The Discourse of Women's Experiences Under Communism

Abstract

The relationship between time passing and the admission of guilt is a complicated one. For how long it took Germany to acknowledge and discuss the atrocities of the Nazi regime, people immediately wondered in 1989 when and how they would approach the discussion of communism and East Germany. The East German example is unique in that there were discernible benefits and successes for its people, and for the most part, it fostered solidarity, camaraderie, and apparent equality. Women were granted unprecedented benefits such as yearlong paid maternity leave and state-funded childcare facilities and were said to have had equal opportunity and equal paid as men. These principles were the base line for all communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and during communist rule, the state allowed literature and propaganda that focused only on these positive principles.