Theories of generations from the sociology of knowledge are interested in the specific constitution of historical and social generations (see Mannheim, 1965). From this perspective, generations are formed, for example, through birth cohorts, a similar spatial and temporal location or shared historical, cultural and social experiences (see ibid.). In addition, there is a pedagogical concept of generations, which represents an important reference point and basic concept (Müller, 1999) within education studies. Schleiermacher questions how – from an educational perspective – relationships between generations, i.e. the younger and older generations, are structured (Schleiermacher, 1957). Theoretical developments in generational relationships show that generational relationships are not one-sided, i.e. it is no longer just about how the older generation raises the younger generation, but rather how the relationality and reciprocity of the relationships between the generations in the educational process and thus of the generational relationship is emphasised (Baader, 2018, p. 81). Thinking about generational relationships in relational terms also means not only understanding the generational relationship in binary terms but designing generational relationships in relation to gender relations and, among other things, asking about the specific links between generation and gender, while also not ignoring power relations. This perspective has also been focused on by recent research on childhood, which has fundamentally highlighted that generational difference, i.e. the distinction between children and adults, who are each endowed with different rights, is part of the social structure of modern societies (Alanen, 2005).

With regard to education in the GDR, a doubled generational relationship can be assumed (cf. Baader/Koch/Kroschel, 2021). This means that older children or adolescents were encouraged to help raise younger children to become socialist personalities and to orient themselves towards the official values of the GDR. The associated appeals were strongly gendered, for example when it came to who should help whom, with what and how.

In connection with education in the GDR, there is also talk of the fundamental equality of generations or generational equality (Andresen, 2006, p. 213). However, this must be rejected in view of authoritarian and violent educational conditions (Lenski, 2023) and represents more of a state self-description than an analysis of generational power relations in the GDR.