East Germany government – Personal Sheet
Directions: For this activity, one assumes the following is true
Date: Monday, March 6th, 1978
Location: East Germany
Situation: The churches and many religious communities that were in East Germany tended to be a thorn in the communist party. This is because the German churches had an extent of independence and these churches could in return give hope and meaning to the individuals who were Christians. However, the Protestant church appeared to be more powerful and therefore a threat to the government and could not control. Therefore, the government which was a communist decided to grudgingly develop a liberal approach towards the Lutheran and Protestant faiths. The first reason why the government took such actions towards the churches was because the Christians and the communists had suffered together at the hands of Hitler while in the concentration camps. Another reason was that East Germany happened to be the only nation in the Eastern Bloc whose Protestant population was significant enough to ensure flexibility as compared to the impact that the catholic church had. Lastly, the East German government sought to seek acceptance and good relations with West Germany and therefore if there was fair treatment for the Lutheran and Protestant churches it would assist in this acceptance.
However, the Eastern German Christians continued to suffer under the control of the communist government despite the perceived steps of flexibility for the church. In the 1950s year ongoing this communist government implemented a way that would slowly and procedurally decentralize Christianity. This strategy’s objective was to weaken the practice of Christianity from the cultural and social respective to enhance the influence of Protestantism. The government therefore instructed the state security police to enact various changes that tended to reduce the dominance and the effectiveness of the Christian practices and therefore weaken their beliefs in both society and their homes. Therefore, under the direction of this government, came up with three strategies that they would use to diminish the church’s influence since the Christian practices were identified as the critical loci for secrecy subversion culture and influencing the antisocialist attitudes toward popular beliefs.
The government in the first place the government encouraged the Stasi to use coercion by advising that the atheist teachings be taught and be included as well in the public school curriculum with the main objective of accomplishing a culture of disconnected any spiritual and divine doctrine. The government also implemented a system that would act against the church This strategy was meant to diminish the powers of the church in the country. To make this a success the government ensured that they sponsored the activities that intended to reduce the power of the church. These events included outdoor festivals religious camps and organized sports. In such events, the government ruled out the evangelical pastors from attending the events as their teachings were singled out and claimed to be dangerous politically, and were therefore threatened with arrest if they did not abide by the government’s instructions. The pastors were also accused of encouraging the youths to resist attendance of the government events just to keep their concerns off from the events that the governments sponsored or subsidized. The government also through the Stasis valued more the young informants who they often utilized to penetrate the circles of social groups that tended to be disruptive such as the church member groups. Many teenage informants were especially the babysitters who listened to conversations done by church members and later reported the discussions. Some other Spies were from the Christian communities who had been influenced to spy on their fellow Christian members in exchange for favors such as improvement in their housing and some financial bonuses.
Proposal A: Invasion of privacy in public areas. Looking to get data on movements, church activities, and political opinions. Comment by Jeffrey M Byford (jmbyford): This needs to bolded
Proposal B: Restricting the teaching. Withholding information of scientific principles and humanistic conceptions to eradicate religious beliefs from schools. Comment by Jeffrey M Byford (jmbyford): bolded
Proposal C: Political forced activities. The act of promoting social differences and encouraging youth to pursue interests in music and politics to foster an atheistic culture.
Proposal D: The spread of false narratives. False information about revered pastors and clergy to dissuade followers from following their teachings.
Proposal E: The act of manipulation. Using clergy and pastors as informants to spy on each other. Comment by Jeffrey M Byford (jmbyford): bolded
Proposal F: Utilizing Extortion. To spread malicious rumors within the church, specifically aimed against positions of leadership.
Proposal G: The force of allegiance. Communist principles and engaging in political activities are a means of strengthening their sense of acceptability and allegiance to the government.
Directions: There are various directions that the student will use to rank the top and bottom three for these options. The student should set the rank order activity whereby they will analyze all the activities. On the lines below, record your decision for each statement.
- Three proposals that should be assigned top priorityare:
A)
B)
C)
- The three most important reasons why these three proposals were selected as being the most effectivefor immediate implementation are:
A)
B)
C)
- The results of these proposals that we could hope for are:
- The three proposals that should be assigned the lowest priorityare:
A)
B)
C)
- The three most important reasons why these proposals are considered the least effectiveof all the plans are:
A)
B)
C)
- The probable advantages lost by the government by making these three options the lowest priority is:
A)
B)
C)
Questions for Review and Reflection Comment by Jeffrey M Byford (jmbyford): This needs to be the correct font size. Please fix.
Suggested follow-up questions to focus and guide inquiry, reflection, and learning.
- What were the primary motivations for the East German government’s shift in policy toward the Lutheran and Protestant faiths, which it saw as a threat to the communist party?
- How did the government try to undermine Christian practices and beliefs in East German society with its policies of introducing atheist teachings into the school curriculum and funding initiatives aimed at undermining the influence of the church?
- What are the possible long-term effects and dangers of actions like disseminating rumors and using pastors and other clergy members as informants to spy on one another inside the church?
- How well do government-sponsored anti-church campaigns divert young people from attending church and strengthen their allegiance to the communist regime? What possible repercussions might such actions have?
- What are the ethical considerations and repercussions of spying on religious seminaries?
- What actions can be taken to help control the influence of the church in Eastern Germany?