LL-L "History" 2009.01.25 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 25 January 2009 - Volume 02
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From: Mike Morgan <mwmosaka at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "History" 2009.01.22 (02) [E/LS]

On the former East Germans' isolation question ... MY two stotinkis worth...



In August 1983 I was in Bulgaria on an international month-long seminar, and
then in 1985 was there again for 9 months doing my PhD dissertation
research. Both times I met an d talked to a number of East Germans, and what
Ron said is basically true ... with open minor modification. Yes, to be able
to travel in the outside world, even in the warsaw pact coiuntries, even in
VERY Stalinist Bulgaria (in the 1980s if you travelled in the Soviet Union,
it is UNLIKELy that you woudl have seen many pcitures of Stalin displayed,
in mid 1980s Sofia, it was quite common).

I neevr ASKEd anyone to see their party membership cards, so can't say fro
sure than ANY of the east Germans I met were NOT party members ... but as
for Party LOYALTY, well, they fit into TWO groups: people who (at least when
viewed externally) toed the Party line 8the larger of the two groups), and
then also a group 8much smaller but still not miniscule) who were critical
(almost but not quite openly critical that is) of the system. this second
group are the exception to Ron's characterization ... they may or may NOT
have had party memebrship cards, what they DID quiet obviously have is what
the Yugoslavs used to call VIP: vezba i poznanstvo ... that is connections
(who you know). They were the people whose daddies maybe were party bosses,
and so they knew the system was not what it claimed to be, and also because
their daddies had all the power, they felt secure enough to be able to
flaunt the system.



So, the essential part of what ron said is perfectly true: teh AVERAGE East
German had NO uncontrolled contact whatsoever with the outside world ...
even in the Warsaw Pact countries (controlled contact was more common, yet
still limited ... unless you count watching old Soviet movies on TV!)



ps Bulgarai was similarly closed ... though a lot of foreigners were here
and there, they were mostly "guest workers" from (North) Vietnam and
(Sandanista) Nicaragua, etc  (and one particular young Nicarauguan whom my
wife picked up on the rtam and brought home to dinner one Sunday had THIS to
say about Zhivkov's Bulgarain: Aqui no hay alegria! I imagine Eastern
Germany was much the same back then.)


Mike || マイク || माईक || Мика || માઈક || მაიქ || ਮਾਈਕ
מייק || மாஇக் || Miqueu || U C > || ما یک || Mihangel
================
Dr Michael W Morgan
Ishara Foundation || ईशारा फॉउंडेशन  || イシャラ基金
Mumbai/Bombay *|* मुंबई *|* ムンバイ/ボンベイ (インド)
www.ishara.org
+++++++++++++++
Kësê zïmanê xwë wïndakê, wïndayë.  (Kirmanji Proverb: 'Whoever loses his
language is lost.')

•

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