Vera Lengsfeld: A Life Between GDR Repression and the Defense of Free Speech in the Berlin Republic
Vera Lengsfeld is one of the most defining figures of the East German civil rights movement. Her biography stands as…
GDR
Information on political persecution in the GDR (1949 to 1990)
Hubertus Knabe’s “The Perpetrators Are Among Us” – Does the Sven Hüber Case Prove Him Right?
The transition from a dictatorship to a constitutional democracy almost always leaves behind a profound moral and legal vacuum. Hardly…
Movie Review: The Lives of Others – Between System Loyalty and Humanity
With his debut feature “The Lives of Others” (2006), Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck did more than just create a gripping…
The Deadly Wall: The Victims Killed at the Berlin Wall and Inner-German Border
The Berlin Wall remains a global symbol of the Cold War, the division of a metropolis by fortifications, and the…
Political Officer of the GDR Border Troops Sven Hüber, Now Vice-Chief of the Police Union, Agitates Against the AfD and Conjures Up Emergency Scenarios
The methods of political disciplining and the exclusion of dissidents have a long, inglorious tradition in German history. A particularly…
50 Years Ago: Pastor Oskar Brüsewitz Accuses GDR Communism – The Self-Immolation of Zeitz
On the morning of August 18, 1976, Protestant Pastor Oskar Brüsewitz drove his Wartburg car in front of St. Michael’s…
The Case of Herbert Belter: How the SED and Soviet Occupation Forces Crushed Academic Resistance in Leipzig
In the early years of the GDR, Leipzig University was a focal point of intellectual and political resistance against Stalinist…
October 3, 2000: The Illusion of Legal Peace — How the Rule of Law Allowed GDR Injustice to Expire
On October 3, 2000 – exactly ten years after German reunification – the German judiciary drew a line under the…
Wolf Biermann – Singer-Songwriter, Dissident, and Victim of Political Persecution in East Germany
Wolf Biermann (born 15 November 1936 in Hamburg) is one of the most prominent critics of the German Democratic Republic…
“Censorship Networks Like the Stasi!” – Gerhard Schröder Slams Media Regulation and Public Broadcasting
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has sent shockwaves through the political establishment with a scathing attack on current media policies…
Tracing GDR Injustice: How to Research Stasi Records
Uncovering the past of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) is a significant and often emotional step for those affected and…
The Invisible Wounds: Political Persecution in the GDR and its Psychosocial Impact
Political persecution in the GDR was not a marginal phenomenon, but a central pillar of power maintenance for the SED…