Abstract
Partner relationships are no static entities: they form, they are consolidated, and they have to survive crises – all under changing historical circumstances. This introduction aims to develop new perspectives on couple relationships as dynamic life constellations in East and West Germany after 1945. It examines the normative settings and changes in love conventions to analyze how the ideal and everyday lives of singles and unmarried and married couples evolved. The article historicizes the contemporary diagnosis of a fundamental “structural break” in the 1970s under the sign of “value change” and an individualization, pluralization, and liberalization of society, which resonates strongly in contemporary historical research.
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