Theme C Flashcards
Who headed the Stasi and when?
Zaisser 1950-53
Wollweber 1953-57
Mielke 1957-89
By 1989, how many: - Full time employees - Unofficial collaborators - marks in the Stasi budget Were there?
93 thousand
173 thousand
4 billion marks
What was the Stasi’s motto?
The shield and sword of the Party
In 1952, what % of Stasi operatives were SED members?
92%
What and when was zersetzen?
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…
How far reaching was the Stasi by 1989?
1 Stasi operative (full time)/ 180 citizens
1 Stasi informant including part time informers/ 6.5 citizens!
What % of doctor-informants was estimated to have broken the medical oath of secrecy?
25%
What was the GDR TV run by?
State Broadcast Committee, 1952-68
In which football World Cup did the GDR beat the FRG?
1974
When did Heidi Kreiger participate in the European Championships? What did she win?
1986
She won gold for shotput
When did the SED announce their fight on formalism? What was it?
March 1951
It was any undesirable music, abstract painting…
When were American names for bands banned in the GDR?
1952
When were the periods of acceptance and rejection of Halbstarke?
1956-7 SED thought they were fighting western values
1957 campaign against revisionism ->1958 returned to idea that they were rowdy and caused disorder
When and what was the SED Culture Conference?
Oct 1957
Connected W decadent culture to unacceptable resistance against GDR regime
When and what was the 60:40 clause?
1958 law that only 40% of any public music program could be western
What and when was the Bitterfeld Conference?
April 1959
Party encouraged workers to be culturally active
Goal to put worker experience at the centre of culture
When was the 1960s period of openness, and what prompted it?
1962-5
1963 SED Youth Communiqué recognised youth discontent and announced end to admonishments
When did the SED first allow the release of an American Western film?
1963- (The Magnificent Seven)
What did authorities ban in Oct 1965? What was the response?
Banned most beat groups as infringing 60:40 clause
2,500 Leipzig youth protested this on Oct 31st
What ended the period of openness?
Dec 1965- 11th Plenum of SED (called the firebreak conference)
When was the taboo against jeans dropped?
1968-became harder for authorities to police all culture
When could GDR citizens other than pensioners visit family in the FRG for ‘urgent family matters’?
1972
What % of EGs owned a TV set by 1971?
85%
When did the SED say they would stop trying to prevent reception of Western broadcasts?
1975
What happened in 1976 to cultural policy?
Turning point- new harder line
Wolf Biermann exiled while on tour to West
100 artists wrote a letter in protest, but didn’t help
Who was Bruce Springsteen?
1988 played ‘Born in the USA in the Berlin Cyclodrome
How did membership of the DSF (GDR-Soviet friendship org) change due to Gorbachev’s popularity?
Grew to 6.9 mil members by 1989
By 1980, how many members did the FDGB have?
Trade Union org
9 mil members
When was the Jugenwiehe made into a socialist ceremony?
1954
14yos pledged themselves to the socialist state
How many GDR citizens were Protestant before 1961?
15-17 mil
When did the Protestant Church reorganise itself?
1969
Pan-G EKD -> separate East German BEK
When was the Church-State agreement?
1978
Ch needed to work within socialist society
In return it’s State role increased
What and when was the Youth Law?
1974
Seen as an attack on the Church- isolated young Christians
What and when were Blues Masses?
Became popular in 1979 as a blues music + bible readings
Got increasingly political so were stopped after 1986
What and when was the Swords into Ploughshares movement?
Church criticism of compulsory ‘defence education’- military conscription
How much of the youth population 14-25 yrs was in the FDJ?
75%
How did Eingaben/petitions change over time?
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
When was the Law for the Protection of another and Child ?
1950
Initiated by DFD
How much of the industrial workforce did women make up in 1950?
2/5
In 1988 what % of DFD members were also SED members?
Only 24%
What proportion of GDR youth regularly attended youth clubs in 1979?
An estimated 1/4
What was the GDR 2-tier economy?
Those w/ ‘hard’ W currency could shop in more expensive Intershoos from 1974, and Delikat and Exquisit shops using DM- more choice!
What was GDR vs FRG maternity provision like in 1984?
GDR- women got a year off work on full pay after having a baby
FRG- only 6wks before birth and 8wks after
What were Amplemann traffic lights?
Little traffic light men- beloved Eg symbol
What were Trabant cars?
Produced 1957-90
Became a symbol of national identity
Very desirable- up to 16yr waiting list in GDR!
Very polluting
What was Wandlitz?
The town containing the compound where the SED lived in comparative luxury
Nicknamed Volvograd due to all the Volvo cars
What statistics show liberal attitudes towards sex?
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
How many environmental groups were active by 1989?
Over 60
Who was Wolfgang Harich? (1950s)
Wanted focus on environment, not economy
Wanted extension of democracy
Arrested 1956
Who was Robert Havemann? (1960s)
Uni professor and scientist
Lectured about philosophy and politics
Committed communist
1964 kept under virtual house arrest by SED
Who was Rudolf Bahro? (1970s)
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
Case study- Dabel village
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.
What was the 1989s SED membership?
2 mil out of the 17 mil population
