The ‘People’s Sport’: Petty Theft in the German Democratic Republic, 1963-1985
Authors
Millington, RichardAffiliation
University of ChesterPublication Date
2023-04-24
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This article examines petty theft in the GDR. It considers offences committed from the early 1960s to 1985. It shows that GDR citizens stole a range of items including money, vehicle parts, clothes, food, cigarettes, alcohol, and construction materials and/or equipment from places such as factories, construction sites, shops, staff rooms, private homes, and colleagues’ bags. Many of these thieves were apparently motivated by a lack of money to buy the things that they desired. Though petty theft did undermine the vision of socialist society that the Party hoped to create, there is little evidence to support the conclusion that it constituted an act of outright resistance. Thieves stole for personal gain rather than in order to thumb their nose at Party bosses.Citation
Millington, R. (2023). The ‘People’s Sport’: Petty theft in the German Democratic Republic, 1963-1985. East Central Europe, 50(1), 14-36. https://doi.org/10.30965/18763308-50010002Publisher
BrillJournal
East Central EuropeAdditional Links
https://brill.com/view/journals/eceu/50/1/article-p14_002.xml?rskey=f6toLT&result=1Type
ArticleISSN
0094-3037EISSN
1876-3308ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.30965/18763308-50010002
Scopus Count
Collections
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/