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Realer Sozialismus als Fürsorgediktatur: zur begrifflichen Einordnung der DDR

Real socialism as welfare dictatorship: reflections on the conceptualization of the GDR
[journal article]

Jarausch, Konrad H.

Abstract

"After the peaceful revolution, politicians and scholars intensely debated the Labels which ought to characterize the East German brand of communism. Focusing on its totalitarian features, cold warriors called it an 'Unrechtsstaat' while former supporters of the SED preferred to speak about 'real ex... view more

"After the peaceful revolution, politicians and scholars intensely debated the Labels which ought to characterize the East German brand of communism. Focusing on its totalitarian features, cold warriors called it an 'Unrechtsstaat' while former supporters of the SED preferred to speak about 'real existing socialism' as a failed experiment. In order to escape this polarization some scholars labeled the GDR a 'modern dictatorship', while yet others talked about an 'educational dictatorship' or a 'commodious dictatorship'. The conceptual challenge to which these efforts responded was the paradoxical character of the SED-regime that was clearly repressive, but also allowed many citizens a fairly normal life. Alluding to the party's emancipatory claims, but contrasting them to its repressive practice, the author therefore suggested the neologism of a 'welfare dictatorship'. The Right' s denounciation of it as too soft and Left's criticism as too harsh suggested that the new term might have hit upon a useful characterization." (author's abstract)... view less

Keywords
German Democratic Republic (GDR); true socialism; welfare care; dictatorship; Socialist Unity Party of Germany (GDR); regime; political regime; discussion; concept; interpretation; language; self-presentation; stereotype; science of history; Soviet Occupation Zone; Federal Republic of Germany; bilateral relations; analysis; comparative research; rhetoric

Classification
Political System, Constitution, Government
General History
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture

Method
historical

Document language
German

Publication Year
2012

Page/Pages
p. 249-272

Journal
Historical Social Research, Supplement (2012) 24

Issue topic
Contemporary history as transatlantic project: the German problem 1960-2010

ISSN
0936-6784

Status
Published Version; peer reviewed

Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0


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