Creativity and Values Before and After the Wende in East Germany

By Klaus D. Hoppe

Originally appeared in the International Creativity Network Newsletter, volume 3, number 3, 1993, pages 1-2, 8-9.

Editor's Note: This article was prepared by Klaus D. Hoppe, MD, Ph. D. during a guest professorship at Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. It is based on a paper co-authored with Dr. Ulrich Bahrke and on Hoppe's experiences in clinical work.

In Anhalt-Saxonia from 1991 to 1992 I became acquainted with emotional reactions and changes concerning the Wende [change of change], the dramatic metamorphosis due to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the following unification of East and West Germany. Through the often cathartic self-reflection and insight of colleagues, I was able to reconstruct and understand the plight and temptation of their past and the difficult development of their present existence. The purpose of this article is to illuminate American readers about essentials of ideals, values and creative abilities before and after the Wende from political, spiritual, psychodynamic and neuro-psychological viewpoints. Perhaps some similarities to changes of values in our country over the last decades may stimulate self-reflection and attention to your own future directions.

Political Background and Context to the Wende

The Marxistic-Leninistic ideology of the Communist state of East Germany propagated a "socialistic image of human beings" which allegedly guaranteed equality, justice and the primacy of society over interests of the individual. Historical materialism, declared as science, was used to degrade individual values and views in contrast to the Communist Party which, according to Berthold Brecht (1969), had "a thousand eyes."

Over the decades of the Communist regime [1949-1989], the powerlessness of the individual was mitigated by compensations from cradle to grave and by an accepted narrow-minded, humdrum mentality at home. The discrepancy, however, between official ideology and day-to-day reality became more and more painful and led to disillusionment and loss of values, particularly in younger people. Additionally, this discrepancy revealed the mendacity of the Communist system in which everybody more or less participated. As a result, all branches of cultures supported by the party withered.

The Development of a Culture of Niches: Creativity and Values Before the Wende

As a defense mechanism in response to this political situation, a culture of niches [Nischenkultur] that preserved the tradition of occidental humanism, and cultivated values and dignity of the individual developed. The culture of niches generated creativity, protected behind a monastic wall while outside everybody was locked up by border-walls of the Communist state and locked out of productive, public activity. The culture of niches stood, thus, in sharp contrast to the general untrustfulness and degradation of people who, for example, served as standard-bearers at mass meetings and sport festivals. Within the culture of niches, individuals felt responsible for neighbors and their homeland and voluntarily renounced leaving their country with the following motto: Stay in your land and resist daily.

This ethical-moral dimension within the culture of niches was supported by the Christian churches which made available their protected areas for resistance groups and simultaneously gave strength, inner-orientation and Christian hope to the individual. Here creativity flourished, and works of art originated to strengthen the identity and resistance of the group. Discussing history, philosophy or science, playing chamber music, or reading poetry or novels together united small groups of family members and friends and created an affectionate bond. As the Lumen Christi or "the light of Easter night" gradually illuminated churches and their congregations, so the initially small group spread out to the streets and rose to a stream of silent demonstration and resistance throughout the land. The Wende was born.

Creativity and Values During the Wende: Short-Lived Triumph of the Culture of Niches

When the culture of niches, encapsulated for decades, broke open and strewed its cornucopia on the streets of freedom, a whole nation wept. This passion of emotions and motions inundated any rational dryness. Mimeographs and copying processes, forbidden until now, gave publicity to optimistic expectations and grand concepts of the future. Those thoughts and feelings which had been clandestinely nourished in the culture of niches, flourished. There was hope for a free society, responsible, reliable, full of solidarity with each other and other nations. New parties were founded, new statutes were debated. It was a wonderful time of noble presumption. Creativity, spontaneity, and new values bloomed and fascinated all of the Western world. Many intellectuals in Europe and the United States identified with these euphoric concepts and visions. For a short while, it seemed to many that enthusiastic, liberated people were in the process of building a new Germany, embedded in a new Europe.

This positive opinion was supported by the fact that the Wende occurred as a totally bloodless revolution. Thus, its spontaneous autonomy appeared mature and productive, stressing values which represented a holistic image of humankind, combining intellect with feelings. Such exaltation included utopic and visionary elements which were soon criticized as pure euphoria and illusion. However, as Schorlemmer (1992) has stated, we need bridges between pragmatism and vision in order to master our future.

Creativity and Values After the Wende: Implications of the Culture of Niches

The change of values after the Wende can be metaphorically compared to Goethe's Euphorion, son of Faust and Helen, symbol of the miraculous. The "change of change" was brought forward by majorities which previously had been controlled by the Communist state. Pushed on by political-economic promises, the choice of the Western system occurred very quickly. Apart from the fulfillment of material wishes, an unconscious need of dependence and attachment played an important role in the goal to become a valid citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Soon, however, this hoped-for process of assimilation was blocked by the recognition of deficits and inhibitions in comparison with people of West Germany as well as by some feelings of shame and guilt concerning behavior in the past. While their feet were still stuck in the old mud, so to speak, the sharp wind of Western competition and market values blew in the face of the new citizens and made their breathing difficult. The Western system was misjudged: it was not an intentional, systemic process for individuals to fulfill their goals and ambitions. The so-called "democratic self" was not endowed with a social identity, did not follow universal general rules of the government and acted without the security of a guaranteed public harmony. The contingency of values excluded a generally valid, highest value and avoided questions of meaning.

The interpretation of life was reduced to headlines. Being confronted with the anonymous, complex system of the Western world, the new citizens from East Germany felt insecure, estranged and up-rooted. They showed their insecurity by either painful attempts at adjustment, sacrifice and submission; or by lamentation, self-pity, demands and accusations of being betrayed.

Politically, a new split developed: on the one hand, there were West Germans with technical skill and professional knowledge, but often also with arrogance, inner emptiness and monetary orientation. On the other hand, there were East Germans, adjusting to the Western market, consumption and competition, but angry and bitter about the change in their lives. Facing a loss of possessions, property and employment and feeling treated like second-class citizens, they often nostalgically escaped back to the old niches.

In conclusion, there has been an essential change of values in the eastern part of Germany due to the Wende. In the West like in the East, there is now a minimal degree of ethical values. This means individuals are entitled to fulfill their personal strivings and efforts as long as they remain within the broad frame of legal norms. Apart from this "pursuit of happiness," our society relates only loosely to a social network and to voluntary initiatives of individuals or groups to care for indigent people. The venerable Christian concept of charity has dwindled.

As Freud (1961) pointed out, individual freedom is not an attribute of civilization or culture. Self-centered interest, ego strengths and financial success notwithstanding, ethical values cannot be abandoned. Ernest Becker (1973) described a double ontological need in modern man who remains a homo religiosus: After the first step of self-reflection which includes the integration of the shadow (Jung, 1976), the second step requires a surrender to God in an act of "heroic transcendence."

Pragmatically, a deliberate renunciation of our interests in favor of others that is clearly differentiated from moral masochism or enslavement by a punitive conscience (Hoppe, 1992) is a value that our society will need in the future. It seems crucial to consider simultaneously claims of political-economic values and to overcome "apathy of empathy" (Hoppe, 1987) so that pragmatic and visionary creativity can guide and enrich life and its value.

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