Reformation history and political mythology in the German democratic republic, 1949-89

European History Quarterly

Volumn 34, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 43-67

  Walinski Kiehl, Robert ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

German Democratic Republic; Reformation History

Indexed keywords

EID: 33646708357     PISSN: 02656914     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0265691404040008     Document Type: Review

References (44)

1. The following edition has been consulted: Frederick Engels, The Peasant War in Germany (1850, pub. Moscow 1969).
2. See especially Alan L. Nothnagle, Building the East German Myth. Historical Mythology and Youth Propaganda in the German Democratic Republic, 1945-1989 (Ann Arbor, MI 1999);
3. Raina Zimmering, Mythen in der Politik der DDR. Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung politischer Mythen (Opladen 2000). About one-third of Zimmering's impressive monograph is concerned with the GDR's Reformation era mythology, and this article has benefited greatly from her insights and observations. However, the present study pays more attention than Zimmering's work to specific historiographical issues involving the Reformation period. Zimmering approaches the topic of GDR mythology essentially as a political scientist rather than a historian. It should also be noted that Zimmering neglects to consider one of the GDR's main political mythological sites: Mühlhausen's German Peasant War Museum.
4. For useful discussion and definitions of the concept of myth in this context, see Nothnagle, op. cit., 5-12;
5. For examination of the Marxist-Leninist concept of history in the GDR, see especially Andreas Dorpalen, German History in Marxist Perspective. The East German Approach (London 1985), Ch. 1;
6. Josef Foschepoth, Reformation und Bauernkrieg im Geschichtsbild der DDR. Zur Methodologie eines gewandelten Geschichtsverständnisses (Berlin 1976), 13-32.
7. For a helpful discussion of the Peasant War myth's significance at the GDR's foundation, see Zimmering, op. cit., 173-5.
8. Rainer S. Elkar, 'Geschichtsforschung der Frühen Neuzeit zwischen Divergenz und Parallelität', in Rainer Wohlfeil, ed., Bauernkrieg, 1524-1526. Bauernkrieg und Reformation (Munich 1975), 219-45; 222.
9. Werner Trossbach, 'Der Bauernkrieg in der Geschichtsschreibung der DDR - "die dritte Etappe der frühbürgerlichen Revolution"', Mühlhäuser Beiträge, Sonderheft, Vol. 10 (1997), 39-58; 39.
10. Alfred Meusel, Thomas Müntzer und seine Zeit (Berlin 1952).
11. Moses M. Smirin, Die Volksreformation des Thomas Müntzer und der grosse Bauernkrieg (Berlin 1952).
12. For an English summary of Smirin's work, see Abraham Friesen, Reformation and Utopia. The Marxist Interpretation of the Reformation and its Antecedents (Wiesbaden 1974), 182-6.
13. For an excellent examination of the Stalinization of East Germany, see Gareth Pritchard, The Making of the GDR 1945-53. From Anti-fascism to Stalinism (Manchester 2000).
14. Romwald Maczka, 'Thomas Müntzer Scholarship in the German Democratic Republic, 1949-1983' (unpublished PhD thesis, Karl Marx University, Leipzig, 1987), 45. I am grateful to Dr Maczka of Carthage College, Kenosha, WI, for making a copy of his thesis available to me.
15. For useful discussions about the development of Engels' views on the Peasant War, see Dietrich Lösche, 'Probleme der frühbürgerlichen Revolution in Deutschland', in Rainer Wohlfeil, ed., Reformation oder frühbürgerlichen Revolution? (Munich 1972), 163-86;
16. Janos Bak, Rainer Wohlfeil, Ernst Engelberg, Günter Vogler, Edward Friedman, Kurt Greussing and Hans G. Kippenberg, '"The Peasant War in Germany" by Friedrich Engels - 125 Years After', Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 3 (1975), 89-135.
17. Frederick Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (1892, pub. Moscow 1974), 19.
18. O.G. Tschaikowskaja, 'Über den Charakter der Reformation und des Bauernkrieges in Deutschland', Sowjetwissenschaft, Gesellschafts- Wissenschaftliche Beiträge, Vol. 10 (1957), 721-38.
19. An English translation can be found in Bob Scribner and Gerhard Benecke, eds, The German Peasant War of 1525 - New Viewpoints (London 1979), 9-18.
20. For a useful, brief survey of political developments in both Germanies, see Mary Fulbrook, Interpretations of the Two Germanies, 1945-1990 (Basingstoke 2000).
21. For a more detailed outline of Communist rule in the GDR, see Mike Dennis, The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic, 1945-1990 (Harlow 2000).
22. Gerhard Zschäbitz, Martin Luther. Grösse und Grenze (Berlin 1967).
23. For state-church relations in the GDR, see Robert F. Goeckel, The Lutheran Church and the East German State. Political Conflict and Change Under Ulbricht and Honecker (Ithaca, NY 1990);
24. John P. Burgess, The East German Church and the End of Communism (New York and Oxford 1997);
25. For an examination that focuses specifically on the church in Thüringia, see Mark Allinson, Politics and Popular Opinion in East Germany 1945-68 (Manchester 2000), Ch. 5.
26. David Childs, The GDR: Moscow's German Ally (London 1988), 94.
27. The English translation of the 1983 study has been consulted: Gerhard Brendler, Martin Luther. Theology and Revolution (New York and Oxford 1991), 374.
28. Brendler, op. cit., 375.
29. Collective authorship under the direction of Horst Bartel, Theses Concerning Martin Luther, 1483-1983. The Luther Quincentenary in the German Democratic Republic (Dresden 1983), 19, 24.
30. Horst Dähn and Joachim Heise, eds, Luther und die DDR. Der Reformator und das DDR-Fernsehen 1983 (Berlin 1996).
31. For a brief examination in English of the museum, see GDR Review, Vol. 1 (1990), 27-31.
32. A short discussion of the museum's fate after the fall of the GDR can be found in Mühlhauser Beiträge, Sonderheft, Vol. 10 (1997), 5-8.
33. Historians from the Federal Republic also invited GDR scholars to their 1525 anniversary gatherings. Leading East-German historians, such as Adolf Laube, Max Steinmetz and Günter Vogler, attended the main West German conference held at Memmingen in March 1975. For the conference papers, see Historische Zeitschrift, Beiheft, Vol. 4 (1975).
34. Peter Blickle, 'The Economic, Social and Political Background of the Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants of 1525', Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 3 (1975), 63-75; 66.
35. An English translation by Thomas A. Brady Jr and H.C. Erik Midelfort is also available: The Revolution of 1525. The German Peasants' War from a New Perspective (Baltimore 1981).
36. R.W. Scribner, 'Civic Unity and the Reformation in Erfurt', Past and Present, Vol. 66 (1975), 29-60. Scribner was one of the few historians from a non-socialist country who undertook historical research in the East German archives during the early 1970s.
37. Laube's paper was published in early 1990: Adolf Laube, 'Thomas Müntzer und die frühbürgerliche Revolution', Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, Vol. 38 (1990), 128-41.
38. Günter Vogler, Thomas Müntzer (Berlin 1989).
39. For reviews in English of Vogler's study, together with others produced for the 1989 Müntzer Anniversary, see James M. Stayer, 'Thomas Müntzer in 1989: A Review Article', Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 21 (1990), 655-70;
40. Henry J. Cohn, 'Thomas Müntzer. Theologian and Revolutionary', German Historical Institute London Bulletin, Vol. 13, November (1991), 3-15.
41. Helmar Junghans, 'Der Wandel des Müntzerbildes in der DDR von 1951/52 bis 1989', Luther, Vol. 60 (1989), 102-30; 122.
42. Collective authorship under the direction of Adolf Laube, Thesen über Thomas Müntzer: zum 500. Geburtstag, (Berlin 1988).
43. Manfred Bensing, Thomas Müntzer (Leipzig 1989 4th edn, 1st edn 1965).
44. An interpretative guide and souvenir book was produced in 1989 for GDR visitors: Karl Max Kober, Werner Tübke. Monumentalbild Frankenhausen (Dresden 1989).