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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
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
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!”
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….?