The presence of the past among 'Ossis' in Berlin-Friedrichshain.

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The presence of the past

among 'Ossis' in Berlin-Friedrichshain

MA Thesis 9553894

Simon

Groen

March 2002 Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences Supervision

SCR 7689

Department Sociology and Cultural anthropology Prof.cir. O.D. van den Muijzenberg

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The presence of the past among 'Ossis' in Berlin-Friedrichshain

Simon Groen

Photo upper left

The golden house number 14 (Photo: Simon Groen)

In the DDR in one house several families lived together. If they worked together in good socialist spirit, the house would get a golden house number. With that golden number on the outside next to the front door everybody could see that in that house socialism was practiced as the SED would like to see it. In Friedrichshain a few of these numbers can still be found.

Photo upper right

50 Jahre DDR, a party in Rosenwinkel (Photo: Simon Groen)

In Rosenwinkel, some two hours drive north of Berlin a family together with friends organized the celebration of 50-year existence of the DDR at a farmhouse. The houses on the farmyard were decorated with red banners and other symbols of the DDR.

Photo lower left

A portrait of Erich Honecker (Photo: Simon Groen)

In every official place a portrait of the Council of State and General Secretary of the SEO Erich Honecker (some people say mockingly 'der Erich' or 'Honi') would hang on the wall. I took this photograph in a tent in Rosenwinkel. The tent was the gate into (Einreise) and out of (Ausreise) the celebration of 501h anniversary of the DDR.

Photo lower right

The Ampelmann in front of a West traffic light (Photo: Anja Kosmider)

In East Germany the walk- and the stop-symbol in the traffic lights were different from the West German traffic lights. Soon after the unification of Germany new traffic lights were installed and the so-called Ampelmannchen, traffic light men, was about to disappear. A foundation tried to prevent this and to save the Ampelmann. Now one can buy t-shirts, mugs, caps, and many other articles with a walking and/or a stopping Ampelmann. The sign has become the symbol of the fading of the DDR. A special thanks to Remko Coltof for scanning the photographs

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Abbreviations

AG Arbeitsgruppe Working group

BRD Bundesrepublik Deutschland Federal Republic of Germany

CDU Christlich Demokratische Union Christian Democratic Union

DBD Demokratische Bauernpartei Deutschlands Democratic Farmer's Party

DDR Deutsche Dernokratische Republik German Democratic Republic

FDJ Freie Deutsche Jugend Free German Youth

IM lnoffizielle Mitarbeiter Unofficial Employees (of the Stasi)

KPD Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands Communist Party

LDP(D) Liberal-Demokratische Partei (Deutschlands) Liberal Democratic Party

LPG Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft Agricultural Association

NDPD National-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands National Democratic Party

PDS Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus Democratic Socialist Party

SBZ Sowjetische Besatzungszone Soviet Occupation Zone

SED Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands Socialist Unity Party

SMAD Sowjetische Militaradministration in Deutschland Soviet Military Administration

SPD Sozialistische Partei Deutschlands Socialist Party

Stasi Staatssicherheitsdienst State Security Service

VEB Volkseigene Betriebe People's own Companies

Figures

Figure 1 A map of Friedrichshain at the end of the DDR (1990) ... 13 Figure 2 Weapon of Friedrichshain ... 43 Figure 3 A house in the KreutzigerstraBe ... 44

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Foreword

How do former East Germans, 'Ossis', cope with their past in the DDR in an East-Berlin quarter like Friedrichshain in the years after the Wall had come down? What bought me to this theme of this MA thesis? For this I must go back to my living experiences in that quarter in the very cold winter of 1997/1998 and my conducting field research there in the warm summer of 1999. Was it because of the images I saw on television of hundreds, maybe thousands of cheerful East Berliners who could just walk through the once heavily guarded posts of the Berlin Wall on the night of the ninth of November 1989? I cannot remember what I did that night, but I know I had just started working as a trainee for a printing company in Amsterdam. People who were directly involved mostly know exactly what they did on that night. Two conclusions may be drawn from this: the persons in question were so much aware of this historical event that they have a clear image of their activities that night and, second, maybe I was not so much involved at that time after all. Looking at these pictures now I start imagining what went on in the minds of all these people who crossed the border with tears in their eyes, full of amazement or jubilant.

Or was it because of my then (West) German girlfriend who moved to Berlin in the summer of 1995? Did I want to spend as much time with her as I could or did my first paces through Unter den Linden make me realize that not so long ago this street had looked entirely different and me walking there was not so self-evident? At least I remember that walking towards the Brandenburger Tor for the first time I was very much ware that history had been made on that night. My relationship did not last, but my interest in the past, present and future of 'Ossis' grew stronger and stronger. Having spoken to so many people intensively and reading as much as I could about this subject has blurred my memory of why I started this in the first place. The experiences with people's reconstructions of their past more than ten years after Germany's unification have left a deep impact on me as a person and a researcher and therefore I will never look at 'Ossis', the DDR, Berlin, Germany, Europe and the Cold War uncoloured.

In the years after the Wende the media reported of disappointment, discomfort, and resentments of former East Germans. Especially in the city where once the Wall divided two nations it was often heard that 'Ossis', as they were called, felt like secondary class citizens and that nothing was true of the b/Ohende Landschaften that chancellor Helmut Kohl had promised. As a reaction some Wessis said that 'Ossis' had a Mauer im Kopf, a Wall in their head. They should first learn how to think as Wessis do, they said, and stop thinking about the past. They suffered from

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Ostalgie and Wessis made jokes about their Oststolz. 'Ossis' soon were named 'Jammerossis', complaining 'Ossis', and because of their superior behavior 'Wessis' became 'Besserwessis', know-all Wessis. Two world systems impinged on each other as well. 'Ossis' were one way or another used to socialism and now they had to deal with capitalism. In the media one could read about the problems of a large part of 'Ossis' with the West German capitalism of the nineties in the past century. These messages were only superficial, often based on impressions only, like the headline in the Berliner Zeitung: 'Wir sind ubernommen worden!', we have been taken over! What lies beneath the surface of this and other statements, is the central topic of this research.

This MA thesis is a report on research in cultural anthropology. One of the characteristics of anthropological research is that it is mostly carried out in small-scale communities. 'It is microscopic', Clifford Geertz once noted1• Although the distinctions from other social sciences

seem to become blurred, yet anthropology remains distinctive in its approach and perspective. Roger Keesing wrote that

'[T]his anthropological orientation, deeply humanistic, concerned with meanings rather than measurements, with the texture of daily life in communities rather than formal abstractions, remains valuable and even urgent in a world increasingly dominated by technocracy2'.

To get beneath the surface and to look for deeper meanings the anthropologist moves in the daily lives of people, observing and participating while doing fieldwork. This approach has its limitations, as I recognized during my stay in Berlin-Friedrichshain3. A general limitation is that

anthropological research is taken as depicting a (part of a) community as ' ... an integrated, unique experiment in human possibility4'. Nothing less is true. Communities and societies are changing all the time. They are dynamic: conflict, change and diversity must be included. What I have tried to do here is not to give an overview of a status qua, a unique situation in which all answers are given. I aim to give more than an instantaneous grasp on the lives of the actors. Without trying to be predictive the findings have value only when seen against the light of the context in time and place. 'Ossis' might recognize elements in the descriptions that are unfolded here. Nevertheless, these findings are not valid for all 'Ossis'. The respondents in Friedrichshain are not exemplary for all 'Ossis' in Berlin, let alone for all 'Ossis' in the former DDR or elsewhere. A number of 'Ossis' have found little problems in the integration process and some of them have

1

Geertz, Clifford (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures: p. 21.

2

Keesing, Roger (1981) Cultural Anthropology. A contemporary perspective: p. 4.

3

Friedrichshain was one of the 23 Bezirke at the time of the research. In the meantime the number of 23 has been brought down to 12 Bezirke. Friedrichshain went together with Kreuzberg. I visited one of the

Linkstreffs, discussion meetings organized by the PDS, where members of both the Kreuzberg- and the Friedrichshain-department discussed what problems lay in front of them.

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become quite successful in the new capitalist context. Yet, even they may recognize some of the things the respondents have said here. Anthropologists make connections between theoretical formulations and descriptive interpretations and I have attempted to do so here. A description is not an explanation. A West German acquaintance said to me: so, now you can explain my culture to me. Clifford Geertz would have answered her: '[T)he important thing about the anthropologist's findings is their complex specificness, their circumstantiality5'. The power of these findings lies in this complex specificness, not in culture as a whole.

My motivation to go to Berlin was to find out about 'Ossis', their view on the German unification, their thoughts about human interaction and their memory of the past in the DDR. I could not believe that the picture I had of 'Ossis' after my experiences in 1995 was anywhere near complete. I was looking for something one of the respondents phrased better than I could possibly do. After I told J6rg (60) what I would like to find out he said on his side he liked to read

about 'the common of uncommon people and the uncommon of common people6'. Similarly

American filmmaker Bill Meyers, whom I met in Berlin, said he had wanted to film the daily lives of 'stinknormale Menschen' in the DDR, ordinary people like you and me. That is my view on former East Germans as well and in that sense it is humanistic. They are ordinary people, common and uncommon at the same time, who have lived under certain circumstantialities. They react to what was common to them that has gone, how they give meaning to life in a new sociocultural context and how they reconstruct their past in the present, follows in the pages to come. We have to keep in mind that '[T)he essential vocation of interpretative anthropology is not to answer our deepest questions, but to make available to us answers that others ... have given, and thus to include them in the consultable record of what man has said7'. To make the answers of 'Ossis' available I

tried to interfere as little as I could. This is a question of methodology that will be addressed in the first chapter.

Although I wrote this thesis from an anthropological perspective, a lot of space is devoted to history. There are two reasons for this. One is that to understand the complexity of the respondents' answers one must know about the circumstances that were common to them for a large part of their lives. In other words, the empirical findings and the theoretical formulations do not stand alone; they are unmistakeably connected to the historical {;Ontext To illustrate this, I refer to two monographs as examples of handling past and present: Ruth Behar's Santa Maria de/ Monte, the Presence of the Past in a Spanish village and Remembering the Present. Painting and Popular History in Zaire by Johannes Fabian. The second reason for the explicit attention to

5

Geertz, Clifford (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures: p. 23.

6

This is my own translation from the German ' ... Gewohnliches von auBergewohnlichen Leuten und AuBergewohnliches von gewohnlichen Leuten'.

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history is that history is an interpretation as well, just as the respondents have interpreted their past. To fully understand the things they say, we must be aware of the history of the DDR as it was known to the respondents. This does not mean every single respondent would endorse this rendering of DDR-history. The aim is to present the findings in their historical context. When the respondents refer to sociocultural differences from the West, to the norms and values that are their own, these can be understood only in how their significance was connected to their environment.

Outline

In the first chapter we see how former East Germans have difficulties in coming to terms with present-day capitalist Germany. Their past in the DDR seems to play an important part in everyday life and norms and values of the past appear to be in conflict with the present. West Germans reproach 'Ossis' to have a Wall in their head, a 'Mauer im Kopf'. 'Ossis' on their turn claim that 'Wessis' think they know it better (Besserwessis). During fieldwork I asked questions about the presence of the past among 'Ossis' in the former East Berlin city quarter Friedrichshain. We turn to history to obtain certain sensitivity towards East German history and to put the questions in a historical context. Then, we discuss some publications of German authors about East and West matters. Finally, after presenting the methods we come to the research questions.

How to approach the research questions we discuss in the second chapter. We focus on how the past of a nation is set in the minds of people. Naming people is of the aspects that show how sensitive one must be in discussing the subject. We then take a look on how we become aware of culture when we are brought up against its boundaries. After that we make clear that we distinguish between modes of thought and modes of action. We approach nation and nationalism as an imagined community (Anderson 1983), stressing how people imagine their nation instead of putting an emphasis on the political meaning. The relationship between the past and the present comes in next when we discuss how people symbolize the past (Cohen 1985).

In the third chapter we zoom in on the geographical context: Berlin. We discuss the historical position of Berlin and point at urban problems. In the urban context there is more variety of lifestyles and more freedom to act individually without constant interference of others. We then briefly glance through (East) Berlin's postwar history: the beginning of the DDR, the SEO, and the Wall. We take a closer look to socialism, in institutions and in practice. In order to understand the remains of socialism in today's Berlin-Friedrichshain we discuss social transformation, material equation, family life and the collective, gender politics, the youth and public and private life in the Nischengesellschaft.

The main reaction of the respondents towards capitalist society and 'Wessis' was: 'it was not so bad in the DDR as you think'. In chapter four we see how the respondents speak of 'we' in

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combination with 'then' when the DDR is discussed. According to the respondents the DDR has brought some good things as well. They miss different kinds of social security, such as the security of having work, education, a house and medical care. The SEO advocated that socialism had certain standards that have faded in united Germany: a secure future for the youth, low rents, and access to theaters and cinemas for everyone. One of the bad side effects of capitalism is high criminality, which makes East Germans feel less secure.

In the fifth chapter we focus on the heterogeneity of 'Ossis' while we discuss the community of meaning. East Germans had different positions towards the DDR and in the present they look at their past differently. Nevertheless there are surprising similarities when they talk about norms and values in the past. Although they talk about the good past, they do not want to return to the DDR. Benefits of the present are the ability to travel, to be able to speak in public, and to decide for one self.

Every day 'Ossis' are aware of the sense of being different from 'Wessis'. In chapter six we learn that their common background colours their view on capitalist society. They feel unfamiliar with the relevance of money in society. A case of a broken friendship of one of the respondents is an illustration of this. Striving for material goals is another aspect where East Germans feel they are different. Even the benefit of being able to travel looses its worth when one does not have the money to go on vacation. Above all, 'Wessis' behave differently than 'Ossis': they are arrogant, they show off, and they behave more distantly to one another. Capitalist society is an elbow society, where people use 'mobben' to get rid of their competitor and one works against one another instead of with one another.

In the conclusion we discuss the presence of the past among 'Ossis' in Berlin-Friedrichshain and we analyze the dynamics between past and present.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank everyone who has, one way or another, contributed to this thesis. First I must thank my two supervisors who each in their own way either pointed at irregularities, unclear formulations, or left enough space for me to go my way. Without them this thesis would never have reached its present shape. Ot van den Muijzenberg has contributed as a supervisor of the anthropological consistency of this thesis. Johannes van der Weiden has been of essential value to me with his far-reaching knowledge of Berlin, the DDR and Germany. Marieke Brand has been a co-reader and her comments have been very useful. Several other people at the Spinhuis have been a source of inspiration. A warm "thanks" goes out to my friends at the institute. Some of them have become close friends. Sharing our deepest thoughts about anthropological and other themes has been a joy, and I hope this will continue.

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Of course I must thank the informants, respondents and everyone else who helped me to get information in Berlin. Thank you, Rudi, Renate, Gerlinde, Sabine, Isolde, Hans, Maria, Ingrid, Odette, J6rg, Kurt, Ulrich, Gabriele, Otto, Paul, Claudia, Erika, Dieter, Micha, Thomas, Sylka, Jens, Heidrun, and Heide. I thank Freke for bringing me into contact with Rudi, the very beginning of this project. Thanks to Christian I was able to join the Arbeitsgruppe Kiezentwicklung. Together with his girlfriend Daniela we discussed the local problems, which was of great help to understand the circumstances that 'Ossis' have to deal with in the present. Thomas has been more than an informant. Having spent two years of his life in prison on the accusation of Republikflucht he now gives lectures and shows people around at the Stasihaft Hohensch6nhausen. Rarely have I met such a warm personality and I am pleased to call him my friend. Thomas also was the gatekeeper for the wonderful weekend in Rosenwinkel, where 'Ossis' celebrated the 50th anniversary of the DDR. I thank Bill Meyers for his intelligent remarks and for letting me use texts from his film material. Paul I have to thank for making it possible for me to join the Grenzerfahrungen, an artistic gathering about East-West experiences in Helmstedt. The conversations with Micha have been a source of inspiration. He also helped me finding an appartment in Friedrichshain. Steffen has helped me with the German summary.

In everything I thank my father and my brother. Words are not enough, we know. A special thanks and a lot of love goes out to my partner Maya-Matthea van Staden. The writing of this thesis has taken a little longer because our son Milan was born. Thanks to her patience I was able to finish this thesis.

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Chapter One

Introduction

' ... in each of us, in varying proportions, there is a part of yesterday's man; it is yesterday's man who inevitably predominates in us, since the present amounts too little compared with the long

past in the course of which we formed and from which we result8'

Emile Durkheim

The past of 'Ossis'

To all of us, our past is the ground we stand on. It is not a coincidence that we say that we dig into our past and that we put our deceased into the ground. Our past is always with us. In each of us, there is a part of yesterday's man. We can deal with it, we can (try to) forget it, we can look back at it in nostalgia, we can memorize it with friends, we can do a lot of things with our past, but we can not say that it is not there. Our past predominates us in the way we do and think today and inevitably influences our future. Yesterday's man inevitably predominates in us, we can try to change things that happened in the past, but we cannot make something that happened in the past undone. So it goes for our cultural background. The way we were raised, our surroundings, the things we learned in school, the juridical, political, and economical system, the people we meet, all influence the way we perceive something as normal, the norm.

This thesis is an ethnographical understanding of the presence of the past of the 'Ossis', the former East Germans, for whom the world changed from the ninth of November 1989 on, when the Wall came down in Berlin. The national context, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik

(DDR), did not stop to exist for its citizens that night, but it was the prelude to the Vereinigung, the unification of the two Germanys, at the third of October 1990. All knew that the ninth of November 1989 was a historical night and that on the third of October 1990 the DDR belonged to the past. Still, the lives of its citizens continued. They were now citizens of the Bundesrepub/ik Deutsch/and

(BRO) in another juridical, political, and economical system. Although the surroundings didn't change physically, as people would still live in the same house if they did not migrate,

8

Durkheim, Emile (1938) 'L'evolution pedagogique en France' in: Bourdieu, Pierre (1977) Outline of a

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Introduction

conceptions that once were 'normal' were not conceived as 'normal' anymore in the new national context.

Former East Germans became Germans officially and so West and East Germans came under one roof. Although West Germans gave East Germans a warm welcome during the

Wende, the change into one Germany, they did not continue to be cooperative. The newcomers seemed to have developed other habits. East Germans became 'Ossis' in the eyes of West Germans. For the East Germans the things they had learned, the things they had become used to, the way they had perceived something as normal were being conceived by West Germans as 'strange'. As a reaction West Germans became 'Wessis' in the eyes of 'Ossis'. The differences between 'Ossis' and 'Wessis' sharpened. 'Ossis' who pointed back at their past, where they at least knew their way about, became 'Jammerossis' in the eyes of the West Germans, because they complained9 about their current situation. But, they wanted to become one, didn't they? It was them who shouted 'Wir sind ein Volk', we are one people, in the mass demonstrations previous to the fall of the Wall, wasn't it? At the same time, East Germans were annoyed, because all they had learned did not seem to be appropriate in the BRO. 'Wessis' who claimed that 'Ossis' had to learn to live in the BRO to them became 'Besserwessis', because they seemed to know it all better. But what about the forty years of the OOR, where people loved and hated each other, where people developed skills, where people were creative in their quest for life? How different the system in the OOR might have been in comparison with the BRO the appreciation of each other's way of living seemed to be very low. Of course, we must not forget that 'Ossis' are a minority not only in power, but also in number. In 1990 the OOR had about 16 million inhabitants; the BRO counted about 65 million citizens. The BRO was about two and a halve times the size of the ODR.

Fieldwork in Friedrichshain

This research is ethnographical because it is based on a period of fieldwork among 'Ossis' in Friedrichshain, an East quarter of Berlin. In what I have understood of ethnography during my studies at the Universiteit van Amsterdam I follow Johannes Fabian's notion of ethnography:

'An ethnography is, first of all, a piece of writing that addresses those questions that must be asked when anthropological theory is to be related to information, experiences, and insights gathered through the research practices which themselves are commonly called "ethnography". Such writing is usually, and most authoritatively, based on fieldwork (often also called "ethnography"). This firsthand information may be called anything that is

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Introduction

produced by the people studied: objects and ornaments, statements and stories, gestures and movements, sounds and images10'.

The fieldwork took place in the summer of 1999. I collected firsthand information mainly through informal, unstructured talks with inhabitants of Friedrichshain. They offered me their life stories from a retrospective angle before and after the fall of the Wall and hence the socialist system in the DDR. Their statements and stories, emotions and experiences form the foundation of this ethnography.

The task of ethnography is to describe meaningful situations as the people studied produce, the native's point of view in those situations. It is not only the meaning that the ethnographer shouid describe, but also the processes under which meaning is formed, or as Alfred Schutz put it:

'An understanding of man in mundane life ... [is] ... possible only through a bold exploration of the structures, processes, and organization of human experience. It would not be achieved merely by tracing habitual human behavior as it evolves in already meaningful situations. It was to be grasped fully only when the constitution of meaning itself was explored. It would not be understood merely by cataloguing and analyzing conscious action but would be explained fully only when the precognitive elements which fund all conscious action could be approached and clarified11 '.

To come to a full explanation of the 'constitution of meaning' a considerable portion in this research consists of historical notes. Anthropologists have turned to history profoundly since the works of Edward Evans-Pritchard and Alfred Kroeber in the 1960s. In this case history is complementary to the anthropological study. This means that we cannot attribute a special value to history12. We explore the processes that form the dynamic of ethnographic data in the historical

context of the DDR. This is how we can understand the 'presence of the past'. Now let us turn to two anthropological works to sharpen the intentions of this paper.

Past and present in Anthropology

To bring history into anthropology one can walk different paths. Before we go further on the path that leads to the presence of the past among 'Ossis' in Friedrichshain I want to present two

1

°

Fabian, Johannes (1996) Remembering the Present. Painting and Popular History in Zaire: p.187.

11

Webb, Rodman B. (1976) The Presence of the Past. John Dewey and Alfred Schutz on the Genesis and Organization of Experience: p.20. This volume is a metatheoretical examination of human experience that every anthropologist, or even every social scientist, should have glanced through.

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Introduction

studies by anthropologists that have explored connections between past and present. The first is a study by Ruth Behar in Santa Maria de/ Monte, the Presence of the Past in a Spanish village.

Ruth Behar carried out fieldwork in a small Leonese 13 village in Northern Spain 'when its people were coming to terms with the fact that the way of life they and their ancestors had known was slipping from the present and becoming part of an all too well-defined past14'. In her search

for an understanding of the dialectic of past and present Behar gathered family inheritance documents and village records. In focusing on the major themes of Leonese rural life, house and family, community and commons, she analyzed the tension between the recorded past and the recent past experiences of the village people. Eventually she came to an understanding of history as it is locally conceived on two levels. First, there is the level of legendary history that has its roots in oral tradition. At this levei history becomes a 'tale of origins', a historical imagination that was rendered by generations of villagers. The other level Behar distinguished was the level of documentary history. The documentary history has its roots in literary tradition of making and keeping records.

If on the legendary level the context for the original meaning has been lost people turn to a reworked version of the past. This is how the past becomes present: '[T]he past is reworked to shed a [new] light on the origin of the things 15'. This is an important step that we have to keep in

mind. When the past comes in question the context for the original meaning has faded over time. People use new experiences to reconstitute the past. There is no other way on this level where the unrecoverable past '... moves without ceasing toward an ever-unfolding future 16'. Behar

concentrates on the geographical context and family tradition to uncover the dialectic between past and present. This may be typical for the local history in the Northern Leonese area. In the search for an understanding of the presence of the past among former East Germans we focus on the attachment to the norms and values at the time of the DDR. Here we move between two systems where one of them has been left to an unrecoverable past.

Another path to unravel the continuity between past and present is offered by Johannes

Fabian in Remembering the Present. Painting and Popular History in Zaire. Fabian joins

ethnography and painting in a reflection towards the history of Zaire by the genre paintings of Tshibumba Kanda Matulu. Part one of the book consists of the history of Zaire as painted and told by Tshibumba in dialogues with the anthropologist. In part two Fabian answers to the task of the anthropologist that it is ' ... to deepen our knowledge of the culture in which [Tshibumba and his work] ... emerged17'. By claiming that the work of the painter should be regarded as a

historiographical account he suggests to grant it the same status as academic historiography.

13

Leon is a region in the province of Castillia in Northern Spain.

14

Behar, Ruth (1986) Santa Marla de/ Monte. The Presence of the Past in a Spanish village: p. 3.

15 Behar, Ruth (1986): p. 269. 16 Behar, Ruth (1986): p. 283. 17 Fabian, Johannes (1996): p. 190.

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Introduction

'History as told' and 'historical facts' both emerge from a dialectical process where ideology and opinion are included.

Fabian consciously decided not to include a chronology of the history of Zaire. Apart from the philosophical question how objective a selection in chronology could be, he argues that dates need little interpretation, whereas events always require it: ' ... places, protagonists, and the sequence and significance of actions are never givens; they need to be worked out18'. Fabian

does nothing more than refer to works of scholars, journalists, and participants in the events without getting into academic debates on history. It is not the purpose of this study to compare the 'paintings of the past' of the people involved to a chronological account of history. Nevertheless, some aspects of the history of both East and West Germany cannot be left unspoken. Therefore we take a brief look at how historians puzzle themselves with how to consider the time paths of both Germanies.

The complexity of (East) German history

We have to consider certain sensitivity towards East German history, and even to a larger extent towards world history. World War II characterizes the history of East and West Germany in the twentieth century. After World War II Germany was divided into a four zones: a French, a British, an American and a Soviet zone. The Soviet Union and the United States of America fought a battle of ideology, communism against capitalism. Two world ideologies stood in opposition to each other, concentrated in Berlin. East- and West-Berlin became the forefront of the Cold War that followed. If we want to understand the presence of the past of former East Germans we can thus not ignore East German history in the context of world history. One of the aspects that must be taken into consideration is that East Germany has always been the Sonderkind, the special child, of the Soviet Union in relation to other satellite states in the Warsaw Pact. The Berlin-Moscow connection was always a special one, because of its unique situation. Being aware of that we must realize that after the collapse of the socialist empire, the DDR traded one uniqueness for another. It lost its special status as a front against the West and became unique again in former Eastern Europe. Different from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Albania the former DDR did not remain a nation; it became a part of Germany. The consequences are much different for the inhabitants of former East Germany. They might feel connected to other former Eastern Europeans, since they are subjected to the same transition, but they have been put up with German nationness.

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Introduction

In Germany the question of interpreting history puzzles many scientists. During my fieldwork in Berlin I took part in a congress 19 at the Humboldt-Universitat that carried the name 'Divided past, collective history?' The congress was organized by the Zentrum fi.ir Zeitforschung in Potsdam. Discussions were held about the divided past of the 'Ossis' and the 'Wessis' as the past of experiences and feelings. The collective history of the 'Ossis' and the 'Wessis' is the history of the two Germanies that are always related to each other. Therefore historians at the congress discussed about interpretations of the history of Germany as national history, parallel history, asymmetrical waved relation history, mirror history, and contrast history. It is clear that 'Ossis' and 'Wessis' are historically connected, but the differences in experiencing nationalism, in belonging to a capitalist or a socialist system, in emotions towards daily life with family, friends and acquaintances are felt by 'Ossis' and 'Wessis'.

In interpreting German history, and East German history in this case, one needs to be aware that the two Germanies both went different ways after World War II. We concentrate on this post-war period, although I am much aware that prior to that period the age of Prussia must have had its effects on German population. Nevertheless I focus on the Cold War, because in that period the major events of polarization took place. Both the BRO and the DDR had to deal with the question of guilt. The Sowjetische Besatzungzone (SBZ)/DDR came under the strong influence of the Soviet Union. The political-economical system was that of the 'actually existing socialism' on Marxist Leninist principles. In trying to come to terms with World War II antifascism was the way that should prevent something like that happening again. Like the role model Strassburger family in one of the videos of Bill Meyers, whom we will run across later, claimed that all that was important was

' ... Erhaltung des Friedens. Das ist echt ... , und da mussen wir jeder versuchen seinen Beitrag zu liefern. Ansonsten, wenn der Frieden erhalten bleibt, sind wir wirklich wunschlos glucklich und da haben wir fUr die Zukunft wirklich absolut keine Sorgen.20•

Preserving peace was a central theme in the antifascist ideology that was one of the two sides of the medal, as psychoanalyst and author Anette Simon proclaimed21. We should learn from this

that East German history took another way, reflecting towards the past (World War II) and not put a label on it like for example assume it was 'a socialist experiment'.

19

The congress was the Geschichtsforum 1949-1989-1999 'Getrennte Vergangenheit - gemeinsame Geschichte?' that took place in Berlin from the 281h until the 301h of May 1999.

20

' ... maintenance of peace. That is really ... , and each of us all must try to contribute. Furthermore, when

peace is being maintained, we are happy without any further wishes and we have absolutely no concerns for the future.'

21

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Introduction

History and Anthropology

We return to the question which path to walk in connecting history and anthropology with the knowledge of these two anthropological works where past and present is the main theme. Fabian presents the history of Zaire by way of the genre painting of Tshibumba by claiming that we should grant the painter the same status as an academic historiographer. Therefore he requires no chronological account of history. Comparing academic historiography with genre painting is not his aim, but to explore ethnographically the expression of history by a painter. By coming into a dialogue with the genre painter Fabian finds out that genre painting is a way of thinking history:

'[A]!I the paintings are, as it v1ere, equidistant to the present; each one is fu!!y capable of evoking the past and serving as a trigger for stories about specific memories22'. History speaks for itself in

the paintings. For these same reasons I leave a chronological account of East German history to historians and confine this essayistic paper to a historical context that serves this ethnography. If we want to understand what experiences trigger present memories we have to know about how socialism as it was practiced in the DDR influenced everyday life of its citizens.

In Behar's reconstruction of the presence of the past in Santa Marla del Monte the documentary past plays a more important role than this research requires. The anthropologist draws conclusions by analyzing the dialectic between village customary laws as they are written down as ordinances and the legendary past as the villagers tell it. We are dealing with another presence of the past here. It may be worthwhile to research tension between ideology as it is documented by the regime in the DDR and socialism as its citizens conceive it today. Nevertheless, in this paper we concentrate on norms and values as they dominated the way of life during the time of the DDR in a quarter at the border of East-Berlin and the cultural differences its inhabitants face in contemporary Berlin. Therefore we need to understand the East German way of life by putting the stories of former East Germans in their historical context.

One final remark will lead closer to the questions in this thesis. James Scott (1985) describes the consequences of the green revolution to peasants in rural Northwestern Malaysia23.

As they speak about the massive changes they have experienced in a decade, we hear voices of an ideological' ... struggle over facts and meaning, over what has happened and who is to blame, over how the present situation is to be defined and interpreted24'. An analysis of this ideological

struggle in the present requires information about the struggle to define the past as well. This is a struggle over 'how the past and the present shall be understood and labeled, a struggle to identify causes and assess blame, a contentious effort to give partisan meaning to local history25'. In this

22

Fabian, Johannes (1996): p. 209.

23

James Scott (1985) describes class struggle in a Malaysian village in Weapons of the Weak. Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance.

24

Scott James (1985): p. 178.

25

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Introduction

way the redefined past, although selective if we remember what Behar calls the reworked past, becomes an argument in the ideological struggle in the present. A reconstruction of the past serves present discussions. Recent losses of the poor peasants inspire them to look back at the past with a new and sympathetic eye. This is what sheds light on the continuity of past and present among former East Germans as well. The hazy days of the former citizens of the DDR make them look back at the past situation before the Wende with new sentiments.

'Ossi' matters

Since the Wende bookstores and libraries were filled with scientific and pseudo-scientific books about the cultural singularity of former East Germans. They are one form of proof of the societal relevance of the discrepancies between East and West in Germany and particularly in its heart, Berlin. Restrictions in time and space do not allow me to name them all, but a short selection will reveal some of the recent ideas.

In the year of the German unification Hans-Joachim Maaz, a director in a psychotherapeutic clinic in Halle, published a book about the social-psychological problems that trace their origins in the time of the DDR26. The book is dedicated to the people who are going the

way of the psychological revolution. He considers the 'actually existing socialism' as a repressive system that had its consequences for the psychological well being of East Germans. The system has led to a GefOh/sstau, an accumulation of feelings, caused by manipulation, restriction, control, fear, punishment and shame. I consider this a rather one-sided impression of things, because Maaz focuses on a problematic relationship towards the state only. He leaves out people who felt well in the DDR and people who successfully tried to stay out of trouble. Nevertheless, he gives a valuable insight in the inner mental processes of former East Germans. The effects on the cultural roots of the former ODA-citizens have caused a cultural alienation.

Annette Simon, daughter of the famous East German author Christa Wolf, attempted to explain the East German morality in Versuch, mir und anderen die ostdeutsche Moral zu erklaren

(1995). As far as one can speak of one single moral it certainly contains aspects of East German society that will be recognized by most former East Germans. Noteworthy is the metaphor of two twin brothers that went different ways after World War II, each with a different view towards the burden of the past. The East-brother falls in the hands of very poor and authoritarian adoptive parents (the Soviet Union) who say that they were so bad that they can only get over the dirty past through diligent work and obeisance. By adopting a new ideology (s)he can become a new human being. The West-brother does not look back so much in guilt, but works hard to build a

26

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Introduction

new future. After unification both brothers first shed tears of joy, then don't know what to do with each other. They have grown apart. The metaphor of the twin brothers has its strongest value in granting the same value to both sides. In discussing East German history the danger of teleology runs high. In other words, one is easily tempted to consider the system of the 'actually existing socialism' in the DDR as a cul-de-sac, because it 'lost' out to the capitalist system of West Germany.

Anthropologist Wolf Wagner claims that Germany faces a culture shock. In Kulturschock Deutsch/and, der zweite Blick he rejects reactions to his lectures that trivialize differences between East and West: '[l]nzwischen ist es deutlich geworden: Es gibt ein Problem, so groB, daB es ein Buch nicht herbeigeredet haben kann27'. The problem is recognized in detailed daily

behavior like hand shaking. Former East Germans shake hands on the first greeting of the day and when they leave. They find this easing and winning time. Former West Germans shake hands only at formal occasions that, so they claim, has the advantage of getting close and personal. Both East and West find themselves friendly and polite, but the a/te BundesbOrger

(I/Vest Germans) call themselves 'korrekt' and the neue BundesbOrger think of themselves as nonchalant, remiss. East calls West arrogant, distant and impolite. West calls East stiff, old-fashioned and 'piefig'28. Since the confrontation of two cultures the neue BundesbOrger have to

'compete' with the dominant culture of the alte BundesbOrger.

So far we know that in contemporary German society the citizens of the DDR have entered a new world, where everyday behavior is not as they knew it. They may have become more or less alienated culturally, carrying with them the fact that 'their' society no longer exists. In the present situation the norms and values that they were used to seem questionable. Two thirds of the former East German population feel themselves secondary citizens29. An eminent work on

the East German society that disappeared, but is not gone, from the perspective of former East Germans is Die Ostdeutschen, Kunde van einem verlorenen Land. Wolfgang Engler shows what norms, views and expectations people had in the socialist system. He gives a deep insight in how people dealt with socialist circumstances and how this contributes to recognition among East Germans. I have read no other book so far that makes us aware of the richness of a culture and that gives such an ample understanding of current problems that former East Germans must face in today's Germany. It shows an inside view of the societal relevance of everyday struggles in mundane life.

27

Wagner, Wolf (1999) Kulturschock Deutsch/and. Der zweite Blick: p. 8.

28

Wagner, Wolf (1999): pp. 128 ff. Unfortunately I have found no translation of the word 'piefig', but 'Piefke' means someone who behaves as an important person and is in fact acting silly. According to the Deutsches Universalworterbuch the word comes from North German and Piefke is supposed to be a well-known family name in Berlin.

29

Berth, Hendrik and Ulrich Esser 'Die deutsche Wiedervereinigung. Auswahlbibliographie

sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur'. Forschungsbericht Nr. 15 des lnstituts fUr Padagogische Psychologie und Entwicklungspsychologie der TU Dresden, 1997 in: Wagner, Wolf (1999): p. 8.

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Introduction

An anthropologist in Berlin

The congress at the Humboldt-University and the metaphor of the twin brothers make us aware of the problematic situation in Germany where it concerns 'Ossis'. As the history of the DDR has ended, the past of the people who lived in it has become subject of debate. What 'Ossis' had been used to until the breakdown of the DDR 'Wessis' conceived as strange. 'Wessis' blame the 'Ossis' to still have a wall in their heads, a Mauer im Kopf. This thesis may be regarded as an explanation of the Mauer im Kopf from an 'Ossi' point of view.

The terms 'Ossis" and 'Wessis' are about cultural differences. The problems that 'Ossis' have in united Germany are mainly a cultural matter. With this I do not deny economical, historical or juridical foundations, but I incorporate them in what 'Ossis' and 'Wessis' regard as normal without being aware of it. This cultural matter needs attention, because one cannot hear the voices of 'Ossis'. At the same time a majority claims a feeling of being regarded as secondary citizens of Germany. From a distance many authors have tried to describe the 'Ossi' way of life and the problems that 'Ossis' have in adapting to German society. From the heart some 'Ossi' writers have tried to formulate their experiences in Germany after 1989. To get a clear and coherent picture of the presence of the past of 'Ossis' in Berlin one needs the distance of an outsider as well as the closeness of the voices of 'Ossis'.

Research done by a cultural anthropologist gives valuable insights in this case. Being an outsider I had several advantages of not having any experiences in the DDR. First, this was useful because I let people explain certain aspects of everyday life in the DDR, which put forward the perspective of the person that I spoke to. Second, I could not compare that perspective with my own, since I had no comparable experience. Living among 'Ossis', listening to their stories, participating and observing made me aware of how people thought about their past in confrontation with the German society of the 'Wessis'. I needed this closeness in order to grasp the native's point of view, famous ever since Bronislaw Malinowski's Argonauts of the Western Pacific. Third, since I have never been a part of East German history I am not in the position to grant a value to it. According to Goethe one can only judge a history when one has experienced that history oneself. This put me in a relatively neutral position which might be an explanation for the fact that, with one exception30, all of the respondents were eager to speak with me about their

past.

30

Werner (50) recommended a former skin doctor and gave me a telephone number. I called him and explained how I got his number and why I wanted to speak to him. He suspected I was a journalist and stressed that he did not want to be exposed to publicity. The damage was already done. After I explained him that I could guarantee his anonymity he said he wasn't into a conversation anymore.

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Introduction

Methods

From May until September 1999 I lived in Friedrichshain, Berlin, where I used several ways to carry out fieldwork research. To avoid disturbance of a bias by using one single method I worked according to the term 'triangulation' as we know it since Martyn Hammersley and Paul Atkinson (1983). There are different sorts of 'triangulation'. In this research it is meant merely technical31.

During fieldwork I used different kinds of observations. Mostly I gathered information through informal interviews with 'Ossis' who either worked or lived in Friedrichshain or did both. Because the emphasis was on how 'Ossis' speak about their past, on language, I rarely interfered in the conversations. I was not a 'fly on the wall', but I tried to be as little present as I could in order to let the respondents speak as much and as freely as possible. Accumulating knowledge about the themes that came up spontaneously I was able to ask questions that led to those themes. At some points I simulated naivety to let respondents explain in their own words how they felt about certain subjects.

Besides conversing about the past of respondents I used other methods. Accidentally I ran across Bill Meyers, an American Germanist who had been making videos about everyday life in East Germany from 1985 until i 987. His videos consist of set-up and spontaneous interviews with East Germans. I saw most of his ethnographic films in the Prenzlauer Eck-cafe that offered me a retrospective view of everyday life in the DDR. It is the only authentic material about East Germans in the context of the DDR that I saw. This ethnographic material made me aware of the living conditions in the DDR as the people that were interviewed presented them. Here I looked at the past where the respondents were talking about in the present. From the early beginnings of

the fieldwork I participated in a workgroup that found its origins in the Unabhangige

BOrgerinititative (UBI) Mieterladen. The UBI Mieterladen is an initiative with the aim to prevent political decisions to be made without the participation of civilians32• The Arbeitsgruppe (AG) Kiezentwick/ung made a start with the coordination of the many local initiatives in Friedrichshain. It was only through these experiences that I was able to understand the ways that participants of the commemoration in Rosenwinkel, a small village northwest of Berlin, celebrated fifty years of DDR existence.

31

Atkinson, Paul and Martyn Hammersley (1983) Ethnography, Principles in Practice: pp. 230-2.

32

The UBI Mieterladen has put itself to the tasks of:

A - participating in meetings of affected representatives in Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg and Lichtenberg (these are all quarters of former East-Berlin)

B - 'fighting' against empty houses and shops

C - pushing on theme-oriented time limited workgroups

D - yielding precedence against lessors, who operate on the edge of the law or further in order to dispel tenants

E - organizing demonstrations, parties, and meetings of residents F - cooperating with the press

G - publishing a monthly magazine, the BEinsch Echo

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Introduction

I participated in the AG Kiezentwicklung after an introduction by Christian (40) who lived in Friedrichshain for three years with his girlfriend Daniela. Christian is a West German graphic designer who left Bayern, a southern West German state, to look for more excitement in Berlin. Together with his girlfriend he was developing a website on Friedrichshain. I met the two on a bench in the Boxhagener Platz, the actual centre of this research, where most of the activities in Friedrichshain were concentrated. Three times a week the Boxi, as it was locally called, was the scene of a market place. The AG organized a Kiezfest33, a party for the inhabitants of Friedrichshain, where the local initiatives presented themselves. I participated in the meeting prior to the party and helped getting the attention of the local shopkeepers by getting a financial contribution. It resulted in another interview and left an impression of the small shops in Eastern-Friedrichshain. in the meetings of the AG i got famiiiar with organizing by ways of relationships. in order to achieve something by means of unofficial ways one needs 'Vitamin B', so I was told by several people. 'B' stands for Beziehungen, relationships. During fieldwork, I noticed how personal relationships and networks still were very important for achieving certain goals. Participating in the AG Kiezentwicklung I was an active witness to the mobilization of the inhabitants of the Boxhagener Kiez in Friedrichshain. We organized a political party, a

Kundgebung, at the Boxhagener Platz for which we needed technical equipment, stands, bands, and the collaboration of several people around the Boxhagener Platz. Here it became clear to me that the old personal networks structure of the DDR times was used. Several respondents independently pointed out to me that what you needed in the DDR was 'Vitamin B'. 'Gigi', the

most active member of the AG Kiezentwick/ung, always stressed that the efforts of her resources

were for free: 'tor ein Lacheln', for a smile. When I joined the AG one of the first actions was to prepare for the confrontation with the Quartiersmanagement, the direct contact with official politics. This Quartiersmanagement is an initiative of the Berlin government to trace local

problems after the report of the sociologist HauBermann, the so-called Hauf3ermann-Gutachten34•

The reactions within the AG towards this Quartiersmanagement were more or less detached, or at least suspicious, to sometimes even hostile.

Together with a respondent, Thomas (40), and his family I visited Rosenwinkel, a small village northwest of Berlin, on a weekend. A group of people memorized the 501h anniversary of the DDR in a merely ironic way. This took place at the end of the fieldwork period. With the information I gathered in the months before I was able to understand the symbols that were

33

'Kiez' is the word for the smallest part of the community. The 'Kiezdisco' is a disco for the locals in Friedrichshain. People refer to their Kiez when they mean their direct neighborhood.

34

HauBermann, Hartmut (1998) Sozialorientierte Stadtentwicklung. Gutachten im Auftrag der

Senatsverwaltung far Stadtentwicklung, Umweltschutz und Techno/ogie. HauBermann characterizes the Boxhagener Platz in Friedrichshain as a so-called Verdachtsgebiet, an area with a tendency to be problematic because of its high unemployment rate, migration of families with children and an increasing segregation to a lower social level. With the help of Quartiersmanagement, local actors who try to mobilize initiatives to strengthen identification with the residential area, one tries to improve problematic areas trying to avoid top-down decisions that do not work out.

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I ntrod ucti on

presented on the courtyard of the farm and the way people were talking and acting in the memory of their past in the DDR. Eventually I worked together with the organizing participants and 'played' as if I were a waiter in the DDR. This is as close as I could get to the native's point of view on the past in the present.

Figure 1 A map of Friedrichshain at the end of the DDR (1990)

A fragment of a city map of Berlin (1 :10000) by VEB Tourist Verlag, Berlin/Leipzig, 1990 (offered to me by Johannes van der Weiden). The purple shading is the state frontier, behind which lies Berlin (West). It was usual for maps made in the DDR not to show any details of the West, but to leave that area blank.

During research I lived in the Gartnerstra~e that led to the ModersohnbrOcke in southern direction. To

the north the street ran directly to the Boxhagener Platz, the centre of the area. I rented a small room from two East German nieces. We had to share a kitchen and a bathroom. I rarely saw the two. During the day I was on the road a lot and at night I worked on the interviews. I frequented a few bars and met with the other members of the Arbeitsgruppe Kiezentwicklung.

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Introduction

Getting respondents and informants

In the course of the fieldwork I had to make a few decisions that have influenced the research as it is presented here. This might be a consequence of the process of searching for respondents and informants that can be characterized as fatalistic. Most respondents ! met by chance. The first contact that I made was Christian, who introduced me to the AG Kiezentwicklung. After the first meeting with the AG Kiezentwicklung I spoke to Freke, who worked for the Partei des

Demokratischen Sozialismus (POS) in the Abgeordnetenhaus, the state level of politics. He

offered me the first respondent, Rudi (56), who worked in the rote Laden, a station of the POS in Friedrichshain. The PDS is the post-socialist party that came from the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutsch/ands (SEO), the ruling party in the OOR35. From then on I asked every respondent whether she or he knew of more people who would be willing to discuss the themes we had been talking about.

There was a danger in this that I recognized as I had spoken to several people who either worked for the POS or were loyal to the party. At the most recent elections at the time of the fieldwork period more than 40 percent of the electors in Friedrichshain voted for the POS. So the question was put whether I should continue to interview people who were loyal to the POS or to look for a wider variety of respondents in the field. This certainly would shed another light on the presence of the past. I decided to not let 'everything' depend on fate in order to obtain a complete picture, not colored by loyalty to the POS. The diversity of the people that I had interviewed at that moment enforced the argument. The presence of norms and values of the past seemed not only to depend on political conviction, but more heavily on personal experience.

Accidentally I ran across Ulrich, who worked in a second hand shop with TV-sets, fridge's, radios, washing machines and the like. At the end of the interview I asked him whether he knew of someone who would be willing to cooperate. Ulrich suggested Otto, a protestant clergyman. Through Otto I got into contact with three other respondents (Claudia, Jens and Heidrun). All had a religious conviction. This offered a view that was relatively different from the people who had been linientreu, loyal to the party, the SEO. Even stronger I felt this on the occasions when I spoke to Thomas. I met Thomas through a mutual friend, who organized a tour at the Stasi-prison in the East quarter Hohenschonhausen, now a memorial place. Thomas was our guide in the tour and he was willing to talk about his experiences in the OOR. He talked about the OOR from quite another perspective that has enriched this research considerably. Thomas was the one who introduced me to the weekend in Rosenwinkel.

The main condition I set on the respondents was their age. I wanted to find yesterday's (wo)man in people who had lived a large part of their lives in the DDR. The respondents differ in

35

The presence of the past among 'Ossis' in Berlin-Friedrichshain.

The presence of the past

among 'Ossis' in Berlin-Friedrichshain

Simon

Groen

SCR 7689

The presence of the past among 'Ossis' in Berlin-Friedrichshain

Simon Groen

Table of contents

Abbreviations

Figures

Foreword

Outline

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The past of 'Ossis'

Fieldwork in Friedrichshain

Past and present in Anthropology

°

The complexity of (East) German history

History and Anthropology

'Ossi' matters

An anthropologist in Berlin