The case study examines a source that focuses on youth organizations in East Germany, giving students the opportunity to develop a nuanced view of communist society by analyzing how communist organizations offered positive experiences that supported shared values, paving the way for understanding the enthusiasm with which some individuals lived in communism, and the ambivalence many experienced at its end. echo [more]

As a state-socialist society, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) did not have the multitude of independent organizations or voluntary associations that characterize civil society in democratic countries. Rather, even children's associations in the… [more]