Sprachliche Entfremdung als Phänomen des Umbruchs in der früheren DDR

Abstract

Linguistic alienation as phenomenon of the transformation in the erstwhile DDR The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic have not yet grown into a coherent unity since the political unification of the two 'Germanies' in 1990. The reason for the lack of sympathy and the irritations on both sides possibly lies in the fact that the actual developments did not meet the general expectations during the first years after 1990. The thesis of my article is that the more profound reasons for the alienation between the western and the eastern part of Germany can be found in the little interest on the western side for the developments in the GDR from 1949 until the fall of the Wall in 1989. The lack of interest in the forty years of the GDR’s existence finds its expression in the alienation of language. In order to improve communication between the Germans of both spheres, the reading of literary texts from the former GDR by members of the entire new Federal Republic of Germany can be a reconcilliatory device. In this way the reader can obtain insight into forty years of history.