Society for German–Soviet Friendship

{{Short description|East German organization}}

{{More citations needed|date=July 2023}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = Society for German-Soviet Friendship

| full_name =

| native_name = Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft

| native_name_lang = German

| logo = DSF logo DDR.png

| logo_size =

| logo_alt =

| logo_caption =

| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-13812-0001, Berlin, "Haus der Kultur der Sowjetunion".jpg

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| alt =

| caption = Berlin headquarters of the DSF's Central Board in 1952

| abbreviation = DSF

| motto =

| predecessor = Society for the Studies of Soviet Culture

| merged =

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| headquarters = East Berlin, German Democratic Republic

| location =

| fields =

| membership = 6.3 million

| membership_year = 1988

| language =

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}}

The Society for German–Soviet Friendship (in German, Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft/DSF) was an East German organization set up to encourage closer co-operation between the German Democratic Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

It was founded from the Society for the Studies of Soviet Culture to teach about Russian culture to Germans unfamiliar with it. It quickly turned into a propaganda tool and eventually changed its name.https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00457R008800410001-3.pdf CIA documents: Society for German-Soviet Friendship

Due to the immense popularity of Mikhail Gorbachev with ordinary East Germans disillusioned with their own hardline Communist leaders, the DSF's membership grew massively in the last years of the regime which many interpret as a sign of support of Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika by the East German people.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} In 1989 there were 6.3 million members.{{cite book |author-last=Jurich |author-first=Dirk |title=Staatssozialismus und gesellschaftliche Differenzierung: eine empirische Studie |trans-title=State Socialism and Social Differentiation: An Empirical Study

|language=de |page=32 |date=2006 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |ISBN=3825898938}}

Following the disbanding of the German Democratic Republic, the organization was dissolved.

The name has inspired band names that play on the name of the DSF {{citation needed|date=March 2014}}, for instance the German band Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, which means German-American Friendship, as well as Jewish Ukrainian Freundschaft (J.U.F.).