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East Germany Two Germanies
From the mid-1970s, East Germany remained poised between East
and West. The 1974 amendment to the Constitution deleted all
references to the "German nation" and "German unity" and
designated East Germany "a socialist nation-state of workers and
peasants" and "an inseparable constituent part of the socialist
community of states." However, the SED leadership had little
success in inculcating East Germans with a sense of ideological
identification with the Soviet Union. Honecker, conceding to
public opinion, devised the formula "citizenship, GDR;
nationality, German." In so doing, the SED first secretary
acknowledged the persisting psychological and emotional
attachment of East German citizens to German traditions and
culture and, by implication, to their German neighbors in West
Germany.
Although Abgrenzung constituted the foundation of
Honecker's policy, détente strengthened ties between the two
Germanies. Between 5 and 7 million West Germans and West
Berliners visited East Germany each year. Telephone and postal
communications between the two countries were significantly
improved. Personal ties between East German and West German
families and friends were being restored, and East German
citizens had more direct contact with West German politics and
material affluence, particularly through radio and television.
West Germany was East Germany's supplier of high-quality consumer
goods, including luxury items, and the latter's citizens
frequented both the Intershops, which sold goods for Western
currency, and the Exquisit and Delikat shops, which sold imported
goods for East German currency. As part of the general détente
between East and West, East Germany participated in the
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and in July 1975
signed the Helsinki Final Act, which was to guarantee the
regime's recognition of human rights. The Final Act's provision
for freedom of movement elicited approximately 120,000 East
German applications for permission to emigrate, but the
applications were rejected.
Both Germanies have continued a search for national identity.
From the beginning, the newly formed East German republic tried
to establish its own separate identity. Because of Marx's
abhorrence of Prussia, the SED repudiated continuity between
Prussia and East Germany. In an attempt to obliterate East
Germany's Prussian heritage, the SED destroyed the Junker manor
houses and the Berlin municipal castle and removed the equestrian
statue of Frederick the Great from East Berlin. Instead the SED
focused on the progressive heritage of German history, including
Thomas Müntzer's role in the Great Peasant War and the role
played by the heroes of the class struggle during Prussia's
industrialization. Nevertheless, as early as 1956 East Germany's
Prussian heritage asserted itself in the NVA. As a result of the
Ninth Party Congress in May 1976, East Germany has since 1976-77
considered its own history as the essence of German history, in
which West Germany is only an episode. It has laid claim to
reformers such as Karl, Freiherr vom Stein, Karl August von
Hardenberg, Wilhelm von Humboldt, and Gerhard von Scharnhorst.
The statue of Frederick the Great has meanwhile been restored to
prominence in East Berlin. Honecker's references to the former
Prussian king in his speeches reflected East Germany's official
policy of revisionism toward Prussia, which also included
Bismarck and the resistance group Red Band. East Germany has also
laid claim to the formerly maligned Martin Luther and to the
organizers of the Spartacus League, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa
Luxemburg.
In spite of détente, the Honecker regime remained committed
to Soviet-style socialism and continued a strict policy toward
dissidents. A critical Marxist intelligentsia within the SED
nevertheless renewed the plea for democratic reform. Among them
was the poet-singer Wolf Biermann, who with Robert Havemann had
led a circle of artists and writers advocating democratization;
he was expelled from East Germany in November 1976 for dissident
activities. Following Biermann's expulsion, the SED leadership
disciplined more than 100 dissident intellectuals. Despite the
government's actions, East German writers began to publish
political statements in the West German press and periodical
literature. The most prominent example was Rudolf Bahro's Die
Alternative, which was published in West Germany in August
1977. The publication led to the author's arrest, imprisonment,
and deportation to West Germany. In late 1977, a manifesto of the
"League of Democratic Communists of Germany" appeared in the West
German magazine Der Spiegel. The league, consisting
ostensibly of anonymous middle- to high-ranking SED
functionaries, demanded democratic reform in preparation for
reunification.
Even after an exodus of artists in protest against Biermann's
expulsion, the SED continued its repressive policy against
dissidents. The state subjected literature, one of the few
vehicles of opposition and nonconformism in East Germany, to
ideological attacks and censorship. This policy led to an exodus
of prominent writers, which lasted until 1981. The Lutheran
Church also became openly critical of SED policies. Although in
1980-81 the SED intensified its censorship of church publications
in response to the Polish Solidarity movement, it maintained, for
the most part, a flexible attitude toward the church. The
consecration of a church building in May 1981 in
Eisenhüttenstadt, which according to the SED leadership was not
permitted to build a church owing to its status as a "socialist
city," demonstrated this flexibility
(see Religion and Religious Organizations
, ch. 2).
Data as of July 1987
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