Tracing Controversy in East German Film

Abstract

Art in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was often the subject of controversy. While the frequency of controversy may seem surprising to those who imagine the former East Bloc as having been characterized by unanimity or lockstep obedience, it was the logical result of two factors that made the structural situation of art in Communist regimes different from that in Western democracies. First was a theoretical approach to art that stressed art’s interconnectedness with society, not its autonomy; and second was a significantly restricted public sphere that lacked free newspapers and open public debate and therefore often placed art in the position of a kind of ersatz public sphere where significant problems could occasionally be addressed, even if sometimes only obliquely. One of the major problems for artists in the GDR and elsewhere in the East Bloc was determining precisely when it was possible or impossible to be open: periods of freeze quickly followed periods of thaw, and vice versa. Sometimes a project begun in a period of thaw might have the misfortune of being finished in a period of freeze. What incurred the praise of SED (Socialist Unity Party, the ruling party of the GDR) leaders one year might incur their wrath the next year. And of course, the SED itself, in spite of the unity it proclaimed in its name, was hardly a unified party lacking in controversy; like any other bureaucracy, it was characterized by intrigue, infighting, and jockeying for position.KeywordsGerman Democratic RepublicParty LeaderMovie TheaterEast BlocEast German StateThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.