Betrayal - Submission to the dictatorship of welfare

The article deals with the phenomenon of betrayal in pedagogical relationsh ips and relations of social dependence. By means of etymological differenti ations and differentiations bases on the history of law and on social histo ry, the authors try to achieve a conceptual explanation of the term "betray al". The factual findings are specifically related to the political system of the GDR which, despite its efforts toward modernization only permitted t he interpretation of a "community" with regard to its own self-understandin g and that of its prominent agents. Drawing on a number of exemplary case s tudies based upon records and files kept by the GDR, especially by the "Min istry of State Security", the immediate social context of individuals suffe ring betrayal is reconstructed, thus illustrating the immense significance attributed to betrayal in the social system of the GDR as well as its impac t on the individuals concerned. The presentation also serves to point to th e principles of a liberal social order in contrast.