People's Solidarity () is an organisation for elderly people in the
new states of Germany, founded 1945. It was one of many important non-parliamentary mass organisations in the former socialist country,
East Germany
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
. The organisation required that members pay a "certain amount of money to support senior homes and organized cultural events for seniors." Within the
Politics of the German Democratic Republic, People's Solidarity "nevertheless played a key role in East German society." It had 2.15 million members as of 1988.
[Dirk Jurich, ''Staatssozialismus und gesellschaftliche Differenzierung: eine empirische Studie'', p.32. LIT Verlag Münster, 2006, ]
In
Civil Society in Transition: The East German Third Sector Ten Years After Unification, Anheier, Priller, and Zimmer state, "Unlike Diakonie and Caritas, the Volkssolidarität, a genuine welfare organisation of the former GDR without any counterpart in West Germany and the Red Cross had a more difficult time adjusting to the new political and social environment after unification. The local population, at first largely rejected the Volkssolidarität burdened with leaders with an SED (
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Mar ...
) past. Nevertheless, Volkssolidarität and the Red Cross successfully managed to democratize and establish a new image. Both organisations have become fairly established social service providers (Tangemann, 1995)."
References
External links
Volkssolidarität
{{Authority control
Social welfare charities
Organisations based in East Germany
Mass organisations of East Germany
1945 establishments in Germany
Organizations established in 1945