Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse

A History of Eastern German Education, 1945-1995

John Rodden

This is the first-ever English-language study of GDR education and the first book, in any language, to trace the complete history of Eastern German education from 1945 through the 1990s. It relates in full the GDR's attempt to create a new Marxist nation by means of educational reform. The book goes beyond previous investigations of the subject to include topics outside the scope of education per se; Rodden looks not only at the changing institution of education but also at what the Germans call Bildung--the formation of character and the cultivation of body and spirit. The book's sociological reach likewise extends to questions of nation-building, as Rodden carries his historical narrative up to the present environment of post-unification Germany.

Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse

A History of Eastern German Education, 1945-1995

John Rodden

Description

This is the first English-language study of GDR education and the first book, in any language, to trace the history of Eastern German education from 1945 through the 1990s. Rodden fully relates the GDR's attempt to create a new Marxist nation by means of educational reform, and looks not only at the changing institution of education but at something the Germans call Bildung--the formation of character and the cultivation of body and spirit. The sociology of nation-building is also addressed.

Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse

A History of Eastern German Education, 1945-1995

John Rodden

Prologue. Unlessons, Far and Near
Introduction. "Who has the Youth, has the Future"
Part One. "The Citadel of Learning": The Making and Unmaking of the German Communist, 1945-1989
Chapter 1. From Brown to Red: The Fall and Rise of an Educational System, 1945-1951
Chapter 2. Marooned in the Workers' Paradise: Cold War Catechetics, 1951-1961
Chapter 3. After the Wall: Pride before the Fall, 1961-1989
Part Two. (Post) Socialism with a German Face, 1989-1995
Chapter 4. After the Wall II: The Fall and Rise of an Educational System
Chapter 5. Leipzig, 1990
Chapter 6. Plauen, 1990/1992/1994
Chapter 7. Leipzig, 1991
Chapter 8. Berlin, 1991
Chapter 9. Leipzig, 1993
Chapter 10. Weimar, 1991, Weimar/Rocken, 1994
Chapter 11. Berlin, 1994
Chapter 12. Weimar, 1994
Chapter 13. Berlin, 1994
Epilogue. Education for Tolerance, Education for National Identity: The Unusable German Past?
List of Abbreviations
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse

A History of Eastern German Education, 1945-1995

John Rodden

Reviews and Awards

"The most complete treatment of East German education that has appeared in English, yet most of the book does not touch upon schools or schooling. Rodden's work evokes the dilemas of everyday totalitarianism with unusual poignancy, and it is to be warmly recommended to all those wanting to probe the deeper currents of social reality in the 'former East Germany.'"--Central European History

"A wealth of interesting stories about the process of unification as experienced by individual Germans and about Rodden's personal grappling with the merits and disadvantages of socialism and capitalism."--H-Net

"This vividly written, often idiosyncratic, even polemical education history offers a colorful prism through which to view East Germany in the cold war and subsequent German reunification."--History: Reviews of New Books

"This book has a confident feel and brims with new information and intelligent insight. This sophisticated portrait of the GDR will be important in debates about East Germany, both in and outside Germany."--John Connelly, University of California, Berkeley

"This is not a history of education in the usual sense. It evinces a rich understanding of the history of Marxism and does a superb job of weaving the various strands of shifting Marxist ideological positions and European historical events into a chronological narrative focused upon educational issues. This book is also exceptionally readable, written in a rich, sometimes brilliant prose style that honors the stories of the people whom Rodden met."--Sterling Fishman, University of Wisconsin, Madison

"Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse is the first complete narrative, in any language, that traces the full history of the GDR's attempt to create a new Marxist nation by means of educational reform. This eminently absorbing study should appeal to readers interested in education, cultural politics, the history of the Cold War and Marxism, and contemporary German and European politics."--Walter Sokel, University of Virginia

"I have never read a book by a foreign author that displays such a profound, deep understanding of the history of the former GDR, along with such a detailed knowledge and command of the ideological tendencies and guidelines of Soviet and East German policy. This book furnishes keen insight into the nature of communism and the historical processes that ultimately resulted in the overthrow of this system."--Wolfgang Strauss, University of Jena

"There is nothing at all like this work, in approach or quality, on the topic of German education-despite the flood of books on Germany past and present."--Christian Soe, California State University at Long Beach

"A tremendous opus that traces eastern Germany's history for four decades under an authoritarian regime through its transformation process into a roughly democratic society. This work also constitutes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the functioning of dictatorship as well as to the general processes of social change."--Karl-Heinz Fuessl, Humboldt University, Berlin

"John Rodden has written a marvelous book...[A]n unconventional and occasionally idiosyncratic study on comparative education and on the social psychology of re-education."--Comparative Education Review