About the Author:  I also write under the names Rudi Stettner and Magdeburger Joe. My home websites are rudistettner.com and magdeburgerjoe.com. Through my writing I like to promote a "labour conservative " social outlook as well as my eclectic tastes and interests Read more from this author

SAG MIR WO DU STEHST (TELL ME WHERE YOU STAND!)

BAU AUF BAU AUF (Build Up Build Up )

DER HEIMLICHE AUFMARSCH (THE APPROACHING  FASCIST INVADER)

The spreading news of an “Obama Jugend” (Obama Youth) movement budding in the midst of the presidential campaign troubles me. The idea of party youth groups has a historical resonance that is very troubling.

With the prominence of women in this political race, I find myself thinking of Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany . Merkel was born in the former East Germany to a father who was a Lutheran pastor widely  viewed as sympathetic to the communist regime then in power. Although she was at one time a member of FDJ (Free German Youth), she refused to participate in its “Jugendweihe” (youth consecration) ceremony, a common experience to East German youth at  the age of 14. Instead, she chose to be confirmed in the Lutheran church. Merkel graduated from the University of Leipzig and has a degree in physics. She is fluent in Russian.

Merkel became active in the democratisation movement “Democratic Awakening” in the late eighties that culminated in the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany. She was elected to the Bundestag after reunification. Her political party later merged with the Christian Democratic Party.

Merkel is more than a bit of an anomaly. She has been an outspoken critic of corruption in her party. She is a Protestant in a party with strong Catholic roots. Most importantly , she is from the former East Germany, with a strong exposure to the East German cultural frame of reference. It is an asset to the ongoing process of reunification for Germany to have elected its first “Ossi” chancellor in 2005.  More than a few easterners view reunification more as a takeover, and many West Germans look askance at the high cost of uniting Germany.

Merkel has been outspoken in her friendship with the United States when such friendship can be politically costly. She supported the American war in Iraq and is a strong proponent of trans Atlantic cooperation. Her economic ideas have been compared to those of Ronald Reagan. She is often viewed as a younger German version of Great Britain’s Margaret Thatcher.

Germany is a fascinating phenomenon. It was split in two for forty years into a communist side and a democratic side. The rift continues to reverberate eighteen years later in economic, social and political spheres. Its experience is certainly being studied with interest by the two Koreas, who share the common juxtaposition of cultural-linguistic affinity and political division.

I have often sparked a peculiar nostalgia in discussions with immigrants from Eastern Europe by playing music from their childhood under communism. These buried memories have deepened my appreciation and empathy for those who lived under communism.

Although I am playing these “communist hits” as a diversion from the American presidential campaign, they evoke unavoidable memories of “Obama Youth ” videos. These are songs from Angela Merkel’s youth in East Germany. I hope my readers enjoy them.

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To provide a light hearted counterpoint to the communist videos, I am including below a “Jugendweihe” home video with a soundtrack of “Casablanca” which is a fantastic hit from the East German rock band “City”. I am also including “Alt wie Ein Baum” with an old video from the communist years. The song is a classic by one of the greatest rock bands of all time to sing in any language. Its words translate as “I want to grow old like a tree, just like the poets used to say…” Like many of their other songs, this song strikes a universal note among listeners.

“Youth Consecration” video with East German Rock Music

Puhdys “Alt Wie Ein Baum”

Songs from the “Obamajugend” (Obama Youth)