East Germans' images of America were decisively shaped by the historic constraints facing their country immediately after World War II and during the Cold War. These constraints included the collapse of the Nazi regime and the struggle for survival after 1945; consciousness of the catastrophe; the discussion of guilt and a search for alternatives; the disintegration of the anti-Hitler coalition and rise of two enemy camps; and the gradual takeover by German communists under the protection, toleration, and control of the Soviet occupation authority.

Against this backdrop, the variant of Marxism-Leninism that the new regime imported from the Soviet Union - with its corresponding understanding of history and society - established itself piece by piece as the dominant “official ideology.” One component of this ideology was an “official” image of America. Those in power would have preferred it to remain the exclusive image of that country, but their desire was only partially realized. The reach of both this new system and its ideology in the end remained limited throughout the life of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany and the German Democratic Republic (GDR).