Editing Socialist realism (section)

=== East Germany ===

==== Overview ====
The earliest ideas of socialist realism in the [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany) came about directly after the end of [[World War II]], when the state was formed. While planning to establish a national East German culture, cultural leaders wanted to move away from [[Fascism|fascist]] ideas, including those of [[Nazism|Nazi]] and militaristic doctrines.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hofer |first=Sigrid |date=2012 |title=The Dürer Heritage in the GDR: The Canon of Socialist Realism, Its Areas of Imprecision, and Its Historical Transformations |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41413135 |journal=Getty Research Journal |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=109–126 |doi=10.1086/grj.4.41413135 |jstor=41413135 |issn=1944-8740}}</ref> Cultural leaders first started clarifying what "realism" entailed. The [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|SED]] determined that realism was to act as a "fundamental artistic approach that is attuned to contemporary social reality."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hofer |first=Sigrid |date=2012 |title=The Dürer Heritage in the GDR: The Canon of Socialist Realism, Its Areas of Imprecision, and Its Historical Transformations |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41413135 |journal=Getty Research Journal |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=109–126 |doi=10.1086/grj.4.41413135 |jstor=41413135 |issn=1944-8740}}</ref>

The characteristics of realism became more specified in East German cultural policy as the GDR defined its identity as a state. As the head of the [[Soviet Military Administration in Germany|SMAD's]] cultural division, [[Aleksandr Dymshits]] asserted that the "negation of reality" and "unbridled fantasy" was a "bourgeois and decadent attitude of the mind" that rejects "the truth of life."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hofer |first=Sigrid |date=2012 |title=The Dürer Heritage in the GDR: The Canon of Socialist Realism, Its Areas of Imprecision, and Its Historical Transformations |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41413135 |journal=Getty Research Journal |issue=4 |pages=2–3 |jstor=41413135 |issn=1944-8740}}</ref>

Cultural officials looked back at historical events in Germany that could have acted as the origin points of the eventual creation of the GDR. The works and legacy of [[Albrecht Dürer]] became a point of reference for the early development of socialist realism in East Germany. Dürer created many artworks about the [[German Peasants' War|Great Peasants' War]]. His "support for the 'revolutionary forces'" in his illustrations made him an appealing figure to East German officials, while they searched for a starting point of a new German socialist state.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hofer |first=Sigrid |date=2012 |title=The Dürer Heritage in the GDR: The Canon of Socialist Realism, Its Areas of Imprecision, and Its Historical Transformations |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41413135 |journal=Getty Research Journal |issue=4 |pages=6–8 |jstor=41413135 |issn=1944-8740}}</ref> In Heinz Lüdecke and Susanne Heiland's anthology ''Dürer und die Nachwelt,'' they described Dürer as being "inseparably associated with the two great currents of bourgeois antifeudal progress, namely humanism and the Reformation..."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hofer |first=Sigrid |date=2012 |title=The Dürer Heritage in the GDR: The Canon of Socialist Realism, Its Areas of Imprecision, and Its Historical Transformations |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41413135 |journal=Getty Research Journal |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=109–126 |doi=10.1086/grj.4.41413135 |jstor=41413135 |issn=1944-8740}}</ref> The authors also stated that Dürer came to mind "both by bourgeois self-awareness and by the then awakening German national sense of identity."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hofer |first=Sigrid |date=2012 |title=The Dürer Heritage in the GDR: The Canon of Socialist Realism, Its Areas of Imprecision, and Its Historical Transformations |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41413135 |journal=Getty Research Journal |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=109–126 |doi=10.1086/grj.4.41413135 |jstor=41413135 |issn=1944-8740}}</ref> The legacies of Dürer and the Great Peasants' War continued as artists produced their works in the GDR. [[Thomas Müntzer]] was another key figure of historical interest and artistic inspiration for socialist realism in East Germany. [[Friedrich Engels]] revered Müntzer for arousing the peasantry to confront the feudal elite.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walinski-Kiehl |first=Robert |date=2006 |title=History, Politics, and East German Film: The Thomas Müntzer (1956) Socialist Epic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20457093 |journal=Central European History |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=31 |doi=10.1017/S0008938906000021 |jstor=20457093 |issn=0008-9389}}</ref>

==== Visual art ====
Socialist realist visual art in East Germany was unique in its various historical influences. It also stood out with how the art style transcended the boundaries of the art doctrine at times, yet still maintained the goals the state had of communicating early forms of German revolutionary history. [[Werner Tübke]] was one of East Germany's most prominent painters, who demonstrated this expansive nature of socialist realist art in his country. Though his paintings did not always conform to the socialist realism doctrine, he was still "able to portray the Socialist utopia, and in particular the understanding of history as held by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany...<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zöllner |first=Frank |date=2018 |title=Werner Tübke's "History of the German Working Class Movement" of 1961 and its Place within his Commissioned Art Works |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44973598 |journal=Artibus et Historiae |volume=39 |issue=77 |pages=345 |jstor=44973598 |issn=0391-9064}}</ref>

Tübke's style drew from the [[Renaissance art|Renaissance art movement]], as the GDR also emphasized this style in the creation of artwork, which they referred to as ''Erbe,'' or "heritage" art.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zöllner |first=Frank |date=2018 |title=Werner Tübke's "History of the German Working Class Movement" of 1961 and its Place within his Commissioned Art Works |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44973598 |journal=Artibus et Historiae |volume=39 |issue=77 |pages=341 |jstor=44973598 |issn=0391-9064}}</ref> He cited various Renaissance-era German painters whom he referenced in developing his art style in his ''Methodisches Handbuch,'' Dürer being one of them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zöllner |first=Frank |date=2018 |title=Werner Tübke's "History of the German Working Class Movement" of 1961 and its Place within his Commissioned Art Works |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44973598 |journal=Artibus et Historiae |volume=39 |issue=77 |pages=341 |jstor=44973598 |issn=0391-9064}}</ref> He made several paintings depicting the lives of the working class and revolutionary struggle, in styles and compositions that resemble the historical German Renaissance paintings. His series of four triptychs called ''History of the German Working Class Movement'' was an example of this.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zöllner |first=Frank |date=2018 |title=Werner Tübke's "History of the German Working Class Movement" of 1961 and its Place within his Commissioned Art Works |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44973598 |journal=Artibus et Historiae |volume=39 |issue=77 |pages=345–355 |jstor=44973598 |issn=0391-9064}}</ref> Each painting was filled with action taking place on every part of the panel, along with several people in one scene, two common characteristics of German renaissance artwork.

The GDR aimed to use socialist realism to educate the German people about their history, through the lens of working-class struggle, and to evoke a sense of pride for their socialist state. The SED commissioned East German artists "to produce paintings affirming the 'victors of history.'"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gillen |first=Eckhart |date=2011 |title='One can and should present an artistic vision... of the end of the world': Werner Tübke's Apocalyptic Panorama in Bad Frankenhausen and the End of the German Democratic Republic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23005390 |journal=Getty Research Journal |issue=3 |pages=99 |doi=10.1086/grj.3.23005390 |jstor=23005390 |issn=1944-8740}}</ref> [[Werner Tübke]] was tasked to create his [[Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gillen |first=Eckhart |date=2011 |title="One can and should present an artistic vision... of the end of the world": Werner Tübke's Apocalyptic Panorama in Bad Frankenhausen and the End of the German Democratic Republic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23005390 |journal=Getty Research Journal |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=99–116 |doi=10.1086/grj.3.23005390 |jstor=23005390 |issn=1944-8740}}</ref> The state wanted to have a visual reminder of the German Peasants' War and the leadership of Müntzer in the revolt.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gillen |first=Eckhart |date=2011 |title="One can and should present an artistic vision... of the end of the world": Werner Tübke's Apocalyptic Panorama in Bad Frankenhausen and the End of the German Democratic Republic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23005390 |journal=Getty Research Journal |issue=3 |pages=100 |jstor=23005390 |issn=1944-8740}}</ref> The highly detailed mural includes many different scenes and key figures of the revolution. Dürer is included at the bottom of the painting at the fountain. Edith Brandt, the Secretary for Science, Education, and Culture, believed that the mural "would enhance the historical awareness of the population, especially the young, and serve the cause of patriotic education."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gillen |first=Eckhart |date=2011 |title='One can and should present an artistic vision... of the end of the world': Werner Tübke's Apocalyptic Panorama in Bad Frankenhausen and the End of the German Democratic Republic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23005390 |journal=Getty Research Journal |issue=3 |pages=100 |jstor=23005390 |issn=1944-8740}}</ref>

East German socialist realism started to shift in later decades, especially after the [[Basic Treaty, 1972]] was signed by both East and West Germany. The treaty allowed East German artists to travel to West Germany and beyond to other European countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eisman |first=April A. |date=2015 |title=East German Art and the Permeability of the Berlin Wall |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24808963 |journal=German Studies Review |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=605 |jstor=24808963 |issn=0149-7952}}</ref> Artistic exchanges between artists in both states introduced these new practices to the GDR, while socialist realism gained more attention by those outside of East Germany. Two exhibitions featuring artwork from both East and West Germany were curated at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1981.<ref>{{Citation |last=Arnoux |first=Mathilde |title=To Each Their Own Reality: The Art of the FRG and the GDR at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1981 |date=2016 |work=Art beyond Borders |pages=394 |editor-last=Bazin |editor-first=Jérôme |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7829/j.ctt19z397k.34 |access-date=2024-12-06 |series=Artistic Exchange in Communist Europe (1945–1989) |edition=NED – New |publisher=Central European University Press |jstor=10.7829/j.ctt19z397k.34 |isbn=978-963-386-083-0 |editor2-last=Glatigny |editor2-first=Pascal Dubourg |editor3-last=Piotrowski |editor3-first=Piotr}}</ref> The exhibition for East German art presented itself as "the good founded by socialist realism to better embody a possible alternative to the crisis of values experienced by the West."<ref>{{Citation |last=Arnoux |first=Mathilde |title=To Each Their Own Reality: The Art of the FRG and the GDR at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1981 |date=2016 |work=Art beyond Borders |pages=394 |editor-last=Bazin |editor-first=Jérôme |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7829/j.ctt19z397k.34 |access-date=2024-12-06 |series=Artistic Exchange in Communist Europe (1945-1989) |edition=NED – New |publisher=Central European University Press |jstor=10.7829/j.ctt19z397k.34 |isbn=978-963-386-083-0 |editor2-last=Glatigny |editor2-first=Pascal Dubourg |editor3-last=Piotrowski |editor3-first=Piotr}}</ref>

==== Film ====
Film was used as a teaching tool for East German cultural values. [[DEFA]] was the GDR's official film studio, which created such films.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blessing |first=Benita |date=2010 |title=Happily socialist ever after? East German children's films and the education of a fairy tale land |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25699580 |journal=Oxford Review of Education |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=234 |doi=10.1080/03054981003696747 |jstor=25699580 |issn=0305-4985}}</ref> DEFA's socialist realist films were especially geared towards East German youth, as the next generation of the GDR. Leader of the SMAD's propaganda wing, [[Sergei Tiulpanov]], asserted that the primary goal of DEFA was "the struggle to re-educate the German people–especially the young–to a true understanding of genuine democracy and humanism."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walinski-Kiehl |first=Robert |date=2006 |title=History, Politics, and East German Film: The Thomas Müntzer (1956) Socialist Epic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20457093 |journal=Central European History |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=34 |doi=10.1017/S0008938906000021 |jstor=20457093 |issn=0008-9389}}</ref> The studio produced children's films to influence them, as they believed these types of films to be effective in emphasizing good citizenship and how to show children how to emulate this.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blessing |first=Benita |date=2010 |title=Happily socialist ever after? East German children's films and the education of a fairy tale land |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25699580 |journal=Oxford Review of Education |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=235 |doi=10.1080/03054981003696747 |jstor=25699580 |issn=0305-4985}}</ref>

[[Gerhard Lamprecht|Gerhard Lamprecht's]] [[Somewhere in Berlin]] (German: ''Irgendwo in Berlin'') was one of DEFA's most notable films.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blessing |first=Benita |date=2010 |title=Happily socialist ever after? East German children's films and the education of a fairy tale land |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25699580 |journal=Oxford Review of Education |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=237 |doi=10.1080/03054981003696747 |jstor=25699580 |issn=0305-4985}}</ref> Though the film was produced in 1946, three years before the GDR was established, it was a foundation point for a broader development of East German socialist realist film. An antifascist film, Lamprecht emphasizes the necessity of "reconstructing the nation" after World War II.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blessing |first=Benita |date=2010 |title=Happily socialist ever after? East German children's films and the education of a fairy tale land |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25699580 |journal=Oxford Review of Education |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=237 |doi=10.1080/03054981003696747 |jstor=25699580 |issn=0305-4985}}</ref> Preliminary East German films like ''Somewhere in Berlin'' "laid the groundwork for a national film culture based in pedagogical intent."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blessing |first=Benita |date=2010 |title=Happily socialist ever after? East German children's films and the education of a fairy tale land |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25699580 |journal=Oxford Review of Education |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=237 |doi=10.1080/03054981003696747 |jstor=25699580 |issn=0305-4985}}</ref>

Some DEFA films were also derived from earlier German fairytales that predated the GDR. [[Paul Verhoeven (German director)|Paul Verhoeven's]] [[Heart of Stone (1950 film)|''The Cold Heart'']] (German: ''Das kalte Herz)'' was one of such films, which was based on the [[The Cold Heart|story]] written by [[Wilhelm Hauff]] of the same title.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blessing |first=Benita |date=2010 |title=Happily socialist ever after? East German children's films and the education of a fairy tale land |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25699580 |journal=Oxford Review of Education |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=237 |doi=10.1080/03054981003696747 |jstor=25699580 |issn=0305-4985}}</ref> The film was produced to serve as a good example of how a person should treat others. The film's main messages centered on the pitfalls of greed and the value of loving personal relationships.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blessing |first=Benita |date=2010 |title=Happily socialist ever after? East German children's films and the education of a fairy tale land |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25699580 |journal=Oxford Review of Education |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=237–238 |doi=10.1080/03054981003696747 |jstor=25699580 |issn=0305-4985}}</ref>

DEFA also employed films to be used as history lessons for the people of East Germany, namely those about the German Peasants' War. [[Martin Hellberg|Martin Hellberg's]] [[Thomas Muentzer (film)]] told the stories of his leadership and the revolution in a heroic and idealistic portrayal.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walinski-Kiehl |first=Robert |date=2006 |title=History, Politics, and East German Film: The Thomas Müntzer (1956) Socialist Epic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20457093 |journal=Central European History |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=30–55 |doi=10.1017/S0008938906000021 |jstor=20457093 |issn=0008-9389}}</ref> DEFA saw Hellberg's film proposal as an opportunity to teach about German revolutionary history, as a means of preventing a descent into fascism again.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walinski-Kiehl |first=Robert |date=2006 |title=History, Politics, and East German Film: The Thomas Müntzer (1956) Socialist Epic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20457093 |journal=Central European History |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=35 |doi=10.1017/S0008938906000021 |jstor=20457093 |issn=0008-9389}}</ref> The producers gave the actor portraying Müntzer lines that embrace Marxist thought, to clearly communicate ideals of socialism and the roles of the working class to viewers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walinski-Kiehl |first=Robert |date=2006 |title=History, Politics, and East German Film: The Thomas Müntzer (1956) Socialist Epic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20457093 |journal=Central European History |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=48 |doi=10.1017/S0008938906000021 |jstor=20457093 |issn=0008-9389}}</ref> Ideas about property re-distribution and a proletariat victory over the ruling classes are conveyed in the film's depiction of the revolutionary leader.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walinski-Kiehl |first=Robert |date=2006 |title=History, Politics, and East German Film: The Thomas Müntzer (1956) Socialist Epic |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20457093 |journal=Central European History |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=48 |doi=10.1017/S0008938906000021 |jstor=20457093 |issn=0008-9389}}</ref>

==== Literature ====
Many of East Germany's renowned writers lived through the Nazi regime, which influenced their craft and works with socialist realism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Max |date=2022 |title=Half-Truths Are Lies Too: Brigitte Reimann's personal history of East Germany |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27159033 |journal=The Baffler |issue=63 |pages=104 |jstor=27159033 |issn=1059-9789}}</ref>

[[Anna Seghers|Anna Seghers']] 1949 novel [[The Dead Stay Young]] (German: ''Die Toten Bleiben Jung'') was considered "a foundational literary work for the young GDR."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brockmann |first=Stephen |title=The Writers' State: Constructing East German Literature, 1945-1959 |date=December 21, 2015 |publisher=Camden House |isbn=9781782046813 |edition=1 |location=Rochester, NY |publication-date=December 21, 2015 |pages=139 |language=English}}</ref> Critics commented on the pessimistic plot and message of the novel, as it was centered on the unsuccessful [[Spartacist uprising]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brockmann |first=Stephen |title=The Writers' State: Constructing East German Literature, 1945-1959 |date=December 21, 2015 |publisher=Camden House |isbn=9781782046813 |edition=1 |location=Rochester, NY |publication-date=December 21, 2015 |pages=140 |language=English}}</ref> Though the novel did not depict an ideal or optomistic view on socialism, critic Günther Cwojdrak stated that Seghers still communicated reality by fulfilling "the task of transforming the working people and educating them in the spirit of socialism..."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brockmann |first=Stephen |title=The Writers' State: Constructing East German Literature, 1945-1959 |date=December 21, 2015 |publisher=Camden House |isbn=9781782046813 |edition=1 |location=Rochester, NY |publication-date=December 21, 2015 |pages=143 |language=English}}</ref>

East German literature that followed Seghers' novel focused on including heroes as protagonists to communicate optimistic messages of the prospects of socialism. Journalist Heinrich Goeres suggested that writers should use Soviet literature as an example to write more positive stories.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brockmann |first=Stephen |title=The Writers' State: Constructing East German Literature, 1945-1959 |date=December 21, 2015 |publisher=Camden House |isbn=9781782046813 |edition=1 |location=Rochester, NY |publication-date=December 21, 2015 |pages=171 |language=English}}</ref> 

Early works of socialist literature in the GDR were produced in 1949 "to promote the new socialist man."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heiduschke |first=Sebastian |date=2014 |title=Inspiring and Educating gdr Women: Iris Gusner, Feminism, and the Film Kaskade Rückwärts |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5250/womgeryearbook.30.2014.0023 |journal=Women in German Yearbook |volume=30 |pages=23–43 |doi=10.5250/womgeryearbook.30.2014.0023 |jstor=10.5250/womgeryearbook.30.2014.0023 |issn=1058-7446}}</ref> In later years, stories about women's lives under socialism were written, and [[Christa Wolf]] and [[Brigitte Reimann]] were some of the authors who were involved in these widening developments.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heiduschke |first=Sebastian |date=2014 |title=Inspiring and Educating gdr Women: Iris Gusner, Feminism, and the Film Kaskade Rückwärts |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5250/womgeryearbook.30.2014.0023 |journal=Women in German Yearbook |volume=30 |pages=28–29 |doi=10.5250/womgeryearbook.30.2014.0023 |jstor=10.5250/womgeryearbook.30.2014.0023 |issn=1058-7446}}</ref>

In the 1960s, the SED introduced the ''Bitterfelder Weg,'' a part of [[Aufbauliteratur]], which was a plan to send writers to industrial centers to generate "cultural production" between the writers and workers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Max |date=2022 |title=Half-Truths Are Lies Too: Brigitte Reimann's personal history of East Germany |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27159033 |journal=The Baffler |issue=63 |pages=103 |jstor=27159033 |issn=1059-9789}}</ref>