Integration or exclusion: former national socialists in the GDR

"Not only West Germany saw the social rehabilitation of former National Socialists after 1945, former NSDAP members were also integrated into the GDR society and into the echelons of its functional elites. The share of former National Socialists among the elites varies between societal sectors. However, some of them even entered the ranks of the power elite. Due to the omnipresent myth of anti-fascism, disclosed brown shadows of the past could put careers at risk, but submissive loyalty to the young socialist state and its leadership could balance the scales. Keeping silent turned out a successful strategy in many cases: the general exculpation of the populace and the antifascist propaganda made serious checks rather inopportune for the Communist regime. For a differentiated evaluation of the ambivalent process of socialist denazification, it is vital to discuss its impact on social structure and to analyze the strategy of the Communist Party." (author's abstract

Kaderauswahl und Karrieredeterminanten beim Kombinat VEB Carl Zeiss Jena in der Ära Biermann (1975-1989)

'Das Unternehmen VEB Carl Zeiss Jena war eines der wichtigsten Kombinate in der DDR. Hier arbeiteten Ende der achtziger Jahre fast 70.000 Beschäftigte in den Bereichen Optik, Feinmechanik und Mikroelektronik. Die Führungskräfte des Kombinates wurden vom Generaldirektor persönlich ausgewählt. Eine Einstellung oder Beförderung wurde nicht allein aufgrund der fachlichen Qualifikation eines Kandidaten vorgenommen. Ausschlaggebend waren zudem die Parteizugehörigkeit, das Geschlecht, die politische Vergangenheit, die soziale Herkunft, der Abbruch der Westkontakte und der Lebenswandel des Kaders. Die nichtfachlichen Kriterien wurden schließlich so bedeutsam, dass es Schwierigkeiten gab, die Führungspositionen des Kombinates Carl Zeiss Jena rechtzeitig mit geeignetem Personal zu besetzen.' (Autorenreferat)'Kombinat VEB Carl Zeiss Jena was among the leading companies of the late GDR. At the end of the 1980's almost 70,000 employees worked in its divisions of optics, precision mechanics, and microelectronics. The Zeiss management was recruited by the chairman himself. Recruitment and promotion did not only depend on the professional qualification of a candidate but as well on his or her membership in the SED (Communist state party), gender, social background, political past, and moral conduct. The article shows that it became difficult to staff management positions in due time as non-professional criteria grew more and more important.' (author's abstract

Datenfriedhof oder Füllhorn für die DDR-Forschung? Geschichte, Funktionsweise und wissenschaftlicher Wert des Zentralen Kaderdatenspeichers des Ministerrates der DDR

Der Beitrag beschreibt die Geschichte der Kaderdatenspeicher im Verantwortungsbereich des Ministerrates der DDR: 1972 wurde per Beschluss des Präsidiums des Ministerrates der Startschuss für das EDV-Kaderprojekt gegeben, 1976 die gesetzliche Regelung für einen Zentralspeicher geschaffen, 1981 dann die endgültige Form des Datenflusses zwischen den personenbezogenen Massendatenspeichern des Ministerrates gefunden. Die erste Phase von 1972 bis 1976 führte zum Aufbau dezentraler Kaderdatenspeicher bei den zentralen Staatsorganen, bei den Räten der Bezirke und beim Apparat des Ministerrates. Kennzeichnend für diesen Abschnitt war das Fehlen einer 'starken Hand', d.h. der Aufbau erfolgte relativ 'wildwüchsig'. Trotz einiger Mängel sind die Daten des Zentralen Kaderdatenspeichers für die DDR-Forschung heute eine Quelle höchsten Ranges. Insbesondere die Elitenforschung kann aufgrund des Fehlens anderer Kaderunterlagen (die Personalakten wurden teils vernichtet, teils an neue Arbeitgeber weitergereicht, teils an die Beschäftigten ausgehändigt) bei der Analyse der Sozialstruktur der DDR-Gesellschaft auf dieses reichhaltige Material zurückgreifen. (ICA2)'In 1972 the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the GDR made a resolve to collect and store biographical data of executives from the 55 central administrative bodies (ministries, secretariates of state, offices), and 15 local administrative bodies (councils of counties of the GDR) in 'person-related' databases. Those databases were merged in a single central database in 1979. Data comprised information about the social background, qualification, political indoctrination, careers, and professional skills of the executive personnel. The Zentraler Kaderdatenspeicher ZKDS (Central Cadre Database) was used by the Socialist personal-managers as an utility for the systematic selection of an economic and administrative elite. Development and maintenance of the database caused immense expenses. But due to several reasons, the project managers used the available data insufficiently. The cadre department of the Council of Ministers frequently criticised the low topicality and unsatisfying completeness of data in the ZKDS. However, when the work at the database ceased in March 1990, the ZKDS contained biographical data of 332.000 persons.' (author's abstract

Der Datenspeicher "Gesellschaftliches Arbeitsvermögen": prozessproduzierte Daten als Quelle für die quantitative historische Sozialforschung und eine Soziologie des DDR-Sozialismus

Der vom Verwaltungsapparat der DDR erhobene Datenspeicher "Gesellschaftliches Arbeitsvermögen" (DS GAV) ist eine einzigartige Datenquelle für die 1980er Jahre, die eine Vielzahl von Einträgen zu soziodemographischen und sozioökonomischen Merkmalen, Qualifikation und Beschäftigung für mehr als 7 Millionen ehemalige DDR-Bürger umfasst. Der DS GAV wurde erhoben, um das Management des Humanvermögens in der Zentralverwaltungswirtschaft der DDR effizienter zu gestalten, um also eine kontrollierte Arbeitskraftallokation und Personalfluktuation zwischen Wirtschaftszweigen und Unternehmen zu garantieren; das Potenzial dieses Projekts wurde jedoch höchstwahrscheinlich niemals in hinlänglicher Weise ausgenutzt. Fünfzehn Jahre nach dem Zusammenbruch des ostdeutschen Staatssozialismus bietet der DS GAV eine Quelle für die quantifizierende historische Sozialforschung auf dem Weg zu einer Soziologie der DDR-Gesellschaft. Ein Jenaer Forschungsprojekt zu DDR-Eliten und Prozessen sozialer Differenzierung, Teil des Sonderforschungsbereichs 850, stützt sich u.a. auf diese Datenquelle. Die Verfasser diskutieren den historischen Hintergrund, die Datenaufbereitung, die Explorationsphase und erste soziologische Analysen auf der Basis des DS GAV.The Datenspeicher 'Gesellschaftliches Arbeitsvermögen' (Data Fund of Societal Work Power, DS GAV) of the GDR administration is a unique database from the 1980's that comprises a variety of entries on the socio-demographic and socio-economic traits, the qualification, and the employment of more than 7 million former inhabitants of the GDR. The DS GAV was built up and maintained in order to establish a more efficient human resource management in the centralized state economy of the GDR i.e., to guarantee controlled allocation of manpower and fluctuation of personnel between sectors and enterprises, but the potential of the project was most likely never used in a sufficient way. 15 years alter the collapse of state socialism in East Germany, the DS GAV serves as a source for quantitative historical social research towards a sociology of GDR society. A research project on GDR elites and processes of societal differentiation which is part of the Sonderforschungsbereich 580 (Collaborative Research Center), Jena, Germany, uses the DS GAV among other databases from GDR times. The paper discusses historical background, data handling, exploration and first sociological analyses based on the DS GAV

Die Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) - eine Arbeiter- und Angestelltenarmee? Empirische Befunde zur Rekrutierung von Offizieren in der DDR

'Die systematische Erfassung von Daten gehörte in der DDR zur selbstverständlichen Herrschaftspraxis des SED-Regimes. Hierbei richtete sich der Blick der erfassenden Stellen besonders auf alle Mitarbeiter mit Leitungsbefugnissen in Verwaltungen und Betrieben. Auch die Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) führte über ihre Offiziere einen Datenspeicher mit einem umfassenden Merkmalskatalog. Nach der Wiedervereinigung wurde dieser Datenspeicher aus Datenschutzgründen bedauerlicherweise gelöscht. Neben den elektronischen Daten wurden Personenangaben von Offizieren auch auf Kaderkarteikarten festgehalten. Diese werden heute im ehemaligen Hauptquartier der NVA in Strausberg aufbewahrt. Für historisch-sozialwissenschaftliche Analysen wurde es den Verfassern gestattet eine Stichprobe von 1.002 Kaderkarteien von NVA-Offizieren zu ziehen. Im ersten Abschnitt gibt der Artikel eine kurze Zusammenfassung der Geschichte der NVA und ihres Offizierkorps. Im zweiten Abschnitt wird über die Erfassungssituation von NVA-Offiziersdaten vor und nach der Wiedervereinigung informiert. Im dritten Abschnitt werden Ergebnisse einer empirischen Basisauswertung der Daten vorgestellt. Daran schließt sich im vierten Abschnitt eine Auswertung mit den Verfahren der Mehrebenenanalyse an.' (Autorenreferat)'One of the peculiarities of the German Democratic Republic was the systematic collection of electronic data of their functional elites (cadres). Also in the case of the National People's Army (Nationale Volksarmee, NVA) there existed a data set of officers of all ranks. Unfortunately (at least for empirical analyses) this data set was deleted for privacy reasons after the reunification. Even though these data do not exist anymore, file cards are still stored at the former NVA's headquarter Strausberg near Berlin. For comparative historical social research a sample of 1.002 NVA officers was drawn from this data source. This article first describes the history of NVA and its officers. Second it provides some information on the collection of individual data on NVA officers before and after the reunification. Third some results of basic empirical analyses are presented. Fourth the possibility of multilevel analyses of data is demonstrated on the level of military branches.' (author's abstract

Anthropogenic organic micro-pollutants and pathogens in the urban water cycle: assessment, barriers and risk communication (ASKURIS)

In urban areas, water often flows along a partially closed water cycle in which treated municipal wastewater is discharged into surface waters which are one source of raw waters used for drinking water supply. A number of organic micro-pollutants (OMP) can be found in different water compartments. In the near future, climatic and demographic changes will probably contribute to an increase of OMP and antibiotic-resistant pathogens in aquatic ecosystems. The occurrence of OMP, possible adverse effects on aquatic organisms and human health and the public perception must be carefully assessed to properly manage and communicate potentially associated risks and to implement appropriate advanced treatment options at the optimum location within the water cycle. Therefore, the interdisciplinary research project ASKURIS focuses on identification and quantification, toxicological assessment and removal of organic micro-pollutants and antibiotic-resistant pathogens in the Berlin water cycle, life cycle-based economic and environmental assessment, public perception and management of potential risks

Restoration responses of 19 lakes: are total phosphorus thresholds common?

Projet OLIGO financé par Veolia Eaux et des entreprises berlinoisesInternational audienc

The fingerprint of the summer 2018 drought in Europe on ground-based atmospheric CO2 measurements

During the summer of 2018 a widespread drought developed over Northern and Central Europe. The significant increase in temperature and the reduction of soil moisture have influenced the carbon dioxide (CO2 ) exchanges between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems in various ways, such as a reduction of photosynthesis, changes in auto- and heterotrophic respiration, or allowing more frequent and/or stronger fires, which were particularly important in Sweden at the end of July 2018. In this study we characterise the resulting perturbation of the atmospheric CO2 seasonal cycles. The year 2018 has an excellent coverage of the European regions affected by drought, allowing to investigate how large-scale ecosystem flux anomalies impacted spatial CO2 gradients between stations in 2018. This density of stations is unprecedented compared to previous drought events in 2003 and 2015, particularly thanks to the deployment of the dense Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) network of atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring stations in recent years. Seasonal CO2 cycles from 48 European stations were available for 2017 and 2018. Earlier data were retrieved for comparison from international databases or national networks. Here we show that the usual summer minimum in CO2 mole fraction due to the surface carbon uptake was reduced by 1.4 ppm in 2018 for the 10 stations located in the area most affected by the temperature anomaly, mostly in northern Europe. Notwithstanding,the CO2 transition phases before and after July were slower in 2018 compared to 2017, suggesting an extension of the growing season, with either continued CO2 uptake by photosynthesis and/or a reduction in respiration driven by the depletion of substrate for respiration legated from the previous summer. For stations with sufficiently long time series, the amplitudes of the CO2 anomaly observed in 2018 were compared to previous European droughts in 2003 and 2015. Considering the areas most affected by the temperature anomalies during these years, we found a higher CO2 anomaly in 2003 (+3 ppm averaged over 4 sites), and a smaller anomaly in 2015 (+1 ppm averaged over 11 sites) compared to 2018.JRC.C.5-Air and Climat

The fingerprint of the summer 2018 drought in Europe on ground-based atmospheric CO 2 measurements

International audienceDuring the summer of 2018, a widespread drought developed over Northern and Central Europe. The increase in temperature and the reduction of soil moisture have influenced carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems in various ways, such as a reduction of photosynthesis, changes in ecosystem respiration, or allowing more frequent fires. In this study, we characterize the resulting perturbation of the atmospheric CO2 seasonal cycles. 2018 has a good coverage of European regions affected by drought, allowing theinvestigation of how ecosystem flux anomalies impacted spatial CO2 gradients between stations. This density of stations is unprecedented compared to previous drought events in 2003 and 2015, particularly thanks to the deployment of the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS)network of atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring stations in recent years. Seasonal CO2 cycles from 48 European stations were available for 2017 and 2018. Earlier data were retrieved for comparison from international databases or national networks. Here, we show that the usualsummer minimum in CO2 due to the surface carbon uptake was reduced by 1.4 ppm in 2018 for the 10 stations located in the area most affected by the temperature anomaly, mostly in Northern Europe. Notwithstanding, the CO2 transition phases before and after July were slower in 2018 compared to 2017, suggesting an extension of the growing season, with either continued CO2 uptake by photosynthesis and/or a reduction in respiration driven by the depletion of substrate for respiration inherited from the previous months due to the drought. For stations with sufficiently long time series, the CO2 anomaly observed in 2018 was compared to previous European droughts in 2003 and 2015. Considering the areas mostaffected by the temperature anomalies, we found a higher CO2 anomaly in 2003 (+3 ppm averaged over 4 sites), and a smaller anomaly in 2015 (+1 ppm averaged over 11 sites) compared to 2018.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Impacts of the 2018 severe drought and heatwave in Europe: from site to continental scale’