Overview
In the two decades following the defeat of the Third Reich, East Germany was transformed from a war-ravaged occupation zone into an apparent model of Soviet-style socialism. Based on extensive archival research, this book explores the building of socialism in East Germany not from the standard perspective of the party and state authorities. Rather, it focuses on the effects at the grass-roots, where patterns of popular opinion, social and cultural communities from the pre-eminent past and the divided loyalties of local functionaries played a crucial role in shaping the face of "real existing socialism."
Synopsis
Fascinated with the former German Democratic Republic since his first visit there in 1991, the author fills in scholarly lacunae in the GDR's sociopolitical transformation under the Communists in the first two post-war decades by studying the history of the East German Socialist Unity Party and the popular perception and implementation of its policiesrather than the typical polemics over totalitarian and top-down models. Ross (modern history, U. of Birmingham) discusses laying the foundations for socialism after the war with land form and factory recasting; mobilizing youth in the early 1950s; setbacks and new offenses from 1953-61; and the grass-roots effects of the Berlin Wall and 1960s social change. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR