Education Rights in the Constitutions in the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic

Abstract

The article considers the right to education recorded in the Constitutions of the German Democratic Republic and the Soviet Union, as well as some related norms applied in the Soviet zone of Germany. The author used the comparative legal method, e.g., the method of normative comparison, to compare the education laws in East Germany and the USSR. The state regulation of education started in East Germany in the pre-republic period. The period of 1945–1949 saw a ban of private schools, a single structure for all comprehensive schools, and a stipulation of equal rights to education. The constitution of the German Democratic Republic, which appeared in 1949, enshrined these norms at the statutory level. However, the new Constitution inherited a lot from the Weimar Constitution. The consolidation of education rights in the Constitution of 1968 differed from the variant of 1949. The Constitution of 1968 did not follow the education model of the Soviet Constitutions of 1936 and 1977, which were almost identical in structure and content. Despite the strong influence of both Soviet law and Marxist-Leninist ideology, the Constitutions of East Germany were independent in terms of education rights.