MASS MEDIA IN DIVIDED GERMANY 561
mation into the GDR, which ensured there was at least a partial network
through which the opposition in the GDR could communicate.
This politicization of the press was also accompanied by a simultaneous
process of depoliticization, indicated at fi rst by the boom in magazines.
Although these publications were still grounded in the ideology of the
GDR, they nonetheless refl ected the trend toward a more diff erentiated
consumer society even within the confi nes of socialism. They drew lines
within society, separating groups according to generation or gender, but
also in terms of hobbies, interests, or lifestyles, thereby shaping prefer-
ences, norms, or certain behaviors. In general, a much smaller variety of
magazines was available in the GDR, especially since this kind of diff er-
entiation was not desired and the GDR did not have a comparable con-
sumer industry that fostered such a process. Additionally, the rising price
of paper on the world market in the 1970s also put further limitations
on such magazines. Nonetheless, millions of the often similar entertain-
ment, service, and advice magazines were read in both German states.
The magazines with the highest circulations in East and West Germany
were television guides (such as Hörzu and FF-dabei), women’s magazines
(such as Brigitte and Für Dich), or illustrated entertainment news weeklies
(such as Bunte and Neue Berliner Illustrierte).^39 They presented nonpo-
litical stars from the entertainment world, touted travel destinations, or
gave advice about everyday things. In doing so, however, they could also
greatly infl uence desires and social behaviors.^40 The illustrated weeklies
and women’s magazines in the GDR, for example, established role mod-
els similar to those in the West. Although they may have shown women
working in technical professions, these women were usually depicted in
a service setting, doing schematic work, or in a caring role. They also
provided tips for fashion, the home, or handicrafts.^41 The simultaneous
success of these really rather conservative women’s magazines in East
and West indicates just how fi rmly embedded traditional gender roles
were at the time; they also help to explain their persistence, despite the
high level of female employment in the GDR and the feminist campaigns
in the West. Even magazines that were new to the scene, such as Bild der
Frau, quickly achieved an impressive circulation of 2.5 million, but only
a fraction of this number of copies were sold of the often-cited feminist
magazine Emma. Courage, another feminist magazine, folded not long
after it was launched.
In addition, an increased number of children’s and youth magazines
appeared on the market in both Germanys. Although comics had initially
been dismissed in both states as American brainwashing that dulled the
mind, they soon became a legitimate form of entertainment on both sides
of the Wall. Corresponding magazines even appeared in the GDR, such