Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines the shifting identities and state loyalties of young people in East(ern) Germany during a unique period straddling the last decade of the GDR and the first decade of united Germany. It provides insight into the functioning of the GDR state, the process of German unification and the formation of national and regional identities.
Trade ReviewAnna Saunders' Honecker's children is an excellent contribution to a developing literature on the East German communist youth organization, the Free German Youth (FDJ), and an even larger collection of recent work on the economic insecurity of political disposition of eastern German youth following the collapse of communism…Saunders's originality lies in her timeline and methodology. She thoughtfully begins her study in 1979…and concludes her narrative in 2002…Saunders's analysis of the narrow theme of patriotism is particularly comprehensive and thorough, while at the same time well integrated into larger discussions and criticisms of niche societies and nostaligia.' -- .
Table of ContentsList of tables and graphs
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations and terms
Introduction: Honecker’s Germany: a world of the past?
1. The parameters of patriotism
2. Young people of the 1980s: a generation of loyal patriots?
3. October 1989 - October 1990: The rise and fall of a GDR identity
4. Civic loyalties in the wake of unification
5. Conclusion: Death of the GDR: rebirth of an eastern identity?
Tables
Graphs
Bibliography
Index
