Love, Sex and Socialism
The GDR was full of love, devotion and genuine and false vows of loyalty. Love between people of different and the same sex also played a major role, of course, and it was by no means apolitical. This broad spectrum was the subject of the special exhibition »Love, Sex & Socialism« from March to October 2018 and attracted an unusually high level of interest from the media and visitors.
Love for one's homeland
Love for one's homeland, for the party and for the Soviet Union was part of the raison d'état and was instilled as early as kindergarten, or at the latest in the »Young Pioneers«. Political language was full of rhetoric about love. Socialism demanded love, devotion and loyalty. Conversely, the state loved its subjects like children. It protected them from the dangers threatening from the West, punished the bad ones and rewarded the well-behaved children. When Stasi chief Erich Mielke stammered before the People's Chamber in 1989 that he loved »all people,« he meant it quite sincerely.
The brotherly kiss as a sign of love
The friendship between nations found symbolic expression in the brotherly kiss, which was exchanged between the leading figures of the communist states in accordance with Russian Orthodox custom. When Soviet head of state and party leader Leonid Brezhnev visited Erich Honecker, he planted a big kiss on his mouth. The photos and the famous painting from the East Side Gallery, painted on segments of the Berlin Wall, resemble an almost brutal overpowering. This corresponded to the real balance of power between the mighty Soviet Union and its little brother, the GDR.
Love notes and love letters
In addition to the strong feelings of brotherly love and friendship, love between the sexes was also omnipresent. Even at school, children wrote each other awkward little notes with tender declarations of love. One pupil had collected these notes and made this unique legacy available for the special exhibition. The letters to the editor section on love problems, such as »Unter vier Augen« (In Private) in the FDJ daily newspaper »Junge Welt«, were also very popular.
Romantic relationships
In adulthood, romantic relationships were significantly influenced by the social and economic conditions in the GDR. The difference between East and West was most apparent in the most private and intimate relationships. In the GDR, young people entered into sexual relationships at a younger age, married earlier, had their first child earlier and, above all, the birth rate was higher – but so was the divorce rate. All of this was related to the economically and professionally equal but also doubly burdened position of women in everyday working life. Women were almost exclusively employed, which made them more self-confident and economically independent.
Nudism in the GDR
Many sociologists and historians have racked their brains, more or less seriously, trying to figure out why nudism was so popular in the GDR. A more open attitude towards physicality certainly played a role, although the mass gathering of naked people probably had little to do with sexuality. Nudism on beaches was neither invented nor particularly promoted by the state, and was by no means prohibited. People simply took a little piece of freedom for themselves. Perhaps it was a substitute for real political freedom.
