Robert F. Goeckel

Profiles in Collaboration exposes the collaboration of five leading officials in the East German CDU with the Stasi, the secret police of the Communist regime in the GDR. One of the bloc parties licensed by the Soviets after WWII, the CDU-East was soon subordinated by the Communist Party (SED) and tasked with mollifying opposition and mobilizing support for the Marxist-Leninist regime among Christians and churches. Yet given its interactions with the churches and contacts with political figures in West Germany, the CDU represented a potential risk for the regime. Thus the CDU-East introduced an additional layer to the bureaucratic system not found in other Soviet bloc systems and an element of complexity to East German religious policy. Robert F. Goeckel analyzes this complexity by exploring the cases of five leading CDU officials, four of whom agreed to collaborate with the Stasi and one who did not. He investigates what motivated them to collaborate (or not), how the Stasi recruited them, and how the Stasi "managed" their careers. In doing so, the extent to which these CDU officials sought to influence the churches and the state policy towards religion becomes more clear, along with how their consciences, political beliefs, and personal crises affected their commitment to act as informants. Ultimately, Profiles in Collaboration illuminates how the bureaucratic interests of the CDU were directly affected not only by the Stasi and other regime actors, but also policy shifts by the churches and West Germany.

Soviet Religious Policy in Estonia and Latvia considers what impact Western religious culture had on Soviet religious policy. While Russia was a predominantly Orthodox country, Baltic states annexed after WWII, such as Estonia and Latvia, featured Lutheran and Catholic churches as the state religion. Robert Goeckel explores how Soviet religious policy accommodated differing traditions and the extent to which these churches either reflected nationalist consciousness or offered an opportunity for subversion of Soviet ideals. Goeckel considers what negotiating power these organizations might have had with the Soviet state and traces differences in policy between Moscow and local bureaucracies. Based on extensive research into official Soviet archives, some of which are no longer available to scholars, Goeckel provides fascinating insight into the relationship between central political policies and church responses to those shifting policies in the USSR. Goeckel argues that national cultural affinity with Christianity remained substantial despite plummeting rates of religious adherence. He makes the case that this affinity helped to provide a diffuse basis for the eventual challenge to the USSR. The Singing Revolution restored independence to Estonia and Latvia, and while Catholic and Lutheran churches may not have played a central role in this restoration, Goeckel shows how they nonetheless played harmony.

Soviet Religious Policy in Estonia and Latvia considers what impact Western religious culture had on Soviet religious policy. While Russia was a predominantly Orthodox country, Baltic states annexed after WWII, such as Estonia and Latvia, featured Lutheran and Catholic churches as the state religion. Robert Goeckel explores how Soviet religious policy accommodated differing traditions and the extent to which these churches either reflected nationalist consciousness or offered an opportunity for subversion of Soviet ideals. Goeckel considers what negotiating power these organizations might have had with the Soviet state and traces differences in policy between Moscow and local bureaucracies. Based on extensive research into official Soviet archives, some of which are no longer available to scholars, Goeckel provides fascinating insight into the relationship between central political policies and church responses to those shifting policies in the USSR. Goeckel argues that national cultural affinity with Christianity remained substantial despite plummeting rates of religious adherence. He makes the case that this affinity helped to provide a diffuse basis for the eventual challenge to the USSR. The Singing Revolution restored independence to Estonia and Latvia, and while Catholic and Lutheran churches may not have played a central role in this restoration, Goeckel shows how they nonetheless played harmony.