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Christoph Lorke
These characteristic visual and semantic structures may be found in the So¬
viet Union, as well. As in the case of the GDR, social problems amongst old-age
pensioners were not to be shown in the public sphere (for living conditions, see
Miicke 2013). Instead, pictures from an Estonian retirement home from the year
1983 should serve as proof of the spacious facilities and generously designed homes
(Fig. 3).'° The sunshine in the photographs further underscores that imagination.
Furthermore, libraries and concerts were depicted here as well as in many other
examples,'' as symbols of useful free-time activities. Moreover, parallel comparable
forms of visual arrangements are noticeable—pensioners were either photographed
alone or, slightly from above, in a group sitting around a table, conversing, or din¬
ing together. Any potential problems like loneliness or isolation, not to mention
material or monetary difficulties, were by necessity visually absent.'* In this sense,
it can be seen that there was a continuation of the former symbolic forms of de¬
picting old age in the Soviet Union. In particular, the factor of “work” experienced
an ideological upswing after 1945 (Lovell 2013). This idea was ideologically and
subsequently visually transferred to the Eastern European satellite states. This also
included the connection between age and youth: “Misha”, appearing in an article
from the year 1973, is visiting a circus with his grandfather, and “Alexey”, who is
doing his mathematics homework, is getting help from his “most important con¬
sultant”, his grandfather. Other examples focused even more on physical activities
such as dancing and gymnastics with the grandchildren. These images should em¬
phasize a carefree life with sufficient pensions and meaningful, socially beneficial
occupation without solitude and boredom.'* The very fact that for many pension¬
ers working in the age of retirement was not merely a joy but very often an abso¬
lute necessity was thus transfigured by the state-controlled propaganda (Fig. 4).'4
A quick glance at Bulgaria, where pensioners also have been a socially suspended
group in many regards, " may indicate further analogies. A report of a retirement
home in Sofia from the year 1961, which is explicitly described and thus contrasted
with “the earlier days” as capacious, hygienic, and sunny, with a dining room like
an “exquisite restaurant” and noble, lusty, calm, and carefree residents, introduces
10 N. Baraschkowa, “Wenn der Lebensabend kommt” (‘When the Sunset Years Are Coming’), Sovyets¬
kaya Zhenshchina (‘Soviet Woman), no. 5 (1983).
" N.N., "Sorgeníreier Lebensabend"? (‘Carefree Eventide”), Sowjetunion Heute, no. 19, 1971.
Virtually an icon for the topic of aging under socialism in general, see N.N., “Begegnung am Lebensa¬
bend” (‘Meeting in the Old Days’), Sowjetunion Heute, no. 2, 1977.
5 E. Gussewa, “Tatiger Lebensabend” (‘Busy Old Days’), Sowjetunion Heute, no. 4, 1973; A. Blinow,
“Tätig bis ins hohe Lebensalter” (Active Into the Old Days’), Sowjetunion Heute, no. 25, 1980; N.N.,
“Wenn ein Sowjetbürger in Rente geht” (When a Soviet Citizen is Going to be Retired’), Sowjetunion
Heute, no. 5, 1984.
5 C. Dyson, “Berufstätig auch im Rentenalter” (‘Employed Even in the Age of Retirement’), Sowjetunion
Heute, no. 26, 1981; for further discussions, see Thane 2005: 274-277.
5 Pensions reached only a value of 25 percent to 50 percent of the amount regarded as necessary to satisfy
all basic needs; see Popova 2007: 119; Konstantinov 2001; see also Minkov 1978.