About Official and Unofficial Addressing in East German Children's Literature

In 1989, the author Günter Saalmann, from the German Democratic Republic (GDR), presented a book during a symposium at a children's book fair in France. The story he had written was a parable classified for children twelve and older. Seen in a wider context, this story appeared to be quite controversial, especially given that the GDR was still in existence at that time. The story revolves around a race between two steamships. Showing trust in their captain, the crew of the one ship agrees to enter the race; however they soon come to realize the race is a lost cause and—one by one—jump into the water to find salvation on dry land. Their captain, nevertheless, blind with ambition, does not want to admit defeat and even begins to burn the ship itself in order to create more steam and catch up with the other ship (Havekost 27). Although this parable was perfectly suitable for teaching young people a moral, it was clearly targeted at readers with sufficient knowledge and experience to see this as a metaphor for the two Germanys that were in competition with each other at the time; it particularly addressed East German readers who were aware of the similarity between the trailing steamship and the situation in their own country, for whom this image would have resonated with their own feelings about the GDR.

In the history of East German children's literature (ChL), the phenomenon of addressing texts to two or more audiences was in no way uncommon, and was exploited by many authors quite readily. What, however, were the reasons for authors to intentionally resort to ChL in order to express their thoughts, beliefs, and concerns? What made them use this particular genre to reach the adult reader? And most importantly, how could they be sure adults would read texts that were addressed primarily to children? In order to understand what provoked such a development, it becomes necessary to reexamine the roots of East German ChL. Therefore, the key parameters of a socialist, and in particular the East German, ChL will be explained briefly. Then, the strategies and developments that were employed to change the nature of ChL and bring it on a par with adult literature will be illustrated. Finally, the issues related to sociopolitical criticism about East German society found in texts for children will be discussed.

Preconditions

According to Marxist-Leninist teaching, state systems follow one another in a historically predestined sequence, and socialism is deemed the logical and historically necessary stage before the advent of communism. Thus, after having overcome the period of capitalism, the GDR regarded itself as a socialist society, heading towards the 'communist utopia.' Within this historical scenario, it was believed that only people embodying a particular set of characteristics would be capable of carrying the state forward towards communism. Characteristics of typical socialist personalities were, for instance, finding fulfilment in being part of a collective rather than displaying individuality, partaking in social and political life, and in the willingness to fight for socialism and their country, which meant creating bonds with people from other socialist states and defending their country against all capitalist, imperialist, or fascist influence. Given the importance of such personalities for the future of the country, shaping a socialist consciousness and creating true 'socialist personalities' were deemed vital.

In the subsequent process of societal reengineering, literature was one medium through which long-lasting changes were hoped for. Literature for children was no exception. ChL was given a key role in educating its readers. As a result, children's books were attributed a function, further underpinning the didacticism that has been one of ChL's main characteristics over centuries.

1. 1. The main concept on which socialist ChL was based derived from the notion that adults and children are equal. Living in the same reality, both were seen as partners in the class struggle, as well as partners in building a new kind of society—i.e. a socialist, and later communist, society. Further hopes were placed on children, for they represented the future...