Gary Bruce. Resistance with the People: Repression and Resistance in Eastern Germany, 1945-1955. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefeld Publishers, 2003. 288 pp. $75.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-7425-2487-3.

Reviewed by Filip Bloem

Published on H-German (December, 2003)

Reinterpreting 1953 ing of 1953, Bruce also looks at resistance in the Gary Bruce's Resistance with the People: Re‐ non-Marxist political parties of the eastern zone. pression and Resistance in Eastern Germany In the frst period after the war these parties, es‐ 1945-1955 is one of many recent books that deal pecially the SPD and later on the CDU, quickly de‐ with the East German uprising of June 17, 1953, veloped into popular competitors of the KPD. an event that for a long time received far less at‐ When it became clear that the Communists would tention from historians than other uprisings never gain total control of the eastern zone by against Communist rule in Eastern Europe. Com‐ parliamentary elections, they started to subvert pared to the Hungarian revolution of 1956, the the other parties, with the help of the Soviet ad‐ Spring of 1968 or the tumultuous events ministration. The SPD was forced into a fusion surrounding Solidarnosc in 1980-81, the 17th of with the KPD and the CDU, and the liberal LDPD June remained a somewhat obscure date. This were gradually brought under Communist control state of afairs has changed since the fall of the by a combination of intimidation and infltration. Communist regime in 1989, when previously By examining the resistance of the non-Marxist closed archives opened up their collections and parties against the KPD/SED and the Soviet au‐ many historians took a fresh look at the uprising. thorities, to which the frst three and a half of fve A lot of this new research is centered around a de‐ chapters are devoted, Bruce seeks to show that bate on the nature of the events of June 17, 1953. democratic ideas and concerns for legal security Was it a worker's uprising, triggered by a 10 per‐ were central to their actions. In the remaining cent norm increase, that unintentionally almost portion of the book, Bruce examines the uprising toppled the Communist regime, or a popular revo‐ of 1953, in order to prove that "a basic commonal‐ lution, with national unity and parliamentary ity existed between aims and motives of resisters democracy as its principal aims? Most new schol‐ in the non-Marxist political parties and those in arship favors the latter interpretation, as can be the broader population" (p. 12). This commonality, seen in several books that have appeared on the Bruce argues, was "characterized by a rejection of occasion of the fftieth anniversary of the 1953 up‐ the Communist system, a desire for a united rising. All of them emphasize the political charac‐ democratic Germany, and the restoration of basic ter of the uprising and underline the broad popu‐ human rights" (p. 3). lar participation.[1] The motivation of resistance is a crucial issue The book by Gary Bruce fts this trend, al‐ for Bruce, who feels historical research on opposi‐ though its scope is wider. In addition to the upris‐ tion and resistance in the GDR has neglected this H-Net Reviews topic. For this he blames the infuence of histori‐ went on to have long political careers in the GDR-- ography on resistance in the Third Reich, which, Grotewohl even became Prime Minister. Was this inspired by the concept of Resistenz, has paid rel‐ acquiescence mere opportunism or were their po‐ atively little attention to the moral intentions of litical convictions not so democratic after all? resistance. According to Bruce this has led to a Bruce fails to address their underlying intentions, school of thought whereby Resistenz replaces which is a bit disappointing from a historian pur‐ Widerstand as real resistance (p. 8). This judg‐ portedly so interested in motivation. ment is rather harsh. Resistenz stands for a type Since Bruce claims that concepts of law and of research that does not ask what drives people, democracy were central to resistance in the GDR, but is only interested in the extent to which cer‐ it is surprising that he says almost nothing regard‐ tain individuals or social groups prove immune ing the complicated history of these concepts in against attempts of totalitarian regimes to infu‐ Germany. The demise of the Weimar Republic and ence their ways of life. Naturally, the motivation the wide support for the Nazi dictatorship point to behind opposition receives little attention in this a strong current of antidemocratic beliefs in Ger‐ approach, since it is simply not the object of re‐ man political culture that did not simply vanish search. One can argue whether the concept of Re‐ after the Second World War. In an infamous opin‐ sistenz did or did not open the door to an unwar‐ ion poll, conducted among West Germans in 1948, ranted blurring of moral boundaries with regard more than 50 percent of the respondents thought to resistance in the Third Reich, but by showing national had been a good idea badly ex‐ the limits to national socialist power Resistenz un‐ ecuted. Of course, given the notoriously deceptive questionably provided a welcome correction to nature of opinion polls, such results should be the image of an all-powerful Nazi Regime. A fruit‐ treated with extreme care, but they do bring up ful concept like Eigensinn is performing a compa‐ the question of how enduring National-Socialist rable role in contemporary research on the GDR. sympathies afected the political tendencies of the [2] immediate post-war period in both German Bruce's book is, however, based upon impres‐ states. Bruce does not address this issue at all. sive archival research. Drawing on a wide variety While he makes a convincing case that the East of archival material, ranging from party archives German Communist regime was very unpopular to the fles of the security police, Bruce is able to and widely seen as an instrument of the Soviets, provide a very thorough, detailed account of the anti-Communism in itself is not necessarily or au‐ struggle the non-Marxist political parties put up tomatically democratic. for their independence. However, the wealth of Despite these shortcomings, however, Bruce facts Bruce has unearthed is not always matched makes it abundantly clear that the events of 1953 by the depth of his analysis. By focusing exclusive‐ did not come out of the blue--they were clearly ly on the supposedly democratic nature of anti- about more than a raise in norms. He quotes po‐ Communist resistance, Bruce misses some of the lice reports showing that the striking workers nuances and ambiguities of its leading propo‐ strikers were accompanied by large demonstra‐ nents. What are we to think, for instance, of politi‐ tions attended by other sections of the population. cians like SPD-leader Otto Grotewohl or CDU boss All over the country, economic and political de‐ Otto Nuschke? Initially, Grotewohl and Nuschke mands were voiced simultaneously. It makes one fought desperately for the independence of their wonder why, if in 1953 political discontent was so parties, but eventually they gave in to Communist widespread among the East German population, pressure. One can argue, of course, that they had the GDR would later stand out in the Soviet bloc no real choice open to them, but both of them

2 H-Net Reviews for its stability. Clearly, the reinterpretation of the June 1953 uprising as a democratic revolution cuts short answers to old questions, but raises new ones. Notes [1]. See, for instance, , 17. Juni 1953. Ein deutscher Aufstand (Munich 2003); Bernd Eisenfeld, Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk and Er‐ hart Neubert, Die verdraengte Revolution (Bre‐ men 2003); Rolf Steininger, 17. Juni 1953. Der An‐ fang vom langen Ende der DDR (Munich 2003). [2]. See, for instance, Thomas Lindenberger, ed., Herrschaft und Eigensinn in der Diktatur: Studien zur Gesellschaftsgeschichte der DDR (Cologne 1999). Copyright (c) 2003 by H-Net, all rights re‐ served. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonproft, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originat‐ ing list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses contact the Reviews editori‐ al staf: [email protected].

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Citation: Filip Bloem. Review of Bruce, Gary. Resistance with the People: Repression and Resistance in Eastern Germany, 1945-1955. H-German, H-Net Reviews. December, 2003.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=8542

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