Download or read book The German Democratic Republic since 1945 written by Martin McCauley and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-02-05 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The GDR is the most successful (in terms of living standards) socialist state but one of the least loved. Yet the GDR has formidable achievements to list, especially in education and health. On the other hand her feeling of insecurity has led to a creeping militarisation of society. The GDR provides communist states in the Third World with military training and expertise; she also trains security and police cadres. Hence the impact is being felt outside Europe. Does the GDR now present the face of the ugly German to the non-communist world? Her development is worthy of attention. As the Soviet Union's closest ally in Eastern Europe she may play a more important role there in the future as economic growth slows and tensions rise. She has, however, problems of her own which will require much hard work to resolve. Nevertheless she is the most stable socialist state in Eastern Europe at present. Will this continue? Will mass discontent mount as living standards stagnate? Just how important will the West German response be? The GDR is torn between East and West. If she is to weather the economic storms she requires closer links with West Germany and the West but politically and militarily she needs a closer relationship with the Soviet Union. '... competent and wide-ranging, covering not only political history but also the economy, education, culture, the position of women and foreign policy.' Leslie Holmes, Soviet Studies '... the main strength of this work is that it provides a mass of facts and figures in the main text and is yet eminently readable.' Roger Woods, Slavonic Review

Download or read book The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic 1945 1990 written by Mike Dennis and published by Longman Publishing Group. This book was released on 2000 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new book investigates communist rule in East Germany from the end of World War II to its rapid collapse after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Using newly available archival material, the early chapters trace the emergence of the GDR in 1949 from out of chrysalis of the Soviet zone of occupation. Later chapters cover the dramatic episodes of the 1953 uprising against Soviet dominance and the buildling of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The subsequent stabilization of the GDR and the establishment of an uneasy compromise between the ruling elites and the population in the later 1960s and 1970s are explained with reference to a range of internal social, economic and political factors. The disintegration of the regime in 1989, despite the comprehensive system of surveillance operated by the infamous Stasi, is explained in the light of * the chronic weakness of Gorbachev's Soviet Union * the bravery of the protestors * the enduring appeal of West Germany's social market economy and political pluralism.This clear and comprehensive survey marshals secondary and original primary sources in order to give a unique insight into the GDR's struggles and achievements.Mike Dennis is Professor of Modern History, University of Wolverhampton. His many publications include `The German Democratic Republic' (1988).

Download or read book Becoming East German written by Mary Fulbrook and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2013-09-01 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For roughly the first decade after the demise of the GDR, professional and popular interpretations of East German history concentrated primarily on forms of power and repression, as well as on dissent and resistance to communist rule. Socio-cultural approaches have increasingly shown that a single-minded emphasis on repression and coercion fails to address a number of important historical issues, including those related to the subjective experiences of those who lived under communist regimes. With that in mind, the essays in this volume explore significant physical and psychological aspects of life in the GDR, such as health and diet, leisure and dining, memories of the Nazi past, as well as identity, sports, and experiences of everyday humiliation. Situating the GDR within a broader historical context, they open up new ways of interpreting life behind the Iron Curtain – while providing a devastating critique of misleading mainstream scholarship, which continues to portray the GDR in the restrictive terms of totalitarian theory.

Download or read book The German Democratic Republic written by Henry Krisch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-11 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important new overview of the German Democratic Republic focuses on the country’s search for identity and legitimacy throughout its history. Dr. Henry Krisch analyzes major aspects of East German life—political, economic, cultural, and societal—to answer the fundamental question of the nature of the GDR. Arguing that East Germany has been shaped by history to an unusual degree, he explores the country’s historical background, including the Soviet Zone, the origins of the GDR, and the leadership of Ulbricht and Honecker, and examines the role and structure of the party, state, and military and security forces. The main emphasis of this book, however, is upon current problems and on likely responses to them in the near future. Issues such as the viability of communist politics in a technologically advanced society, the relationship of the GDR to a common German heritage and a competing West German state, and the country’s role within the Soviet alliance system are examined in detail, and current social concerns, including the peace movement, cultural trends, the role of women and youth, and the prime importance of sports, are discussed.

Download or read book The German Democratic Republic written by and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Conflict and Stability in the German Democratic Republic written by Andrew I. Port and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the reasons why the post-World War II Communist regime in East Germany outlasted both the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich.

Download or read book Germany Since 1945 written by Peter C. Caldwell and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-08-23 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter C. Caldwell and Karrin Hanshew's Germany Since 1945 traces the social, political and cultural history of Germany from the end of the Second World War right up to the present day. The book provides a narrative that not only explores the histories of East and West Germany in their international contexts, but one that also takes the significantly different world of the Berlin Republic seriously, analyzing it as a distinct and significant period of German history in its own right. Split into three parts roughly devoted to a quarter-century each, this book guides students through contemporary Germany from the catastrophe of war, genocide and the country's division to the very different challenges facing the reunified Germany of the 21st century. There are key primary source excerpts integrated throughout the text, as well as 32 images, numerous maps, charts and tables and a detailed bibliography to further aid study. The book is complemented by online resources which include sample syllabi and a pedagogical supplement. Germany Since 1945 underscores both the particularities of German history and the international trends and transactions that shaped it, giving good coverage to key aspects of post-1945 German society and politics, including: * East and West German paths to reconstruction * The development of consumer society and the welfare state * The politics of memory and coming to terms with the Nazi past * The Cold War * New social and political movements that opposed the postwar status * Immigration and the move toward a multicultural society This is an essential text for any student of contemporary German history.

Download or read book Socialist Education in the German Democratic Republic Since 1945 written by James W. Hauser and published by . This book was released on 1966 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Political Status of the Jews in the German Democratic Republic Since 1945 written by Gerald Eugene Thompson and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The German Democratic Republic written by Peter Grieder and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-02 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A clear, concise and thought-provoking introduction to the history of East Germany which engages critically with key debates and advances new interpretations of the origins, development and demise of the GDR. Peter Grieder also offers an original conceptualization of the GDR as a totalitarian welfare state.

Download or read book The German Democratic Republic written by Lyman H. Legters and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-06-07 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The shifting patterns of relationships in Central and Eastern Europe require that students of international relations be well versed in the attitudes and internal structures of the nations involved. Until now, material in English on the German Democratic Republic has consisted primarily of journalistic reminiscences or narrow scholarly treatments. Recognizing the need and responding to it, the authors of this book--leaders in the study of the GDR--present an up-to-date and comprehensive look at the country, focusing on domestic political and social change. The authors are agreed that the GDR is not only here to stay, but is also a rather stable society that can withstand moderate, well-regulated processes of change. They address education, intellectual life, the military, foreign relations, and the economy, as well as the customary subjects of politics and governmental direction.

Download or read book The Plans That Failed written by André Steiner and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The establishment of the Communist social model in one part of Germany was a result of international postwar developments, of the Cold War waged by East and West, and of the resultant partition of Germany. As the author argues, the GDR's 'new' society was deliberately conceived as a counter-model to the liberal and marketregulated system. Although the hopes connected with this alternative system turned out to be misplaced and the planned economy may be thoroughly discredited today, it is important to understand the context in which it developed and failed. This study, a bestseller in its German version, offers an in-depth exploration of the GDR economy's starting conditions and the obstacles to growth it confronted during the consolidation phase. These factors, however, were not decisive in the GDR's lack of growth compared to that of the Federal Republic. As this study convincingly shows, it was the economic model that led to failure.

Download or read book The Imperfect Union written by Peter E. Quint and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-17 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the mid-summer of 1989 the German Democratic Republic-- known as the GDR or East Germany--was an autocratic state led by an entrenched Communist Party. A loyal member of the Warsaw Pact, it was a counterpart of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), which it confronted with a mixture of hostility and grudging accommodation across the divide created by the Cold War. Over the following year and a half, dramatic changes occurred in the political system of East Germany and culminated in the GDR's "accession" to the Federal Republic itself. Yet the end of Germany's division evoked its own new and very bitter constitutional problems. The Imperfect Union discusses these issues and shows that they are at the core of a great event of political, economic, and social history. Part I analyzes the constitutional history of eastern Germany from 1945 through the constitutional changes of 1989-1990 and beyond to the constitutions of the re-created east German states. Part II analyzes the Unification Treaty and the numerous problems arising from it: the fate of expropriated property on unification; the unification of the disparate eastern and western abortion regimes; the transformation of East German institutions, such as the civil service, the universities, and the judiciary; prosecution of former GDR leaders and officials; the "rehabilitation" and compensation of GDR victims; and the issues raised by the fateful legacy of the files of the East German secret police. Part III examines the external aspects of unification.

Download or read book Remembering the German Democratic Republic written by D. Clarke and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Memories of and attitudes to the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Germany, within contemporary Germany are characterized by their variety and complexity, whilst the debate over how to remember the GDR tells us a lot about how Germans see themselves and their future. This volume provides a range of international perspectives.

Download or read book Technological Change In The German Democratic Republic written by Raymond Bentley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-11 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on East Germany’s capacity to innovate and diffuse technology, this book sheds light on the technological gap that has developed between the two Germanies. Dr. Bentley compares the sophistication of GDR and FRG technology in different industrial branches, evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the GDR’s research and development system, compares the R&D effort of the two Germanies, and discusses the government policies that affected technological change in GDR industry from 1945 to 1975. He identifies and analyzes hindrances to research, innovation, and diffusion in the fields of planning, organization, economic stimulation, and ideology, and looks at the formation of interest groups. He also compares evidence from the GDR with data from other countries, including the USSR.

Download or read book Technological Change In The German Democratic Republic written by Raymond Bentley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-11 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on East Germany’s capacity to innovate and diffuse technology, this book sheds light on the technological gap that has developed between the two Germanies. Dr. Bentley compares the sophistication of GDR and FRG technology in different industrial branches, evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the GDR’s research and development system, compares the R&D effort of the two Germanies, and discusses the government policies that affected technological change in GDR industry from 1945 to 1975. He identifies and analyzes hindrances to research, innovation, and diffusion in the fields of planning, organization, economic stimulation, and ideology, and looks at the formation of interest groups. He also compares evidence from the GDR with data from other countries, including the USSR.

Download or read book Central Europe Since 1945 written by Paul G. Lewis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central Europe - here, Poland, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia and Hungary - is at the centre of international attention since the Soviet collapse. An understanding of its postwar history is critical to an appreciation of the challenges facing its present rulers. This is an engrossing account of the installation, development, operation and eventual downfall of its (very different) communist regimes, and the transition to the freedoms and uncertainties of the post-Soviet world. The book covers political, economic, social and cultural change, emphasising the crucial relationships with the USSR throughout.