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Based on interviews and the voluminous materials in the archives of the SED, the Stasi and central and regional authorities, this volume focuses on several contrasting minorities (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, ‘guest’ workers from Vietnam and Mozambique, football fans, punks, and skinheads) and their interaction with state and party bodies during Erich Honecker’s rule over the communist system. It explores how they were able to resist persecution and surveillance by instruments of the state, thus illustrating the limits on the power of the East German dictatorship and shedding light on the notion of authority as social practice.
“This welcome study illustrates how the various minorities managed to survive under the massive attempts of the East German regime to control them. Based on extensive archival research and interviews. Highly recommended.“ · Choice
“The approach of viewing society from the perspective of marginal social groups provides fascinating insights. In the view from the fringes of society, each of the groups studied had its own conceptions and beliefs (its own Eigen-Sinn). Whereas the Jehovah’s Witnesses regarded Stasi officers as the ‘tools of Satan’, right-wing extremists saw themselves as tasked by East German society with chasing out foreigners. Human agency (p. 203) is difficult to prove satisfactorily, but the authors nevertheless reveal a great deal of immunity that would otherwise remain hidden.” · Labour History Review
“This insightful and wide-ranging book…provides an ambitious and compelling analysis of significant GDR minorities and sub-cultures that have not received the same scholarly attention as have the Protestant and Catholic churches or the counter-cultural movements for peace, human rights and environmentalism that emerged in the GDR’s final years.” · German History
“There is much to admire in Dennis’ and LaPorte’s study. Fascinating comparative perspectives emerge from its surveys of groups which, for reason or another, did not fit into the SED’s worldview…an invaluable introduction [that] is wide-ranging, diligently researched, and cogently argued…highly recommended.” · German Studies Review
“The book is thoughtful and well researched and reaches sound judgements. The authors’ German is evidently very good. Good use is made of Stasi records and of the secondary literature to support the arguments put. Dennis and LaPorte’s analysis of the Stasi’s operations is set against the background of a good understanding of the character of the Socialist Unity Party regime, which they regard as ‘post-totalitarian’…The book will be a valuable aid to teaching undergraduate and Masters students of German history.” · European History Quarterly
List of Tables
Preface
Chapter 1. State, Society and Minority Groups in the GDR
Mike Dennis and Norman Laporte
Chapter 2. Between Torah and Sickle: Jews in East Germany, 1945-1990
Mike Dennis
Chapter 3. Jehovah’s Witnesses: From Persecution to Survival
Mike Dennis
Chapter 4. Asian and African Workers in the Niches of Society
Mike Dennis
Chapter 5. Football Fans, Hooligans and the State
Mike Dennis
Chapter 6. Sub-cultures: Punks, Goths and Heavy Metallers
Mike Dennis and Norman Laporte
Chapter 7. Skinheads and Right Extremism in an Anti-fascist State
Norman Laporte
Conclusion
Mike Dennis
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Index