ABSTRACT

Early one Monday morning, some years ago, I arrived at the building housing the leading magazine, Die Wirtschaft, in East Berlin. W ithin seconds a truck load of steel-helmeted figures in full combat gear descended on the editorial offices. But this was not an attempted coup, it was simply a group of journalists returning from weekend ma­ noeuvres with the combat groups (Kampfgruppen). One could have experienced the same sort of incident in any of the g d r ’ s major industrial enterprises or universities. T he g d r has devoted a consider­ able part of its propaganda energies over the last thirty-odd years to denouncing militarism. Yet it is amazing how much effort it puts into promoting interest in military affairs. This was true virtually from the beginning.