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'Prussia' and Hitler
There are a number of interesting aspects about the history of Prussia which became part of East Germany (GDR) and this is an important part of the story.
Prussia was resiliently Protestant from the times of the Princes in Martin Luther's time, four hundred years ago. The "Property Princes" protected Luther and in so doing protected their own rights over and against the Holy Roman Empire and their taxes. Prussians were the archetype aristocrats of German society, and many had surnames beginning with 'von' which means 'of'. Originally the 'von' would have been followed by the name of the family estate to create a surname. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussia)
Although the aristocracy and its 'feudalistic' structure had been crumbling in Germany, (as throughout Europe, since the turn of the 20th century), and this change in society had been accelerated by World War I, there were many 'traditionalists' from the 'upper classes' in the military. (www.britannia.com)
The election of Hitler, in itself, with the words 'Nationalist' and 'Socialist' in his party name, were symptomatic the demise of the old aristocracy. Germany was considered modern, sophisticated, highly cultural and socially well-integrated. But there was still the legacy of Prussia, which had always been militaristic. The Prussian goose-step was nothing new. German history reveals that the Prussians were never shy of a battle and didn't suffer fools gladly. Prussia was anti-Semitic as was Martin Luther. Hitler had fertile ground in anti-Jewish policies from the Prussian-influenced conservatives.
Although the army had followed him and his principles in the 1930s, towards the end of the War when it seemed 'the end was nigh' regarding German hegemony, and when Hitler himself became a recluse separating himself from the 'common man', there were many who sought to assassinate him. Various attempts failed, the last being in 1944 (led by the Prussian aristocratic Claus von Stauffenberg), after which, it is reported, nearly 5000 people were executed and any viable opposition to Hitler was destroyed. These people, of course, had comprised academics and true socialists as well as those of old Prussian sympathies.
Fleeing to the West
Many conservatives, supporters of the 'old world order' whether or not they had Prussian ancestry, had fled to the west into the advancing Allied armies as the European theatre of war drew to a close. As the Russians closed in from the east, so too there was a parallel scramble to flee to the west by many afraid of Communism.
This continued on into the occupation of Germany by the Allied powers – USSR, United States, British and French – when Germany was divided into East and West. Berlin, although geographically situated in the middle of GDR territory, was itself was also divided into these zones. This created a little bit of the democratic West Germany situated as an 'island', which acted as an open funnel, through which 'Ossies' (Easterners) could move to the West.
"20 % of the GDR population had fled" to the West prior to the border being closed on August 13th 1961 by the sudden and intrusive building of the Berlin Wall, This proportion was 3.5 million people. Imagine one in every 5 of your neighbours just disappearing. It would affect a whole range of governance issues, such as taxed income, the education system, food retention and a whole lot more. Little wonder the skids were put under this depopulation process.
The border between East and West Berlin was then closed by the Berlin Wall, which ended up being 154 kilometres long and the average height of the concrete divide was 3.6 metres. An entire population, the East Germans, went from Nazi totalitarianism to Communist totalitarianism. The internal security went from being Gestapo types to becoming the Stasi - the East German secret police - with neighbours spying on neighbours. (www.smh.com.au)
The Confessing Church of East Germany
Mark Tronson regards these factors with his historian's eye, and wonders what else was happening, and particularly, what were the Christian Churches doing in this doubly-traumatised post-war society. In the GDR (East Germany) those who were of the Confessing Church (committed Protestants) were allowed to develop congregations but under a watchful eye. They were on the whole, a smallish part of the population as the word "confessing" infers something of a passion for the Gospel.
Although they mustered occasional protests, on the most part they had minuscule influence at any political level. Part of the theology of the Confessing Church is that of "soul liberty" whose basic concept is that, in matters of religion, each person has the liberty to choose what his/her conscience or soul dictates is right, and is responsible to no one but God for the decision that is made. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_competency)
This follows on to freedom of conscience in all matters of life such as politics. This is a basic tenet. However, where you have a cowardly Confessing Church, to which the more conservative (Prussian-influenced) people were traditionally belonged, so too you have a weak voice for freedom.
In summary, Mark Tronson has the view that there were three things that contributed to the Wall being built:
(1) the economic situation, with post-war reconstruction under Communism being demonstrably poorer than in the West and exacerbated by 20% of the population leaving (in a chicken-and-egg situation). It would have been those with education and/or economic or political clout who left.
(2) the lack of a leadership that groups such as Prussians had previously and traditionally exercised - also exacerbated by people fleeing to the West, or potential leaders being killed due to the various events during the War.
(3) the Confessing Church's weakness (which is also interrelated with (1) and (2) above, partly resulting in a dearth of leaders)
Recent Reflections
Recently-aired radio and television documentaries of this period, in memoriam of the building of the wall, show a yearning by some former East Germans for the simplicity of life as it was under the authoritarian State of the GDR. Some of those belonged to the Confessing Protestants, who related this to a type of 'gallant faith' that bore protective bonds against persecution, in which they saw their neighbours subjected to a knock on the door in the early hours of the morning. This was an ever present fear.
Despite the fading memories of those looking back 'with rose-coloured glasses', the facts were that the 1950s and 1960s were boom times in the West, whereas the economic and social constrictions of the East grew even more dire. As the Stasi became more and more and more 'vigilant' in trying to persecute citizens who made even the most minor protests about injustices, the Churches – which had some privacy and freedom – started slowly to foster discussion.
The period 1961 – 1989 became a time when it was realised that freedom was prized. The Churches had slowly and eventually become part of that realisation. 136 East Germans had lost their lives trying to reach the West for that freedom. (www.smh.com.au)
And in the end, in the months after the disastrous killing of Chinese protesters in Tiannamen Square in June 1989 became known to the rest of the world, the Churches fostered open peaceful protests, showing what can be done when leadership and willpower and commitment to Christian principles eventually overcome political restrictions.
Then suddenly on 11th November 1989, condoned by the 'silence' of the USSR Administration (which society was also falling apart at the seams), Checkpoint Charlie – the feared barrier to personal traffic between East and West Berlin – was opened and the 'Ossies' poured through in the darkening late autumn evening, just to have a look in wonder at the lights and retail outlets of the city that had been denied them for so long.