Alan McDougall
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199276271
- eISBN:
- 9780191706028
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199276271.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
In communist East Germany, young people constituted the social group for whom the ruling authorities had the highest hopes — and in whom they were most frequently and bitterly disappointed. In this ...
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In communist East Germany, young people constituted the social group for whom the ruling authorities had the highest hopes — and in whom they were most frequently and bitterly disappointed. In this book, the author has undertaken a study of the East German communist youth organization, the Free German Youth (FDJ), and the young people that it tried, often in vain, to enthuse and control. Utilizing a wide range of primary sources, the author focuses upon East German youth during five ‘crisis points’ in the GDR's early history, beginning with the June 1953 uprising and concluding with the impact of the Czechoslovakian Prague Spring in 1968. In the process, he provides a political and social history of East German youth within and beyond the framework of ‘organized’ youth life. Important events in East German youth politics are analysed in detail, alongside the subversive role of Western youth culture in the GDR, particularly during the 1960s when ‘hot’ music by groups such as The Beatles penetrated the Iron Curtain. This book has important wider implications in the thriving field of GDR studies. It contends that there is little to be gained from viewing the history of East German youth politics — and that of the GDR more generally — through the narrow prism of totalitarian theory, with its heavy emphasis on the role of repression and Soviet military power in maintaining dictatorial rule. The relationship between rulers and ruled in the GDR was in fact based upon the dual precepts of coercion and consent, according to which the communist authorities sought both to appease and control the East German population. This model helps to explain the nature of youth dissent — both its proliferation and ultimate limitations — in the GDR. Despite an expanding secret police apparatus, youth dissent in the GDR was far more extensive than many Western scholars assumed in the Cold War era. Though much of this dissent was limited in character and intent, especially after the June 1953 uprising, it undermined the GDR's long-term stability — a fact reflected in the prominent role of former FDJ members in its collapse in 1989. By integrating social and political aspects at each stage of his study, the author provides a valuable study of the East German regime.Less
In communist East Germany, young people constituted the social group for whom the ruling authorities had the highest hopes — and in whom they were most frequently and bitterly disappointed. In this book, the author has undertaken a study of the East German communist youth organization, the Free German Youth (FDJ), and the young people that it tried, often in vain, to enthuse and control. Utilizing a wide range of primary sources, the author focuses upon East German youth during five ‘crisis points’ in the GDR's early history, beginning with the June 1953 uprising and concluding with the impact of the Czechoslovakian Prague Spring in 1968. In the process, he provides a political and social history of East German youth within and beyond the framework of ‘organized’ youth life. Important events in East German youth politics are analysed in detail, alongside the subversive role of Western youth culture in the GDR, particularly during the 1960s when ‘hot’ music by groups such as The Beatles penetrated the Iron Curtain. This book has important wider implications in the thriving field of GDR studies. It contends that there is little to be gained from viewing the history of East German youth politics — and that of the GDR more generally — through the narrow prism of totalitarian theory, with its heavy emphasis on the role of repression and Soviet military power in maintaining dictatorial rule. The relationship between rulers and ruled in the GDR was in fact based upon the dual precepts of coercion and consent, according to which the communist authorities sought both to appease and control the East German population. This model helps to explain the nature of youth dissent — both its proliferation and ultimate limitations — in the GDR. Despite an expanding secret police apparatus, youth dissent in the GDR was far more extensive than many Western scholars assumed in the Cold War era. Though much of this dissent was limited in character and intent, especially after the June 1953 uprising, it undermined the GDR's long-term stability — a fact reflected in the prominent role of former FDJ members in its collapse in 1989. By integrating social and political aspects at each stage of his study, the author provides a valuable study of the East German regime.
ALAN McDOUGALL
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199276271
- eISBN:
- 9780191706028
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199276271.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of how throughout the 20th century, the government and political movements in Germany sought to win over the young generation to their ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of how throughout the 20th century, the government and political movements in Germany sought to win over the young generation to their ideological cause. It then focuses on the founding of the Free German Youth (FDJ) as a ‘non-partisan, united, and democratic youth organization’. It discusses the limitations of a one-sided ‘Stalinization’ approach to the FDJ's early years, which serves as an effective starting point for one of the central premises of this book: namely, that the FDJ's experiences during the fifties and sixties wholly discredit the ‘totalitarian’ paradigm as a valid means of explaining and understanding the character of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany's (SED) dictatorship.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of how throughout the 20th century, the government and political movements in Germany sought to win over the young generation to their ideological cause. It then focuses on the founding of the Free German Youth (FDJ) as a ‘non-partisan, united, and democratic youth organization’. It discusses the limitations of a one-sided ‘Stalinization’ approach to the FDJ's early years, which serves as an effective starting point for one of the central premises of this book: namely, that the FDJ's experiences during the fifties and sixties wholly discredit the ‘totalitarian’ paradigm as a valid means of explaining and understanding the character of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany's (SED) dictatorship.
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780853236085
- eISBN:
- 9781846313677
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853236085.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Social Groups
Founded on November 4, 1901, the German Youth Movement was inspired by the Wandervogel movement that arose from a group of schoolboys based on a shorthand class in Steglitz, a suburb of Berlin, ...
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Founded on November 4, 1901, the German Youth Movement was inspired by the Wandervogel movement that arose from a group of schoolboys based on a shorthand class in Steglitz, a suburb of Berlin, Germany four years earlier. The class was called Stenographia, which was led by Hermann Hoffmann. Hoffmann's deputy, Karl Fischer, was the driving force behind the establishment of the Wandervogel as a schoolboy rambling club and thus was also the founder of the German Youth Movement. This chapter discusses the history of the German Youth Movement and describes its membership and ideology. It also considers the ‘Meissner Formula’, which set the movement apart from German society, its organisational structure known as the bund, the Free German Youth, and the Bündische Youth period. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the movement's three ‘sub-sections’ comprised of Catholics, Protestants and Jews.Less
Founded on November 4, 1901, the German Youth Movement was inspired by the Wandervogel movement that arose from a group of schoolboys based on a shorthand class in Steglitz, a suburb of Berlin, Germany four years earlier. The class was called Stenographia, which was led by Hermann Hoffmann. Hoffmann's deputy, Karl Fischer, was the driving force behind the establishment of the Wandervogel as a schoolboy rambling club and thus was also the founder of the German Youth Movement. This chapter discusses the history of the German Youth Movement and describes its membership and ideology. It also considers the ‘Meissner Formula’, which set the movement apart from German society, its organisational structure known as the bund, the Free German Youth, and the Bündische Youth period. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the movement's three ‘sub-sections’ comprised of Catholics, Protestants and Jews.
ALAN McDOUGALL
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199276271
- eISBN:
- 9780191706028
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199276271.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
In June 1953, the FDJ underwent the first major crisis in its history and communist rule in the GDR was saved only by Soviet military intervention. The roots of this near-collapse can be found in the ...
More
In June 1953, the FDJ underwent the first major crisis in its history and communist rule in the GDR was saved only by Soviet military intervention. The roots of this near-collapse can be found in the policies that the FDJ pursued after its 4th Parliament in May 1952. This chapter shows that the failure of all but a small minority of young East Germans to come to the defence of the SED regime in June 1953 illustrate the extent to which, as the party leadership itself subsequently admitted, ‘the idea of socialism was shaken among many young people’ during the preceding thirteen months. But the problems of SED youth policy, and the FDJ's role in fulfilling it, went beyond simple disillusionment with the way in which objectively ‘correct’ socialist policies had been mistakenly implemented. The events of 1952 and 1953 revealed for the first time on a grand scale a number of fundamental problems — both organizational and ideological in character — that the FDJ was never able to resolve successfully.Less
In June 1953, the FDJ underwent the first major crisis in its history and communist rule in the GDR was saved only by Soviet military intervention. The roots of this near-collapse can be found in the policies that the FDJ pursued after its 4th Parliament in May 1952. This chapter shows that the failure of all but a small minority of young East Germans to come to the defence of the SED regime in June 1953 illustrate the extent to which, as the party leadership itself subsequently admitted, ‘the idea of socialism was shaken among many young people’ during the preceding thirteen months. But the problems of SED youth policy, and the FDJ's role in fulfilling it, went beyond simple disillusionment with the way in which objectively ‘correct’ socialist policies had been mistakenly implemented. The events of 1952 and 1953 revealed for the first time on a grand scale a number of fundamental problems — both organizational and ideological in character — that the FDJ was never able to resolve successfully.
