Propaganda in East Germany

Through various forms of propaganda, such as posters, pamphlets and speeches, the Soviet Union censored the ideas of the allied forces and the outside world from the citizens of Eastern Germany.

The information on the posters was used to convince the German people that the institutions of the Soviet Union would perpetuate a peaceful socialist society.

Speeches were made in order to persuade the people to fall in line with the socialist movement and the leaders of the Soviet Union.

Of central importance in the context of East German propaganda were the speeches given at the national memorial sites (Nationale Mahn- und Gedenkstätten) Buchenwald, Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen on the occasion of the major anniversaries of the liberation of the concentration camps.

According to historian Anne-Kathleen Tillack-Graf, the speeches were more about the current issues of the GDR concerning the political and economic situation, and only to a lesser extent about the lives and commemoration of the victims of the concentration camps and the historical events.