ABSTRACT
The German Democratic Republic (GDR) was always a house divided against itself. In the politics of memory the East German people for the most part saw themselves as perpetual victims. Misguided by the Nazis, maltreated by the Red Army, and oppressed by their own communist leaders, they had neither the freedom nor the prosperity that the West Germans enjoyed. The East German leaders, however, regarded themselves as history’s winners. Having kept the faith in the Nazi resistance, they were liberated by the Red Army, and now, with the Soviet Union at their side, they would build socialism in Germany. For them, the slogan that sustained them during the nightmare of the Third Reich, “After Hitler it’s our turn,” had literally come true.
