When East-German schools were officially reopened in the Soviet-occupied zone on the first of October 1945 vast parts of Europe were in ruins. In "extermination-camps" and in other places of execution Germans had murdered six million Jews. What did East-German children entering the classrooms after the war and the following generations of East-German pupils learn about Jews? What did their textbooks say about Jewish history and about Jewish culture? And how did the books explain the horrors of the Holocaust?
This analysis of East-German history textbooks used between 1948 and 1972 shows how Jewish history was officially represented by a state that promoted atheism. The study proves that not Holocaust-related Jewish history largely disappeared from the textbooks subsequent to the anti-Semitic purge in the German Democratic Republic in 1952/3. At the same time the analysis demonstrates how East-Germany systematically rejected historical responsibility for Nazi-crimes by claiming to represent "everything that was progressive, humanistic and revolutionary" in German history.

Michael Bröning
"Jewish Monopoly Capitalists". Jewish History in East-German Schoolbooks 1948-1972
ISBN 10: 3-936846-21-9
ISBN 13: 978-3-936846-21-8
130 S. 13 EUR. 2003



Umschlag: Michael Bröning

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . 13
I.II. Methodology
I.III. State of Research

II. THE GDR’S DEVELOPMENT IN THE PERIOD DISCUSSED . . . . . 19

III. GRAND NARRATIVES - THE OFFICIAL PRESENTATION OF HISTORY . . . . . 25
III.I. Relation of Marxism-Leninism to Religion
III.II. Marxism-Leninism, the GDR and History
III.III. School-Education in the GDR
III.III.a. The "Socialist Personality"
III.III.b. The Textbooks
III.III.c. The Polytechnic Schools
III.III.d. The Teaching Force

IV. TEXTBOOK ANALYSIS . . . . . 41
IV.I Antiquity
IV.I.a. The 1948 Edition
IV.I.b. The 1951 Edition
IV.I.c. The 1952 Edition
IV.I.d. The 1957 Edition
IV.I.e. The 1960 Edition
IV.I.f. The 1963 Edition
IV.I.g. Conclusion
IV.II. The Middle Ages
IV.II.a. The 1948 Edition
IV.II.b. The 1951 Edition
IV.II.c. The 1952 Edition
IV.II.d. The 1954 Edition
IV.II.e. The 1960 Edition
IV.II.f. The 1964 Edition
IV.II.g. Conclusion
IV.III. The Early Modern to Modern Era
IV.III.a. The 1948 Editions
IV.III.b. The 1952 Editions
IV.III.c. The 1954 Edition
IV.III.d. The 1960 and the 1963 Edition
IV.III.e. Conclusion
IV.IV. The Holocaust and National-Socialism
IV.IV.a. The 1952 Edition
IV.IV.b. The 1960 Edition
IV.IV.c. The 1961 Edition
IV.IV.d. The 1964 Editions
IV.IV.e. Conclusion

V. CONCLUSION . . . . . 113

VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . 121
VI.I. Sources in Chronological Order
VI.II. Literature