Benjamin Eckel and Constanze Kummer

The German Democratic Republic (GDR), founded in 1949, emerged from the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ) in the east regions of the former German Empire as a socialist state under the influence of the Soviet Union. In the western German regions, the Federal Republic of Germany was founded, also in 1949, representing the western society and the capitalist system, which led to an ongoing political and economic competition of those two German states and the represented systems during the Cold War. The former capital of the German Empire, Berlin, was also divided according to the occupation zones of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. While East-Berlin became the capital of the GDR, West-Berlin became an exclave and Bonn the capital of West Germany. The GDR existed until the reunification of the two German states on October 3, 1990.

The ruling party in the GDR was the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands/SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany), which controlled large parts of the public, but also the private lives of the citizens. Construction was also regulated by the state, centrally located in East Berlin, the state capital.

Architecture and planning in the GDR

While architecture in the early years was still determined by socialist classicism, the general conditions changed after Stalin’s death and the industrialization of construction was actively promoted and became the measure of architecture. Practice and teaching were accordingly geared towards prefabricated construction, based on Khrushchev’s[1] 1954 speech “On the extensive introduction of industrial methods, improving the quality and reducing the cost of construction“ (in German: “Besser, billiger und Schneller bauen”).[2] This was also accompanied by an ambitious housing construction program, which was intended to provide sufficient living space nationwide. In the cities and communities of the GDR, the urban planning followed the principles of the functional city. The planning of the new socialist cities was also intended to ease the burden on family life and thus on women in their role as housewives and mothers. Everything was to be within walking distance: public transportation, recreational and shopping facilities, as well as schools and kindergartens that also offered all-day care and lunch services. These urban planning ideals, which were pursued both outside the city and in the reconstruction of inner cities after WWII, could often only be partially implemented due to economic circumstances.

The role of women in the GDR

The perception of the role of women in society changed within the forty-year existence of the GDR. In the early years of the GDR, the fifties and sixties, the main effort was to provide women with a similar level of education and qualification as men, because women were needed for the growth of the economy. In the 1980s, half of the East German workforce was composed of women, and by 1990 it was considered commonplace for women to work, regardless of their family status or maternity. In general, however, women’s occupation in the GDR was less about the pursuit of female self-realization than about the state leadership’s intention to help build socialism. For the role of women, this meant reconciling motherhood and work, which the GDR promoted through maternity leave, the introduction of child benefits, infant and child care (even after school hours), and consideration for mothers when scheduling shift work. In some areas, attempts were made to link infrastructural provision to the workplace; for example, there were kindergartens and medical care attached to the company, as well as company lunch in canteens.

These measures enabled women to actively participate in working life. Nevertheless, women in leadership and management positions were rare in the GDR, despite high professional qualifications. One of the main reasons for this was the double burden on women in the GDR. This was because, in addition to their professional obligations, the main responsibility for the household, childcare or, for example, the care of elderly relatives was on woman. Although the Family Code of 1965 (which came into force in 1966) gave both parents equal responsibility for raising children, perceptions toward the division of labor within the family did not change. A promotion in career was often linked to additional time demands and activities and was therefore not a viable option for many women.[3]

Female architects and planners in the GDR

Architects consequently had to fulfill their building tasks in a state-regulated system that was significantly influenced by the SED, and they mainly worked in collectives. The ideological basis of these collectives was to organize workers into work groups in order to promote their potential within the community, but also to exert sociopolitical influence. Instead of competition, solidarity was sought among the workers. Nevertheless, there were also competitions among these collectives, but always under the political guiding principle of the supposedly represented socialism.

While the GDR officially pursued a policy of equality in labor and thus also in construction and architecture, in reality, however, a strong imbalance became apparent. There were only a few well-known female architects and it is almost impossible to find a woman in a leading position in this field. Urban planning offices, architectural collectives, institutions for the preservation of historical monuments or teaching – in almost all areas of architecture, mainly men were active.

This is particularly evident in leadership positions. Therefore, it is not surprising, that there have been only a few Stadtarchitektinnen (female urban planners): Iris Dullin-Grund in Neubrandenburg, Helga Hüller in Greifswald, Sabine Rohleder in Zwickau and Sigrid Maciaszek briefly in Eisenhüttenstadt.

Besides urban planning, some women worked as architects, engineers, designers (for furniture and product design), and landscape architects. In the early GDR, for example, the architect Karola Bloch was able to realize several projects. With her work, she made decisive contributions to the planning and typification of children’s facilities, such as crèches, kindergartens or weekly homes. Later, Sigrid Schaller, for example, was able to develop architectonical solutions for prefabricated houses in the inner-city area of Halle in the 1980s. Another example would be the work of Sigrid Maciaszek, who primarily designed residential buildings, was also honored in an exhibition at the IRS Erkner in 2015.[4]

But many other female planners in the former GDR have been all the less illuminated. It is not without reason that Tanja Scheffler writes on this subject of the “great unknowns” and already lists the female architects already mentioned.[5]

The work of those not yet known female engineers, designers, landscape architects and architects is thus also still hidden from the public, since often not even the names of the individual actors are known.

[1] Nikita Khrushchev was a Russian politician, who was the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and premier of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964.

[2] Khrushchev, N. S.: Besser, billiger und schneller Bauen, Berlin 1955.

[3] Fulbrook, Mary: Ein ganz normales Leben. Alltag und Gesellschaft in der DDR, Darmstadt 2011, p.160-195.

[4] https://www.moz.de/lokales/erkner/sie-gab-der-platte-kleine-extras-48478486.html (last accessed on February 3^rd 2022)

[5] Scheffler, Tanja: Die großen Unbekannten – Architektinnen der DDR, in: Bauwelt 22.2017, Berlin 2017, p. 10-13.