Demonstration by the Polish trade union Solidarnosc in the pilgrimage city of Tschenstochau (Poland). The illegal trade union Solidarnosc grew into a mass movement that could no longer be stopped.
Quelle: AP Photo

It´s not this country - Youth cultures

Young people in the GDR were subject to ideological, disciplinary and social control in all areas of their lives. The single ruling SED party placed particular emphasis on pre-military training. The state youth organisation FDJ was responsible for education in line with SED policies. Many young people refused to accept its claim to be the sole representative of the younger generation.

Young people in the GDR were subject to ideological, disciplinary and social control in all areas of their lives. The single ruling SED party placed particular emphasis on pre-military training. The state youth organisation FDJ was responsible for education in line with SED policies. Many young people refused to accept its claim to be the sole representative of the younger generation.

Various alternative youth cultures developed. They looked to the West for a feeling of freedom, for their musical influences and clothing, turning their back on the prescribed model for living communist lives. Blues freaks, hitchhikers, hippies and punks provoked the state deliberately or not, many of them facing considerable repression. Some young people became consciously political, working in peace and environmental groups.

The student Roland Jahn was expelled from the University of Jena in 1977 for criticising the expatriation of the singer Wolf Biermann. Jahn carried out a number of spectacular campaigns to draw attention to political issues in East Germany. He was arrested in 1982 and forcibly expatriated to the West in 1983.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft/Manfred Hildebrand
A police officer checking ID on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin, 1980. The police stopped and checked all young people they thought looked like nonconformists or rebels. They were often arrested for no good reason and interrogated for hours.
Quelle: Harald Hauswald/OSTKREUZ
[Translate to English:] Jugendliche während der wehrsportlichen Ausbildung 1984. Zum Zweck der Disziplinierung und sozialen Kontrolle betreibt die Staatspartei SED die Militarisierung der Gesellschaft. Jugendliche müssen an Schulen, Universitäten oder während der Lehrzeit die vormilitärische Ausbildung absolvieren.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft/Volker Döhring
Whitsun gathering of the state youth organisation FDJ (Free German Youth) in East Berlin, 1984.
Quelle: ullstein bild/Schneider
Punks rebelled against dull, repetitive daily life in the GDR. Their provocative appearance and anarchic ideas made them potential enemies of the state in the eyes of the government. They were criminalised and spied on by the Stasi.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft/Volker Döring
Neo-Nazis in Berlin-Lichtenberg in May 1984, documented by the Stasi. The first skinheads appeared on the youth culture scene in the early 1980s. A few years later saw the emergence of Neo-Nazi groups with leaders and formal structures that broke away from the youth culture movement and had networks across the entire GDR.
Quelle: Bundesbeauftragter für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen DDR
Stars and Stripes in East Berlin: 160,000 fans of the American rock star Bruce Springsteen came to his concert at Weißensee Racetrack on 19 July 1988. In the late 1980s the state youth organisation FDJ made an attempt to meet young people’s demands for Western music by organising concerts such as this one.
Quelle: Gerhard Gäbler/Leipzig
Critical lyrics: a 1981 song by the Leipzig punk band Wutanfall (“Fit of Rage”).
Quelle:
Police summons dated 9 April 1984. The police called young people who did not want to conform into the station on a pretext, the usual excuse being “for clarification of a matter”. If the person did not turn up, they faced state sanctions. The purpose of these summonses was to build up an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.
Quelle: archiv:toomuchfuture
Many rebellious young people and political opponents had their ID cards taken away. They were given a temporary replacement identity card coded PM-12, which placed severe restrictions on their freedom of movement within the GDR. They were not allowed to travel to other countries in the Eastern Bloc at all.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft
Excerpt from the East German penal code. Any groups that exercised criticism of the system were suspected of activities against the state, with an ensuing threat of heavy fines and long prison sentences.
Quelle: Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft
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