Educating the Masses: The Theme of Conflict in Literature in the Formative Years of the East German State

The following essay sets out to analyse in detail the East German depiction of international conflict as found in fiction in the years 1952 to 1956. Of particular interest here is the popular mode of narrative launched in 1949 known as the 'Heftreihen', or the various series of stories produced as cheap paperbacks for the kiosk trade. ' These series promised cheap and cheerful escapism in their titles and illustrated covers and bore names such as 'Das neue Abenteuer', 'Zur Abwehr bereit' and 'Fur Volk und Vaterland'. A number of questions arise: how did they fit into the cultural and political policies of the newly formed GDR which aimed to transform its citizens into responsible socialists? How was the demand for popular fiction, for an exploration of Germany's recent and drcadlul history, and the desire of both socialist writers and the slate to educate the reader married? Edith Gaida, in a first comprehensive study of the genre's manifestation in the GDR, suggests that the 'Hefte' acted as a bridge between higher and lower forms of literature and this bears itself out in that some issues were entirely devoted to novellas or extracts of novels by established writers: for example, Anna Segher's talc of sabotage by workers in a munitions factory on the day of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Die Saboteure {1958), appeared in the ' Erzahlerreihe' of the 'Verlag des Ministeriums fur Nationale Verteidigung'. Furthermore, young writers were encouraged to produce material for serial publication, so that they would have a springboard into the book market, and the reader would enjoy the opportunity of encountering a potential talent of