Oxford University Press, USA
Within Walls: Private Life in the German Democratic Republic
Within Walls: Private Life in the German Democratic Republic
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Private life in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) is often seen as having been virtually non-existent, simply another East German commodity forever in short supply. In part this had to do with the common perception that private life and state socialism were at odds by definition, to the
extent that the private person has no legal identity or political standing outside the socialist community. The East German regime's infamous surveillance techniques, best illustrated in the notorious exploits of the state's sprawling security force - the Stasi - and its reserve army of 'unofficial
collaborators', further dramatized the full penetration of the state into the private sphere. Within Walls takes a different perspective. Paul Betts shows how, despite the primacy of public identities, the private sphere assumed central importance in the GDR from the very outset, and was especially pronounced in the regime's former capital city. In a world in which social interaction was
heavily monitored, private life functioned for many citizens as a cherished arena of individuality, alternative identity-formation, and potential dissent. The book carefully charts the changing meaning of private life in the GDR across a variety of fields, ranging from law to photography, religion
to interior decoration, family living to memoir literature, revealing the myriad ways in which privacy was expressed, staged, and defended by citizens living in a communist society.
Author: Paul Betts
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/06/2013
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780199668298
extent that the private person has no legal identity or political standing outside the socialist community. The East German regime's infamous surveillance techniques, best illustrated in the notorious exploits of the state's sprawling security force - the Stasi - and its reserve army of 'unofficial
collaborators', further dramatized the full penetration of the state into the private sphere. Within Walls takes a different perspective. Paul Betts shows how, despite the primacy of public identities, the private sphere assumed central importance in the GDR from the very outset, and was especially pronounced in the regime's former capital city. In a world in which social interaction was
heavily monitored, private life functioned for many citizens as a cherished arena of individuality, alternative identity-formation, and potential dissent. The book carefully charts the changing meaning of private life in the GDR across a variety of fields, ranging from law to photography, religion
to interior decoration, family living to memoir literature, revealing the myriad ways in which privacy was expressed, staged, and defended by citizens living in a communist society.
Author: Paul Betts
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/06/2013
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780199668298
About the Author
Paul Betts taught at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 1996-1999, and has been teaching Modern German History at the University of Sussex since 2000. He has published numerous works on post-war German history, including The Authority of Everyday Objects: A Cultural History of West German Industrial Design (2004), and was the joint editor of the journal German History from 2003-2009.
