Edward Kehler

Mr. Kehler will research the impact of the Polish free trade union movement (Solidarity) on the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the responses of the East German Communist (SED) regime and its citizens to the Polish Crises. Paradoxically, while the East German government reacted strongly to the Solidarity movement, the East German public seems to have remained largely indifferent to events in Poland. Mr. Kehler will analyze why the events in Poland failed to produce a significant reaction from either dissident groups or the broader East German public, and evaluate the efficacy of the GDR regime s methods of repression and internal control. Mr. Kehler s project raises and examines several larger issues of concern to historians of the GDR: the role, function, and attitude of the GDR within the Warsaw Pact alliance; the extent to which the East German regime was capable of shaping public opinion within its borders; the persistence of old German biases against Poles and the willingness of the East German regime to exploit those prejudices against a fraternal communist nation; the apparent relative passivity of East German dissident leaders; and the question of whether or not Solidarity played any direct role in the ultimate collapse of the GDR.