© Katja Aischmann
Documentary | 2021 | Docu | Germany
Main data
| Director | Volker Schmidt-Sondermann |
|---|---|
| Written by | Katja Aischmann, Steffen Hengst |
| Production | Tellux-Film GmbH Dresden [de] |
Brief synopsis
The GDR in the mid-1950s. The 6-day week is in effect. The young republic needs workers. Women are also expected to help build the socialist state.
But where to put the many babies and small children when the mothers have to go back to work just six weeks after giving birth? The idea that saved the day seemed both simple and efficient: the weekly crèche was launched. Anyone can now drop off their child at such a facility on Monday morning and take it back on Saturday. This means that not only do fathers go to work normally, but mothers can also participate fully in working life, finish their studies and seize career opportunities thanks to state childcare. A very socialist and also very emancipated idea.
At least one hundred thousand children were placed in weekly crèches between 1950 and the end of the GDR. And it was not only in the GDR, but also in other socialist states such as Czechoslovakia, that people believed in the collective permanent care of the youngest children. But early research raised doubts. Alarmed by symptoms of hospitalism and developmental disorders, the care model was abandoned in other socialist states. In the GDR, on the other hand, it was perfected further and further into the 1980s.
Today, many of the former week children complain of severe psychological damage caused by the early phase of their childhood. Those affected take us back in time, tell us about late effects and their fears, which they still carry with them today. Mothers and nursery school educators also describe their views of the institutions that are controversial today and to which the GDR clung until the end.
But is it really the case that placement in weekly crèches led to traumatization that can still be felt years later? Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. med. Agathe Israel, ethicist Prof. Dr. Karsten Laudien, educationalist Prof. Dr. Florian von Rosenberg and social scientist Heike Liebsch shed light on the 40-year history of the GDR weekday nurseries and examine the effects on those affected.
The film was funded by the Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur.
But where to put the many babies and small children when the mothers have to go back to work just six weeks after giving birth? The idea that saved the day seemed both simple and efficient: the weekly crèche was launched. Anyone can now drop off their child at such a facility on Monday morning and take it back on Saturday. This means that not only do fathers go to work normally, but mothers can also participate fully in working life, finish their studies and seize career opportunities thanks to state childcare. A very socialist and also very emancipated idea.
At least one hundred thousand children were placed in weekly crèches between 1950 and the end of the GDR. And it was not only in the GDR, but also in other socialist states such as Czechoslovakia, that people believed in the collective permanent care of the youngest children. But early research raised doubts. Alarmed by symptoms of hospitalism and developmental disorders, the care model was abandoned in other socialist states. In the GDR, on the other hand, it was perfected further and further into the 1980s.
Today, many of the former week children complain of severe psychological damage caused by the early phase of their childhood. Those affected take us back in time, tell us about late effects and their fears, which they still carry with them today. Mothers and nursery school educators also describe their views of the institutions that are controversial today and to which the GDR clung until the end.
But is it really the case that placement in weekly crèches led to traumatization that can still be felt years later? Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. med. Agathe Israel, ethicist Prof. Dr. Karsten Laudien, educationalist Prof. Dr. Florian von Rosenberg and social scientist Heike Liebsch shed light on the 40-year history of the GDR weekday nurseries and examine the effects on those affected.
The film was funded by the Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur.