PRESENTING A BETTER GERMANY: COMPETING CULTURAL DIPLOMACIES OF EAST AND WEST GERMANY, 1949-1990

This dissertation shows how after the Second World War and the Holocaust, both the communist East Germany and the liberal democratic West Germany appropriated the media as a tool in the Cold War struggle for hegemony. It examines how both states used illustrated magazines to define themselves anew and to demonstrate they were the “better” Germany to foreign audiences sympathetic to Germany. In particular, it focuses on the two main state-sponsored magazines at the heart of this propaganda campaign, Scala International in West Germany and its East German counterpart, GDR Review. These magazines, designed particularly for Western and non-aligned countries, covered a number of similar themes including the state of the economy, rebuilding after the war, and women’s role in society. The dissertation combines a study of messages from the magazines and the intention behind their creation through an institutional analysis. One of the key tasks of this dissertation has been to show that both German states looked to each other when competing for international acceptance. Thus, it challenges the conventional narrative that West Germany cared little for East Germany’s efforts to gain international acceptance. In fact, East Germany’s early initiation of this propaganda competition spurred West Germany to redouble their efforts. Additionally, while many historians have focused on high-level diplomacy and the role of the Cold War superpowers in redeeming Germany for international audiences, this dissertation demonstrates that the German states and people had a great deal of agency. By constructing their image in relationship to the neighboring other and in juxtaposition to the Nazi past, both German states developed their identities in highly visual presentations that sought to subvert seemingly incontrovertible Cold War divisions. The ossified nature of bloc division in this period led to an increasing importance in attempts to convince foreign populations of the superiority of one’s system. This shows that the German states’ efforts to recruit grassroots level support reflects this broader trend of diverse efforts and messages inside “soft power” strategies during the Cold War.Doctor of Philosoph