Service guide - Studies from the GDR and the New Federal States

The collection, processing and archiving of the results of the almost 30 years of empirical social research in the GDR was a task which arose in 1989/90 with the dissolution of the GDR. This was taken over by the Zentralarchiv in 1992, with the establishment of a working group. 

Since then it has been possible to create a comprehensive collection of empirical studies which can be used for researches on social changes in Eastern Germany as well as for contemporary studies of the GDR. These studies have been processed and documented for the interested user.

• The service guide provides information on the social science data, research documents, and background information from the GDR and the New Federal States (NFS).
• In addition there are information on search facilities and the consulting services of the staff of the GESIS Central Archive in Cologne and in the GESIS Service Agency Eastern Europe in Berlin.

Introduction to the data pool

The holdings of archived data from the GDR and the New Federal States include about 550 datasets. 460 studies are already prepared and documented. They can be searched via various information systems and can be made available to users.

• The data was collected in the period between 1968 and 2000 and covers a variety of research topics. The studies originate from more than 50 research institutes, of which the large majority are former GDR establishments.
• In the closed-down or restructured research institutes of the GDR the attempt was made to preserve the still existing datasets as complete as possible. All those studies which started in the GDR and continued during the period of the social unification ('Wende') were also taken into the archive. As a result the archive collection from the GDR is wide-ranging. 
• It covers a large number of substantive topics, for example youth and family research using a wide range of methodologies including special, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (Interval studies of pupils, interval studies of students, longitudinal surveys from the GDR and the New Federal States).
• As a further source of information published and unpublished research reports as well as documents on the progress of research in the GDR institutes have been preserved.

Search in codebooks and questionnaires

In order to enable user-friendly searches and access to the archived studies a number of different information systems are offered. The studies from the GDR and the New Federal States are documented in the different search systems of the GESIS Central Archive: 

• In the data holdings catalogue (based on the study descriptions) the studies can be found under the ZA study numbers 6000 to 7000 and under "GDR" in the search field "Universe" ('Research area').
• ZA-QBase GDR/nfS allows the retrieval in codebooks and / or questionnaires from these data holdings.

Data and documents

• Study profiles - List of all studies including links to related documents (questionnaires and Codebooks - PDF versions)
• Data depositing institutes/studies - Overview of the data pools from the respective institutes of the GDR/NFS

Longitudinal studies

• Pupil interval studies - from the GDR or the NFS
• Student interval studies - from the GDR 
• Trend analyses - on the social changes in the GDR and the transformation process in the NFS 

Research documents 

• Research documents - published and unpublished research documents from social science institutions of the GDR and the New Federal States

Publications, information and links 

• Publications on holdings at GESIS-ZA
  • Material for research on the GDR society;
  • Youth in the East
• Information on the Gray Literature from the GDR 

Order, products and charges

• Overview of available products and charges 
• Order form: WWW