Visual Material for the May 1986 GDR Election

Elections were always major events in East Germany, even though the outcome was never in doubt. It was a kind of performative politics, where the government accepted the obedience of its citizens. 

 The GDR system provided material for Wandzeitungen, bulletin boards that appointed agitators maintained. Today I am adding material prepared for the May 1986 election. 

This image shows happy children looking forward to the election that will bring peace, while cheerful construction workers look on.

Still Working on the Coding

I have not added much new material for months. I thought I was done last fall, but then AI agents came along that made it possible to make major coding changes much more easily. Since some of the site's code went back to 1996, things happened during the updating process. In several cases with long pages, AI got lazy and cut material which I didn't notice for a while. Thank goodness for backups. I think I am almost done now. Today I even added new images to two existing pages. But again, if you notice anything amiss, please me me know.