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Kinship, State, and Ritual: Jugendweihe – A Secular Coming-of-age Ritual in Socialist and Post-socialist Eastern Germany Grit Wesser PhD Social Anthropology – The University of Edinburgh – 2016 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. ……………………………… 30 June 2016 Signature Date Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... iii Abstract .................................................................................................................. ix Introduction............................................................................................................. 1 Theoretical Orientations: ‘Post-socialism’, Ritual, and Kinship ................................... 3 Fieldsite: Gera, Thuringia ................................................................................................. 18 Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter Summaries ........................................................................................................... 38 Intermezzo: The Big Day ...................................................................................... 43 Chapter 1 Kinship and Politics: Jugendweihe as Part of the Eastern German Life Cycle ...................................................................................................................... 53 The GDR’s Pro-natal Policies and Socialist Feminism ............................................... 59 Tying the Knot or Not: Becoming a Parent, Marriage, and Divorce ........................ 62 The Unpopularity of Other Socialist Life Cycle Rituals .............................................. 68 Love & Sexuality: The Age of Consent ......................................................................... 72 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 77 Chapter 2 Jugendweihe and Protestant Confirmation: From Minority to Majority and Back (to the Future) ....................................................................................... 81 Jugendweihe and Being ‘Konfessionslos’ ...................................................................... 85 The Emergence and Spread of the Jugendweihe Ritual .............................................. 88 Jugendweihe as a GDR State Tool of Secularization ................................................... 93 ‘Freiwilliger Zwang’ (Voluntary Coercion): Negotiating Agency and Authority ... 102 ‘Voluntary Coercion’ Revisited: Assessing the Past in the Present .......................... 105 The Jugendweihe Pledge and its Disappearance ........................................................ 110 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 113 Chapter 3 Inculcating Collectivity: Jugendweihe and School ............................. 117 The GDR School System ............................................................................................... 122 Enrolment for Jugendweihe .......................................................................................... 125 The GDR Youth Lessons and Preparing for Jugendweihe Today .......................... 127 Celebrating as a School Class: Friends and the ‘Klassenverband’ ........................... 134 The Defunct Role of Teachers as Moral Guides ........................................................ 137 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 143 Chapter 4 On Roots and Wings: The Jugendweihe Family Celebration............ 147 The Consumption of ‘Coffee & Cake’ ......................................................................... 149 Toasting and Dining ....................................................................................................... 160 Gift-giving ........................................................................................................................ 163 Conviviality ...................................................................................................................... 170 Gift-giving and Conviviality: Money & Work ............................................................ 175 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 178 Chapter 5 ‘Frugal Inequalities’: Jugendweihe as a Site of Distinction-making .. 181 The GDR’s Social Structure .......................................................................................... 184 Demarcating Confirmation from Jugendweihe Participants .................................... 189 The Cost of Celebrating the Jugendweihe Ceremony .............................................. 191 The Cost of the Family Celebration: Hospitality and Gifts ..................................... 197 Changes in Gift-giving ................................................................................................... 203 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 209 Chapter 6 The Jugendweihe Association: Keeping it in the ‘Family’?................ 211 The Association Family: The Struggle for the Cause of Jugendweihe ................... 212 The Family within the Family: A Matter of Trust ..................................................... 219 Kinning Eastern German Society ................................................................................ 223 Tensions over Ritual Authority I: The Jugendweihe Ceremony Fee ...................... 225 Tensions over Ritual Authority II: The Jugendweihe Design ................................. 229 The GDR Jugendweihe: Decentralising a Ritual in a Centrally Planned Economy ........................................................................................................................................... 232 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 234 Chapter 7 Ghosts of Cold War Memories ........................................................... 237 Divergent Historiographies and Family Histories ..................................................... 242 The Jugendweihe Tradition .......................................................................................... 249 Political Affiliations & Not Feeling at Home ............................................................ 258 The Ossi and ‘Second-Class’ Citizenship.................................................................... 261 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 265 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 269 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 279 Table of Maps Map 1: Location of Thuringia in Germany ............................................................................ 19 Map 2: East Thuringian Region ............................................................................................... 21 Map 3: Gera City and its districts (incorporated villages) .................................................... 24 Table of Figures Figure 1: Gera Theatre, concert hall, May 2013 ................................................................... 46 Figure 2: Stage set for Jugendweihe ceremony, Gera, June 2013 ...................................... 46 Figure 3: Dance performance by Bewegungsküche; Altenburg, April 2013 .......................... 47 Figure 4: Performance by a cappella group Die NotenDealer; Gera, April 2013 ............... 48 Figure 5: Members of a dance group present a rose to the initiands, Gera, June 2013 .. 49 Figure 6: Photographers taking pictures of the initiated, Gera, June 2013 ...................... 50 Figure 7: Kaffeetafel ............................................................................................................... 152 Figure 8: Cake at a Name-giving Family Celebration ........................................................ 154 Figure 9: Wedding Cake ......................................................................................................... 154 Figure 10: Presentation of Thuringian Blechkuchen Assortment 1 ................................