Strata Miranda Brethour “WER DIE JUGEND HAT, HAT DIE ZUKUNFT”1: RAISING GLOBAL COLD WARRIORS THROUGH THE JUGENDWEIHE IN THE FORMER GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC2 MIRANDA BRETHOUR MA student, University of Ottawa Abstract In recent years, scholars have begun to re-conceptualize the Cold War as a global conflict in which states in Africa, Latin America, and Asia played a key role. Building on such new developments in the historiography, this article considers a part of East Germany’s youth policy, the Jugendweihe coming-of-age ceremony, in the context of the state’s international goals. It argues that through the process of undertaking the Jugendweihe ceremony and preparatory hours, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) strove to forge close links between East German youth and socialist or burgeoning socialist states internationally. Significantly, this article confirms that the domestic policy of the GDR cannot be considered in a vacuum, and further emphasizes the importance attributed to youth and socialist states abroad by the East German state during the Cold War. Résumé Depuis quelques années, plusieurs chercheurs ont cherché à reconceptualiser la Guerre froide en tant que conflit global au sein duquel les États d’Afrique, d’Amérique latine et d’Asie ont joué un rôle déterminant. En s’appuyant sur de tels développements historiographiques, cet article entend replacer un aspect de la politique jeunesse est-allemande dans le contexte des politiques internationales, à savoir la Jugendweihe, une cérémonie du passage à l’âge adulte. Nous soutenons que la République démocratique allemande (RDA), à travers la tenue de cette cérémonie, ainsi que des heures préparatoires devant y être consacrées, avaient notamment comme objectif de forger des liens plus étroits entre la jeunesse est-allemande et les États socialistes ou à tendance socialiste. Par cet article, nous réaffirmons 1 “Whoever has the youth, has the future.” This was a saying commonly expressed by leaders of East Germany. Sandrine Kott, Communism Day-To-Day: State Enterprises in East German Society (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014), 153. 2 The author must credit translation assistance to Dani Carron and Nicole Minkova. However, all final translation decisions and any errors are the responsibility of the author alone. The author also wishes to thank Dr. Eric Allina for his guidance and detailed feedback throughout the research and writing process of this paper. 55 Strata Miranda Brethour que la politique intérieure de la RDA ne peut pas être étudiée en vase clos, en soulignant davantage l’importance accordée à la jeunesse et aux États durant la Guerre froide. ________________________________ In March 1955, after months of preparation, thousands of thirteen and fourteen year-olds across East Germany confirmed their solemn pledge to “serve world peace, the unity of our fatherland, and the build up of Socialism,” to fight “for a united, peace-loving, democratic, and independent Germany,” and to exercise “strength for the building of a happy life, for progress in the economy, science, and art.”3 After reciting this oath, they received a gift book, Weltall, Erde, Mensch, and returned home to collect presents and celebrate their achievement of becoming full members of socialist society, bearing all of the responsibilities encompassed in the pledge. These young East Germans were the first to undergo this socialist coming-of-age ceremony, known as the Jugendweihe. Though the ceremony itself lasted only a few hours, the preparatory lessons were spread over months, during which Jugendliche were immersed in socialist values through excursions to factories, museums and often, one of the Nationale Mahn- und Gedenkstätten4 of Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, and Sachsenhausen. By the 1960s, the former concentration camps became a routine location for the swearing of the solemn oath. This article illustrates that through the Jugendweihe youth lessons and oath- taking ceremonies, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) attempted to mobilize active involvement in international solidarity amongst youth of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The program of the Jugendweihe introduced young students to ideas of international resistance against fascism, capitalism, and imperialism in a way that ultimately facilitated youth engagement with socialist states in the Third World, which were often embedded in their own resistance struggles. Although these connections are, in many ways, implicit in the documents, and require an appraisal of the Jugendweihe as a part of a larger youth policy in the GDR, this analysis conveys much about the role and importance attributed to youth by the East German 3 “Two Pledges for the Jugendweihe (1955/1958),” German History in Documents and Images, accessed April 1, 2018, http://germanhistorydocs.ghidc.org/sub _document.cfm?document_id=4573. 4 The German Nationale Mahn- und Gedenkstätten translates to a memorial, with further connotations as a site of warning. 56 Strata Miranda Brethour state, particularly during the leadership of Erich Honecker, 1971-1989. The argument is divided into three main parts, and considers a number of different elements of the Jugendweihe: A deconstruction of the Jugendweihe excursions to the national memorials and former concentration camps, a consideration of the significance of the Jugendweihe as a moment of transition between the Thälmann Pioneers and the Freie Deutsche Jugend (FDJ), and a reflection on international solidarity in the 1970s and 1980s. Youth policy, in the context of this paper, refers to SED-directed activities, organizations, and education for youth that were promoted to accomplish the domestic and international goals of the state. Supporting primary documents include state reports and surveys of the Jugendweihe conducted by the Zentralinstitut für Jugendforschung, a state body founded in 1966 to monitor youth sentiments about the FDJ, the contents of Jugendweihe Geschenkbücher, and overall youth engagement with socialism.5 Speeches by leaders of the SED, and books published by state companies, such as Grafischer Großbetrieb Völkerfreundschaft Dresden and Verlag Zeit im Bild, provide insight into changing perceptions of youth and the goals of youth education. The most valuable primary sources are the collection of photographs from the Allgemeiner Deutscher Nachrichtendienst (ADN), the central press agency of the GDR, now contained in the picture database of the Bundesarchiv in Berlin. Although the photographs themselves are not always illuminating, the original ADN captions attached to them are rich in detail. The notion of a coming-of-age ceremony for young people was, of course, not unique to the GDR. The details of the ceremony were rooted in nineteenth-century German Protestant confirmations, after which youth would adopt more responsibility in society. In 1954, the SED created a committee for the Jugendweihe, and prepared for its introduction into the GDR in 1955.6 Although the Jugendweihe was initially framed as optional, many report that participation was indeed necessary to avoid facing barriers in one’s education and career.7 Perhaps in part due to coercion, participation increased 5 Kott, Communism Day-To-Day, 159; Arnold Pinther and Hans-George Mehlhorn, SDW-Studie 1975: eine Effektanalyse des Geschenkbuches zur Jugendweihe ‘Der Sozialismus – Deine Welt (Leipzig: Zentralinstitut für Jugendforschung, 1975). 6 Marina Chauliac, “La ‘Jugendweihe’: Continuités et Changements d’un Rite Hérité de la RDA,” Revue française de science politique 53, no. 3 (2003): 386-388. 7 Barbara Wolbert, “Jugendweihe: Revitalizing a Socialist Coming-Of-Age Ceremony in Unified Berlin,” in The German Wall: Fallout in Europe, ed. Marc Silberman (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 124. 57 Strata Miranda Brethour significantly in the 1960s: while 51.5% of eligible young East Germans partook in the ceremony in 1959, the percentage had risen to 90.7% by 1962, and this level of popularity was maintained until the reunification of Germany in 1989.8 Formal education on the Jugendweihe began many years before students planned to undergo the ceremony, affirming that the state placed great value on this event.9 Students remember eagerly awaiting their Jugendweihe: Jana Hensel, who took her oath in the 1980s, affirmed that “The Jugendweihe was the high point of our young lives, the point at which we were officially accepted as trained Socialists into the great community of the working class.”10 Despite overwhelming evidence confirming the significance of the Jugendweihe (both to the East German state and to the Jugendweiheteilnehmer themselves), English-language historiography on the topic is limited.11 Existing work on the Jugendweihe tends to oscillate around a few major themes: the clash of the church and state in East Germany, the revival of the Jugendweihe in post- unification Germany, and the notion of “socializing” youth into ideal East German citizens.12 This third approach is most relevant for this paper.13 8 Gregory Wegner, “In the Shadow of the Third Reich: The ‘Jugendstunde’ and the Legitimation of Anti-Fascist Heroes for East German Youth,” German Studies Review 19, no. 1 (1996): 131; Paul Betts, Within Walls: Private Life in the German Democratic Republic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 72-73. 9 The formal Jugendstunden lessons were commenced a few months before the ceremony itself however, school programs in years leading up to the Jugendweihe would further teach students about the significance of this event.