Instructed Silence, Constructed Memory: The SED and the Return of German Prisoners of War as ‘War Criminals’ from the Soviet Union to East Germany, 1950-1956
Morina C (2004)
Contemporary European History 13(3): 323-343.
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
| Veröffentlicht | Englisch
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Abstract / Bemerkung
After 1950, at least 23,000 German POWs remained in Soviet captivity as ‘war criminals’, and they were pardoned and released in several amnesties from 1950 to 1956. This article examines the political and propagandistic reactions of the ruling SED to the return of those prisoners. It analyses how the SED's attempts to reintegrate ‘war criminals’ into a socialist society related to the official politics of the past (Vergangenheitspolitik) and the construction of a memory of the Nazi past in East Germany. The SED's key strategy in dealing with these returnees – avoiding the question of individual and collective responsibility – is put into the context of the party's central ideological objective, namely to dissociate the socialist GDR from the legacy of Nazi Germany. On the basis of newly accessible documents from the archives of the former Ministry for State Security, the article also describes the intensive involvement of the Stasi in repatriation and reintegration matters at all levels of society.
Erscheinungsjahr
2004
Zeitschriftentitel
Contemporary European History
Band
13
Ausgabe
3
Seite(n)
323-343
ISSN
0960-7773, 1469-2171
Page URI
https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2937549
Zitieren
Morina C. Instructed Silence, Constructed Memory: The SED and the Return of German Prisoners of War as ‘War Criminals’ from the Soviet Union to East Germany, 1950-1956. Contemporary European History. 2004;13(3):323-343.
Morina, C. (2004). Instructed Silence, Constructed Memory: The SED and the Return of German Prisoners of War as ‘War Criminals’ from the Soviet Union to East Germany, 1950-1956. Contemporary European History, 13(3), 323-343. doi:10.1017/s0960777304001754
Morina, Christina. 2004. “Instructed Silence, Constructed Memory: The SED and the Return of German Prisoners of War as ‘War Criminals’ from the Soviet Union to East Germany, 1950-1956”. Contemporary European History 13 (3): 323-343.
Morina, C. (2004). Instructed Silence, Constructed Memory: The SED and the Return of German Prisoners of War as ‘War Criminals’ from the Soviet Union to East Germany, 1950-1956. Contemporary European History 13, 323-343.
Morina, C., 2004. Instructed Silence, Constructed Memory: The SED and the Return of German Prisoners of War as ‘War Criminals’ from the Soviet Union to East Germany, 1950-1956. Contemporary European History, 13(3), p 323-343.
C. Morina, “Instructed Silence, Constructed Memory: The SED and the Return of German Prisoners of War as ‘War Criminals’ from the Soviet Union to East Germany, 1950-1956”, Contemporary European History, vol. 13, 2004, pp. 323-343.
Morina, C.: Instructed Silence, Constructed Memory: The SED and the Return of German Prisoners of War as ‘War Criminals’ from the Soviet Union to East Germany, 1950-1956. Contemporary European History. 13, 323-343 (2004).
Morina, Christina. “Instructed Silence, Constructed Memory: The SED and the Return of German Prisoners of War as ‘War Criminals’ from the Soviet Union to East Germany, 1950-1956”. Contemporary European History 13.3 (2004): 323-343.
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