The concept of decadence as ideological and law enforcement category in the GDR

Abstract

The concept of decadence has received little emphasis in the analysis of the GDR’s ideological system.1 Decadence either appears as one of the several “changing labels�? (Emmerich 119) or is merely subsumed under other topics (Schoor 92). This is nothing new. Back in 1961, Theodor W. Adorno criticized Georg Lukâcs for confusing “avant-garde�? and “decadence�? (1996 vol. 11: 257). Undoubtedly, decadence is most often paired with the concepts of socialist realism and its adversary, formalism; associations to cosmopolitanism or the avant-garde also appear frequently. The term “decadence�? has always been seen as having a lower position or rank in the widely documented debates about socialist realism. Moreover, decadence was used in “multiple contexts�? to mark “oppositional and unassimilated beliefs and actions in the GDR�? (Weissgerber 89).