Year: 1990
Type: article
Abstract: The Evangelical-Lutheran Church has long represented a key element in civil society in the German Democratic Republic and a key actor in political change. 1 Following the Stalinization process, the church remained the only institution independent of the Communist state.Even after the curtailment of intense atheistic propaganda by the state in the 1960s, this independent status thrust upon the church a role of political opposition.Thus the church served as a defender of German unity in the 1960s, a function it formally sacrificed in 1969, yet has retained informally until the present day.Similarly in the 1980s, the church became by default the advocate for dissent on issues such as peace, human rights, and the environment.The church became the training ground in democracy, compensating for the deficit in such democratic processes in society at large.
Author: Robert F. Goeckel
Language: English
Topic: German History and Society
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W13986014