Sowjetische

Sowjetische is the inflected form of the German adjective sowjetisch, meaning “Soviet” or “pertaining to the Soviet Union.” It is used to describe things connected with the USSR, its government and institutions, or its culture and ideology. In attributive position, sowjetische appears with feminine singular or with masculine and neuter singular when preceded by a definite article, and with plural nouns in the strong or mixed endings (e.g., der sowjetische Präsident, die sowjetische Regierung, das sowjetische System; die sowjetischen Jahre). Without a definite article, the endings vary by gender and number (z. B. ein sowjetischer Präsident, eine sowjetische Regierung, ein sowjetisches System).

The predicative form is sowjetisch, as in Die Politik war sowjetisch. Thus, while sowjetische is used to modify nouns in many contexts, its form changes according to standard German adjective declension rules.

Etymology and usage context: the stem Sowjet is borrowed from the Russian sovet, meaning “council.” The term is commonly applied to the Soviet Union, usually in historical or comparative discussions about the era from roughly 1917 to 1991. In German-language sources, the USSR is also referred to as die Sowjetunion or UdSSR (Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepubliken). Beyond political and historical contexts, sowjetische is used in descriptions of culture, art, science, and society associated with the Soviet period, for example sowjetische Kunst or sowjetische Bildung.

See also: Sowjetunion, UdSSR, Soviet-era terminology.