The East German Leadership And The Division Of Germany: Patriotism And Propaganda, 1945–1953

OXFORD HISTORICAL MONOGRAPHS Editors R. J. W. EVANS J. HARRIS B. WARD-PERKINS J. ROBERTSON R. SERVICE P. A. SLACK J. MADDICOTT This page intentionally left blank The East German Leadership and the Division of Germany Patriotism and Propaganda 1945–1953 DIRK SPILKER AC AC Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York # Dirk Spilker 2006 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd., King’s Lynn, Norfolk ISBN 0–19–928412–1 978–0–19–928412–2 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 In memory of my mother Elisabeth Spilker (ne´e Schweppe) 1932–2003 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements I am indebted to a number of people who have helped to bring this book about. Above all, I would like to thank Tony Nicholls, my supervisor at St Antony’s College, Oxford, who gave me tremendous support through his expertise and conscientiousness and who was always a source of great intellectual stimulation. Other scholars helped me with interesting thoughts and suggestions, or by drawing my attention to new publications and documents. They included, at one time or another, Timothy Garton Ash, Dr Jochen Laufer, Dr Ulrich Ma¨hlert, Dr Werner Mu¨ller, Dr Elke Scherstjanoi, and Professor Hermann Weber. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Dr Peter Grieder of Hull University, whose incisive comments on my research and my writing were indispensable. I would also like to thank Richard Byrne for helping me proofread the revised typescript. The staff in the SED archives deserve a mention for their efficiency and kindness, in particular Frau Hohenwald, Frau Mu¨ller, Frau Ra¨uber, and Herr Lange. I am grateful to the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) for awarding me a doctoral scholarship without which this book might never have been written. Dr Alexander Weber, a friend and fellow alumnus of King’s College,