The

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

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 its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

(DDR), during its existence as a separate state from 1949 to 1990, developed differently from the German of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

because of significant differences in the country's political and socio-cultural environment. Additionally, from the late 1960s onwards the political leaders of the DDR were intent on affirming the independence of their state by "isolationist linguistic politics" with the objective of demarcating East Germany from

by actively reducing the unity of the German language. This political effort did not amount to the creation of a new language in the DDR but brought about a particular usage of the language and of linguistic behaviours specific to it, felt not in syntax or grammar, but in vocabulary, and manifesting itself in both the official and non-official spheres. The result was that the German of the former East Germany includes two separate vocabularies, both different from the German of the Bundesrepublik: the official Socialist one (Newspeak or

officialese Officialese, bureaucratese, or governmentese is language that sounds official. It is the "language of officialdom". Officialese is characterized by a preference for wordy, long sentences; a preference for complex words, code words or buzzwords ove ...

) and the critically humorous one of everyday life.

Examples

*Führerschein (driver's licence) - Fahrerlaubnis (Replacement of the word

Führer ( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the Umlaut (diacritic), umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi Germany, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany ...

) *

Handelsorganisation The Handelsorganisation (“Trading Organisation”, or HO) was a national retail business owned by the central administration of the Soviet Zone of occupation in Germany and from 1949 on by the state of the German Democratic Republic. It was cre ...

, HO - state retail business *

Intershop Intershop was a chain of government-owned and operated retail stores in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) in which only hard currencies (and later Forum checks) could be used to purchase high-quality goods, usually from or asso ...

- hard currency (later also

Forum check Forum checks (german: Forumscheck) were a form of hard currency in East Germany. From April 1979, all East Germans were required by law to convert any Deutsche Marks (and other western currencies) they possessed into Forum checks at a branch of ...

s) retail store *Kader - personnel *

Kommerzielle Koordinierung Kommerzielle Koordinierung ( en, Commercial Coordination) was a secret commercial enterprise in East Germany, run by the Stasi officer Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski and called "KoKo" (short for ''Kommerzielle Koordinierung''). Origins and developm ...

, KoKo - secret commercial enterprise *Partei -

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 ...

Plattenbau (plural: , german: Platte + Bau, lit=panel/slab' + 'building/ construction) is a building constructed of large, prefabrication, prefabricated concrete slabs. The word is a compound of (in this context: panel) and (building). Such buildings ...

- large panel system-building *

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

- state security service *

Westpaket (German for "Western package", plural: ) is the common term for care packages sent by West Germans to their friends and families in East Germany during the division of Germany from 1961-1989. History During the division of Germany from 1945- ...

- parcel from

*Winkelement - small flag *der antifaschistische Schutzwall -

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

*Kollektiv - work team *

Tal der Ahnungslosen In culture of East Germany, Tal der Ahnungslosen (''Valley of the Clueless'') was a sarcastic designation for two regions in the southeast and northeast parts of East Germany that generally were not able to receive TV broadcasts from West Germany ...

(lit. "Valley of the Clueless") - two regions not able to receive TV programming from

Broiler A broiler is any chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') that is bred and raised specifically for meat production. Most commercial broilers reach slaughter weight between four and six weeks of age, although slower growing breeds reach slaughte ...

- Western 'Brathähnchen' *Blaue Fliesen, blaue Kacheln -

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

Controversies

*Jahresendflügelfigur - has been probably invented as a parody of state language. *Erdmöbel - allegedly

coffin A coffin is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, either for burial or cremation. Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewel ...

References

Bibliography

In German

* Frank Thomas Grub: ''„Wende“ und „Einheit“ im Spiegel der deutschsprachigen Literatur. Ein Handbuch. Band 1: Untersuchungen''. De Gruyter, Berlin and New York 2003 * Hugo Moser: ''Sprachliche Folgen der politischen Teilung Deutschlands. Beihefte zum „Wirkenden Wort“ 3''. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1962 * Michael Kinne, Birgit Strube-Edelmann: ''Kleines Wörterbuch des DDR-Wortschatzes'' (2nd edn). Schwann, Düsseldorf 1981 * Martin Ahrends (ed.): ''Trabbi, Telespargel und Tränenpavillon – Das Wörterbuch der DDR-Sprache''. Heyne, München 1986 * Wolf Oschlies: ''Würgende und wirkende Wörter – Deutschsprechen in der DDR''. Holzapfel, Berlin 1989 * Margot Heinemann: ''Kleines Wörterbuch der Jugendsprache''. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1990 * Manfred W. Hellmann: ''Divergenz und Konvergenz – Sprachlich-kommunikative Folgen der staatlichen Trennung und Vereinigung Deutschlands''. In: Karin Eichhoff-Cyrus, Rudolf Hoberg (ed.): ''Die deutsche Sprache zur Jahrtausendwende – Sprachkultur oder Sprachverfall''. Duden-Reihe Thema Deutsch, Band 1. Mannheim (Duden-Redaktion) and Wiesbaden (GfdS) 2000, pp. 247–275 * Marianne Schröder, Ulla Fix: ''Allgemeinwortschatz der DDR-Bürger – nach Sachgruppen geordnet und linguistisch kommentiert''. Heidelberg 1997 * Birgit Wolf: ''Sprache in der DDR. Ein Wörterbuch''. de Gruyter, Berlin und New York 2000 . online bei Google-Books * Jan Eik: ''DDR-Deutsch: eine entschwundene Sprache''. Jaron, Berlin 2010 * Norbert Nail: ''Jenseits des „breiten Steins“: Studentendeutsch in der DDR''. In: ''Studenten-Kurier'' 3/2013, pp. 15–1

* Antje Baumann: ''Mit der Schwalbe zur Datsche. Wörter aus einem verschwundenen Land''. Bibliographisches Institut – Duden, Berlin, 2020 {{ISBN, 9783411745326

In English

* Russ, C. (2002). ''The German language today: A linguistic introduction''. Routledge. (See Chapter 5 German in East Germany) * Stevenson, P. (2002). ''Language and German disunity: a sociolinguistic history of East and West in Germany'', 1945-2000. Oxford University Press German language East Germany Communist terminology