Theme C

Question 1

Who headed the Stasi and when?

Answer 1

Zaisser 1950-53
Wollweber 1953-57
Mielke 1957-89

Question 2

By 1989, how many:
- Full time employees
- Unofficial collaborators
- marks in the Stasi budget
Were there?

Answer 2

93 thousand
173 thousand
4 billion marks

Question 3

What was the Stasi’s motto?

Answer 3

The shield and sword of the Party

Question 4

In 1952, what % of Stasi operatives were SED members?

Answer 4

92%

Question 5

What and when was zersetzen?

Answer 5

More subtle Stasi method of subversion and distraction, used from 1970s onwards
‘Psychological destruction of the soul’
Used new tech: recording devices, secret cameras, tapped phones, bugged rooms, paid prostitutes…

Question 6

How far reaching was the Stasi by 1989?

Answer 6

1 Stasi operative (full time)/ 180 citizens

1 Stasi informant including part time informers/ 6.5 citizens!

Question 7

What % of doctor-informants was estimated to have broken the medical oath of secrecy?

Answer 7

25%

Question 8

What was the GDR TV run by?

Answer 8

State Broadcast Committee, 1952-68

Question 9

In which football World Cup did the GDR beat the FRG?

Answer 9

1974

Question 10

When did Heidi Kreiger participate in the European Championships? What did she win?

Answer 10

1986

She won gold for shotput

Question 11

When did the SED announce their fight on formalism? What was it?

Answer 11

March 1951

It was any undesirable music, abstract painting…

Question 12

When were American names for bands banned in the GDR?

Answer 12

1952

Question 13

When were the periods of acceptance and rejection of Halbstarke?

Answer 13

1956-7 SED thought they were fighting western values

1957 campaign against revisionism ->1958 returned to idea that they were rowdy and caused disorder

Question 14

When and what was the SED Culture Conference?

Answer 14

Oct 1957

Connected W decadent culture to unacceptable resistance against GDR regime

Question 15

When and what was the 60:40 clause?

Answer 15

1958 law that only 40% of any public music program could be western

Question 16

What and when was the Bitterfeld Conference?

Answer 16

April 1959
Party encouraged workers to be culturally active
Goal to put worker experience at the centre of culture

Question 17

When was the 1960s period of openness, and what prompted it?

Answer 17

1962-5

1963 SED Youth Communiqué recognised youth discontent and announced end to admonishments

Question 18

When did the SED first allow the release of an American Western film?

Answer 18

1963- (The Magnificent Seven)

Question 19

What did authorities ban in Oct 1965? What was the response?

Answer 19

Banned most beat groups as infringing 60:40 clause

2,500 Leipzig youth protested this on Oct 31st

Question 20

What ended the period of openness?

Answer 20

Dec 1965- 11th Plenum of SED (called the firebreak conference)

Question 21

When was the taboo against jeans dropped?

Answer 21

1968-became harder for authorities to police all culture

Question 22

When could GDR citizens other than pensioners visit family in the FRG for ‘urgent family matters’?

Answer 22

1972

Question 23

What % of EGs owned a TV set by 1971?

Answer 23

85%

Question 24

When did the SED say they would stop trying to prevent reception of Western broadcasts?

Answer 24

1975

Question 25

What happened in 1976 to cultural policy?

Answer 25

Turning point- new harder line
Wolf Biermann exiled while on tour to West
100 artists wrote a letter in protest, but didn’t help

Question 26

Who was Bruce Springsteen?

Answer 26

1988 played ‘Born in the USA in the Berlin Cyclodrome

Question 27

How did membership of the DSF (GDR-Soviet friendship org) change due to Gorbachev’s popularity?

Answer 27

Grew to 6.9 mil members by 1989

Question 28

By 1980, how many members did the FDGB have?

Answer 28

Trade Union org

9 mil members

Question 29

When was the Jugenwiehe made into a socialist ceremony?

Answer 29

1954

14yos pledged themselves to the socialist state

Question 30

How many GDR citizens were Protestant before 1961?

Answer 30

15-17 mil

Question 31

When did the Protestant Church reorganise itself?

Answer 31

1969

Pan-G EKD -> separate East German BEK

Question 32

When was the Church-State agreement?

Answer 32

1978
Ch needed to work within socialist society
In return it’s State role increased

Question 33

What and when was the Youth Law?

Answer 33

1974

Seen as an attack on the Church- isolated young Christians

Question 34

What and when were Blues Masses?

Answer 34

Became popular in 1979 as a blues music + bible readings

Got increasingly political so were stopped after 1986

Question 35

What and when was the Swords into Ploughshares movement?

Answer 35

Church criticism of compulsory ‘defence education’- military conscription

Question 36

How much of the youth population 14-25 yrs was in the FDJ?

Answer 36

75%

Question 37

How did Eingaben/petitions change over time?

Answer 37

Responded to by authorities within 4 weeks
Anyone could send them but answers depended on individual status
1970s decline in petitions was greatly increased by 1980s due to cons goods shortages

Question 38

When was the Law for the Protection of another and Child ?

Answer 38

1950

Initiated by DFD

Question 39

How much of the industrial workforce did women make up in 1950?

Answer 39

2/5

Question 40

In 1988 what % of DFD members were also SED members?

Answer 40

Only 24%

Question 41

What proportion of GDR youth regularly attended youth clubs in 1979?

Answer 41

An estimated 1/4

Question 42

What was the GDR 2-tier economy?

Answer 42

Those w/ ‘hard’ W currency could shop in more expensive Intershoos from 1974, and Delikat and Exquisit shops using DM- more choice!

Question 43

What was GDR vs FRG maternity provision like in 1984?

Answer 43

GDR- women got a year off work on full pay after having a baby
FRG- only 6wks before birth and 8wks after

Question 44

What were Amplemann traffic lights?

Answer 44

Little traffic light men- beloved Eg symbol

Question 45

What were Trabant cars?

Answer 45

Produced 1957-90
Became a symbol of national identity
Very desirable- up to 16yr waiting list in GDR!
Very polluting

Question 46

What was Wandlitz?

Answer 46

The town containing the compound where the SED lived in comparative luxury
Nicknamed Volvograd due to all the Volvo cars

Question 47

What statistics show liberal attitudes towards sex?

Answer 47

In 1972 contraception was freely provided and abortions were legalised
1972- maternity leave incread from 18->26 wks
By 1989, 1 in 3 East Germans were born out of wedlock
Nudity on beaches, holidays increased in 1960s/70s

Question 48

How many environmental groups were active by 1989?

Answer 48

Over 60

Question 49

Who was Wolfgang Harich? (1950s)

Answer 49

Wanted focus on environment, not economy
Wanted extension of democracy
Arrested 1956

Question 50

Who was Robert Havemann? (1960s)

Answer 50

Uni professor and scientist
Lectured about philosophy and politics
Committed communist
1964 kept under virtual house arrest by SED

Question 51

Who was Rudolf Bahro? (1970s)

Answer 51

Critical intellectual
Secretly wrote “The Alternative in Eastern Europe” 1977 with shortcomings of socialism
Arrested in 1978 for 8yrs, but managed to leave to the FRG in 1979

Question 52

Case study- Dabel village

Answer 52

1953-68: 28 acts of sabotage/ anti-state propaganda
1954 elections- ‘We want free elections’
1958- slogan protesting Soviet nukes written across local policeman’s house, and phone line disconnected
Horst Roggenbau was an unofficial informant 1960s-71, and 1983 onwards- sought agency by means of the party’s control, either was more active in village life or in Stasi life but not both.

Question 53

What was the 1989s SED membership?

Answer 53

2 mil out of the 17 mil population