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Constructions of (Non-)Belonging: Marginalized Social Groups in “Actually Existing Socialism”
close to an unofficial, scientifically derived poverty line; amongst old-age pension¬
ers, this figure was 65 percent (Manz 1992: 86-87). For the Peoples Republic of
Bulgaria, where a similar noticeable absence of any reference to poverty as a social
phenomenon is remarkable, a few studies have involved social minima and their
consequences—even though the term poverty was taboo and instead in contempo¬
rary analysis one might refer to certain “income differentiations” (e.g. Atanasow
1994; Todorova 1999).
Subsequently, I would like to focus on the politically accepted, forced, and
initiated forms of visual representation in the mass media of three different social
groups between the 1960s and the late 1980s: old-age pensioners, large families,
and the “undeserving poor”. As further explained below, in all three societies a sub¬
stantial part of these groups can be described as social marginalized groups within
the investigation period. Therefore, widely circulated official photographs in mass
media platforms such as newspapers and magazines have been systematically evalu¬
ated and analysed.' To determine whether the presented ways of communicating
the social were unique for the GDR, it is considered potentially fruitful to provide
transnational perspectives comparing deviation from the social norm, ways of im¬
aging it and the expression thereof in symbolic forms across state borders. Taking
into account a random sample of visual representations from the Soviet Union and
the People’s Republic of Bulgaria* may help to outline bloc-wide modes of visual
cultures and discourse logics. Thus, the chapter furthermore examines how similar
the visual cultures have been in the whole bloc. In doing so, this chapter considers
' The following GDR magazines, journals, and newspapers have been completely reviewed (the main
selection criteria being the circulation figure): Neues Deutschland ("Ihe New Germany’), Neue Zeit ("The
New Time’), Berliner Zeitung (“The Berlin Newspaper’), Neue Berliner Illustrierte (“The New Berlin Il¬
lustrated’), Wochenpost (‘Weekly Mail’), Für Dich (‘For Yow), and Junge Welt (‘Youth's World’). For media
usage in the GDR, see Meyen 2003; Fiedler 2014.
For the Soviet Union, apart from the monthly illustrated magazine Sovyetskaya Zhenshchina (‘Soviet
Woman’), edited by the Committee of Soviet Women and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions
(published in the GDR in 1971-1990), the monthly and internationally published magazine Sowjetunion
Heute (‘Soviet Union Today’) was also analysed. The latter was a highly positive and propagandistic
publication, which was published from 1956 to 1991 by the press department of the USSR’s embassy in
Bonn/West Germany. The giveaway Sovetskiy soyuz dnes, printed on high-gloss paper, was one of more
than one hundred Soviet self-portrayal magazines abroad and it sought to inform readers about the USSR’s
culture, economy, science, technique, and sports. For the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, a very similar
format was systematically reviewed: the German issue of Balgaria Dnes, i.e. Bulgarien Heute (Bulgaria
Today’), which was published from 1952 until 1986 by Sofia Press. The project was published in many
languages and was distributed in more than forty countries. The main task was to inform foreign readers
about “our homeland’s achievements and natural beauties” (see “Antwort auf Leserbrief eines Lesers aus
Dresden”, Balgaria Dnes, no. 7, 1969) and thus to introduce Bulgaria and its population as hospitable,
pleasant, modest, and economical. Due to their idealized representation of the desired social order and the
direct propagation (and visualization) of social, political, and moral aspiration, these media are suitable as
historically relevant sources for the “actually existing socialism”.
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