Though the government and the Stasi strictly controlled society, a culture of East Germany developed nonetheless.

East German Music

GDR mainstream

Rock bands were expected to sing in German only. This seemed a logical constraint by Party rulers but it was somewhat unpopular amongst young people. Another problem for the authorities was having to check song texts very carefully for anti-socialist tendencies. The band Renft, for example, was prone to political misbehaviour, which eventually led to its breakdown.

The Puhdys and Karat were popular mainstream bands, managing to hint at anti-socialist thoughts in their lyrics without being explicit. Like most mainstream acts, they appeared in popular youth magazines such as Neues Leben and Magazin.

Influences from the West were heard everywhere, because TV and radio that came from the Klassenfeind (enemy of the working class) could be received in many parts of the East, too (a notorious exception being Dresden, with its geographically disadvantageous position in the Elbe valley, giving it the nickname of “Valley of the Clueless”). The Western influence led to the formation of more "underground" groups with a decisively western-oriented sound. A few of these bands were Skeptiker, as well as Feeling B.

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Bach

On a more traditional level, the East German government celebrated the fact that Johann Sebastian Bach was born in East German territory, and spent a great deal of money converting his house in Eisenach into a museum of his life, which, among other things, included more than 300 instruments from Bach's life. In 1980 this museum was receiving more than 70,000 visitors annually.

In Leipzig, an enormous archive with recordings of all of Bach's music was compiled, along with many historical documents and letters both to and from him.

Every other year, school children from across East Germany gathered for a Bach competition held in East Berlin. Every four years an international Bach competition for keyboard and strings was held.

GDR jokes

Main article: GDR jokes

With widespread censorship of literature, the media and the arts, political jokes were one of the main outlets for criticism of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). After reunification, these became known as DDR-Witze (GDR jokes). Political jokes of this form have almost disappeared since reunification as they no longer play the same subversive role, being replaced by open democratic debate, political cartoons and satire.

External links

• 70.000 photos of the GDR (English version, German available) (http://sambamarco.piranho.de/ddr_english.htm)
• Bach-Archiv Leipzig (English version, German available) (http://www.bach-leipzig.de/main_englisch/bacharchiv/menu/bacharchiv/start_fr.html)