Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-23T06:01:46.927Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The GDR, Luther, and the German Question

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Stephen P. Hoffmann
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The East German government's commemoration in 1983 of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth exemplifies its continuing effort to broaden domestic support by arguing over a thirty-year period that the regime's values are deeply rooted in German civilization. The representation of Luther in the German Democratic Republic has evolved from caricature to sophisticated portraiture. Fundamental to this reinterpretation has been the association of Luther with the bourgeois-democratic revolution, a process which the ruling Socialist Unity party claims to have completed in the course of establishing the GDR. Continuing interaction between East and West Germany has complicated the GDR's effort to utilize historical symbols in developing a unified political culture.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , Spring 1986 , pp. 246 - 263
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1 Goeckel, Robert F., “The Luther Anniversary in East Germany,” World Politics, 37 (1984), 129–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Teltschik, Horst, “The Significance of Bonn's Foreign Policy,” The German Tribune (Political Affairs Review), 21 04 1985, p.7.Google Scholar

3 The distinction between “authority” and “legitimacy” has been discussed in Talcott Parsons, “Authority, Legitimation and Political Action” in Authority, ed. Carl J. Friedrich (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), pp. 197–221Google Scholar; for Easton's discussion of legitimacy, see Easton, David, A Systems Analysis of Political Life (New York, 1965), p. 287.Google Scholar

4 Neues Deutschland. 1 01, 1967.Google Scholar

5 On Erbe and Tradition, see Neuhäusser-Wespy, Ulrich, “Von der Urgesellschaft bis zur SED,” Deutschland Archiv, 16 (1983), 150.Google Scholar On Nation and Nationalität, see Kosing, Alfred and Schmidt, Walter, “Nation und Nationalität in der DDR,” Neus Deutschland, 15–16 02 1975, p. 10.Google Scholar

6 Lange, , Die Volkserhebung von 1813 (Berlin, 1952), p.6.Google Scholar

7 Abusch, , Der Irrweg einer Nation (Berlin, 1950)Google Scholar; first published in 1946.

8 Von Hanstein, , Von Luther bis Hitler (Dresden, 1947), pp. 22–23.Google Scholar

9 Abusch, , Irrweg, p. 22Google Scholar; Meusel, Alfred, Thomas Müntzer und seine Zeit (Berlin, 1952), pp. 46, 84.Google Scholar

10 Dokemente der SED (Berlin, 1950 +), 3 (1952), 570–88; 751–58.Google Scholar

11 Barker, O. E. H., “Die Geschichtslüge der SED,” SBZ Archiv, 20 02 1952, p. 56Google Scholar; Maibaum, Werner, “Geschichte and Geschichtsbewusstsein in der DDR” in Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft in der DDR, ed. Thomas, Rüdiger (Munich, 1971), p. 190.Google Scholar

12 Streisand, Joachim, Deutsche Geschichte in einem Band (Berlin, 1970), pp. 71–72.Google Scholar

13 Steinmetz, Max, “Die frühbürgerliche Revolution in Deutschland 1476–1535,” Zeitschrift fur Geschichtswissenschaft, 8 (1960), 113–24.Google Scholar

14 Steinmetz, , “Deutschland von 1476 bis 1535” in Deutsche Geschichte, ed. Streisand, Joachim (Berlin, 1965), p. 505.Google Scholar

15 Engels, , The German Revolutions (Chicago, 1967), pp. 41.Google Scholar

16 Trebs, , Martin Luther heute (Berlin, 1967), pp. 114) 18.Google Scholar

17 Hub, Rudolph, “Die frühbürgerliche Revolution in Deutschland in der Geschichtspropaganda der Presse der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung und des deutschen Imperialismus anlässlich der Vierhundertjahrfeiern der beiden Hohepunkten,” in Weltwirkung der Reformation, ed. Brendler, Gerhard and Steinmetz, Max (Berlin, 1969), pp. 147. 154Google Scholar: Kinner, Klaus, “Die frühbürgerliche Revolution in Deutschland im Geschichtsbild der KPD in den Jahren der revolutionären Nachkriegskrise, in Bauernkrieg 1524/5: Geschichte-Tradition-Lehre, ed. Brendler, Gerhard and Laube, Adolf (Berlin, 1977), pp. 405–08.Google Scholar

18 Brendler, , “Reformation und Fortschritt” in 450 Jahre Reformation ed. Stern, Leo and Steinmetz, Max (Berlin 1967), p. 67Google ScholarBrendler, , “Frünbürgerliche Revolution und Tradition” in 450Google ScholarJahre, p. 184.Google Scholar

19 Zschäbitz, Martin Luther: Grosse und Grenz (Berlin, 1967). p. 219.Google Scholar

20 Laube, Adolf, Steinmetz, Max, and Vogler, Gunter, Illustrierte Geschichte der deutschen frühbürgerliche Revolution (Berlin, 1974), pp. 276–79, 309–10.Google Scholar

21 Honecker, , “In der DDR wird die historische Leistung Martin Luthers bewahrt” Zeitschrift fur Geschichtswissenschaft, 29 (1980), 927, 929.Google Scholar

22 Brendler, , Martin Luther: Theologie und Revolution (Berlin, 1983).Google Scholar

23 Brendler, , Martin Luther, p. 125.Google Scholar

24 Ibid., pp. 3, 53, 205, 269–70, 318, 404.

25 Ibid., pp. 340–41, 388–89.

26 Ibid., p. 330.

27 Honecker, , “In der DDR,” pp. 929–30.Google Scholar

28 Interview with Götting, Gerald, Neues Deutschland, 14 11 1983.Google Scholar

29 Brown, Archie and Gray, Jack, Political Culture and Political Change in Communist States (New York, 1977), pp. 8, 257.Google Scholar

30 Neues Deutschland, 14–15 05 1980.Google Scholar

31 For a fuller discussion of church-state dialogue in the GDR, see Hoffmann, Stephen P., “East Germany” in Three Worlds of Christian-Marxist Encounters ed. Piediscalzi, Nicholas and Thobaben, Robert G. (Philadelphia, 1985), pp. 99–115.Google Scholar

32 For an analysis of the East German peace movement and its relevance to the emergence of leftist nationalism, see Mushaben, Joyce Marie, “Swords to Plowshares: the Church, the State, and the East German Peace Movement,” Studies in Comparative Communism, 17, (1984), 123–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

33 Goeckel, , “The Luther Anniversary,” 121–22Google Scholar; Aschka, Fritz, “Ecumenical Hopes at the Nuremberg Talks,” The German Tribune, 24 07 1983, p. 12.Google Scholar

34 Ramet, Pedro, “Disaffection and Dissent in East Germany, “World Politics, 37 (1984), 85–86, 102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

35 Menge, Marlies, “Der Alte Fritz macht Freude,” Die Zeit, 3 06 1983, p. 22.Google Scholar

36 Honecker, , “In der DDR,” p. 927.Google Scholar