FDJ – Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth)
A rising yellow sun against a blue sky - the symbol of the FDJ was a constant companion for young people in the GDR. In our exhibition, the characteristic blue FDJ shirt with the patch on the left sleeve hangs on the clothes rail in the children's room. The »Blauhemd« (»blue shirt«) was worn on official occasions such as 1 May or the start of the school year, sometimes with pride, sometimes with an inner rejection or indifference. However, very few young people managed to avoid it altogether.
Mass organisations played a major role in the GDR. With their abbreviations and emblems, they were present in public life and at the same time characterised people's everyday lives. In the 1980s, around 80 per cent of 14 to 25-year-olds were members of the FDJ. Today, many remember their time in the FDJ with mixed feelings.
Abb.: »Blauhemd« in the youth room of the DDR Museum – © DDR Museum
»Cadre reserve of the SED«
The date of its foundation is 7 March 1946, when the youth organisation was approved in the Soviet occupation zone. In the early days, the FDJ still embodied the hope of a broad youth movement that opposed fascism. Over time, however, the influence of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) continued to grow.
After the founding of the GDR in 1949, the FDJ was officially supposed to be a non-partisan organisation for all young people. In reality, however, its main purpose was to train young people politically and ideologically and to promote their loyalty to the socialist state. It became a central instrument of the SED regime to bind young people to the party. As a result, the Federal Republic of Germany banned the FDJ in West Germany in 1951 as an unconstitutional organisation.
Voluntary membership?
In the GDR, on the other hand, the FDJ was very popular. However, the statistics were falsified to suggest greater approval. Nevertheless, the numbers actually increased - and not least for one reason: membership was only really voluntary on paper. Anyone who opposed the organisation or simply did not join had to reckon with disadvantages. Admission to university, for example, was almost always linked to involvement in the FDJ.
From the pioneers to the FDJ
Membership was part of everyday school life for most children and young people in the GDR. The vast majority of younger schoolchildren were members of the pioneer organisation »Ernst Thälmann«, which was affiliated to the FDJ. The six to 14-year-olds initially wore a blue or red scarf over their white pioneer blouse as Young Pioneers and later as Thälmann Pioneers. In Year 8, they almost automatically joined the FDJ. The lessons in the higher classes began with the official FDJ greeting: »Freundschaft« (»Friendship«). After lessons, we went to the FDJ afternoons.
Attractive leisure programme
The FDJ endeavoured to be attractive to young people. It not only organised propaganda campaigns and work assignments to get young people involved in »socialist construction«. The numerous FDJ youth clubs and the »Jugendtourist« travel agency were also popular leisure activities for young people. At the 1973 »Weltfestspiele der Jugend und Studenten« (»World Festival of Youth and Students«) in East Berlin, cosmopolitanism was demonstrated, at least superficially. In general, the cultural policy of the FDJ was of particular importance.
Although the SED regime tried to educate the young generation according to socialist ideals, the appeal of Western pop and youth culture remained strong among young people in the GDR over the decades. By the 1980s at the latest, they had given up on simply banning it. Instead, the aim was to win the young people back by bringing them closer to the West and by appropriating them. Between 1982 and 1987, for example, the FDJ organised the »Rock für den Frieden« (»Rock for Peace«) music festival in the Palace of the Republic, where Western stars performed, including Udo Lindenberg in 1983. Nevertheless, most young people continued to distance themselves from the socialist state.
Abb.: Amiga-Vinyl »Rock für den Frieden« – © DDR Museum
And today?
With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the FDJ quickly lost its power to influence young people. Of the approximately 2.3 million members in 1989, only a few remained. The organisation increasingly became a symbol of the authoritarian character of the GDR and the influence of the SED regime on private life. Although the FDJ still exists in East Germany today, it no longer has any real relevance.
