Working in East Germany : normality in a socialist dictatorship, 1961 to 1979

Working In East Germany Explores Economic Tendencies, Political Relationships And Social Situations That Combined To Create A Specific Socio-political Habitat In East Germany After The Building Of The Berlin Wall. Conditions Were Peculiar To Say The Least, Especially If Compared To Western Standards. Nevertheless, The Majority Of The Population Perceived Their Lives As Part Of A 'socialist Normality' That Most East Germans Adjusted To Successfully. This Book Writes The People Back Into The History Of East Germany. By Jeannette Z. Madarász. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 11 List of Abbreviations......Page 12 Introduction: Life in a Socialist Dictatorship......Page 14 ‘We’ and ‘I’ as reflections of socio-political change......Page 17 Historiography......Page 21 An appreciation of the ‘little man’ (or woman)......Page 29 Methodology......Page 30 Structure......Page 31 1 Economic Politics and Company Culture......Page 34 The economic system......Page 35 Work in the GDR......Page 39 Differentiation......Page 43 Dynamics of power: interaction and stabilization......Page 47 Routinization and internalization......Page 49 Conclusion......Page 54 Characteristics......Page 56 The economic reforms......Page 57 Blessing or curse? Central authorities getting involved......Page 61 Summary......Page 74 Voices......Page 75 Characteristics......Page 79 The early 1960s at the BGW......Page 80 The improvement of working and living conditions......Page 86 Summary......Page 93 Voices......Page 96 Characteristics......Page 99 Control and privilege......Page 100 Economic planning – a farce?......Page 106 Conclusion......Page 114 Voices......Page 115 Characteristics......Page 118 A new factory in the storms of the NES......Page 119 Changing circumstances: the creation of Kombinate and its impact on the HFO......Page 124 Conclusion......Page 131 Voices......Page 133 Characteristics......Page 136 Social effort in Premnitz......Page 138 Conclusion......Page 149 Voices......Page 151 7 Conflicts and Solutions......Page 154 Eigen-Sinn......Page 156 General problems......Page 157 Work, politics and private life intertwining......Page 164 Conclusion......Page 172 Excursus: spying for the Stasi......Page 173 Conclusion: Normality in the GDR......Page 179 Arrival in the everyday......Page 180 Broken promises......Page 181 Socialist normality......Page 184 Conclusion......Page 188 Notes......Page 189 Bibliography......Page 211 I......Page 217 W......Page 218 Z......Page 219 Life in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was shaped by a working population which accommodated the Communist Party's expectations but also forced modifications of central policy. Over time, changes in normative behaviour accompanied the integration of state and society. However, growing resentment towards an overbearing state triggered the search for individual fulfillment, which undermined the Marxist principle of collectiveness. Disilllusionment led to the developments of the 1980s and, eventually, to the collapse of the socialist dictatorship. This process was marked by the fact that a specific socio-political environment had been created over the years. In this socialist normality, East Germans had worked and lived in ways that differed from the lives of their Western brothers and sisters. Nevertheless, it had seemed 'normal' to most (but certainly not all) citizens of the GDR, which explains the ongoing phenomenon of nostalgia for a dictatorship that shot people for simply wanting to leave Introduction : Life In A Socialist Dictatorship -- 1. Economic Politics And Company Culture -- 2. Transformatorenwerk Berlin : Success And Failure -- 3. Berliner Gluhlampenwerk : Working And Living Conditions -- 4. Erdolverabeitungwerk Schwedt : Privileged Within A Shortage Economy -- 5. Halbleiterwerk Frankfurt/oder : Falling Behind The Times -- 6. Chemiefaserwerk Premnitz : Creating A Home For Thousands -- 7. Conflicts And Solutions -- Conclusion : Normality In The Gdr. Jeannette Z. Madarász. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 198-203) And Index.