The culture of East Germany varied throughout the years due to the political and historical events that took place in the 20th century, especially as a result of
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...
and
Communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
. A reflection on the history of arts and culture in
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...
reveals complex relationships between artists and the state, between oppositional and conformist art. In four decades,
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...
developed a distinct culture and produced works of literature, film,
visual arts
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile art ...
, music, and theatre of international acclaim. Popular culture specialities included among others a high popularity of nudism in Eastern Germany.
Socialist Realism
In the 1950s the officially encouraged form of art was known as '
Socialist Realism
Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...
'. This was intended to depict everyday life under Socialism in a way that showed the benefits of living and working in East Germany.
Literature
Any text published in the GDR was governmentally controlled.
Press
The main newspaper was ''
Neues Deutschland
''Neues Deutschland'' (''nd''; en, New Germany, sometimes stylized in lowercase letters) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquartered in Berlin.
For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany ...
'', the official newspaper of the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...
(SED). The official newspaper of the
Free German Youth
The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
The organization was meant ...
was
Junge Welt
''Junge Welt'' (English: ''Young World'', stylized in its logo as ''junge Welt'') is a German daily newspaper, published in Berlin. The jW describes itself as a left-wing and Marxist newspaper. German authorities categorize it as a far-left medi ...
.
''Das Magazin'' survived the unification of Germany.
The Soviet magazine ''
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for ...
'' in German was considered too liberal for GDR in 1988.
Music
Pop and rock
Influences from the West were heard everywhere, because TV and radio that came from the ''Klassenfeind'' (enemy of the working class) could be received in many parts of the east, too (an exception being the area around
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, with its geographically disadvantageous position in the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...
valley, giving it the nickname of " Valley of the Clueless" despite some Western radio being available).
As rock music became increasingly popular around the world following the meteoric rise of bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and others, new bands began forming throughout East Germany. However, fearful of "degenerate Western values orruptingthe young people who listen to ock as well as rock music's tendency to criticize establishments and governments, GDR officials set out to regulate much of the new music. The steps taken to control music included requiring rock bands to sing entirely in German and produce songs of educational value that promoted socialist ideas. Another problem for the authorities was having to check song texts very carefully for anti-state tendencies. The band Renft, for example, fell foul of the authorities, which eventually led to its being banned and disbanded.
State-sanctioned bands such as
Puhdys
The Puhdys () were a German rock band, formed in Oranienburg (Brandenburg), GDR, in 1969, although by then they had been performing together—with various lineups—as the Puhdys since 1965. Although they are especially popular in their native ...
were given "Auftrittserlaubnis" (Performance Permission) that granted them the ability to play in East German (and occasionally even West German) clubs, festivals, etc. Failure to obtain this card before a performance could result in the forced separation of a band or even imprisonment. The
Puhdys
The Puhdys () were a German rock band, formed in Oranienburg (Brandenburg), GDR, in 1969, although by then they had been performing together—with various lineups—as the Puhdys since 1965. Although they are especially popular in their native ...
Karat
The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hardne ...
were popular mainstream bands, managing to hint at critical thoughts in their lyrics without being explicit. Like other mainstream acts, they appeared in youth magazines such as ''Neues Leben'' and ''Das Magazin''.
Despite the heavy censorship, regulation, and repression exercised by GDR leadership over the East German rock community, the government did, to a certain degree aid the development of the new music. This included the allowance of illegal instrument importation via bands that desperately needed foreign equipment as well as significant airtime given to female artists. The latter allowed for what historians consider growth in the expression of female identity and sexuality.
The state also accepted the formation of more "underground" groups with a decisively western-oriented sound. Most notably, a number of punk and new wave bands such as Sandow and
Feeling B
Feeling B was a punk rock band founded in East Berlin in 1983. They started out firmly grounded in the underground punk scene. Over time, Feeling B's popularity grew greatly, and climaxed around the end of the German Democratic Republic.
Fron ...
could produce records with the official company AMIGA.
Several East German rock stars left the GDR.
Nina Hagen
Catharina "Nina" Hagen (; born 11 March 1955) is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rose to prominence during the punk and new wave movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is known as ...
who published her first hit ''
Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen
"" (translation: You Forgot The Colour Film) is a pop single written by Michael Heubach (music) and Kurt Demmler (lyrics). It was first performed by East German (GDR) punk artist Nina Hagen and her band Automobil (of which Heubach was the keyboard ...
'' in 1974 emigrated in 1976. Veronika Fischer emigrated in 1981.
Schlager
Schlager, which was very popular in the west, also gained a foothold early on in East Germany, and numerous musicians, such as , , and gained national fame. Frank Schöbel was very successful. From 1962 to 1976, an international schlager festival was held in
Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state ...
, garnering participants from between 18 and 22 countries each year. The city of
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
held a similar international festival for schlager musicians from 1971 until shortly before reunification. There was a national schlager contest hosted yearly in Magdeburg from 1966 to 1971 as well.
Classical
Several prestigious ensembles had roots in the pre-War period.
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...
was led by
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus O ...
since 1970. The
Staatskapelle Dresden
The Staatskapelle Dresden (known formally as the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden) is a German orchestra based in Dresden, the capital of Saxony. Founded in 1548 by Maurice, Elector of Saxony, it is one of the world's oldest and most highly r ...
was led by
Herbert Blomstedt
Herbert Thorson Blomstedt (; born 11 July 1927) is a Swedish conductor.
Herbert Blomstedt was born in Massachusetts. Two years after his birth, his Swedish parents moved the family back to their country of origin. He studied at the Stockholm Ro ...
since 1975.
Jean Kurt Forest
Jean Kurt Forest (2 April 19093 March 1975) was a German violinist and violist, Kapellmeister and composer. He began his career as concertmaster in film orchestras conducted by Paul Dessau, then played principal viola in Frankfurt and Hamburg. D ...
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Academy for Early Music Berlin, short name: Akamus) is a German chamber orchestra founded in East Berlin in 1982. Each year Akamus gives approximately 100 concerts, ranging from small chamber works to large-scale s ...
, the
Berlin State Opera
The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great ...
, the
Komische Oper Berlin
The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera, operetta and musicals.
The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, just a few steps from Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, al ...
, the
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (''Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie. The orchestra has also ...
, the
Staatskapelle Berlin
The Staatskapelle Berlin () is a German orchestra and the resident orchestra of the Berlin State Opera, Unter den Linden. The orchestra is one of the oldest in the world. Until the fall of the German Empire in 1918 the orchestra's name was ''Kö ...
Staatskapelle Halle The Staatskapelle Halle is a German symphony orchestra based in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Part of the umbrella organisation ''Theater, Oper und Orchester GmbH Halle'', the orchestra performs symphonic concerts, and also serves as the orchestra ...
.
Johann Sebastian Bach
On a more traditional level, the East German government celebrated the fact that
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
was born in East German territory, and spent a great deal of money converting his house in Eisenach into a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...
of his life, which, among other things, included more than 300 instruments from Bach's life. In 1980, this museum received more than 70,000 visitors.
In
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
, an enormous
archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual ...
with recordings of all of Bach's music was compiled, along with many historical
document
A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ''Documentum'', which denotes a "teaching" o ...
s and
letters
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alpha ...
Bach-Archiv Leipzig
The Bach-Archiv Leipzig or Bach-Archiv is an institution for the documentation and research of the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Bach-Archiv also researches the Bach family, especially their music.
Based in Leipzig, the city where ...
in 1950.
Every second year, school children from across East Germany gathered for a Bach competition held in
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...
. Every four years an international Bach competition for
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Mu ...
Thomanerchor
The Thomanerchor (English: St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig) is a boys' choir in Leipzig, Germany. The choir was founded in 1212. The choir comprises about 90 boys from 9 to 18 years of age. The members, called ''Thomaner'', reside in a boarding sch ...
recorded a number of Bach's works.
Jazz
German jazz was divided after World War II, with the East German regime having an ambivalent attitude to jazz, which it initially resisted as an American influence on culture, but later accepted as a form of "people's music".
Recording establishments
There were state recording companies. In 1947 Ernst Busch established Eterna Records for classical, folk, jazz and church music. For popular music there was Amiga Records. These operations became state-directed in 1953.
Visual art
Artists were members of the Communist "Verband Bildender Künstler der DDR".
Visual propaganda
Political propaganda shaped GDR - monuments of Communist leaders including
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
Tina Bara
Tina Bara (born 18 March 1962, in Kleinmachnow) is a German photographer who began her career in the German Democratic Republic Her work was featured in several exhibitions at key galleries and museums, including the Galerie Eigen + Art, Leipzig ...
,
Cornelia Schleime
Cornelia Schleime (born July 4, 1953, in Berlin, Germany) is a German painter, performer, filmmaker and author. Born in East Berlin under the East Germany, GDR, she studied painting and graphic arts at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts before becomi ...
Karla Woisnitza
Karla Woisnitza (born 16 August 1952) is a German artist.
Life
Woisnitza was born in Rüdersdorf. Before she went to art school, she took part in a drawing group in her hometown led by the artist Erika Stürmer-Alex. She studied set design fr ...
Yana Milev
Yana Milev is a German cultural theorist, sociologist, ethnographer, and curator.
Life
Yana Milev was born in Leipzig, East Germany, the first child of the Bulgarian physician and anthropologist Gancho Milev, who had immigrated to the GDR in ...
International Workers' Day
International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, ...
was obligatory for millions. The ''Tag der Republik'' (the Day of the Republic), 7 October, was the anniversary of the creation of the GDR.
The
Jugendweihe
Jugendweihe (''Youth consecration'') or Jugendfeier (''Youth ceremony'') is a secular coming of age ceremony practised by Germany, German 14-year-olds. It originated among the secular societies in the 19th century as an alternative to Confirmatio ...
Confirmation
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
.
Theatre
East German theatre was strongly dominated in its early years by
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
, who brought back artists from the antifascist resistance and reopened ''
Theater am Schiffbauerdamm
The ''Theater am Schiffbauerdamm'' () is a theatre building at the ''Schiffbauerdamm'' riverside in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, opened on 19 November 1892. Since 1954, it has been home to the Berliner Ensemble theatre company, found ...
'' with his
Berliner Ensemble
The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langho ...
. On the other side some streams tried to establish "Pure Workers Theatre", played by workers and performing plays about workers.
After Brecht died, there was a lot of conflict between the artists and the family (around Helene Weigel) about the Brecht heritage.
Heinz Kahlau
Heinz Kahlau (6 February 1931 - 6 April 2012) was a German writer.
He is remembered as one of the best known lyric poets in the German Democratic Republic. He wrote song lyrics, dramas and prose pieces. He was particularly well known for his ...
Erwin Geschonneck
Erwin Geschonneck (27 December 1906 – 12 March 2008) was a German actor. His biggest success occurred in the German Democratic Republic, where he was considered one of the most famous actors of the time.
Early life
Geschonneck was born in Bart ...
,
Erwin Strittmatter
Erwin Strittmatter (14 August 1912 – 31 January 1994) was a German writer. Strittmatter was one of the most famous writers in the GDR.
Biography
Strittmatter was born the son of a baker and foods wholesaler. Between 1924 and 1930 he attended ...
,
Peter Hacks
Peter Hacks (21 March 1928 – 28 August 2003) was a German playwright, author, and essayist.
Hacks was born in Breslau (Wrocław), Lower Silesia. Displaced by World War II, Hacks settled in Munich in 1947, where he made acquaintance with T ...
,
Benno Besson
Benno Besson (born René-Benjamin Besson; 4 November 1922 in Yverdon-les-Bains – 16 February 2006 in Berlin, Germany) was a Swiss actor and director. He had great success as director at Volksbühne Berlin, Deutsches Theater and Berliner Ens ...
,
Peter Palitzsch
Peter Palitzsch (11 September 1918 – 18 December 2004) was a German theatre director. He worked with Bertolt Brecht in his Berliner Ensemble from the beginning in 1949, and was in demand internationally as a representative of Brecht's ideas. He ...
and Ekkehard Schall are counted among Brecht's scholars and followers. In the 1950s the Swiss
Benno Besson
Benno Besson (born René-Benjamin Besson; 4 November 1922 in Yverdon-les-Bains – 16 February 2006 in Berlin, Germany) was a Swiss actor and director. He had great success as director at Volksbühne Berlin, Deutsches Theater and Berliner Ens ...
had success with "The Dragon" by Jewgenij Schwarz. As a result, he travelled with Deutsches Theater around Europe and Asia (and also in Japan). He became the Intendant at
Volksbühne
The Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") is a theater in Berlin. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Rosa Luxemburg Square) in what was the GDR's capital. It has been called Berlin's most iconic theatre.
About
The Vol ...
in the 1960s and often worked with Heiner Müller.
Because of
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
, many artists left the GDR from 1975 onwards. A parallel development was that some artists moved out to small city theatres, to create theatre beyond
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
. For example,
Peter Sodann
Peter Sodann (born 1 June 1936 in Meissen, Saxony) is a German actor, director and politician. He was the Left Party's nominee for the 2009 presidential election, but was not considered a serious candidate by the German media.
Early life
Sodann ...
Halle/Saale
Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anh ...
and
Frank Castorf
Frank Castorf (born 17 July 1951 in East Berlin) is a German theater director and was the artistic director of the ''Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz'' from 1992 to 2015. His work is often associated with postdramatic theatre.
Biography
E ...
worked at a theatre in
Anklam
Anklam [], formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the ''Kleines Haff'', the western ...
. Theatre and Cabaret had a very important status for the people in the GDR and it was a very active and dynamic scene. This was the cause of some contention with the state. Benno Besson was quoted as saying about the relationship between cabaret and the state: "At least they took us seriously."
The
Friedrichstadt-Palast
The Friedrichstadt-Palast, also shortened to Palast Berlin, is a revue in the Berlin district of Mitte (district center). The term Friedrichstadt-Palast designates both the building itself, and the revue theater as a body with his ensemble. The p ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
is the last major building erected by the GDR. Here, Berlin's great
revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...
tradition lives on, today bringing viewers state-of-the-art shows.
Cinema
In
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...
the movie industry was very active. Besides folk movies, the East German movie industry became known worldwide for its productions, especially for its children's movies (''
Das kalte Herz
''Heart of Stone'' (german: Das kalte Herz) is an East German fantasy film directed by Paul Verhoeven. The first East German film made in Agfacolor, it was released in 1950. The film is based on the fairy tale of the same name originally publi ...
'' and cinematic versions of the Grimms' fairy tales, and also modern productions like '' Das Schulgespenst'').
Movies about the persecution of Jews in the Third Reich, such as '' Jakob der Lügner,'' and the resistance against fascism, such as ''
Fünf Patronenhülsen
''Five Cartridges'' () is a 1960 East German film directed by Frank Beyer and starring Erwin Geschonneck, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Manfred Krug.
Plot
During the Spanish Civil War, a battalion of the International Brigades is cut off without wat ...
Heiner Carow
Heiner Carow (19 September 1929 – 1 February 1997) was a German film director and screenwriter. His 1986 film '' So Many Dreams'' was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival. The following year, he was a member of the jury at ...
) or ''
Solo Sunny
''Solo Sunny'' is a 1980 East German drama film directed by Konrad Wolf and Wolfgang Kohlhaase. It was entered into the 30th Berlin International Film Festival, where Renate Krößner won the Silver Bear for Best Actress. ''Solo Sunny'' was ...
'' (directed by
Konrad Wolf
Konrad Wolf (20 October 1925 – 7 March 1982) was an East Germany, East German film director. He was the son of writer, doctor and diplomat Friedrich Wolf (writer), Friedrich Wolf, and the younger brother of Stasi spymaster Markus Wolf. "K ...
and
Wolfgang Kohlhaase
Wolfgang Kohlhaase (13 March 1931 – 5 October 2022) was a German screenwriter, film director, and writer. He was considered "one of the most important screenwriters in German film history", and was one of the GDR's most well-known and prolific ...
) were also very popular.
Red Western
The Ostern (Eastern; , ''Istern''; or остерн) or Red Western was a film genre created in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc as a variation of the Western films that originated in the United States. The word "Ostern" is a portmanteau derive ...
s were also made, in which American Indians often took the role of the displaced people.
Gojko Mitić
Gojko Mitić ( sr-Cyrl, Гојко Митић; born June 13, 1940) is a German-Serbian actor and director. He gained great popularity in the GDR as the leading actor in historical and fictional Indian personalities in numerous DEFA Indian films. ...
is the most famous actor in this role; he often played the righteous, kindhearted and charming Chief ('' Die Söhne der Großen Bärin'' directed by
Josef Mach
Josef Mach (25 February 1909, in Prostějov – 7 July 1987, in Prague) was a Czech actor, screenwriter and film director.
Josef Mach worked as a journalist and stage performer at the beginning of his career, then in 1938 was appointed assistant d ...
). He became an honorary chief of the
Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
nation, when he visited the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
in the 1990s and the accompanying television crew showed the Sioux one of his movies.
Because of censorship a number of movies were forbidden at this time, and only shown after the
reunification of Germany
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
in 1990. Examples are ''Traces of Stones'' (directed by Frank Beyer) and ''Divided Heaven (film), Der geteilte Himmel'' (directed by
Konrad Wolf
Konrad Wolf (20 October 1925 – 7 March 1982) was an East Germany, East German film director. He was the son of writer, doctor and diplomat Friedrich Wolf (writer), Friedrich Wolf, and the younger brother of Stasi spymaster Markus Wolf. "K ...
).
East Germany, East German cinemas screened domestic productions, Czech, Polish, and other Eastern European productions and some Hollywood movies, although the number of the latter was limited due to the cost of purchasing the licences. Movies which represented or glorified a capitalistic ideology were not shown. For example, ''Grease (film), Grease'' was not shown but ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' was. Comedies were popular, such as the Danish ''Olsen-banden, Olsen Gang'' or movies with the French comedian Louis de Funès.
Television
There were two nationwide state TV stations, DFF1 and DFF2. After revolutions of 1989, the fall of the Iron Curtain, these were gradually merged into the structures of the Federal Republic of Germany, Federal Republic's public broadcasting system, being followed up by States of Germany, Länder-based regional stations like the MDR and the RBB.
As the arrangement of aerials on roofs often revealed viewers that watched West German television, they could be prone to denunciation by patriotic neighbours or Free German Youth, FDJ members, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. However, by the 1980s the authorities were largely resigned to the presence of Western broadcasts and even tolerated the existence of communal antennas and cable systems carrying both DFF and Western channels.
The DEFA was one of the largest TV production companies within the German-speaking countries and produced work that occasionally dared to feature covert criticism of the establishment.Wagner, Brigitta B. DEFA after East Germany. Camden House, 2014.
Material culture
The material culture of the GDR is the primary focus of Ostalgie (a combination of "Ost" (East) and "Nostalgie" (nostalgia)).
Consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages an acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. The GDR's economy produced a whole series of consumer goods and associated consumerist practices different from both West German and Soviet bloc cultures. A consumerist culture developed with (in contrast to the West relatively clear-cut) prestige allocations according to consumerist practices.
Architecture
In the GDR's nascent stages, modernist designs predominated. In the wake of the war's destruction, there were several plans to reimagine cities using Bauhaus and other avant-garde designs. Among these was the plan drafted by Hans Scharoun, a collective plan for a new division and decentralization of the then undivided city of Berlin to be enacted under the auspices of the Allied Control Council. Scharoun's vision included residential cells, criss-crossed by open, green boulevards. As the early 1950s, however, the Bauhaus blueprint for reconstruction had fallen out of favor among political elites, and projects in the modernist style stalled or were abandoned. One of the few remaining structures designed in this vein is a Bauhaus apartment block designed by Scharoun himself, located in the Friedrichshain neighborhood of Berlin, on an open boulevard formerly known as Stalinallee.
The modernists' loss of popularity was largely attributable to the rise of Socialist Classicism or Stalinist Architecture (german: Zuckerbäckerstil}), an eclectic style that weaved together elements of national cultural heritage and traditionalist ornamentation with the comfort of contemporary architecture. What these elements might look like depended on location and varied significantly between projects completed in the various regions of the Eastern Bloc. In the GDR these national elements were usually echoes of classicism, but did allow for regional variations such as the Dresden Altmarkt, which borrows form the baroque style, or the Brick Gothic inspired Lange Straße in the northern port city of Rostock. Reacting to a shift in the political and economic exigencies of the time, new designs in the Stalinist style tapered off by the late 1950s. This was largely due material scarcity; the at times lavish ornamentation of the national style was met with increasing disapproval as millions still lived in overpopulated or dilapidated buildings. The advent of de-Stalinisation further suppressed demand for new Socialist Classical projects.
The architectural preferences of the 1960s and 1970s were thus shaped largely by economic necessity. The need for cheap, mass-housing led to the "industrialization of architecture", by which process new designs emphasized functionalism and low construction costs. Projects of this type were mostly immense concrete residential blocks, which later included prefabricated components. Although the new functionalism was the response to material scarcity, aesthetically the movement meant a return to modernist principles. Freed from the national ideological framework of Socialist Classicism, architects resurrected the Bauhaus "new buildings" of the 1920s. East-German building templates such as the WBS 70, the P2 (Plattenbautyp), P2, and the high-rise WHH GT 18, WHH GT 18/21 exemplify the aesthetic shift towards modernism, but were above all valued for their prefabricated parts that enabled quick and cost-effective construction.
Notable examples of GDR architecture are / were:
*the Karl-Marx-Allee, originally Stalinallee, with the Strausberger Platz in
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...
*the Prager Straße in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
*the Palace of the Republic, Berlin, Palace of the Republic
*the Alexanderplatz, where much of the GDR buildings still shape the place
*the city-centre buildings of Leipzig's University of Leipzig, Karl-Marx-University (now partly disassembled and partly being replaced by a post-modern building), including the City-Hochhaus Leipzig
GDR jokes
With widespread
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
of literature, the Mass media, media and the arts, political jokes were one of the main outlets for criticism of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). After reunification, these became known as ''DDR-Witze'' (GDR jokes). Political jokes of this form have almost disappeared since reunification as they no longer play the same subversive role, being replaced by open democratic debate, political cartoons and satire.
The GDR citizens had a special term for referring to some of the more critical jokes as five-year-jokes (i.e., three years prison for the one telling it and two for all who listen ''and'' laugh). There is also a morphological reference to "five-year-plan" - in a way, talking about a five-year-joke was a "meta-joke".
See also
* GDR Literature
* Deutscher Fernsehfunk, state television broadcaster
* Rundfunk der DDR, state radio broadcaster
* DEFA