Securing the Communist State

Reviews / Votes

The author goes into great detail on the structure of the new police in both countries and the numerous reorganizations that were present. * Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis * The central question posed in this invaluable study is 'How did the German and Romanian communists manage to win control over the police and army and transform them into loyal pillars of their own regime?' In providing answers Liesbeth van de Grift adopts a non-teleological approach, one which seeks to take into account the role of domestic political forces and discusses not only the discontinuities of the period but also the continuities. She examines the similarities and differences in the courses the Soviet-occupied countries adopted after the Second World War and explains the strategies the communists in Romania and East Germany employed to overcome their lack of legitimacy, notably their reform of the police and the army. Her careful analysis adds significantly to the political history of Romania and East Germany, as well as to the literature on the dynamics of transitology. -- Dennis Deletant, Georgetown University This is an important contribution to our understanding of the transition from fascism to communism in Eastern Europe after 1945. Liesbeth van de Grift offers a clear, well-researched comparative analysis of how the police forces of the communist regimes in East Germany and Romania were formed after war and of the key role they played in the establishment of these regimes. -- Richard Bessel, University of York