Plakat "denken IST DIE ERSTE BÜRGERPFLICHT"

“The first task of citizens is to think”Demonstration poster, 1989The sentence here appeals to each person’s individual responsibility. The poster does not call for concrete policies. Instead, it refers to the dependency and conformity encouraged by Socialist Unity Party (SED) control in the GDR, as well as to earlier authoritarian traditions.“The first task of citizens is to think” recalls an official announcement posted in 1806. Following the defeat of Prussian troops and capture of Berlin by Napoleon’s army, Berliners were instructed to stay calm. The poster read: “The first task of citizens is to remain calm.” In later decades this became an adage, meaning one should obey the authorities and not engage in oppositional political action. The 1989 poster applies the slogan from 1806 to conditions in East Germany. The word “think” inverts the original meaning, because to think is to form one’s own opinion instead of accepting authority. With reference to the demonstrations in autumn 1989, it advocates people taking matters into their own hands, freeing themselves from external control, and becoming true citizens responsible for their own ideas and actions.The reason for the four colours underlining “denken” (“think”) is unclear. They might simply highlight the word stylistically. Or, their specific combination might reference the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students held in East Berlin in 1973, which many experienced as a brief summer of freedom.