Germany Divided: History and Memory

Indoorcactus asked:

Hello there, Hi there, (firstly great blog!!)

I am currently writing my dissertation on Mode in the GDR  unfortunately  I'm limited to internet and books as current resources.  And I am seriously struggling to find any photography resources on DDR clothing that was specifically mass produced, for example the "Fünfmarkschuhe"or of DDR clothing factories. Is it possible that you could give me some tips on good DDR image sources? I would appreciate any help possible.

Thanks in advance

    First of all, thanks so much for the praise!  I need to do more with this blog, but it’s great to receive such feedback!  Second, I apologize if you wanted me to contact you privately via the email you included in your ask; my anonymity is something I’m careful about and I’d need to know more about you privately (my blog is set to accept questions so I’m not certain why you couldn’t ask a question).  I also figure this way, replying publicly, allows me to make this into a general post about the GDR and add to my blog.

 On to fashion!  This is a fantastic topic, blending issues of production, trade, consumption, retail, advertising, etc., and as such covers politics, dictatorship, economics, culture, etc.  I’d love to hear more about your work.  I myself focus on these very things, and so I’m very interested!  Not knowing what specific books and ‘internet sources’ you’ve used, I’ll have to give some fairly broad advice/suggestions.

 To begin, if you haven’t read it already, go find and read Judd Stitziel’s Fashioning Socialism (2005) (http://tinyurl.com/pqbgpsh).  Stitziel examines the intersections of the above mentioned themes, highlighting the limits to the state’s claims to authority vis a vis its ability to adequately maintain the supply of consumer goods, in this case, accessible, adequate varieties of clothing.  I cannot recall if he specifically discusses the five mark shoes, and I do not happen to have my copy handy, but I’m certain he’d mention them at least.  Since his focus is fairly evenly split between production and consumption, you may find some useful things in there regarding factories as well.  In fact he points to the rise of home-sewing practises among East German citizens and the state’s inability  to curb them, suggesting the limits of state power and the adaptive qualities and strategies necessary for everyday life under socialism.

 Another book, published last year, is Communism Unwrapped by Paula Bren and Mary Neuberger (2012) (http://tinyurl.com/ohx9t9s)  It’s an edited volume containing chapters/essays on consumption history throughout the Eastern Bloc countries .  Nothing specifically on fashion, but the themes are important to your work for a general idea.  I *think* the chapter on fabrics in Susan Reid and David Crowley’s Style and Socialism might also prove useful in a comparative sense  (http://tinyurl.com/mab5cqu)

 As for other online sources…I’m afraid I don’t have any online archival databases specifically catering to shoes per se.  However, some sites you may find useful for consumption in general:

 The Documentary Center of Everyday Life in the GDR (http://www.alltagskultur-ddr.de/ausstellungen/) has some limited information on exhibits they’ve run in Germany.  They may even have ideas of where you could go if you contact them.

 The Object Databank of the German Historical Museum (Berlin) has an online image archive of items in their collection. (http://www.dhm.de/datenbank/dhm.php?seite=10&db=0)  I did  a quick search for “schuhe” and had 277 results (though they range from the Imperial Period all the way to post-Wende).  Still, it may be fruitful for you (or again, they could direct you elsewhere).

 http://www.wendemuseum.org/ is also a place to check out: material culture in the GDR is their specialty!  Again, I am unsure about specific things related to shoes, but they’ll certainly have notions and ideas of where to go for questions about fashion.  I’ll ask around as well and think about this some more; I might get a few more ideas, but hopefully that at least provides *some* help.

There are days when research can be a hard schlog. Then there are days when your sources are pure comedy gold. Today's translation: a group of petition letters to the East German coffee roasting industry (and from there to the Government who was watching the shortage crisis) complaining about the new "mixed coffee" brand. One letter from a self-identified "coffee collective" recommended uses for this new mixed coffee (51% coffee beans, 49% 'surrogate products' like chicory, rye, sugar beet), suggesting: "If there are difficulties in selling it (as we suspect there to be), then we recommend it for use as  i. Surrogate for Unkraut-Ex (a herbicide based on sodium chlorate) ii. Surrogate for a chemical depilatory (hair removal product) iii. Surrogate for laxitives iv. Surrogate for alcohol"

The group also commented, "It used to be common in our group to sentence undisciplined colleagues to pay for a round of coffee (Kosta, because we are not heavy earners! ['Kosta' was the most affordable brand of coffee in the GDR before its removal during the crisis I study--Kheldar])  From now on such employees will be threatened, that  depending on the degree of the breach of their discipline, one or two cups of Kaffee-Mix will be administered orally (more would be irresponsible!)  We suspect, that through this worker discipline will significantly improve."

Coffee Grinder!!  Kaffeemühle!

An historically accurate record of a young historian's research escapades

I completely forgot to post this here!  I'm currently in Germany for my first archival research trip, and before I left home an month and a half ago, I started a blog.  Mostly it was intended to be a journal for myself, so that I could wax nostalgic later on, but I've found it to be lethargic and I've kept at it.  I'm also starting to post more about the process of conducting research, which might interest some people (maybe?  I don't know, maybe you'd all be bored to tears reading about this stuff).

At any rate, since druebenundhier IS actually intended to be about my actual work on the DDR, I thought I should post the link here.  I'd post the entire blog posts here, but they're getting to be quite long, so I don't know.  Anyway, have fun, enjoy, and thanks for the follow!

Ich habe total vergessen, einen Link auf meiner Blog hier zu Posten! Zurzeit bin ich in Berlin, um meine erste Forschungsreise durchzuführen.  Vor ein und halb Monat habe ich einen Blog gestartet, damit ich über meine Persönliche Erfahrungen schreiben könnte.  Aber ist es über meine Forschung und der Prozess der Forschung geworden.  Hoffentlich gibt es hier Jemand, die sich dafür interessieren?  Keine Ahnung, wahrscheinlich finden Sie es langweilig.