Society for German–Soviet Friendship
Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox organization The Society for German–Soviet Friendship (in German, Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft/DSF) was an East German organization set up to encourage closer co-operation between the German Democratic Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
It was founded from the Society for the Studies of Soviet Culture to teach about Russian culture to Germans unfamiliar with it. It quickly turned into a propaganda tool and eventually changed its name.<ref>https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00457R008800410001-3.pdf CIA documents: Society for German-Soviet Friendship </ref>
Due to the immense popularity of Mikhail Gorbachev with ordinary East Germans disillusioned with their own hardline Communist leaders, the DSF's membership grew massively in the last years of the regime which many interpret as a sign of support of Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika by the East German people.Template:Citation needed In 1989 there were 6.3 million members.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Following the disbanding of the German Democratic Republic, the organization was dissolved.
The name has inspired band names that play on the name of the DSF Template:Citation needed, for instance the German band Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, which means German-American Friendship, as well as Jewish Ukrainian Freundschaft (J.U.F.).
See also
Notes
Literature
- Matthias Klingenberg: "Culture as vehicle : the history of the German-Soviet Friendship-Society (1947-1953)", Heidelberg 2001.