Childhood in Eastern Germany

by: Katalin Vales

1. Introduction 1

2. Living conditions, special focus on women 1-4

3. A typical biography from a child in the German Democratic Republic until 1990:

3.1. Child-care 5
3.2. The organisation of the vacations 5-6
3.3. Political participation from children 7-8

4. Social services 8-9

4.1. Financier social services 9

5. Psychological aspects 10

6. The time of change 10-11

7. Subjective Experiences 11

8. Literature 11-12

1. Introduction

Althougt in the context of the seminar, generational relations were not interpreted as relationships between relatives (e.g. children, parents or grandparents), I will light up some aspects of these, focus the childhood in the former German Democratic Republic. At the level of society I try to look up on relations between children and adults. “In some discussions we receive the impression, that knowledge about childhood in the German Democratic Republic, GDR or, is moulded by dichotomy: Childhood in the GDR was state-run, whereas in the Federal Republic of Germany everything could be decided unaffected. The question, whether this was true or not, can not easily be answered, for reality is perceived by different people in different ways. As o matter of fact, one always can express facts that have been common everywhere regarding childhood and education in the GDR. Not the absences of education lead to criticism concerning education in GDR, though a comprehensive education lead to a peaceful Revolution”.( Herbert Hörz, 2004)

2. Living conditions, special focus on women

The living condition in the GDR was totally different from the life in West-Germany or Austria. The population was a self-contained industrial society. In this reason, the government’s goal was to control life for nearly all segments of society. The ideology from the Socialism wanted to adapt the living conditions from nearly all shifts of the society. Personal freedom and decision making was largely restricted. The biographies by the people were extensive prescribed from the socialist state and could not chosen in an individual way. The influence of every sphere of life by the state was huge, so that the family was very important as a room of privacy, were people could retire from active participation in the political system.

Regardless of social status and education background, all women were working, because the government couldn’t cut out the women’s work craft in the area of production. Equalisation from men and women was a decelerated goal of the policy, in order to combine gainful employment and mother ship. Married people and those with a family were treated better and more able to get a flat. So family was a kind of earning more privacy and freedom, in this state. Interesting is the high level of women participation in comparison with West Germany in the ruling classes. The following table shows differences between East and West.

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