Exhibition theme: A Semblance of Normalcy: A May Day rally [15/19]
OBJECT INFORMATION
Info
May 1 1989
Magdeburg
Created By:
Udo SchleimeLicense:
From the Set
Across from the VIP stand at the last socialist May Day parade; May Day was considered a guaranteed national holiday since 1949, the year the GDR was established. See also:
DGB: Erster Mai, translated and retrieved on April 23, 2009
Depicts
banner (flag),
crowd,
flag of the GDR,
logo,
May Day,
military parade,
vehicleeveryday life,
holiday,
May Day,
military paradePlaces
Hungary,
MagdeburgText in image
Other items in this set
Many people who experienced the final summer of SED rule in East Germany recall how fragile reality seemed at the time. The incongruity between the way normal citizens experienced reality and the way it was perceived by GDR leaders was all too apparent. People were increasingly articulating this discrepancy. Minor concessions, as in the case of travel, for instance, were intended to improve the mood within the population. Rising protest against living conditions continued to be nipped in the bud. That summer nobody could have imagined that the dream of freedom would soon be reality.
