Authority and rebellion : the GDR Kinderhorspiel (1981-90) : its role and place in German radio drama

This research attempted to analyze a small sample of East German children's radio drama, with a view to opening the topic up to serious scholarly study. The sample, taken from plays broadcast during the period 1981 to 1990, was limited to works that deal principally with young people's lives at home and at school, in a realistic setting. Tapes and manuscripts of the works under investigation were obtained from the Funkhaus in Berlin during a six-month period in 1991. All except one play are as yet unpublished.

Works produced by the Department of Children's Radio Drama at the Rundfunk der DDR were acknowledged on both sides of the Iron Curtain to be of the highest quality, and and it was the purpose of this dissertation to investigate the reasons for their great reputation. I also wished to view the oeuvre in the context of German radio drama from its earliest days. It was concluded that East German children's radio drama is indeed worthy of scholarly study; that it deserves as much attention as those works written and broadcast primarily for adults; that it should be viewed as part of an unbroken continuum, begun in 1923; and that its demise is regrettable.