Following the end of World War II and the fall of the Third Reich, Germany was divided into four occupation zones by the four victorious Allied powers. The zone controlled by the Soviet Union was gradually but inexorably transformed into a German state on the Soviet model, its “independence” granted in October 1949 with the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The GDR's existence would last slightly more than forty years, until its utter collapse and absorption by the Federal Republic of Germany from 1989 to 1990. As the “second German dictatorship” of the twentieth century, the front line of the Cold War, the most important of the Soviet satellites, and the land of “Real, Existing Socialism,” East Germany has inspired volumes of scholarship and intense debate on the nature of the regime and the society that lived under it.

Part of Palgrave Macmillan's Studies in European History series, The German Democratic Republic, by Peter Grieder, a lecturer in twentieth-century history at the University of Hull, provides an overview of the forty-year history of the regime and the various historiographical controversies between scholars of the GDR, and finally, offers his own take on the GDR as a “totalitarian-welfare state.” The German Democratic Republic is divided into eight sections; the first, “Concepts,” discusses the historiography of the GDR (although this discussion continues throughout the book) as well as Grieder's definition of what a “totalitarian-welfare state” was and how the East German regime fit this definition.

Chapter one of Grieder's book examines the origins of the GDR as the Soviet occupation zone; chapter two discusses the first full decade of the dictatorship of Socialist Unity Party's (Socialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, or SED) General Secretary Walter Ulbricht, while chapter three analyzes Ulbricht's second decade of rule following the building of the Berlin Wall. Chapters four and five cover the eighteen-year rule of Ulbricht's successor Erich Honecker, when the GDR ironically won greater international recognition and legitimacy abroad while continuing to sink into a social, economic, and political crisis at home. Chapter six provides a summary of the collapse of East Germany and the process of German reunification during the revolutionary era of 1989 to 1991, as well as an extended discussion of the various factors in that year that contributed to the demise of the “Workers' and Peasants' State.” The concluding section of the book, entitled “Obituary,” is a diverse analysis of numerous subjects, such as the limited but important achievements of the regime and its various negative aspects, as well as the ultimate reasons for the failure of the GDR and whether this failure could have been prevented.

Grieder's take on the GDR can be compared to similar recent scholarship on the Soviet Union by historians such as Robert Service, Simon Sebag Montefiore, and Anne Applebaum, and by historians of the GDR such as Gary Bruce, in what can be described as the “neo-totalitarian school.” Like these other historians with regard to the historiography of the U.S.S.R., Grieder rejects many of the premises of the “revisionist school” of GDR scholarship, symbolized by historians such as Mary Fulbrook, especially what he refers to on page four as their “simplistic and stereotypical interpretations of the totalitarian theory.” Yet Grieder also revises the totalitarian theory to one that, as he describes on the second page of the book, is “not a static but dynamic concept,” which allows for an understanding of how the regime and its population changed over the forty years of the GDR's existence, while still affirming the essential totalitarian nature of the East German regime, its ideology, and its objectives regarding control over political and social life.

As Grieder correctly points out at numerous times in the text, the many inefficiencies of the East German regime should not distract from the fact the GDR was a dictatorship of the ruling Socialist Unity Party from October 7, 1949, until November 9, 1989, and, when compared to most of the other Soviet satellites and even the post-Stalin Soviet Union, exercised far greater control and surveillance over much of the population, particularly through the omnipresent presence of the political police, the Stasi. This leads to Grieder's explanation of the GDR as a “totalitarian-welfare state.” Both Ulbricht and Honecker justified and simultaneously strengthened the GDR dictatorship through a massive, cradle-to-grave compulsory welfare state, which served the population but also helped to guarantee their ideological compliance with the regime.

Furthermore, the SED's monopoly of state power, exercised most famously through the vast network of Stasi agents, informers, and prisons, also served to terrorize the recalcitrant elements of the population into sullen acceptance of the SED dictatorship, especially as the seeming permanence of the regime was enshrined between the June 17, 1953, workers' uprising and the building of the Berlin Wall, beginning on August 13, 1961. Thus, keeping the population protected and “cared for” in all capacities, as portrayed in Aldous Huxley's famous totalitarian novel, Brave New World, as well as keeping the jackboot permanently on their face, as memorably symbolized in George Orwell's 1984, were the two pillars of the East German dictatorship.

Grieder develops this theme throughout his examination of the history of the GDR, often filling in what he views as the “gaps” in previous scholarship on the regime. His writing is concise and effectively organized, and despite the very short length of the book, he provides detailed statistical information and effective anecdotal accounts that humanize the land of “Real, Existing Socialism.” There are, however, a few problems. On a few occasions, Grieder spends so much time pointing out his disagreements with other scholars on various historical issues that his broader narrative is lost. A slightly longer discussion of church-state issues in the GDR would have helped, especially the controversy in the late 1950s between Ulbricht's government and the Protestant Church over its decision to provide military chaplains for the West German army, the Bundeswehr. Finally, the method of citation used in the text is initially somewhat confusing and takes some time getting used to.

Nevertheless, Peter Grieder's The German Democratic Republic is an impressive introduction to the history of East Germany, especially for undergraduate students with an interest not just in modern German history but also that of twentieth-century dictatorships. Grieder nor only provides a solid summary of the major events of East German history, but also the current debates in the field of GDR scholarship, while at the same time providing his own unique interpretation of the Communist dictatorship.