This essay evaulates how effective the social welfare programmes introduced by Honecker were for meeting the needs of the population in the DDR. This essay was marked by teachers receiving a grade A (18/20 marks)
How effective were the social welfare programmes of the GDR in meeting the needs of its
population between 1949 and 1985?
During 1949 and 1985, the GDR focused its efforts on providing different welfare programmes for
different sectors of the country which proved to be effective for raising living standards and
providing benefits for its workers however there are other programmes which show the GDR did not
meet the needs of its population to an extent. Even though the GDR provided healthcare facilities
which halved the infant mortality rates and provided care for the elderly, it wasn’t sufficient due to
little training, lack of equipment and no care homes however, this still suggests that the government
was trying to appeal to every sector of society in order to keep them happy with the regime.
The aftermath of world war 2 left Germany in a state of two thirds of the housing in major cities was
left to decay, so it was one of the GDR’s priorities to improve housing. As a result, mass plattenbau
homes were constructed, these were large prefabricated concrete slabs to create homes. During
1971 to 1975, 400,000 new homes were built which provided more people with a home, sports,
health and childcare facilities along with the basic needs that was all provided by the government,
the new housing programme was very effective as by 1980, the target of building 1 million homes
was exceeded which increased satisfaction from 35% to 76% in Dresden which clearly highlights that
people preferred the new housing to the older accommodation. By 1886, only 6% of families lacked
their own home which was a huge improvement from post war where most families were left
looking for loved ones or becoming homeless. However, Honecker was more concerned more about
the quantity of housing rather than the quality in which the housing style wasn’t liked much by the
population as they often referred to them as “stone deserts” and “comfort cells” which clearly
empathise some the citizen’s dislike towards the new style. The housing programme is further
presented as ineffective due to the increased crime rate due to the poor condition of the houses
which caused a significant decrease in the health of those who lived there. Overall, although the
GDR provided more homes to deal with the housing crisis after the second world war however, the
houses was of poor condition as they could be put together like a jigsaw puzzle which led to further
problems which put their needs at risk resulting in crime and feebleness.
Education was another prioritised programme in becoming a crucial part in giving young people the
necessary skills to not only be apart of society but to also be subject of political indoctrination. A part
of this programme was to abolish church and private schools to remove any other influence on
young people, in which the school system was reorganised into all students following the same
curriculum underpinning socialist rules. The education system was effective to an extent as those in
their final years of school attended higher education schools which was an entrance to go onto
university, throughout 1949 to 1985, the amount of people getting places in university increased
ultimately increasing student’s status in society. Some key parts of the new curriculum were learning
Russian as modern foreign language, linking industry to work and studying citizenship which offered
closer links with the USSR and built students ready to go into the world to work while accepting the
regime they had been indoctrinate by. However, the education programme was also seen to be
ineffective as the GDR’s workforce was becoming overqualified as there weren’t any skilled jobs for
those who were skilled as there were only opportunities for 55% of the workers. The GDR education
had to recover from Nazism therefore previous teachers that taught Nazi curriculum was fired, a
result of this led to some groups of people unable to join their preferred university or college course
and resentment from conforming to a new ideology so the government had to hire more staff and
train them to be qualified to teach a new socialist curriculum.
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