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Documents - Life during the Economic Miracle: East Germany
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1.   Poorly Planned Holidays (1953)
Tourism started up again in the 1950s in the GDR as well. This report on supply difficulties and the uneven utilization of Baltic Sea resorts during the high season of 1953 makes clear that the tourism....
2.   Report by the SED Factory Party Organization at the VEB Bergmann-Borsig (1955)
The poor supply situation in the 1950s was a constant topic of conversation among East Germans, who often evoked West Germany as a direct point of comparison. This report by the SED party organization....
3.   Statistical Report on the Development of the Standard of Living in the German Democratic Republic and in the Federal Republic of Germany (1956)
The planned economy of the GDR aimed chiefly to secure the basic needs of the population. This 1956 report by the State Planning Commission of the GDR revealed that East German citizens paid less....
4.   Two Articles from Neue Berliner Illustrierte (1956)
These two articles reassured readers that looking good and having fun were by no means incompatible with Socialism and the Socialist way of life.
5.   The Politburo’s Argumentation Guidelines on the Change in the Quality of Bread (January 29, 1957)
In the second half of the 1950s, the GDR government even found it difficult to supply the population with staple items. In January 1957, the government ordered that the percentage of rye in bread....
6.   The Character of Leisure Time in Capitalism and Socialism (1961)
In the face of economic difficulties, official propaganda in East Germany sought to emphasize the theoretical advantages of Socialism. That applied to the area of leisure as well. According to East....
7.   Information on the Public Mood with Regard to Provisioning in Berlin and the District of Potsdam (May 19, 1961)
A few months before the closure of the inner-German border and the building of the Berlin Wall, the supply situation in East Berlin and Potsdam came in for serious criticism, once again, from the....
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