and East Germany 1949 to 1991 THE DIVISION OF GERMANY - Yalta and Potsdam Conferences 1945 By the spring of 1945 it was clear that Germany would be defeated and the Allied powers had to decide what would happen to Germany after the war. In February 1945 the leaders of the USA (Roosevelt), USSR (Stalin) and Britain (Churchill) met in a conference at Yalta to decide. They reached agreement on the following points: • Germany and Austria would be divided into four zones of occupation: Russia would control the east, Britain the north, USA and France the south and west. Special arrangements were made for Berlin – all the Allies were given a sector of Berlin to control although it was in the middle of the Russian zone of occupation. • Those responsible for war crimes would be put on trial. • New borders would be created for Poland. Source 1 : The ‘Big Three’ at Yalta The Allied leaders met again at Potsdam in July 1945 after Germany had surrendered, with President Roosevelt replaced by President Truman and Winston Churchill replaced by Clement Attlee. It was agreed that at some point the occupation would end, when it was decided that Germans could govern themselves again. Then there would be a final peace treaty between Germany and the Allies. It was agreed that Germans living in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary would be moved back to Germany. As a result of the end of the war and the redrawing of the eastern frontier there were expulsions of Germans from east European countries on a massive scale: some estimates place the number of Germans killed at over half a million. -
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. -
Civil Law in East Germany-Its Development and Relation to Soviet Legal History and Ideology
The Yale Law Journal Volume 78, Number 1, November 1968 Civil Law in East Germany-Its Development and Relation to Soviet Legal History and Ideology Inga S. Markovitst The Biirgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB), the German civil code of 1896, is still in force in both East and West Germany. Despite important modifications on both sides and despite special East German legislation on exchange relationships within the state-owned economy, the civil law' of contracts, torts, property, and inheritance is still governed by largely the same provisions and concepts. It is questionable, however, whether this legal unity will last much longer. Since the partition of Germany into eastern and western zones, and particularly since the foundation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Fed- eral Republic in 1949, jurists and government officials in East Germany have attacked the bourgeois civil code and asked for new "socialist" civil law. As early as 1952 at the Second Party Conference of the Socialist Unity Party,2 Ulbricht suggested the theoretical necessity for a new civil code. He reiterated his request at the Fifth Party Congress in 1958, after which legislative commissions were established to work on the preparation of a draft code.3 Although the new code was orig- inally intended to take effect on January 1, 1962,4 it has not yet been t BA. 1960, LL.B. 1960, Ph.D. 1966, Free University of Berlin. 1. Throughout this article the term "civil law" is used in its German sense, that is, in contrast not to "common law" but to "public law." It thus closely corresponds to the American notion of "private law." 2. -
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. -
Bstu / State Security. a Reader on the GDR
Daniela Münkel (ed.) STATE SECURITY A READER ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE Daniela Münkel (ed.) STATE SECURITY A READER ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE Imprint Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic Department of Education and Research 10106 Berlin [email protected] Photo editing: Heike Brusendorf, Roger Engelmann, Bernd Florath, Daniela Münkel, Christin Schwarz Layout: Pralle Sonne Originally published under title: Daniela Münkel (Hg.): Staatssicherheit. Ein Lesebuch zur DDR-Geheimpolizei. Berlin 2015 Translation: Miriamne Fields, Berlin A READER The opinions expressed in this publication reflect solely the views of the authors. Print and media use are permitted ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE only when the author and source are named and copyright law is respected. token fee: 5 euro 2nd edition, Berlin 2018 ISBN 978-3-946572-43-5 6 STATE SECURITY. A READER ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE CONTENTS 7 Contents 8 Roland Jahn 104 Arno Polzin Preface Postal Inspection, Telephone Surveillance and Signal Intelligence 10 Helge Heidemeyer The Ministry for State Security and its Relationship 113 Roger Engelmann to the SED The State Security and Criminal Justice 20 Daniela Münkel 122 Tobias Wunschik The Ministers for State Security Prisons in the GDR 29 Jens Gieseke 130 Daniela Münkel What did it Mean to be a Chekist? The State Security and the Border 40 Bernd Florath 139 Georg Herbstritt, Elke Stadelmann-Wenz The Unofficial Collaborators Work in the West 52 Christian Halbrock 152 Roger Engelmann -
Andreas Malycha Die SED in Der Ära Honecker Quellen Und Darstellungen Zur Zeitgeschichte
Andreas Malycha Die SED in der Ära Honecker Quellen und Darstellungen zur Zeitgeschichte Herausgegeben vom Institut für Zeitgeschichte Band 102 Andreas Malycha Die SED in der Ära Honecker Machtstrukturen, Entscheidungsmechanismen und Konfliktfelder in der Staatspartei 1971 bis 1989 ISBN 978-3-486-74709-6 E-ISBN 978-3-11-034785-2 ISSN 0481-3545 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbiblio- grafie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.dnb.de abrufbar. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. © 2014 Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH Rosenheimer Straße 143, 81671 München, Deutschland www.degruyter.com Ein Unternehmen von De Gruyter Einbandgestaltung: hauser lacour Druck und Bindung: Hubert & Co, Göttingen Gedruckt in Deutschland Dieses Papier ist alterungsbeständig nach DIN/ISO 9706. Inhalt Danksagung ..................................................... VII Einführung ...................................................... 1 I. Von Ulbricht zu Honecker..................................... 11 1. Die Machtzentren der SED: Politbüro und Sekretariat des Zentralkomitees .......................................... 11 2. Die Waldsiedlung bei Wandlitz .............................. 20 3. Das Politbüro der späten Ulbricht-Ära ....................... 31 4. Der Abbruch der Wirtschaftsreformen und das Ende der Ära Ulbricht -
Hertle, Hans-Hermann, Die DDR an Die Sowjetunion
Dokumentation Die DDR an die Sowjetunion verkaufen? Stasi-Analysen zum ökonomischen Niedergang der DDR Hans-Hermann Hertle, Potsdam I. fähigkeit und einer im Vergleich zum Westen erheb- lich niedrigeren Arbeitsproduktivität war.2 Seit 1978 Im Laufe des Jahres 1982 griff unter den führenden steckte die DDR in der Schuldenfalle: Fällige Kre- SED-Wirtschaftsfunktionären die Furcht vor dem dro- dite und Zinsen mussten durch die Aufnahme neuer henden wirtschaftlichen Zusammenbruch der DDR Kredite finanziert werden. Die Zahlungsfähigkeit der um sich. Zentrale Arbeitsgruppen des Politbüros und DDR hing von der Bereitschaft westlicher Banken ab, des Ministerrates unter dem Vorsitz von ZK-Wirt- der SED neue Kredite zu gewähren. Aus Furcht vor schaftssekretär Günter Mittag und Planungs-Chef Protesten und inneren Unruhen lehnte das Politbü- Gerhard Schürer standen im »täglichen Kampf um die ro 1979 zunächst durchgreifende Preiserhöhungen, Gewährleistung der Zahlungsfähigkeit« (Schürer). dann auch eine Umschichtung von Investitionen zu- Ohne Rücksicht auf die Wirtschaftlichkeit der Ge- gunsten des produktiven Bereiches ab. Rückläufige schäfte und überwiegend zu Lasten der inländischen Investitionsquoten, unterlassene wirtschaftliche An- Versorgung wurden zusätzlich Rohstoffe und Kon- passungsmaßnahmen, steigende Zinsen für die West- sumgüter wie Erdölprodukte und chemische Erzeug- Schulden, ein Kreditstopp des Westens, der auf die nisse, Stickstoff und Kali, Eier und Zement, Möbel, Zahlungsschwierigkeiten Rumäniens und Polens und Haushalts- und Industrienähmaschinen, Mähdrescher, die Verhängung des Kriegsrechts in Polen am 13. De- Gasherde und Fahrräder, Fleisch und Düngemittel, zember 1981 folgte, und die Kürzung sowjetischer Butter und Waffen gegen Devisen verkauft, um den Rohöllieferungen seit Anfang 1982 stürzten die DDR Ausfall von Waren- und Finanzkrediten zu kompen- in die bis dahin tiefste ökonomische Krise. -
Ulbricht Embattled: the Quest for Socialist Modernity in the Light of New Sources Author(S): Jeffrey Kopstein Source: Europe-Asia Studies, Vol
Ulbricht Embattled: The Quest for Socialist Modernity in the Light of New Sources Author(s): Jeffrey Kopstein Source: Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 46, No. 4, Soviet and East European History (1994), pp. 597- 615 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/152929 Accessed: 22/03/2010 17:14 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=taylorfrancis. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Europe-Asia Studies. http://www.jstor.org EUROPE-ASIASTUDIES, Vol. 46, No. -
Bulletin 10-Final Cover
COLD WAR INTERNATIONAL HISTORY PROJECT BULLETIN 10 61 “This Is Not A Politburo, But A Madhouse”1 The Post-Stalin Succession Struggle, Soviet Deutschlandpolitik and the SED: New Evidence from Russian, German, and Hungarian Archives Introduced and annotated by Christian F. Ostermann I. ince the opening of the former Communist bloc East German relations as Ulbricht seemed to have used the archives it has become evident that the crisis in East uprising to turn weakness into strength. On the height of S Germany in the spring and summer of 1953 was one the crisis in East Berlin, for reasons that are not yet of the key moments in the history of the Cold War. The entirely clear, the Soviet leadership committed itself to the East German Communist regime was much closer to the political survival of Ulbricht and his East German state. brink of collapse, the popular revolt much more wide- Unlike his fellow Stalinist leader, Hungary’s Matyas spread and prolonged, the resentment of SED leader Rakosi, who was quickly demoted when he embraced the Walter Ulbricht by the East German population much more New Course less enthusiastically than expected, Ulbricht, intense than many in the West had come to believe.2 The equally unenthusiastic and stubborn — and with one foot uprising also had profound, long-term effects on the over the brink —somehow managed to regain support in internal and international development of the GDR. By Moscow. The commitment to his survival would in due renouncing the industrial norm increase that had sparked course become costly for the Soviets who were faced with the demonstrations and riots, regime and labor had found Ulbricht’s ever increasing, ever more aggressive demands an uneasy, implicit compromise that production could rise for economic and political support. -
On Stalin's "Economic Problems"
MARXISM AND “MARKET SOCIALISM” (On Stalin’s “Economic Problems” Part Two) By the British and Irish Communist Organisation “Though it is said, Proverbs, 23.4, ‘Labour not to be rich’: the meaning is, that you make not Riches your chief end: Riches for our fleshly ends must not ultimately be intended or sought. But in subordination to higher things they may: That is, you may labour in that manner as tendeth most to success and lawful gain: You are bound to improve your Masters Talents; but then your end must be, that you may be the better provided to do God service, and may do the more good with what you have. If God show you a way in which you may lawfully get more than in another way, (without any wrong to your soul, or to any other) if you refuse this, and choose the less gainful way, you cross one of the ends of your Calling, and you refuse to be God’s Steward, and to accept his gifts, and use them for him when he requireth it: You may labour to be Rich for God, though not for the flesh and sin”. (Rev. Richard Baxter – Theologian of the English bourgeois (“Puritan”) revolution. “A Christian Directory: Or, A Summ of Practical Theologie and Cases of Conscience.” 1673 p. 450) CONTENTS Introduction Commodities The “Socialist Commodity” Marx & Engels on the commodity The Cause of Value in “Socialist” Production The Law of Value The “Market” and the Market The “Socialist” Market “Socialism”: A new way of Describing Capitalism Market Demand Prices of production The History of Market Socialism The “Stalin-Critics” Lenin Conclusion Appendix: Economic Theory in China First edition: July 1969 Present edition: September 1971 PREFACE On Stalin’s “Economic Problems”, Part 1, dealing with the general background of political economy against which “Economic Problems” made its appearance was published in March 1968. -
The German Question
Part II The German Question Gorbachev and the GDR 145 Chapter 7 Gorbachev and the GDR Daniel S. Hamilton The German Democratic Republic (GDR) was the illegitimate off- spring of the Cold War, in the words of one writer, the “state that can- not be.”1 Even after forty years of separate existence, the GDR never became a nation; it was never seen as a 1egitimate state by its own people, by West Germans or even by its own superpower patron, the Soviet Union.2 The illegitimate nature of the East German regime proved to be an incurable birth defect. It was also a characteristic that distinguished East Germany from its socialist neighbors. Unlike Polish, Hungarian or Czechoslovak rulers, the GDR regime could not fall back on distinct national traditions or a sense of historical continuity binding its citi- zens to its leaders. The Finnish diplomat Max Jacobson captured the essence of the GDR’s precarious position: The GDR is fundamentally different from all other Warsaw Pact members. It is not a nation, but a state built on an ideological con- cept. Poland will remain Poland, and Hungary will always be Hun- gary, whatever their social system. But for East Germany, main- taining its socialist system is the reason for its existence.3 As J.F. Brown put it, “history has been full of nations seeking state- hood, but the GDR was a state searching for nationhood.”4 This lack of legitimacy afflicted the regime during the entire 40-year existence of the East German state. Without legitimacy, the regime could never consolidate its internal authority or its external stability.