From ‘Volksgemeinschaft’ to Divided Nation: German National Identities and Political Cultures since the Third Reich

Fulbrook, Mary

doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.1989.tb00510.x

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…In the late 1980s, however, a broader oppositional field was beginning to take shape around peace and environmental issues. Though relatively small in numbers and modest in aims, these new groups emerged as fragments of a nascent civil society protected by their affiliation with the Lutheran church (Fulbrook 1989;Joppke 1995;Knabe 1988;Krisch 1986;Torpey 1995). Even so, the oppositional space in which these groups could operate was still quite narrow.…”

Section: Identity Solidarity and The Revolt Against Communismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…East Germans described themselves as "living on two tracks" (Zweileisigkeit); split between an authentic private sphere and a conformist public life (Fulbrook 1989). Outsider observers of the Honecker regime could not easily detect the deep dissatisfaction that existed in nearly all classes of GDR citizens, even among rank-and-file members of the SED who saw little hope of reinvigorating socialism (Koch & Mathes 1993).…”

Section: Expecitations Of Solidaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In East Germany a Nichengesellschaft ("niche society") flourished in which pockets of Collective Identity in East Germany, 1989 / 103 private life provided relief from conformity and compliance. In this niche society, East Germans retreated to circles of like-minded friends, to West German TV or into alternative milieus where the dissatisfied sought refuge from boredom and deprivation (Fulbrook 1994;Jarausch 1994;Philipsen 1993;Rink & Hofmann 1991;Pollack 1990). Grumbling, antiregime joking, nervously expressed doubts and fears, and nonconformity in networks of friends and confidants were more authentic reflections of the popular mood than official life or state media (Ludes 1993) could represent.…”

Section: Expecitations Of Solidaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was due, in part, to the multiple meanings of the term Volk. The use of the term in its socialist sense always allowed the possibility of a reference to the German nation (Fulbrook 1994;Le Gloannec 1994;Smith 1991). In a nation with a fragmented history, reference to the Volk carried a deeper resonance beyond claims to a socialist identity.…”

Section: The Formation Of a Protest Idenytiymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Collective Identity and Informal Groups in Revolutionary Mobilization: East Germany in 1989

Pfaff

1996

Social Forces

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Oxford University Press and Social Forces, University of North Carolina Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Forces. AbstractEast Germany's unanticipated revolution in 1989 poses an interesting challenge to social movement research. The relatively spontaneous, peaceful revolution that toppled the communist regime cannot be fully explained by the prevailing theories of revolution and collective action. While both structurally oriented and identity-oriented theory offers insight into the revolutionary process, neither are completely satisfactory. Most theories assume a relatively open field of political contestation and conditions of relative social freedom that were absent in East Germany. I suggest a synthetic, historically specific approach in which collective identities are situated with small-scale social networks. The crucial factors in making the revolution possible were shared grievances and the expectation of social solidarity. Though they were politically subordinated, ordinary East Germans expressed grievances and nurtured opposition in small circles of confidants. Reference to collective identities helped to mobilize and frame opposition in East Germany making a swift, unexpected revolution possible once the state began to founder.The massive popular demonstration in Leipzig on the evening of 9 October, 1989 marked a crucial moment in the East German revolution. Seventy thousand East Germans, chanting "We are the people!" (Wir sind das Volk!), peacefully rejected the course of "really existing socialism" in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and called for democratic reform. Incredibly, despite widespread expectations that Honecker's regime would make good on its threat of a "Chinese solution" to the problem of large-scale social unrest, the state security forces stood by and allowed the demonstration to progress. Coming on the heels of the mass exodus of East Germans to the West (made possible by new gaps in the Iron Curtain) and Gorbachev's visit to the GDR, the regime's unwillingness to suppress this direct manifestation of popular opposition represented a turning point. Building on this victory in coming weeks, the opposition movement pressed the floundering regime for ever-greater concessions. Initiated from below by "people power," the Leipzig protests signaled the end of Communism. Only a month later, on 9 November, the fall of the Berlin Wall signalled another turn as attempts to reform the GDR, led by the democratic socialists of the civic movement, were gradually displaced by a groundswell of support for unification with West Germany.The rapid pace of the East German revolution startled observers both outside a...

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Section: Identity Solidarity and The Revolt Against Communismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Expecitations Of Solidaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Expecitations Of Solidaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Formation Of a Protest Idenytiymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations