Socialist Monuments in GDR Picturebooks on Berlin

Based on the observation that there is usually a mixture of information and propaganda in descriptive picturebooks of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), this paper examines the presentation of socialist monuments in three Berlin travel guides for children published in 1979 and 1987. In particular, the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park, the Lenin Monument, and the Thälmann Monument are considered. The picturebooks chosen are Bärchens Bummelbus (Stave and Pansch 1979), Alex, Spree und Ehrenmal (Dänhardt and Fischer 1979) from the series Mein kleines Lexikon, and Erst mal kucken in Berlin (Pieper and Döring 1987). The comparative analysis shows that different methods of mixing information and propaganda are used and that relevant differences can also be found in the visual design of these picturebooks.