EINGABEN

EINGABEN

1. How did the system work?

   • C4.6
   • No state in history ever recorded as many citizens complaints as East Germany did
     • By 1952, 3 years after the countries founding, President Pieck received no fewer than 80,000 written citizen petitions
     • By 1962 the State Council received over 100,000 letters annually, and over 134,000 by 1988
     • In 1989 alone, there were over 1million formally filed citizen complaints nationwide
     • every household submitted at least one letter of complaint over the 40 year reign
   • Thousands of complaints were sent to ministries, local and regional representatives on a monthly basis over 4 decades
   • by the mid 1970s local Party representatives often held office hours in workplaces, during which local citizens could lodge their complaints orally

2. What did they contain?

   • C4.6 + 8
   • Eingaben= suggestions, tips, requests/ compliants
   • Article 103 in the 1968 and 1975 constitution stated that "Every citizen may turn to the represent`time bodies...with Eingaben...exercise of this right should not bring any disadvantages to them"
   • complaints about state repression, the wall, the West and inability to travel freely remained strictly off limits for the first 3 decades of the regime
   • most complaints were of domestic or work related issues [health, sanitary, work conditions, pay, noise, air pollution, lack of facilities]
   • one 1954 report stated that 49/61 of Berlin Eingaben complaints concerned housing
   • many mothers complained about damp, unheated living conditions that left family and children susceptible to sundry respiratory ailments
   • the ZAIG [GDRs citizen research agency, the Central Evaluation and Information group] found that issues of class, gender, generation and status caused many complaints
     • e.g. elderly complained that younger colleagues were unwilling to take on positions of responsibility, there was also a lot of resentment towards the privileges of SED functionaries
   • anger over unequal presence of Western goods in GDR life: gift packages from Western culture were the source of envy, especially after Berlin Wall was built
   • quoting Lenin and his socialist jargon were used in attempt to shame local administrations into action

3. How did their content change over time?

   • C4.3,4,8,9,10
   • By 1962 the State Council received over 100,000 letters annually, and over 134,000 by 1988
   • this form of citizen action proved extremely popular, providing a rare chance to express genuine citizen concerns
   • met with some apprehension by some state officials who thought the complaint, eingaben system undermined collective consciousness and increased the distance between state and citizen
   • language got nastier over time and by the 1960s citizens used their rights to threaten the state. Many refused to vote or take part in elections should their complaints go unheeded. Many threatened to go public with complaints [e.g. use of media] or to kill themselves
   • change of tone. 1950-60s: "To the Very Honoured Minister" = respectful and reserved
     • changed markedly in the 1970s, 1980s as people grew more resentful and frustrated at the inability of the state to change and fix problems
       • lots of nasty sarcasm and humour used
       • people now demanded justice and were more frank in their rights as citizens of a socialist state
   • by the 1980s complaints about consumer goods and services were coming fast and furious
   • by the 1980s individual complaints were becoming collective once more; indicating new found confidence and emerging public sphere
   • new attitude arose with new beliefs in glasnost and a revived public sphere [Gorbachev's initiatives] in which people believed that problems couldn't be resolved. Unlike in the 1950s
   • impatience grew as the decades passed and dissatisfaction spread

4. How did the government respond to them?

   • C4.2,4,7
   • at first many apprehensive, some believed it undermined the states position
   • many grew wary by 1980s of Eingaben spiralling out of control as millions took to letter writing each year
   • change of tone in the 1970-80s, many believed was down to the inability of the state and government to solve problems and meet demands
   • sharp decline of petitions in early 1970s as Honecker took over and people believed that demands were being met and standard of living and quality of life was improving
   • under Ulbricht, high levels of Eingaben were to be welcomed, for Honecker, they posed a less welcome challenge to the regimes legitimacy
   • Eingaben was to be taken very seriously as its importance was emphasised to officials
   • officials were told it was their duty to citizens to reply

5. What do Fulbrook and Betts think about Eingaben?

   • C4.2,5, 11
   • Eingaben became a powerful weapon for the weak [those without power, privilege, status]
   • Eingaben was at least to some extent self- sustaining
   • "To critique, within this frame work, was thus not to criticise in the sense of attack, but rather positively to contribute to the improvement of the system'
   • Eingaben challenged the boundaries, which serves to demonstrate just how much scope there was for participation in a 'wider conservation' about possible improvements to the system within these boundaries, so long as the system itself was not seriously put in question.
   • "the sheer ordinariness, if not of the character and extent of complaints, then at least of the process of complaining or the culture of complaint, is perhaps the most extraordinary feature of this aspect of life in the participatory dictatorship"
   • "the productive, the politically committed and active, the needy- and best of all, anyone with these attributes in combination- took priority over those whose presumed needs and contribution to socialist society were deemed to be less"