Life in the Army: Reported, Represented, Remembered

Abstract

Few would dispute that the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) placed considerable emphasis on the militarisation of GDR society. Following the creation of the National People’s Army (NVA) in 1956 and the introduction of conscription in 1962, the party urged the recruitment of career soldiers and promised privileges to those who served for longer than the 18 months of national service. The SED waged a propaganda battle to convince the population from kindergarten age upwards of the need to defend socialism, with a weapon if necessary. Additionally, the school curriculum included compulsory military education after 1978, while the paramilitary Society for Sport and Technology (GST) and the ‘fighting groups of the working class’ both enjoyed high status. In short, barely a family remained untouched by the GDR military. Wolfgang Kissel’s 1992 film Kinder, Kader, Kommandeure (Children, Cadres, Commanders), constructed solely with excerpts from officially sanctioned state-produced documentary films, succinctly and persuasively captured this creeping militarisation of GDR society.