Resistance with the People: Repression and Resistance in Eastern Germany, 1945-1955 [Hardcover]

Gary Bruce (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0742524876 | ISBN-13: 978-0742524873 | Publication Date: March 2003

In the years immediately following WW II, East Germans found themselves dealing with a Communist system that methodically violated their basic rights, including the freedoms of speech and of personal legal security. Many East Germans fundamentally resisted these developments, calling for nothing short of the end of the Communist system in East Germany. This political resistance to Communism was most tangible in the actions of members of the non-Marxist parties, the Christian Democratic Union, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Social Democratic Party, and in the massive uprising that ripped through East Germany in the summer of 1953. Bystanders gaped as East Germans from all walks of life rose up in June 1953, smashing through prison gates and releasing prisoners, dragging judges and lawyers through the streets, and toppling statues of Stalin. Rocks and sticks, however, were no match for the Soviet tanks which moved in to crush the rebellion. By examining previously untapped documents of the East German Ministry for State Security, the police, and the Communist Party, Gary Bruce closely details the underground work of political opponents and secret police attempts to subdue them. Bruce takes issue with those who claim that the June 1953 uprising was merely labour unrest resulting from poor working conditions, showing the demonstrations of 1953 were a revolution that was sparked largely by the government's abuse of basic rights. Students and scholars of European Cold War history will find Resistance with the people an invaluable resource for exploring the political resistance of East Germans against the Communist regime.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Bruce's study of the [Communist] regime's repression of the CDU and LDPD contributes significantly to our knowledge of the GDR's development. Examining governmental, Socialist Unity Party (SED, Communist), East CDU, and LDPD records, he is able to trace the gradual but irreversible narrowing of the freedom of action of the non-Marxist parties and the increasing repression against independent-minded East Germans.... Gary Bruce's work provides us with a valuable deepening of our understanding of growing concern among some east Germans with Communist repression and of how it may have fed into the June 17 uprising. (Journal Of Modern History )

By locating and disseminating a rich variety of new archival material Bruce has added tremendous detail to our knowledge of this period. The book is a valuable reference tool... (Canadian Journal Of History )

A helpful step on the way to a more comprehensive understanding of the early years of GDR history. (Mary Fulbrook Slavic Review )

This sobering trans-atlantic anaylsis, which does not shy away from questioning and updating previous historical positions, is in my opinion one of the the most convincing studies of the 17 June Uprising and its historical roots.... I emphatically recommend that all teachers and researchers who deal with the first ten years of the Soviet Occupied Zone/GDR make use of Bruce's work. (Zeitschrift Fur Geschichtswissenschaft )

With meticulously researched documentation from local and central party archives, police reports, and the Ministry for State Security (MfS) archives, Bruce traces the history ofrepression and resistance in the words of the very people (party members, police officers, and state security employees) whose livelihoods depended on the maintenance of statehegemony. He offers unique insight into the mechanisms of dictatorial nation-building. (Gfl-Journal )

Bruce's study of the [Communist] regime's repression of the CDU and LDPD contributes significantly to our knowledge of the GDR's development. Examining governmental, Socialist Unity Party (SED, Communist), East CDU, and LDPD records, he is able to trace the gradual but irreversible narrowing of the freedom of action of the non-Marxist parties and the increasing repression against independent-minded East Germans.... Gary Bruce's work provides us with a valuable deepening of our understanding of growing concern among some east Germans with Communist repression and of how it may have fed into the June 17 uprising... (Journal Of Modern History )

This well-written survey of the increasing Stalinist oppression and local resistance in eastern Germany under Soviet occupation and, after 1949, in a communist state propped up by a massive military presence, recounts the building of the totalitarian state, its repressive apparatus, and the ultimately desperate resistance by noncommunist parties, organizations with networks in the West, and local citizens. Recommended. (Choice )

About the Author

Gary Bruce is assistant professor of history at the University of Waterloo.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742524876
• ISBN-13: 978-0742524873
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,822,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, May 13, 2007

By 

Brown, A.S. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Resistance with the People: Repression and Resistance in Eastern Germany 1945D1955 (The Harvard Cold War Studies Book Series) (Paperback)

Very well-researched and well-written account of both repression by the Soviet/German Communist organs of terror and of various forms opposition and resistance to the Communists. This book, which is based primarily upon the now-opened East German archives, especially the records of the East German People's Police together with interviews of individuals from that period.

This book covers the period from the end of the World War Two in 1945 to the June Uprising of 1953. Besides for offering fascinating details about a little-known chapter of German history, Resistance with the People makes three important contributions to the historiography of East Germany. There are 1) contrary to some accounts, both the Soviet occupation and the East German regime were never regarded as legitimate by the majority of the population 2) the principle reason for popular opposition to the Communists, whatever they be Soviet or German was not due to low living standards (through that also fueled discontent), but was rather due to the Communist terror and repression and 3) that opposition to the Communists, culminating in the June Uprising was not as some historians would have, a "worker's uprising" involving only the working-class basically sympathetic to the regime, but only driven to revolt by the regime's economic policies, but rather a "people's uprising" involving the majority of the East German people, driven to revolt by political concerns, and explicitly rejecting Walter Ulbricht's regime and his ideology.

All said, an very well-written and moving account of a little-known chapter of history, indispensable for anyone interested in modern German and/or the Cold War history.