Guido Wolf

Nation Ohne Volk - a Nation Under Construction: the Concept of the Gdr Nation, As Propagated in Its Schoolbooks Guido Wolf

The stories of nationalisms are often told like archetypal fairy-tales. There are the heroes (members of some national elite), the foes (the alien or feudal oppressors), and the maidens to be won (the various peoples). After the happy end, and a happy end there usually is, the heroes and their wives live happily in their little house called nation. The story told here is somewhat different. The plan to create a separate nation in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) between 1970 and 1989 failed; there is no new nation. This book traces the development and the propagation of the GDR nation, through education materials and archive sources, from before 1970 until state's end in 1990. Primary sources are textbooks for 'Staatsbürgerkunde' (lit. State's Citizens Education) as well as for History lessons. 'A Nation Under Construction' provides a unique insight in a failed nationalisation project. Students of communist societies, especially their education systems, will find this book a helpful case study in propaganda - however unsuccessful it turned out to be.