Sarah Dittrich is currently studying Modern History at Wadham College, Oxford. While studying at DLD, she wrote her Extended Project Qualification on the role of state propaganda in schools in the the former East Germany. Here is an extract from it.
I am a native German who grew up in a reformed Germany, raised by parents whose lives differed very much from my own. This is because they were raised in the socialist German Democratic Republic during the time of the Cold War. Due to my heritage, I was curious to find out more about the environment that they grew up in, specifically during their school years. In my Extended Project Qualification, I set out to examine the impact of propaganda on the education system of the GDR and how it moulded the minds of citizens at an early stage.
As a German from the east, I have continuously felt the remnants of the GDR in my life, whether it is through stories from relatives or from teachers at school. Being a bilingual student allowed me to use both German and English sources when answering my topic question, examining both Western, revisionist secondary sources, which tend to be extremely critical in response to the GDR, and primary sources such as classroom material and diaries from East German schools. I also interviewed teachers at my former school in Germany, who shared their memories of the Soviet bloc and its ramifications. In preparing for my EPQ, I examined both German and English sources regarding my topic.
With guidance from Moira Matthews, my History teacher, I examined a number of articles on the subject. Professor John Rodden’s study of the East German education system emphasises the negative effect propaganda in East German education had not only on the mindset of its children but also their ability to advance in scientific and academic fields due to the restrictions placed by strict Marxist-Leninist ideology. It has to be stated that as an American scholar, Rodden is likely to be affected by the western international neoliberal consensus, which is often criticised as being antagonistic towards socialism. During my A Level Politics course, I learnt that neoliberalism focuses on the benign nature of western government and its ability to remove conflict in international relations. In a similar manner, capitalism and imperialism were criticised in the GDR.
As a citizen of a state whose purpose it is to instil in its people confidence in the capitalist system as superior to other ideologies, the author will inevitably have an antagonistic approach to the practices in Soviet countries. Reading Rodden, I learnt that propaganda manifested itself in a whole range of subjects, from literature to mathematics. The overarching aim was to challenge and overthrow capitalist ideology and establish the supremacy of socialism. I discovered in my reading that one method of doing so was to “rewrite” the lives of great socialist heroes such as Walter Ulbricht and the dramatist Bertolt Brecht for ideological and political purposes.
Ulbricht, the son of a tailor, was praised for his working-class background. In the old GDR, this was definitely advantageous when attempting to rise up the ranks. Often, middle class children would be refused from universities and preference was given to students from more modest backgrounds. Consequently, there was widespread social discrimination. Marjorie Lamberti claims that by the end of the 1950s, 65 percent of university students were drawn from the worker and peasant classes.
As part of my research, I visited my former school, the Salzmannschule Schnepfenthal, in order to interview teachers who had been working and studying in the GDR, as well as gather primary material from the school’s archives.
In my wider reading, Rodden’s essays suggested that propaganda was intrinsic to the teaching process. I was interested to learn that Schiering had a contrary experience and found “ways around” expressing political opinions in front of his students. He remembers “going through the motions” with the FDR (Freie Deutsche Jugend); this was a socialist youth group which students were required to attend. In practice, these evening sessions were not the serious political events the authorities intended them to be. Speaking to him, I began to see how teachers in opposition were able to circumvent instructions from above. In order to exact the standard of propaganda intended by the government, compliant teachers were required.Katrin Guther, a German teacher with whom I spoke, confirmed Rodden’s research regarding the establishment of cultural and social heroes.
In the GDR, literary and historical figures were integrated into socialist themes and portrayed as a part of the proletarian collective. It is ironic that even figures such as Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, a “town child from a rich family in an essentially middle-class world” and thus inherently contradictory to the socialist ideal, had his personal background “revised” in order to fit into the partyline. In my view, this instance is an example in which the conveyance of truth in education became secondary in importance to the main purpose of GDR schooling. This was justifying and upholding a socialist system, in this case through the appropriation of German cultural heroes. Like Socialist Realism in the Soviet Union, literature and culture generally became the medium through which state-approved political messages and propaganda could be disseminated throughout society.
The strong political links during this era between the Soviet Union and East Germany also coloured education. Katrin Klatt’s testimony bears this out. A student in the GDR at the time, she and her clasmates were left in little doubt as to whom they should be grateful. “Before anything else”, she said “it was always about Soviet-German friendship”; great significance was given to “what we could learn from the Soviet Union.” The USSR thus served as an example in shaping the Democratic Republic; it was portrayed as the benign teacher of universally beneficial communist values. The GDR especially followed the Soviet example in its glorification of its national leaders. Like the personality cult of Stalin in the Soviet Union , the GDR exalted presidents such as Walter Ulbricht.
I also chose to interview my former History teacher, Marlene Bode, after having heard that she was bound to tell me about the positives of the system, as she was considered by her colleagues to be a “sympathiser to the regime”. As it was important to me to provide a balanced argument, I was intrigued by the possibility of hearing from her. Indeed, she stated that “principally, I was confident in the meaningfulness of the system”, which in her eyes stood for “peace, equality, equal opportunities, looking after all children and affordable education”.
As stated above, there seems to have been a discrepancy between the theoretical opportunities of a socialist education system and the way in which it was applied in practice. I was surprised that despite her reputation, Bode “had things to criticise”. For these, she blames the government, which was “didactic and restrictive.” Subsequently, I came to understand that although she firmly believed in the justice of the theory upon which the East German system was built, she blamed the government for its misapplication.
Eventually, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to explore the school archives, giving me a real insight into the daily lives of GDR students and their teachers.
A form-diary I came across revealed how far state propaganda shaped after-school activities. Most entries were made in relation to a particular FDJ event that was mandatory for students. A typical example is the “Week of Festivities” that was held in honour of the 60th anniversary of the “Great Socialist October Revolution”. It opened
with a “knowledge competition”, revealing how even before university Marxist-Leninist doctrine held a prominent position in the education of students. Great socialist events were thus marked by anniversary celebrations and national holidays. The importance of these were then re-iterated in the classroom and in after-school activities. In this way, students were constantly being reminded of the victory of socialism over capitalism and the need to honour a system which controlled their lives.