Like many young women in the German Democratic Republic of the GDR, Solveig Leo did not find it difficult to combine children and work. A mother of two, she ran a large state-owned farm in the northeastern village of Banzkow. The state took care of childcare for everyone.
Claudia Huth, mother of five, experienced a quite different everyday life in capitalist West Germany. She quit her job as a bank clerk when she became pregnant for the first time, and started life as a housewife in the village of Egelsbach in Hesse. House and children took all the time, while the husband worked as a chemist.
Leo and Huth filled typical female roles in the two very different political and economic systems that governed divided Germany in the decades after the collapse of the war.
Different life courses
When Germany now marks 35 years since the fall of the wall on November 9, 1989, with reunification on October 3, 1990, there are several exhibitions that show how women’s different life courses under communism and capitalism finally seem to be erased, even if differences still linger again.
– In the West, many women had to fight for a place in professional life and the right to have their own career. In the east, women usually had work, but it was something they had been assigned from higher up, says Clara Marz. She is the curator of an exhibition about women’s lives in a divided Germany.
The exhibition is held under the auspices of the Federal Foundation for Studies of the Communist Rule in Parts of Germany.
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 and marked for 28 years where the dividing line was during the Cold War between the Americans and the Soviets. It was built in record time by the authorities in the GDR to protect the inhabitants from decay and ideological contamination from the West and to stop the flight of Germans who understood where it was headed.
Tourist destination
Today, only a few hundred meters of the 156.4 kilometer long wall around the capitalist enclave of West Berlin still stand, mainly as a tourist destination.
– All the heavy industry was in the west, here there was nothing. East Germany had to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union. Women had to work their way through the misery, says Leo. She is now 81 years old and remembers life in the almost hermetically sealed GDR.
She believes that women in the West were spoiled by the Marshall Plan, the US’s generous reconstruction plan that channeled billions of dollars into West Germany and other European countries after the war.
– Women in the West did not have to work to survive, Leo believes.
In capitalist West Germany, the economy got back on its feet so quickly after the total destruction during the Second World War that many began to use the term “economic miracle”. A unique period that brought prosperity and stability in less than ten years.
Impeded equality
The economic success indirectly hampered the women’s fight for equality. Most women in the West stayed at home. Society expected them to take care of the house and children while the man worked.
Religious beliefs pulled in the same direction with their values of sacrifice and care. In the atheist GDR, other values and social mechanisms prevailed.
Women who tried to break this pattern in the West were ostracized and referred to as irresponsible people who put their own career before children and family.
A new generation
Over three decades after reunification, a new generation of women is barely aware of the different lives their mothers and grandmothers lived, governed by which part of Germany they lived in. For the vast majority of people today, the combination of work and children is a matter of course.
But there are still some differences that remain. In the former East, 74 per cent of women work, compared to 71.5 in the West. Childcare is still easier to access in the East than in the West. In 2018, 57 percent of children under the age of three were cared for in a nursery in Saxony in the former East, while the figure for North Rhine-Westphalia was only 27 percent.
In Hamburg and Bremen the proportion was 44 per cent.
In politics, equality is weaker in Germany than in several other countries. In the National Assembly in Berlin, 31.4 percent are women. The proportion for Belgium is 41 per cent, Denmark 43.6 per cent, Norway 45 per cent and Sweden 45.6 per cent.
#Berlin #Wall #Divide #Ruled #German #Womens #Lives
**Interview with Clara Marz, Curator of the Exhibition on Women’s Lives in Divided Germany**
**Interviewer:** Thank you for joining us, Clara. Your exhibition sheds light on the contrasting lives of women in East and West Germany. Can you summarize the key differences you’ve discovered?
**Clara Marz:** Certainly! One of the most stark contrasts is the role of women in the workforce. In the German Democratic Republic (GDR), women like Solveig Leo often found it manageable to balance work with raising children thanks to state-supported childcare. They were generally expected to work, and it was integrated into the societal fabric. Conversely, in West Germany, women like Claudia Huth frequently had to choose between career and family. Many left their jobs to become housewives, which was the societal norm there.
**Interviewer:** That’s a fascinating insight. How have these differences impacted women’s identities and opportunities in reunified Germany?
**Clara Marz:** The legacies of these roles still linger today, even as we observe a gradual blending of experiences. In the West, women had to fight for their place in the workforce and to carve out their careers, while in the East, job roles for women were often dictated by the state. While now, many young women in reunified Germany navigate these past inequalities and aim for careers, the historical context influences their perspectives on work, family, and gender roles.
**Interviewer:** You mentioned that the exhibition is under the auspices of the Federal Foundation for Studies of the Communist Rule. How are visitors responding to the exhibit?
**Clara Marz:** The response has been overwhelming. Many visitors are intrigued by the personal stories of women like Solveig and Claudia. They find it eye-opening to see how deeply politics and economy shaped personal lives. There’s also a shared interest in understanding how those experiences have shaped current discussions around gender equality in Germany. It’s important to highlight these narratives as they were often ignored in mainstream history.
**Interviewer:** As we commemorate the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall this November, why do you think it is essential to keep these stories alive?
**Clara Marz:** Remembering these stories is crucial because they provide a nuanced understanding of our history. They remind us that women’s experiences were diverse and deeply influenced by systemic structures. By acknowledging these past discrepancies, we can better address ongoing inequalities in gender roles and workplace dynamics today. It’s about understanding where we come from to forge a better future.
**Interviewer:** Thank you, Clara, for your insights. It sounds like your exhibition is not only educational but also a significant reflection on our shared history.
**Clara Marz:** Thank you for having me! I hope more people will come to explore these important stories.
