Dissent in East GermanyDissent in East Germany(German Democratic Republic, GDR)(German Democratic Republic, GDR)

Dr. Zoltán GrossmanDr. Zoltán GrossmanThe Evergreen State College, Olympia, WashingtonThe Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington

http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz

Options in East GermanyOptions in East Germany

REVOLT:East Berlin Uprising crushed

by Soviet tanks, 1953

ESCAPE:Berlin Wall and Wall with Federal

Republic of Germany (FRG) blocks emigration, 1961

Stasi secretStasi secretpolicepolice

Communist leaderErich Honecker

Dissent from LeftDissent from Left• Birthplace of Marxism

• Industrial working class

• Large CP before WWII

• Nationalism tainted

• Powerful critique that Party betrayed socialism

Dissent from LeftDissent from Left• Robert Havemann (1910-82)

– Ex-Resistance leader accused SED of betraying socialism

• Wolf Biermann (1936-)

– Singer stripped of citizenship, 1976

• Rudolf Bahro (1935-97)

– The Alternative in Eastern Europe (Manuscript smuggled to West, 1977)

Dissent from LeftDissent from Left• Christa Wolf (1929-2011)

– Most famous East German writer, best known for Cassandra.

– Informed for Stasi (3 years), which rejected her as “reticient.”– Stasi spied on her for 30 years; she

supported Biermann, other activists– Refused to leave GDR, participated

in 1989 revolution but opposed 1990 reunification.

– Revealed her own Stasi files.

Opposition to Nuclear MissilesOpposition to Nuclear Missiles• Western movement vs. US

medium-range missiles in West Germany, UK; GDR/USSR oppose US missiles

• Dialogue with East German activists who opposed US &

Soviet missiles

• “Swords to Ploughshares” church-based independent peace movement in GDR

Hungary Opens

WesternBorder,

Aug. 1989

Pan-EuropeanPicnic

“Tourists” cross border to Austria

Monday WalksMonday Walks• Begins at Protestant services in Leipzig, Sept. 4

– Led by leftist, Green youth activists– Crowds grow from 120,000 to 320,000

Fears of CrackdownFears of Crackdown

• GDR leader Honecker admired China’s crushing of Tienanmen Square protests

• Stasi shoot-to-kill order, tries to provoke riots

• Moscow opposed violence

Gorbachev ends Brezhnev Doctrine

• No more threat of Soviet intervention– Czechoslovakia, 1968

• Warsaw Pact satellite states more hardline than Mother Ship USSR

“Gorbachev help us!”

Peaceful RevolutionPeaceful Revolution500,000 in East Berlin by Nov. 4

Berlin Wall, Nov. 9

• Minister on TV ends travel restrictions

• Berlin Wall falls overnight after 28 years

• East Berliners visit West

Drive to ReunificationDrive to Reunification• Exposed to Western consumerism• Dream of One Nation• Rise of Conservatives

Reunification,Reunification,19901990

• Helmut Kohl’s CDU wins GDR election, March

• FRG (West) annexes GDR (East), Oct.

• Die Wende (Change/Turning Point)

Effects on LeftEffects on Left• State socialism discredited among masses

in 1990s– Even “Socialism with a Human Face”

• “Third Way” (social democratic or Green) alternative not followed

• Leftists did not predict rise of ethnic nationalism, religious identity

• “Dissidents” won in 1989, lost in 1990

Effects on RightEffects on Right• Gorbachev not just Communist trick;

reform was possible

• Totalitarian regime could be abolished from within, like authoritarian regime (countered Kirkpatrick Theory)

• Conservatives did not predict end of Cold War—how to justify military spending?

• Conservatives won in 1990, but now….?

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