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articles criticizing the regime at the time of the Polish and Hungarian revolts. Prof. Robert Havemann, another Humboldt faculty member, was dismissed from his post and dropped from the SED in 1964 for advocating freedom of inquiry. In 1966 Havemann further antagonized SED officials by advocating a democratic reorganization within the SED itself and by having his suggestions published in a leading West German weekly. Again the reaction was immediate; Havemann was dismissed from his job on the staff of the East German Academy of Sciences and expelled from the academy. They regime further forbade academy members from maintaining any contact whatever with the "dissident" professor. During the tense days just before the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Havemann was quoted in the West German press as advocating Dubcek-style reforms for East Germany. There was no evidence that Havemann was personally involved in the rash of pro-Czechoslovak demonstrations throughout East Germany that followed the occupation, but his two teenage sons were arrested for taking part in rallies.
The regime generally has sought to control its writers by using tactics less harsh than those employed against Harich and Havemann. These include financial inducements, petty harassments, chicanery, and the denial of a forum for dissenting views. Writers who have been particularly offensive from the regime's viewpoint - notably playwright Peter Hacks and balladeer Wolf Biermann - have been publicly censured. Others have been compelled to engage in self-criticism.
Under Honecker's leadership, the SED approach toward the intelligentsia has altered, reflecting in part personnel changes in the cultural sector of the SED Central Committee. The regime has clamped down on the non-ideologically oriented technocrats who are now required to receive more intense political indoctrination. Those who refuse to cooperate are threatened with professional isolation and economic deprivation. The guidelines for the artistic intelligentsia have been relaxed somewhat to allow more room for creative expression. The works of some artists, authors, and film producers previously withheld from the public have appeared. At the fourth Central Committee plenum in September 1971, Honecker said that there should be no taboos in either style or content of artistic works, but there is no indication that the SED is prepared to loosen its grip on the cultural field. At a time when East Germans are being exposed to new ideas through travel abroad and through contacts with visiting foreigners, the regime is trying to make sure that it can rely on the intellectuals for support.
d. Youth
In the eyes of the regime, the youth represent one of the most difficult and defiant elements in East German society. The party's intensive cradle-to-college indoctrination, while shaping some young people into efficient Communists, sparks rebelliousness in many others. Prior to erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961, nearly 50% of the refugee flow to the West was comprised of young people in search of greater personal freedom and better jobs, and children accompanying parents.
In its efforts to control East German youth, the regime has alternated between a policy of cajoling and threatening, neither of which has produced entirely positive results. Dissatisfied with the results of its earlier policy of close regimentation, the regime relaxed its pressure in the early sixties and drafted a youth communique which allowed young people to use their newfound leisure time to adopt fads and styles popular in Western Europe. Regime-sponsored activities were ignored, as youth sought to imitate the pop culture of the West, with its rock music and distinctive dress. Incidents of "anti-regime" activity occurred sporadically throughout East Germany, and frequently party youth leaders even found it difficult to control meetings of the official youth organization, the Free German Youth.
The period of relaxation was quickly terminated after serious rioting broke out in Leipzig in October 1965 when police attempted to prevent students from singing songs proscribed by the regime. Following a crackdown on rowdyism, the regime introduced a new Family Code aimed at strengthening moral responsibility and reminding parents of their obligation to supervise the conduct of their children.
Now forced to stay in East Germany, young men and women and teenagers remain a source of great concern to the party leadership, because they are the most vociferous critics of the regime and of life in general within East Germany. "Hooligans" have disturbed the smooth operation of factories and farms. Teenage students have upset the educational machinery by asking searching political questions, by emulating their counterparts in Western Europe, and even, on occasion, by staging demonstrations against the regime's policies. Probably the most serious incidents of this type occurred in the weeks immediately after the invasion of Czechoslovakia when sporadic pro-Dubcek demonstrations took place in cities throughout East Germany. Although these demonstrations were easily contained by the regime,
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3
