 "Singe-Bewegung" and "Oktoberklub" in East Germany, part 8.
On 7 October 1949, the founding of the GDR (German Democratic Republic, often called simply East Germany) was proclaimed in Berlin. At the end of the Second World War, there were already violent disagreements between the four victorious allies: the USA, England, France and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union wanted to found a socialist German state, while the Western powers wanted a democratic Germany.
The political officials in the Soviet-occupied zone (as the GDR was named before its foundation) carried out the preparations for founding a state very systematically. They started up the “Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands” or SED (Socialist Unity Party) and the organisation “Freie Deutsche Jugend” or FDJ (Free German Youth).
The proclamation of the constitution of the German Democratic Republic sealed the division between east and west in legal terms. Two states had arisen in Germany, both of which claimed to be the core and model for a single united Germany that was to be created in the future. With elections based on “Unity” lists of candidates, strict control and direction of government and society by the Socialist Unity Party, the GDR followed the pattern of the “people’s democracies” set up as Soviet protectorates in eastern central and southeastern European states.
Today it will have been 63ears since the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
The so called "Tag der Repblik" commemorates the 7th October 1949, at which the German Democratic Republic was constituted .
This is a good occasion to continue our series of postings dealing with the "Singebewegung" in the GDR.
This double album is a report about the "Singing movement" in the GDR, released in 1981 and giving an overview about the last 15 years. It has liner notes by Gisela Steineckert about the experiences in the years 1966 to 1980. Gisela Steineckert was a politician or functionary as well as a writer and poet, now honorary chairman of the dfb ("Democratic Women´s Association").
The "Singebewegung" was the East German variant of the Hootenanny and other folk movements and was channeled by SED and the FDJ, which does not always succeed. The songs on this album are partly shaped by this conflict between governmental control and slight irony and subversion.
(256 kbps, cover art included)
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