Two Germanies
From the mid-1970s, East Germany remained
poised between East and West. The 1974 amendment
to the Constitution deleted all references
to the "German nation" and "German
unity" and designated East Germany "a
socialist nation-state of workers and peasants"
and "an inseparable constituent part
of the socialist community of states."
However, the SED leadership had little success
in inculcating East Germans with a sense
of ideological identification with the Soviet
Union. Honecker, conceding to public opinion,
devised the formula "citizenship, GDR;
nationality, German." In so doing, the
SED first secretary acknowledged the persisting
psychological and emotional attachment of
East German citizens to German traditions
and culture and, by implication, to their
German neighbors in West Germany.
Although Abgrenzung constituted the foundation
of Honecker's policy, détente strengthened
ties between the two Germanies. Between 5
and 7 million West Germans and West Berliners
visited East Germany each year. Telephone
and postal communications between the two
countries were significantly improved. Personal
ties between East German and West German
families and friends were being restored,
and East German citizens had more direct
contact with West German politics and material
affluence, particularly through radio and
television. West Germany was East Germany's
supplier of high-quality consumer goods,
including luxury items, and the latter's
citizens frequented both the Intershops,
which sold goods for Western currency, and
the Exquisit and Delikat shops, which sold
imported goods for East German currency.
As part of the general détente between East
and West, East Germany participated in the
Conference on Security and Cooperation in
Europe and in July 1975 signed the Helsinki
Final Act, which was to guarantee the regime's
recognition of human rights. The Final Act's
provision for freedom of movement elicited
approximately 120,000 East German applications
for permission to emigrate, but the applications
were rejected.
Both Germanies have continued
a search for
national identity. From the beginning,
the
newly formed East German republic
tried to
establish its own separate identity.
Because
of Marx's abhorrence of Prussia,
the SED
repudiated continuity between
Prussia and
East Germany. In an attempt to
obliterate
East Germany's Prussian heritage,
the SED
destroyed the Junker manor houses
and the
Berlin municipal castle and removed
the equestrian
statue of Frederick the Great
from East Berlin.
Instead the SED focused on the
progressive
heritage of German history, including
Thomas
Müntzer's role in the Great Peasant
War and
the role played by the heroes
of the class
struggle during Prussia's industrialization.
Nevertheless, as early as 1956
East Germany's
Prussian heritage asserted itself
in the
NVA. As a result of the Ninth
Party Congress
in May 1976, East Germany has
since 1976-77
considered its own history as
the essence
of German history, in which West
Germany
is only an episode. It has laid
claim to
reformers such as Karl, Freiherr
vom Stein,
Karl August von Hardenberg, Wilhelm
von Humboldt,
and Gerhard von Scharnhorst.
The statue of
Frederick the Great has meanwhile
been restored
to prominence in East Berlin.
Honecker's
references to the former Prussian
king in
his speeches reflected East Germany's
official
policy of revisionism toward
Prussia, which
also included Bismarck and the
resistance
group Red Band. East Germany
has also laid
claim to the formerly maligned
Martin Luther
and to the organizers of the
Spartacus League,
Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
In spite of détente, the Honecker
regime
remained committed to Soviet-style
socialism
and continued a strict policy
toward dissidents.
A critical Marxist intelligentsia
within
the SED nevertheless renewed
the plea for
democratic reform. Among them
was the poet-singer
Wolf Biermann, who with Robert
Havemann had
led a circle of artists and writers
advocating
democratization; he was expelled
from East
Germany in November 1976 for
dissident activities.
Following Biermann's expulsion,
the SED leadership
disciplined more than 100 dissident
intellectuals.
Despite the government's actions,
East German
writers began to publish political
statements
in the West German press and
periodical literature.
The most prominent example was
Rudolf Bahro's
Die Alternative, which was published
in West
Germany in August 1977. The publication
led
to the author's arrest, imprisonment,
and
deportation to West Germany.
In late 1977,
a manifesto of the "League
of Democratic
Communists of Germany" appeared
in the
West German magazine Der Spiegel.
The league,
consisting ostensibly of anonymous
middle-
to high-ranking SED functionaries,
demanded
democratic reform in preparation
for reunification.
Even after an exodus of artists in protest
against Biermann's expulsion, the SED continued
its repressive policy against dissidents.
The state subjected literature, one of the
few vehicles of opposition and nonconformism
in East Germany, to ideological attacks and
censorship. This policy led to an exodus
of prominent writers, which lasted until
1981. The Lutheran Church also became openly
critical of SED policies. Although in 1980-81
the SED intensified its censorship of church
publications in response to the Polish Solidarity
movement, it maintained, for the most part,
a flexible attitude toward the church. The
consecration of a church building in May
1981 in Eisenhüttenstadt, which according
to the SED leadership was not permitted to
build a church owing to its status as a "socialist
city," demonstrated this flexibility |
