West German Citizens Research Articles

Linguistic representation of the concept BERLIN WALL in German eonyms

The article is devoted to the study of linguistic representation of the concept BERLIN WALL in modern German. The main goal of the article is to identify and describe eonyms (key words of the epoch) that preserve the historical memory of the Berlin Wall in modern German. The material of the study was eonyms selected from the rating lists of the linguistic action of the German Language Society (Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache e. V.) «Word of the Year» for the period from 1978 to 2020, verbalizing the concept BERLIN WALL. The application of comparative-historical and descriptive methods made it possible to identify eonyms representing the result of linguistic reflection of the most important political phenomenon in modern German history. The article provides a linguocultural analysis of the selected eonyms in synchronic and diachronic aspects. The author describes the influence of the BERLIN WALL concept on the perception of East and West German citizens of each other, analyses the linguistic reflection of changes in political and social life in Germany in the critical era after German reunification. The description of the socio-historical contexts of the emergence of eonyms as representatives of the BERLIN WALL concept allows us to characterise the existing linguistic stereotypes in the German language. The analysis highlights the eonyms and their derivatives, which appear with certain cyclicity, linking historical events with each other and characterising the dynamic development of society and language. The unfolding of the meanings projected in the eonyms allows us to identify the most significant historical events reflected in the concept of BERLIN WALL, to interpret the differences in communicative behaviour between the inhabitants of East and West Germany.

The Ethics of Seeing: Photography and Twentieth-Century German History ed. by Jennifer Evans, Paul Betts, and Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann

Reviewed by: The Ethics of Seeing: Photography and Twentieth-Century German History ed. by Jennifer Evans, Paul Betts, and Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann Teresa Walch The Ethics of Seeing: Photography and Twentieth-Century German History. Edited by Jennifer Evans, Paul Betts, and Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann. New York: Berghahn, 2018. Pp. 306. Cloth $149.00. ISBN 978-1785337284. Practitioners of visual history have shown that photographs can do much more than illustrate previously formulated arguments. An outpouring of recent monographs, collected volumes, and public exhibitions have begun exploring photography's agency in modern history, particularly during World War II and the Holocaust. The collection of essays in The Ethics of Seeing moves beyond war and dictatorship to probe not only how documentary photography recorded German history throughout the twentieth century, but also how it engendered new modes of seeing, thus actively shaping history as well. Introductory chapters by Jennifer Evans and Elizabeth Edwards provide critical historiographical, theoretical, and methodological anchors for the volume. When viewed not as mere evidence but as a multilayered medium, they argue, photography has the potential to illuminate multiple renderings of the past and radically reshape the discipline of history. The subsequent case studies investigate photography as an ethical practice in twentieth-century Germany. They reveal how the selective decisions [End Page 413] of photographers and publishers—from subject choice, to staging and composition, presentation (scale, cropping, montaging, omission), and contextualization (especially via captioning)—consciously or unconsciously fostered conventional or alternative "ways of seeing." These contributions underscore the inherent fluidity of photography and its amenability to myriad interpretations across time and space. Germany's authoritarian regimes often deliberately employed amateur and professional photography to bolster official narratives. Claudia Siebrecht examines how Else Sonnenberg's personal photographs reinforced imperial Germany's claims of a civilizing mission in South West Africa. Elizabeth Harvey illustrates how photos invoking themes of Heimat, community, and a shared racial lineage helped justify the resettlement of more than half a million ethnic Germans during World War II. Julia Torrie describes how photos taken by German soldiers stationed in France blended out the violent aspects of German occupation and helped the men view themselves as harmless guests or tourists rather than aggressors. The authors are careful to note that, despite their ostensible alignment with state policies, these photos were open to alternative readings that might have provoked critical, even humanitarian responses. At other times, photography advanced subversive agendas that challenged official visual practices. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) aimed to harness photography to train a new "socialist self," and yet Sarah E. James demonstrates how it accommodated Edmund Kesting's 1950s abstract portraits. Inconsistencies in the GDR's photographic policies endured into the 1970s and 1980s, as evidenced by Candice M. Hamelin's discussion of Gundula Schulze Eldowy's photos of buildings in disrepair and the elderly and infirm. The camera also became a weapon in the hands of oppressed GDR citizens. Analyzing photographs published in Wolfgang Schneider's Leipziger Demontagebuch, Paul Betts explains how photos taken by protestors in autumn 1989 documented police aggression in Leipzig and recorded the increasing confidence and growing strength of the mass demonstrations. West German citizens also used subversive photography for personal and political ends. Jennifer Evans examines the subjectivities of Herbert Tobias's erotic photographs of rent boys, noting that they constituted a bold act of self-expression in the morally normative postwar era. Anna Ross shows how photographs taken by residents and activists in Berlin-Kreuzberg helped strengthen a collective Kiez identity and forge a collective response to the municipality's disruptive practices of reurbanization in the 1970s and 1980s. Concerted efforts to harness photography for humanitarian purposes featured in each of Germany's postwar eras. Annelie Ramsbrock shows how Ernst Friedrich's 1924 book Krieg dem Kriege! successfully recontextualized portraits of "facially wounded" World War I veterans, initially published in scientific journals to showcase advancements in reconstructive surgery, to posit a searing, pacifist message that resonates even today. Photos played an equally important role in the post-1945 era, argues [End Page 414] Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann. Abandoning initial triumphalist and vengeful images, British and American photographers began capturing scenes of German suffering and resilience that helped cultivate...

New Scholarship

New Scholarship

Public Health in a Radioactive Age: Environmental Pollution, Popular Therapies, and Narratives of Danger in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949–1970

AbstractIn the 1950s and 1960s, West German citizens found themselves living in a “radioactive age.” The public learned that radiation exposure pervaded postwar society, not only from atomic testing but also from medical treatment, workplace exposures, and radium consumer goods. By 1970, West Germans—ranging from farmers and housewives, to physicians, scientists, and bureaucrats—had recast nuclear radiation from a technological wonder or health aid into a public health hazard. This article illustrates that anxieties about uncontrollable technology, ineffective institutions, disingenuous political leaders, and volatile citizens persisted from the 1950s to the 1970s, coexisting with optimism and progress, without truly subsiding in the 1960s, as historians often suggest. Further, it advocates taking those fears seriously, showing that they played a critical—and lasting—role in shaping public policy and state-society relations in the early Federal Republic.

Economic Systems and Risk Preferences: Evidence from East and West Germany

For standard economic models it is typically assumed that preferences are given and stable. But do economic systems shape individuals' risk preferences? Using the reunification of East and West Germany as a natural experiment I evaluate differences in financial risk taking comparing Eastern and Western German households after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Controlling for a large set of socio-economic variables East Germans having been treated by a command economy were more prone to taking financial risk than West German citizens. The differences were quantitatively relevant after the fall of the Iron Curtain and almost vanished by 2008.

Sex and the Soldier: The Discourse about the Moral Conduct of Bundeswehr Soldiers and Officers during the Adenauer Era

AbstractThis article situates the establishment of the Bundeswehr and the implementation of compulsory military service in the 1950s and early 1960s within contemporary efforts to define a “sexual-moral order” for the Federal Republic of Germany. It argues that West Germany's rearmament offered contemporaries an opportunity to stipulate not only acceptable soldierly behavior, but also adequate male behavior in general. In the context of heightened concerns about juvenile delinquents (so-called Halbstarken), female prostitution, homosexuality, and the distribution of pornographic materials, West German citizens became interested in the social and sexual conduct of Bundeswehr soldiers and officers. Whereas some still considered the military to be a “school of the nation” and of proper masculinity, others worried about the armed forces as a possible breeding ground for immorality. Partly sharing these concerns, government representatives, members of the Bundestag, church officials, and military commanders sought to guide soldiers’ behavior, emphasizing the ideal of the “complete” (vollkommene) Christian male-breadwinner family.

Courting China, Condemning China: East and West German Cold War Diplomacy in the Shadow of the Cambodian Genocide

After the overthrow of Pol Pot and the genocidal Khmer Rouge in early 1979, a major international dispute erupted over who had the right to represent Cambodia in the international arena. Whereas the GDR immediately recognized the new regime installed by Vietnam (a close ally of the Soviet bloc and an arch-foe of China), West Germany gave staunch diplomatic support to the internationally reviled Khmer Rouge. This provoked a storm of public protest in the media and on the part of bewildered West German citizens, who took their leaders to task for supposedly compromising the country’s most basic human rights principles. This article looks at the geopolitical and economic reasons for the East and West German positions on the representation issue, ‘Holocaust’ discourse in the two postwar German states, and the role that each state’s relationship with China played in terms of its policies towards Cambodia and its understanding of what had transpired in there. It is based on unpublished archival sources, contemporary media reports, interviews with key actors, and a series of highly politicized documentaries about Cambodia made in the early 1980s by the internationally renowned East German filmmakers Walter Heynowski and Gerhard Scheumann. The article demonstrates how Cold War geopolitics and economic considerations were paramount in determining official German policies towards Cambodia and China on both sides of the iron curtain.

From East German Refugees to West German Citizens ― The West Germany's Integration Policy of East German Refugees in the 1950s. ―

From East German Refugees to West German Citizens ― The West Germany's Integration Policy of East German Refugees in the 1950s. ―

In search of reliable results: Socialist values and political trust in unified Germany – A comment on Campbell's analyses and conclusions

AbstractIn a recently published article in this journal, Ross Campbell argues that adherence to socialist values establishes a hitherto neglected factor when it comes to the explanation of differences in East and West German citizens’ political trust. As the results of his study indicate, adherence to socialist values impacts negatively on citizens’ political trust, this effect is more pronounced and more stable over time for East German as compared to West German citizens and is sufficiently strong to eliminate aggregate‐level differences in political trust between East and West Germany. However, this research note suggests that Campbell's article contains several substantial inconsistencies and obscurities that question the reliability and validity of the empirical findings presented. It provides a re‐analysis of Campbell's main arguments and shows to what extent his initial conclusions can be upheld after the shortcomings have been remedied. The results of this re‐analysis suggest that socialist values indeed exhibit a negative impact on German citizens’ political trust, which is relatively stronger for East as compared to West German citizens. However, contrary to Campbell's initial results, the negative effect of socialist values on political trust is robust over time for both East and West German citizens. What is more, there is no empirical evidence confirming that differences in adherence to socialist values between East and West German citizens are sufficiently strong to account for aggregate‐level differences in political trust. In light of these findings, two of Campbell's three main conclusions are dubious and call for further examination.

Does the IAB employment sample reliably identify maternity leave taking? A data report

The data set that researchers have used most often to study career interruptions due to childbirth in the German context is the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). An alternative data source is the much larger IAB Employment Sample (IABS). Although this data set does not include direct information on childbirth, mothers on maternity leave can potentially be identified. There are, however, two problems. First, the leave variable in the IABS does not distinguish between maternity leave and other leave taking, such as sick leave. Second, the child's birth month has to be inferred from the month in which the mother goes on maternity leave, which is likely to lead to measurement error in the time that the mother spends at home after childbirth. This paper investigates both problems, using an extended version of the IABS that supplements the social security records with direct information on childbirth from the German Pension Register. I find that for Western West German citizens, at least 90% of leave spells are due to maternity leave. The child's birth month is correctly estimated for at least 70%, and over- or underestimated by one month for about 25% of mothers. I conclude that the most recent scientific use files of the IABS, the IABS 75-01 and IABS 75-04, provide a very valuable alternative data source to the GSOEP to study career interruptions due to childbirth, as long as the focus is on women who are attached to the labour market.

Risk Behavior of East and West Germans in Handling Personal Finances

When "Homo Economicus" stands for rationality of financial decision-making, then this is clearly an ideal state not found in real life. Instead, everyday financial decisions are made by using a number of risk-oriented behaviors, both positive and negative. We investigate the relationships between such personality traits and financial decisions following the theory of Brengelmann. We compare financial risk behavior between East and West German citizens using two kinds of samples. One type of sample is drawn from the general East and West German populations. The other is drawn from the readers of the leading business magazine in East and West Germany. It is assumed that West Germans are more risk-oriented than East Germans and that readers of the business magazine are more risk-oriented than the non-readers. The expectations were confirmed. In the general population, West Germans show higher risk excitement, but also a higher degree of strain than East Germans. East Germans are more likely to strive for property. Beyond that, business magazine readers differ from the average population. They show higher degrees of almost all relevant factors. In this subgroup, East Germans remind one of "Musterschuler" as far as handling finances is concerned: They show greater drive, control, and responsibility in financial matters, but feel less distracted than West Germans. These results may be explained by differences in socialization in the former FRG and GDR, where "capitalistic" and "socialistic" values, respectively, are supposed to have dominated theory and practice over long periods of time.

The pension incentive to retire: empirical evidence for West Germany.

"In this paper, the impact of the West German pension system on the retirement decisions of elderly citizens is analyzed within the framework of a discrete-time hazard rate model deduced from a micro-economic decision rule. The model is estimated using a panel dataset of elderly West German citizens. In order to improve the precision of the estimates obtained, the data from the sample are combined with aggregate-level information on the labour force participation behaviour of the elderly. Policy simulations based on the estimates reveal that the probability of early retirement can be reduced significantly by appropriate changes in the pension system."

Broadness and Diversity of the Ludwig Brigade

Broadness and Diversity of Ludwig Brigade was produced for a specific historical, political, and art-world context in Germany. It was first exhibited at Kiinstlerhaus Bethanien, an arts center located in Kreuzberg section of West Berlin, about 100 yards from Wall. From third floor of building one has a good view over meandering fortifications, erected in 1961 by German Democratic Republic, which physically divide city and encircle West Berlin with two unscalable concrete walls. In between is a deathstrip complete with watchtowers, tank barriers, and all-night illumination. The GDR does not permit its citizens to leave its territory to go to West Berlin or countries outside Eastern bloc. Exceptions are made for old people who want to visit relatives in West and for a small number of politically trustworthy individuals. Those who try to leave without authorization risk their lives in mine fields and under guns of border guards. West German citizens and Berliners are admitted to East Berlin, capital of GDR, on one-day visas issued at border checkpoints to anyone who does not appear on a political blacklist. For West Germans, entry into territory of GDR beyond Berlin is possible only after a lengthy visa application and on invitation from agencies or individuals that are officially recognized by East German authorities as sponsors. Political considerations play an important role. Border guards thoroughly scrutinize every visitor from West and usually intercept all printed materials, newspapers, periodicals, books, and so forth, unless they have imprimatur of state. The GDR calls its Western border the border of peace and has proclaimed that actually existing socialism has been established on its territory.* After World War II tenets of socialist realist art, as they were practiced