Communication within GDR Society

Abstract

So far, the analysis of East German society has focused on policies and institutions, thereby giving much attention to the regime’s activities and interests. It has been shown how realities in the GDR differed from the official view, although the status and attitudes of social groups were strongly affected by central intervention. Conflicts have been analysed to show the high level of political, social, and cultural diversity within the GDR, which however did not endanger the political system. In Chapters 6 and 7, the discussion will concentrate on aspects that highlight the population’s willingness to participate in the socialist dictatorship, and also the mutual dependency of regime and society. The following will address the question of popular support for the regime, and its relevance to the social and political stability of the GDR in the 1970s and 19805s.¹ This support was reflected primarily in the use the population made of the existing lines of communication. Particularly within the Christian community, writers, and the citizens’ movement, the interest in communication was growing in the 1980s when economic, social, and political tensions were increasing rapidly.²