UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL - DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN DR MARK ALLINSON - PUBLICATIONS

POLITICS AND POPULAR OPINION IN EAST GERMANY 1945-1968 Published by Manchester University Press (2000) Hardback £45.00 189 pages ISBN: 0719055547

From the Manchester University Press website:

This groundbreaking work examines East Germany's postwar development from the defeat of Nazism to the stabilisation of a new socialist state by 1968. Using a wide range of often previously unexamined contemporary documents, the book investigates how ordinary East Germans experienced this extraordinary political and social upheaval, and how central policy decisions were translated into the reality of everyday life in the provinces. Allinson shows how some East Germans, at their own behest, worked alongside the Soviet occupiers to construct the new socialist order, while others merely tolerated or opposed their new masters. Particular emphasis is placed on the attempt to coopt East Germany's Christian churches and young people to 'real existing socialism'. Key events in the country's development, such as the death of Stalin, the 1953 uprising, the building of the Berlin Wall and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, are seen from the perspective of popular reactions. This approach reveals how outward political stability coexisted with a high degree of ideological non-conformity. This book will be of value to students and lecturers of modern German history and politics, and for all those interested in the background to the tensions which underpin united Germany.

CONTENTS:

1. Introduction

2. Unite and rule: Establishing the GDR's political structures

· First steps at war's end

· The Thuringian background

· Thuringia between the Third Reich and Soviet occupation

· The road to socialist unity

· The 'bloc parties' and the mass organisations

· Enforcing loyalty: the transformation of the Thuringian bloc parties

· A united front: Democratic Bloc and the National Front

3. From postwar survival to June revolt

· 1945-1949: Thuringians in the postwar framework

· 1953: Act One: Stalin's death

· 1953: Act Two - June uprising

4. Before the Wall

8. Conclusion

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