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Contemporary Witnesses of Divided Educational Materials Provided by the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship 2 Contents

Dictatorship and Democracy in Europe – International Cooperation in the Critical 5 Reappraisal of Dictatorships

Democracy and Dictatorship in the Classroom – Classroom Education Department 7

Living history – Contemporary Witnesses to the East German Communist 8 Dictatorship in the Classroom

Exhibitions, Documentary Films and other Educational Materials available 21 from the Federal Foundation for the Study of Communist Dictatorship in

Learning at history’s feet – Memorial sites in and (including a map) 29

3 4 Dictatorship and Democracy in Europe – International Cooperation in the Critical Reappraisal of Dictatorships

In accordance with its Appointment Act, reappraisal more generally. On the other trips, exchange programmes, panel the Federal Foundation for the Study of hand, the foundation supports, informs meetings and conferences. Furthermore, Communist Dictatorship in East Germany and advises partner institutions, civil representatives of the foundation are also contributes to a critical reappraisal of society actors, as well as state institutions frequently invited to other countries as Communist dictatorships internationally. in their respective tasks and objectives, experts to talk about the process of critical In doing so, the foundation pursues two while contributing the German experience reappraisal in Germany. Additionally, the objectives: on the one hand, it harnesses, to similar processes in other countries. foundation issues publications and other through cross-border exchange and material facilitating international exchange cooperations, experiences and perspectives In this endeavour, the foundation draws on in assessing the past and encouraging from international contexts of historical diverse formats: international exchange perspectives looking beyond one’s own reappraisal for the foundation’s work, as concerning the study and critical reappraisal national past. well as for the German discourse around of dictatorships is organised through study

5 6 Democracy and Dictatorship in the Classroom – School Education Department

Curricular and extra-curricular educational educational landscape remains both the an intensive cooperation with teachers at work represents an important focus of task and objective of the classroom advanced trainings, professional events the Federal Foundation for the Study of education department. and educational fairs. Communist Dictatorship in East Germany’s work. The history of the SED dictatorship Adding to this are new challenges in the Further biographical information on and German partition has been incorporated form of populism and extremism, which contemporary witnesses can be found at into most curriculum frameworks across the have made historical knowledge even more www.zeitzeugenbuero.de. There we also country in recent years, while contemporary socially relevant. In order to meet these present suitable teaching materials such German history since 1945 has become part challenges, new education policy initiatives as interviews, reports, handouts and of the Abitur [higher education entrance are being launched, networks forged, worksheets, additional websites and qualification] exams in more than half of educational materials advertised and the educational portals, exhibitions, books, German states. By and large, the overall development of didactic material supported. documentary films and historic places in situation regarding classroom education on Close cooperation with the state-level Berlin and Brandenburg on the history of the history of democracy and dictatorship education ministries, school and cultural the SED dictatorship and the . after 1945 has improved significantly authorities, institutions for advanced If you are interested in getting in contact compared to just a few years ago. In this teacher training, associations of history with the witnesses, please write to sense, the foundation’s key objective in and politics teachers at the state and this area has been advanced considerably. national levels, history professors and zeitzeugenbuero@bundesstiftung- Supporting and helping to perpetuate and faculties, and other institutions has been aufarbeitung.de develop this positive trend in the German key to success. This is complemented by

7 Living history – Contemporary Witnesses to the East German Communist Dictatorship in the Classroom

The platform www.zeitzeugenbuero.de was English-language didactic materials, web­ personal experiences ranging from the set up 2009 by the Federal Foundation for sites, online exhibitions, books and docu­ »People’s Uprising’ on 17 June 1953 to the Study of the Communist Dictatorship mentary films. The platform is geared the and German in Eastern Germany with the support of all toward journalists, schools and other reunification and include episodes of German federal states and the Federal institutions of historical and political escape, departure, political imprisonment Ministry of the Interior. More than 350 men education and is gradually expanded with and their eventual purchase of freedom. and women who witnessed the years of new interviewees, teaching materials and Some were active in the (Protestant) German partition and had an active part in historical focuses. Evangelical Church, others in oppositional overcoming it can be contacted through groups or the literary and arts scene. the platform and invited to speak with Many witnesses speak more than one young students interested in the study of language and can be requested for inter­ contemporary German history. In addition, national oral history classes, interviews the database provides links to numerous and projects. Here, they recount their

8 Uprising of 1953 in East Germany Other Topics: Flight, Departure, Purchased Freedom Other Topics: Flight, Departure, Other Topics: Border Stories; Experiences Purchased Freedom of Imprisonment / Detention

Siegfried Buchholz Peter Bieber Dr. Günther Heinzel English English English

Born 1939, Mainz. His childhood passed in Born 1945, Berlin. After hearing about the Born 1948, Köln: Even at elementary constant awareness of German partition: events of the Prague Spring in 1968, Peter school, he noticed the contradiction that after the end of World War II, the Buchholz Bieber decided to make his way to the West gaped between reality and what the family returned from the Harz to the Berlin to live a free and self-determined life. From teacher told about GDR . Shortly district of Britz, which became part of the he travelled to Bratislava to cross before his 17th birthday, he tried in vain to American sector. Due to a revision of the the border to Austria, which failed as he was flee the GDR. The following prison sector borders, Britz was assigned to Soviet discovered by border troops and arrested. sentence confirmed his verdict on that territory, which did not stop Siegfried After two more unsuccessful attempts via state. Four years after his release from Buchholz from commuting to his school in a ship in Gdansk and a West German car in prison, there was a chance to leave GDR by . He witnessed the Uprising Bulgaria, he hid in a wardrobe in the load means of escape assistance. Arrived in of 1953 in , especially because space of a West German lorry and managed West Berlin, he tried to build an escape aid his father joined the protesters on the to cross the border that way. Grateful for the for his girl friend. Meanwhile, the Stasi had »Stalinallee« boulevard. His sister, brother help he received while escaping, he assisted already targeted them and a spy in West and father fled to West Berlin in the eleven people in their escape to West Berlin had provided information about his following years. Buchholz’ mother was Germany. He was eventually betrayed to the plans. We were faster and my friend was arrested in 1959 for smuggling eggs which Stasi and arrested in 1972 and remained hiding in an Allied military vehicle, prompted him to exit the country in fear incarcerated for five years until the German unnoticed by . of his own arrest. His mother followed in Federal Republic purchased his freedom April 1960. from political imprisonment and he was released.

9 Other Topics: Construction of the Other Topics: Experiences of Wall on 13 ; Experiences Imprisonment / Stasi Detention of Imprisonment / Stasi Detention; Border Stories

Eugenie Trützschler Manfred Görlach Peter Hampe English, Russian, Czech English English

Born 1950, Bad Berka: As her family was Born 1937, Heidelberg: Manfred Görlach was Born 1944, Berlin: For an attempted »Repu­­ not permitted to work in their professions enrolled for English and Latin American blikflucht« (»Escape from the Republic«) to in Czechoslovakia, her mother applied for studies at the Free University in West Berlin the West and a letter to the editor of the political asylum in for herself and was among the students allowed to West Berlin-based radio station RIAS, Peter and Eugenie Trützschler in 1967. The daughter cross over to the East of the city. He helped Hampe was sentenced to one-and-a-half then worked as a nanny and became a smuggle a family to West Berlin with his years in prison and was banned from trained nurse. She completed her Abitur car and provided a fellow student with a studying in the GDR for the rest of his life. and became a teacher. Still unsure about fake Swedish passport. A letter addressed Following the purchase of his release by her own national identity, she started to to a student in who was hoping the West German government, he was set conduct research on international relations to flee was intercepted by the Stasi. A trap free in the GDR. He later learned that West and graduated with a PhD. After learning was set up for Görlach, he was caught and Germany thought that they shortened his that the East German Stasi as well as the subsequently sentenced to four years in a time in prison but he had simply served his Czechoslovakian secret service had kept a prison in Brandenburg-Görden. He regained full term of imprisonment. Hampe then file on her, she decided to focus her research freedom in 1964 through a brokered (or continued to educate himself through on the communist period and write novels. rather purchased) release of East German evening courses until he eventually earned political prisoners to the West. After his PhD in chemistry. He was allowed to returning to West Berlin he finished his exit the country with his family in 1985 studies and graduated with a PhD in with the help of the Austrian chancellor Heidelberg. at the time, Fred Sinowatz.

10 Other Topics: Experiences of Other Topics: Experiences of Other Topics: Uprising of 1953 in East Imprisonment / Stasi Detention Imprisonment / Stasi Detention Germany; Construction of the Wall on 13 August 1961

Ralph Kabisch Hartmut Ernst Henke Joachim Rudolph English English, French English

Born 1942, Berlin: Only two months after Born 1944, Leinfeld-Echterdingen: After Born 1938, Berlin: Joachim Rudolph witnessed the Berlin Wall was constructed, Ralph Hartmut Ernst Henke witnessed the Uprising two of the most important events in GDR- Kabisch came to West Berlin to study. In of 1953 in his home town of Ludwigsdorf, history: He was present during the Uprising this period of ubiquitous political activity, he was convinced that the massive arrests of 1953 in East Berlin as a 14-year-old boy he joined a group of students who wanted among his friend’s parents were unjust. He and during the construction of the Berlin to help friends and relatives escape from did not undergo the »Jugendweihe, the Wall on 13th August 1961. Together with a East Berlin. Together with Wolfgang Fuchs socialist coming-of-age ceremony, but friend, he escaped to West Berlin by wading and others, they dug for six months and in received the Christian confirmation, which through the »Tegeler Fließ« waterway north the end helped 57 people flee to the West, led to his debarment from Abitur. It was of Berlin and continued his studies in the which is why this tunnel is called »Tunnel 57». only after his parents joined the collectivised western part of the city. Joachim Rudolph His work as an escape agent did not stop agricultural producers’ cooperative that he then joined a group of students who were there, as he smuggled many East was permitted to do his Abitur after all. planning to dig a tunnel underneath the Wall to the west via Hungary, Czechoslovakia This enabled him to study in , even at Bernauer Straße and ultimately helped and Bulgaria, hidden in a car. During one trip without prior military service. After a failed 29 people to fly to West Berlin. After this in Czechoslovakia he was arrested by police attempt to escape the country he was successful operation, he participated in the forces and received a very mild sentence. detained in prison in 1968. The construction of two more tunnels which, This was owed to the Prague Spring in German Federal Republic then purchased however, were discovered by the Stasi. 1968, which even led to his pardoning by his freedom from political imprisonment the new Czechoslovakian prime minister and arranged his transfer to West Germany. and his return to Berlin.

11 12 Art, Culture, Literature

Other Topics: Arts, Other Topics: Civil rights movement; Other Topics: Culture and Literature Experiences of Imprisonment / German Unity; Stasi Detention Media

Martina Schmidt Karl-Heinz Bomberg Barbara Bollwahn English English Spanish

Born 1960, Stockelsdorf: Martina Schmidt Born 1955, Berlin: Karl-Heinz Bomberg Born 1964, Berlin: She studied Spanish in was raised in . In the 1980s, she graduated with a PhD in Medicine and per­ Leipzig but was always aware that she was active in the Evangelical Church of formed as a singer-songwriter with critical would never be able to visit a Spanish Mecklenburg’s youth work. Her active peace texts directed against the communist regime. speaking country without being a member work and her critical attitude towards the For this reason, he was banned from per­ of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) of East GDR’s deeply ideological school system forming his songs in 1982 and monitored by Germany. She snuck into the Leipzig Trade earned her the attention of the Ministry of the Stasi. He started performing his songs Fair and found work at a Spanish speaking State Security. She was allowed to leave in churches that provided a protected space booth. From this point on, Barbara the GDR and travel to West Germany in from the influence of the government. When Bollwahn applied several times for a license 1986. he wanted to send a recording of his music to to work as a freelancing interpreter and West Germany in 1984, his contact person translator which she eventually received. turned out to be an »informal collaborator« After , she started of the Stasi. The psychoanalyst was arrested to work as a journalist and book author. at work and, after three months in prison, released on parole. The focus of his work lies on the therapy of traumatised political prisoners and he uses his own experiences for developing improved forms of treatment.

13 Experiences of Imprisonment / Stasi Detention

Other Topics: Other Topics: Flight, Departure, Other Topics: Flight, Departure, Civil rights movement Purchased Freedom Purchased Freedom

Martin Jankowski Clara Welten Dagmar Meier-Barkhausen English English English

Born 1965, Berlin: Over the course of his life, Born 1967, Berlin: When the wall came Born 1944, Bad Zwischenahn: Dagmar the Stasi always took a special interest in down, she had just begun her longed-for Meier-Barkhausen was sentenced to 16 Martin Jankowski. Still in school, he was study of philosophy, psychoanalysis and months in prison for »preparing to escape monitored in the »operational procedure« literature in . During this time she the republic«, having planned to exit the (Operativer Vorgang, OV) »Jesaja« starting took note of the , but GDR via the Baltic Sea with her husband. 1982, followed by the OV »Maja« in 1985. since leaving in 1983 she had never been After one year in a prison in Dessau-Wolfen, His activities as an oppositional artist in allowed to set foot again on East German where she had to work double shifts, she the 1980s were the reason for this intense soil because of an entry ban imposed on was released to West Germany as part of a surveillance and led to him being banned her entire family by my State Security Act. deal between the East and West German from stage which did not stop him performing It took another ten years before she governments. Soon afterwards she started illegally in the GDR, Hungary, Czechoslovakia actually wanted to go to the place of her her occupation as an author under the and Poland. Later on, he was forbidden to birth. Because she is the child of a christian pseudonym »Tina Österreich« and published travel and his private apartment was spied family. The attitude of the opposition to several books based on her own experiences on. Since 1987, Martin Jankowski took part political totalitarianism was a natural pillar in East German prison, life in the GDR and in the civil rights movements based in the of her education. the transition to a western system. Church of St. Nicholas in Leipzig (Nikolai­ kirche) where he helped to organise peace prayers.

14 Other Topics: Flight, Departure, Other Topics: Flight, Departure, Purchased Freedom Purchased Freedom

Birgit Schlicke Gabriel Berger English Polish, Russian, English

Born 1969, Wiesbaden: After her family In 1968, Gabriel Berger was a fervent filed an application to exit the country, Birgit supporter of the Czechoslovakian reform Schlicke was prevented from completing movement. After the sealing of the final her Abitur and expelled from school. She act of the CSCE Accord of Helsinki he temporarily worked as a postwoman and applied for relocation to West Germany in wrote several letters to the East German 1975, only to have his request be denied. government and to the International Society After that, he displayed his rejection of the for Human Rights. These letters and the SED’s dictatorship publicly, leading to his organisation of a silent protest march led to arrest in 1976. After a year in prison Berger her arrest. She was convicted and brought was allowed to leave the GDR. to the women’s prison in Hoheneck, where she suffered drill and harassment. Although the Berlin Wall fell on 9th November 1989, Birgit Schlicke was not released from prison until 17th November, after two years imprisonment.

15 Church

Other Topics: German Unity, Other Topics: Civil rights movement; Civil rights movement Art, Culture, Literature

Andreas Kosmalla Hannelore Schneider English English

Born 1962, Berlin: As a preacher’s child he Born 1950, Mainz: As a teacher in Cottbus, was not allowed to complete his Abitur, Hannelore Schneider tried to support her despite his membership in the socialist students in a free exchange of opinions, youth movement Freie Deutsche Jugend. influenced by her own Christian faith. She Since the time of his apprenticeship he was became part of an environmental group in an active part in the »church underground« Cottbus from 1987 to 1987 which arranged movement where he played music. Andreas human rights seminars and was monitored Kosmalla became involved in ecclesiastical by the Stasi. This group revealed local peace movements and refused to perform voting fraud in the regional elections and military service, leading to his deployment reported it to the authorities. The leaders to Prora as a »construction soldier« (Bau­ of the organisation were immediately soldat) – with a shovel instead of a gun. expelled from the GDR and migrated to Later, he was active in various civil rights West Germany. movements and political parties during the Peaceful Revolution.

16 Civil rights movement approved. Tim Eisenlohr again committed attempts to recruit him as an »informal himself politically to the cause of nuclear collaborator«. After making his way to Other Topics: Flight, Departure, disarmament, among other topics, until he West Berlin, he organised a protest Purchased Freedom; Experiences of served his civil service (as alternative to demanding the release of several civil Imprisonment / Stasi Detention; military service), after which he focused rights activists in the GDR. Fall of the Wall 9 November 1989 on horse breeding.

Tim Eisenlohr Other Topics: Art, Culture, Literature; Other Topics: English Fall of the Wall 9 November 1989 Church; Parties

Born 1973, Nebel: His political commitment Steffen Gresch Gisela Kallenbach started at an early age with his participation English English for the East Berlin-based Umweltbibliothek (UB – »environmentalist library«), where Born 1965, Karlsruhe: He filed an application Born 1944, Leipzig: As she wasn’t allowed he helped with book circulation and the to be relieved of his GDR-citizenship in 1986 to complete her Abitur in school because of production of the library group’s own and played an active role in a number of her refusal to attend the Jugendweihe magazine »Umweltblätter«. The 14-year old oppositional organisations. Gresch hosted (socialist coming-of-age ceremony), Gisela boy was arrested along with other members a private reading session in his living room Kallenbach became a lab technician and of the UB staff by Stasi officials during a with Peter Grimm, presenting the paper continued her education via evening courses. raid of their quarters in the basement of »Grenzfall« that was critical of the regime She became involved in environ­mental the Zionskirche church in Berlin on 24th and printed illegally. Together with others organisations, the civil rights movement and November 1987. After an intense inter­ he founded the working group »human ecclesiastical groups. During the final years rogation he was released and resumed his rights« on 12th May 1987 in which he was of the East German regime she helped to oppositional work. He left for West Berlin involved until the Stasi pushed for his exit organise peace prayers in Leipzig. After the with his family in the summer of 1989 after from the country soon after. The reason Peaceful Revolution, she started a political their application to exit the country was was that he had declined the Stasi’s career and went on to work on UN missions.

17 Fall of the Wall 9 November 1989 German Unity

Other Topics: Experiences of Imprisonment / Stasi Detention; Experiences in children’s home or other institutions; Art, Culture, Literature

Anke Domscheit-Berg Claus-Jürgen Duisberg English English, French

Born 1968, Fürstenberg / : Domscheit- Born 1934, : The West German lawyer Berg was politicised and began typing political started his political career as a diplomat in leaflets during her studies of textile arts in 1964 in several embassies all over the world. Schneeberg, when her best friend unde­r­went He was transferred to the West German harsh treatment while in prison in . Permanent Representation in East Berlin in She became the target of governmental 1978, where he stayed for four years and harassment herself due to her leaflets and witnessed the physical separation of West opinions: letters she received had always Germany and Berlin first hand. From 1986 already been opened and read, and the Stasi to 1990, Claus-Jürgen Duisberg worked for moreover attempted to coerce her into the West German Chancellery and took an becoming an »informal collaborator« who active part in the negotiations surrounding could provide information about friends German reunification. In reunited Germany, and family. After she declined, Anke he was responsible for the dismantling of Domscheit-Berg was not allowed to accept the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the GDR a scholarship for a study trip to Paris. With and the observation of the withdrawal of these experiences in mind, she has Soviet troops from German territory. committed herself to a fight against government mass surveillance.

18 Gerd-Heinrich Kemper Dorit Linke English, French English

Born 1938, Berlin: Gerd-Heinrich Kemper Born 1971, Berlin: Dorit Linke grew up in experienced German separation in his Rostock. Like many of her peers, she came everyday life as a secretary of a senator in to know that there were many secret and West Berlin. After the fall of the Berlin forbidden things in the GDR – things she Wall, he witnessed the transformation should not talk about with anyone. Towards of the GDR from a communist regime to the end of the 1980s she was very much a constitutional democracy first hand, aware of the sense of political awakening as he became president of the Higher and no longer willing to obey rules and Administrative Court of the German state prohibitions, but wanted to decide for -Anhalt in 1996 and president of herself. Dorit Linke participated in the the State Constitutional Court of Saxony- »Thursday Demonstrations« and the Anhalt in 2000. citizens«movement vigils in Rostock in the autumn of 1989.

19 20 Exhibitions, Documentary Films and other Educational Materials available from the Federal Foundation for the Study of Communist Dictatorship in East Germany

International Exchange The aim of the programme is to help In the context of this programme all Programme »Memory Work« stimu­late international exchange in the employees and staff members of NGOs, reappraisal of dictatorships and state memorial sites and related initiatives, In the context of its international cooperation violence, to deepen the mutual knowledge independent archives, and efforts to support the study of dictatorships of the other’s history and processing similar establishments dealing with and violent state regimes, the Federal thereof, thus leading to a better under­ reappraisal and remembrance may Foundation for the Study of Communist standing of the corresponding debates and complete a stay at a corresponding Dictatorship in East Germany provides their respective historical, political and institution in a foreign country for up to funding for an international exchange social backgrounds in each context. three months to research experiences of programme in the area of »Memory Work« dictatorship and / or state violence. each year.

21 East-West-European Memorial pants from many countries to contribute to history of national socialism, the Shoah, Seminar in Krzyżowa / Kreisau an improved process of understanding and the period of Stalinism and communist reconciliation between different nations in dictatorships. We would like to offer you The East-West European Memorial Seminar Europe. As hosts of this meeting (which the opportunity for an inter-European in Krzyżowa / Kreisau addresses profes­sio­ can almost claim the status of tradition by exchange. nals from different European institutions now) we are glad to invite our participants such as places of remembrance, museums, to discuss their perspectives, cultures of memorials, educational centres, human rights remembrance and ways of presenting organisations, scientific and edu­cational history in both Eastern and Western institutions. The main aim of the seminar European countries. is to get to know each other’s institutions and professional activities, to exchange Each year we invite professionals from knowledge about different ways of presen­ places of remembrance, museums, NGOs, ting history in national and local narratives memorials, educational centres, human and to discuss bilateral and multilateral rights organisations, scientific and questions that continue to influence the educational institutions etc. as well as memory of the 20th century. The organisers academic scholars and students. The hope for this free exchange between partici­ invitation is open to all interested in the

22 Documentary films

• The King Code. Martin Luther district of , which began jointly the Evangelical Church in Germany, King in Berlin researching and retrieving facts, documents supported by the Federal Foundation for and contem­porary witnesses regarding the the Study of Communist Dictatorship in The DVD contains both a German and English civil rights leader’s visit to Berlin in 1964. East Germany. version of the film as well as German sub­ They seek to assess the unjust nature of the titles and comprehensive didactic material GDR and the impact of King’s message on related to the film. the opposition movement and the Peaceful Revolution. Ultimately, they are searching Berlin, 1964: an attempted escape across for traces of the peaceful struggle against the Berlin Wall in the early morning of injustice and exclusion. 13 September leads to an exchange of fire. Only fourteen hours later, American civil The documentary by Andreas Kuno Richter rights leader and Baptist preacher Dr. Martin records the pupils’ fascinating journey Luther Kind travels across the »« through time. Including hitherto unpublished to East Berlin. He delivers a sermon at the photographs of King’s visit to Berlin, he Marienkirche near and an­ also pursues the question of the resonance other at the nearby Sophienkirche, inspiring of Martin Luther King’s anti-racist and his audience each time: »Here are God’s non-violent message today. One of the children on both sides of the wall, and no students in the documentary states: »I man-made barrier can destroy this fact.« hope I can also somehow contribute to making the world a better place. That’s my Berlin, 2013: the project »The King Code« dream. I have a dream!’ involves school pupils from the Oberschule in Berlin’s district and The film is an EIKON Nord GmbH production To publication shop the Rosa Luxemburg Gymnasium in the commissioned by RTL in cooperation with

23 • The short Life of Salge also raises the question of the emotional consequences of Chris’s violent Chris Geoffrey died nine months before the death for his mother and friends, how they Berlin Will came down, shot dead at the coped – and continue to cope – with the border while trying to escape. He marks the loss of their son and friend. very last victim to die at the hands of the SED dictatorship’s inhuman border regime, Karin Gueffroy’s life was radically disrupted: and his name has become emblematic of a more or less satisfied GDR citizen suddenly the many deaths which occurred along the became a victim of the regime. When her Berlin Wall. son died, »her state« died as well – she could no longer live in this GDR. »It is only Who was Chris Gueffroy? Why did he not when something like this happens to you want to live in the GDR any longer? What that you wake up!«, she said. In September drove him and his friend Christian Gaudian of 1989, she moved to West Berlin where to risk their lives at the Berlin Wall? she still lives today. While the GDR has disappeared, her grief has not. Filmmaker Klaus Salge speaks with Chris’s mother Karin Gueffroy and his friends about A documentary by Klaus Salge, November him. The documentary cautiously uncovers Film, co-produced by the Rundfunk Berlin (the different) layers of the past, assembling Brandenburg broadcasting station and a sensitive portrait of Chris Gueffroy, his life supported by the Federal Foundation for in the GDR, his dreams and small escapes the Study of Communist Dictatorship in from everyday life. East Germany. To publication shop

24 Exhibitions

An exhibition – such as, for instance, in the victims of violent Communist regimes. its seminal impact on the 20th century in lobbies of town halls or at adult education The exhibition comprises 25 DIN A1 exhibition the form of the global systems rivalry. centres, libraries, schools or churches – panels available in German, English, French, Published by the Berlin Center for represents the ideal medium for publicly Russian and Spanish. An accompanying Studies and the Federal Foundation for addressing questions surrounding the twelve-page booklet, as well as a poster the Study of Communist Dictatorship in global systems rivalry that characterised and leaflet advertising the exhibition, can East Germany. the second half of the 20th century. An be downloaded as PDF files. exhibition provides an adequate space for The exhibition comprises 22 DIN A1 exhibition introducing films, hosting contemporary Published by the German Historical panels available in German, English, French, witness interviews, book presentations and the Federal Foundation for the Study Russian and Spanish. An accompanying and other events. of Communist Dictatorship in East Germany. twelve-page booklet, as well as a poster and leaflet advertising the exhibition, can • » in its Time« also be downloaded as PDF files. To publication shop The year 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution. Commemorating To publication shop this occasion, the exhibition »Communism in its Time« depicts the rise and fall of the • »The Cold War: Causes – Communist movement, which embarked on History – Impact« an attempt to fundamentally change not only the entire world, but humanity itself Featuring texts and over 160 historical throughout the 20th century. This totalitarian photographs and documents as well as aspiration mobilised millions around the accompanying QR codes providing corres- globe, while becoming a nightmare for ponding hyperlinks, the exhibition conveys countless millions more who became a panoramic overview of the Cold War and

25 26 Publications

• Coming to Terms: Dealing with the • Where in the World is the Berlin Wall? the many ways in which the pieces of the Communist Past in United Germany Berlin Wall have been used to commemorate A Symbol of Freedom, of the human the wall and the Cold War more generally. Coming to Terms provides an overview of Strength of Will and a Relic of the cold War. salient features and important institutions Published by Anna Kaminsky on behalf of pertaining to processes of coming to terms Countless pieces of the Berlin Wall were The Federal Foundation for the Study of with the communist past in Germany since scattered around the world after it came the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern 1990. It is available in Chinese, English, down in 1989. These pieces of Wall embody Germany. 1st edition – Berlin: Berlin Story Korean and Spanish. the fight for freedom of the people of Berlin. Verlag 2014, 19,95 Euro, ISBN 978-3- More than 240 of these sections – each 95723-017-1, available in bookshops. Written in collaboration with the Foundation weighing several tonnes – were sought out by Bernd Schaefer, Senior Research Scholar for this book. They stand on every continent with the Cold War International History in more than 140 locations. Amongst those Project at the Woodrow Wilson International who now own sections of the Wall are Center in Washington D.C., Berlin 2011. Japanese businessmen, famous art collectors and all US Presidents of the last century. There are some exciting and strange, but also some tragic stories behind these pieces To publication shop of the Wall. The stories in this book highlight

27 • Vademecums • Biographical Encyclopaedia of The dissident biographies on this website Resistance and Opposition under represent a small selection, but one which The International Vademecums series has Communism, 1945–91 we hope nevertheless provides an impression thus far produced twelve country-specific of the multi-faceted oppositional activities issues: Republic of Moldova, Spain, Bulgaria, Countless men and women courageously conducted in between 1945 Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slo­ confronted the shameless impositions of and 1989–91. va­kia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Scandinavia, their rulers in all phases of communist rule and Great Britain. They provide an overview and all countries of the communist world www.dissidenten.eu is a joint project by of the archives, research institutes, libraries, system. the Federal Foundation, the »Karta« political education institutions, associations, Foundation in Warsaw, and the Robert- museums and memorials found in each The structure, scope and success of oppo­ Havemann-Gesellschaft e. V., Berlin. country. sition and resistance against communist dictatorships depended on the specific Some can be downloaded, while the rest conditions in each country, the extent of can be retrieved in print form via mail order. repression and the degree of solidarity among the oppressed.

To publication shop

28 Learning at history’s feet – Memorial sites in Berlin and Brandenburg

The involvement of contemporary witnesses corresponding educational work while, at the At some sites, guides and contemporary is essential for the work of memorials. These same time, the memorial sites live up to their witnesses can also lead groups through people’s experiences bring the history of a task of conveying and commemorating the exhibition together if requested. Both place to life and thereby render a specific history. methods pursue the goal of rendering historical episode palpable. The places palpable historical knowledge of the themselves are referred to as »witnesses The experience of repression suffered by location’s past through subjective memories, in stone«, the actual exhibits which teach inmates take centre stage at the memorial thereby »bringing history to life«. The us about their history, function and impact. sites in former prisons of the GDR’s Ministry moderated debates foster a space in which Their aura and authenticity contain both of State Security (Stasi), while experiences contemporary witnesses confine their opportunities and challenges for the work of everyday life under dictatorship are deliberations exclusively to their personal of conveying this history. Contemporary addressed largely at places of import to experience and appear as experts on this witnesses were involved in the creation of German-German history. Regional border experience. The audience is presented the memorials in many instances, initiating episodes are presented at the Grenzland with a first-hand and exemplary account exhibitions or preventing alternative uses of (»Borderland«) museums. Many memorial of living history at an historical site. the venue. This represents another reason sites offer guided discussions with con­tem­­ why contemporary witnesses are crucial porary witnesses for school classes and to the historical representation and adult groups following a guided tour.

29 Berlin Memory of the Divided City and the Victims of them passing through the Marienfelde of Communist Tyranny as well as the Refugee Center in Berlin. The Marienfelde • The Berlin Wall Memorial, Window of Remembrance. The grounds Refugee Center, which was opened in / Wedding also include the 1953, supplied refugees with housing and and the excavated foundations of a former provisions, and was also where refugees The Berlin Wall Memorial is the central apartment building whose façade functioned completed the official procedure to receive memorial site of German division, located as the border wall until the early 1980s. residency permits for West Germany and in the middle of the capital. Situated at the English-language guided tours and work­ West Berlin. Located on the historic site of historic site on Bernauer Strasse, it extends shops, in which schoolchildren explore the the Refugee Center, the museum preserves along 1.4 kilometres of the former border former border strip on Bernauer Strasse and memorialises the causes, process, and strip. The memorial contains the last piece using cameras, are also available. consequences of inner-German flight, of Berlin Wall with the preserved grounds exploring not only flight from the GDR behind it and is thus able to convey an Berlin Wall Memorial itself, but the formal process of emigration impression of how the border fortifications Bernauer Straße 111 and subsequent integration of refugees developed until the end of the 1980s. The 13355 Berlin into West German society as well. events that took place here together with phone: 030 467 986 666 the preserved historical remnants and email: [email protected] Marienfelde invites you to discover more traces of border obstacles on display help www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de about this history through its permanent convey the ’s division and temporary exhibitions, diverse edu­ to visitors. cational programmes, special events, and • Marienfelde Refugee Center Museum, research projects. English-language guided On the border strip that had been located -Schöneberg tours are available, as well as tours for in East Berlin, an open-air exhibition uses children ages 9–13 and small-group the example of Bernauer Strasse to explain Between 1949 and 1990, about four million workshops (including tours) for high school the history of division more generally. The people left East Germany (the GDR) for students. memorial consists of the Monument in West Germany (the FRG), with 1.35 million

30 31 Marienfelde Refugee Center Museum and workshops are hosted as well. Guided Guided tours, workshops, talks with Marienfelder Allee 66 / 80 tours in English are available on weekends contemporary witnessesand historical 12277 Berlin and Mondays. tours of the city are all available in English phone: 030 75 00 84 00 as well. Fax: 030 75 44 66 34 Stasimuseum Berlin email: [email protected] Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 DDR Museum www.notaufnahmelager-berlin.de 10365 Berlin Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 1 phone: 030 5 53 68 54 10178 Berlin fax: 030 5 53 68 53 phone: 030 847 123 73-0 • Berlin, email: [email protected] fax: 030 847 123 73-9 www.stasimuseum.de email: [email protected] www.ddr-museum.de The imposing building at Normannenstraße 22 began housing the Ministry of State • DDR Museum, Mitte Security in 1961. The centrepiece of this • Tränenpalast at the Berlin memorial site’s exhibition are the office The DDR Museum is Berlin’s interactive Friedrichstraße station, Mitte and private study of , the last museum and one of the most-visited Minister of State Security, preserved in attractions in the German capital. History The foundation Haus der Geschichte der their original state. Other parts of the becomes palpable as the visitor is given a Bundesrepublik Deutschland presents the exhibition focus on specific aspects of the first-hand introduction to life in the first permanent exhibition »GrenzErfahrungen. political system in the GDR, testify to the on German soil. See, touch, Alltag der deutschen Teilung« at the historic Stasi’s activities and present an overview feel and experience the actual conditions of site of the Tränenpalast (»Palace of Tears«). of resistance and opposition in the GDR. a long-defunct system. Unique artefacts, Featuring biographical narratives, original futuristic technology and a prize-winning objects and interviews with contemporary Guided tours of the exhibition are available design transform a museum visit into a witnesses, it illustrates what life was like upon prior request. In addition, presentations, great journey back in time. in the face of partition and the new border. discussions with contemporary witnesses Moreover, it includes the most important

32 milestones throughout the process of and documents, biographical accounts, German reunification. English-language video and sound files. Guided tours are Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen guided tours are available. also available in English. Genslerstraße 66 13055 Berlin Ausstellung im Tränenpalast Museum in der Kulturbrauerei phone: 030 98 60 82 30 Reichstagufer 17 Knaackstraße 97 fax: 030 98 60 82 34 10117 Berlin Gebäude 6.2 email: [email protected] phone: 030 46 77 77 9-11 10435 Berlin www.stiftung-hsh.de email: [email protected] phone: 030 46 77 77 9-11 www.hdg.de / berlin / traenenpalast email: [email protected] www.hdg.de / berlin / museum-in-der- • Wall Museum – Checkpoint Charlie, kulturbrauerei / - • Museum in the Kulturbrauerei, At the Checkpoint Charlie museum, visitors • Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, can view original objects used for escaping The museum’s permanent exhibition located Lichtenberg under and through the Berlin Wall, and read in the former Schultheiss brewery and about the refugees who risked their lives for operated by the foundation Haus der Ge­ Many people who resisted the Communist freedom. Those who died while escaping schich­te der Bundesrepublik Deutschland dictatorship were incarcerated at the Berlin- are also commemorated in an attempt to highlights the deep and manifold tensions Hohenschönhausen Stasi prison between keep their memory alive. In addition to the between political aspirations and lived the 1950s and October 1990. The memorial history of the Wall, visitors can trace the reality in the GDR. Interactive elements and offers guided tours of the former prison trajectory of the civil rights movements media stations allow visitors to immerse presented in English by former inmates, as and learn more about countries in today’s themselves into countless original objects well as guided tours with a thematic focus. world where the struggle for human rights continues.

33 Other exhibitions cover the history of NATO stations, a small cinema, historical materials multimedia-based technology to detect and its interventions in various inter­na­tional and original documents link the Berlin Wall the variety of bizarre and sneaky methods conflicts since its founding, or introduce to other world-historical events such as the applied by agents and secret services. An Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat and Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, exciting time travel from spying in ancient philanthropist who rescued 100,000 Jews expanding perspectives on the global biblical history to the present and future in from certain death during World War II. dimension of the confrontation between the heart of the capital of spies. Workshops Guided tours are available in English. East and West. Guided tours are available for school classes and guided tours are also in English. available in English. Wall Museum – Checkpoint Charlie Friedrichstraße 43–45 BlackBox Kalter Krieg German 10969 Berlin Friedrichstraße 47 / Corner of Zimmerstraße Leipziger Platz 9 phone: 030 2 53 72 50 10117 Berlin 10117 Berlin fax: 030 2 51 20 75 Contact: phone: 030 39 8200 450 email: [email protected] Berliner Forum für Geschichte und Gegenwart e. V. fax: 030 39 8200 459 www.mauer-museum.com Wartburgstraße 42 email: [email protected] 10823 Berlin www.deutsches-spionagemuseum.de phone: 030 21 63 571 • BlackBox Cold War – Exhibition at email: [email protected] Checkpoint Charlie, Friedrichshain- www.bfgg.de • Traces of the Border at the Flutgraben Kreuzberg canal,

The exhibition »BlackBox Cold War’, located • German The only building right next to the Wall to on the historic site where Russian and survive its construction and expansion can American tanks faced off in 1961, situates The German Spy Museum Berlin provides a be found on the Flutgraben canal in the the partition of Germany in the wider context unique insight into the gloom of Treptow district of Berlin. Today an artist of the international systems rivalry between right where the Wall once divided the city. studio space, the building belonged to a East and West. A large number of media Visitors are welcome to use the most recent state-owned enterprise in the GDR era.

34 From 13 August 1961 it was barricaded and cautiously guarded. Nevertheless, many people managed to escape to the nearby West Berlin district of Kreuzberg from here. The guided tour explores this most unusual part of the Berlin Wall. Visitors are shown barricaded windows, border soldiers’ inscriptions and the remains of signal installations, and are taken up to the 20-meter high roof overlooking the and Osthafen which served as a sentry point for GDR border troops until 1989. The guided tour in English offers a site-specific perspective on the history of the Berlin Wall.

Grenzspuren am Flutgraben, Treptow Glogauer Straße 21 10999 Berlin phone: 030 69 53 10 88 email: [email protected] www.grenzlaeufte.de

35 Brandenburg

• Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum • Center of Human Rights Cottbus – • Memorial Leistikowstraße, Potsdam Memorial Prison of Cottbus In 1936, the SS built the Sachsenhausen Launched in April 2012, the permanent Concentration Camp next to Oranienburg. The Center of Human Rights at its historic exhibition »Soviet Remand Prison Leisti­ Until 1945, more than 200,000 people from location in Cottbus portrays personalities kow­straße Potsdam« informs visitors all over Europe were imprisoned here. Tens who courageously and with democratic about the history of the detention centre of thousands died of hunger and diseases conviction were ground up by the political and the fate of its inmates. and of the effects of forced labour and legal systems of the Nazi regime and the mistreatment, or were victims of systematic SED dictatorship. The politically-motivated Gedenk- und Begegnungsstätte extermination. From 1945–1950, the Soviet injustice visited upon inmates takes centre Leistikowstraße Potsdam in der Stiftung Special Camp No. 7 / No. 1 was located on the stage. In a display of volunteer civic Brandenburgische Gedenkstätten site. In 1961, the GDR founded the Sachsen­ engagement, the 150 members of the Leistikowstraße 1 hausen National Memorial. The present society and other supporters restored 14469 Potsdam Memorial and the Sachsenhausen Museum »Prison Building 1« in the former East phone: 0331 2011540 have been part of the Brandenburg Memorials German detention centre. email: [email protected] Foundation since 1993. Guided tours are www.gedenkstaette-leistikowstrasse.de avaiable in English. Center of Human Rights Cottbus – Memorial Prison of Cottbus Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum Bautzener Straße 140, 03050 Cottbus • Documentation Centre of Everyday Straße der Nationen 22 phone: 0355 290 13 30 Culture of the GDR, Eisenhüttenstadt 16515 Oranienburg fax: 0355 290 13 333 phone: 03301 200-0 email: info@menschenrechtszentrum- The documentation centre’s permanent email: [email protected] cottbus.de exhibition »Alltag: DDR« (»Everyday life in www.stiftung-bg.de www.menschenrechtszentrum-cottbus.de the GDR«) introduces visitors to all kinds of

36 facets of everyday life in the GDR, including Documentation Centre of Everyday Lindenberg / Udo und die DDR«). The family and work life, and depicts the areas Culture of the GDR exhibition is open from Thursday through of consumption, education and possibilities Erich-Weinert-Allee 3 Sunday, and guided tours may be booked of communication in a round tour through 15890 Eisenhüttenstadt for any of these days. A special feature is ten different rooms. Additional rooms phone: 03364 41 73 55 the guided tour presented by former CIA illustrate the system of political power in email: [email protected] agent Eberhard Fätkenheuer. the GDR, explain what it meant to lead a www.alltagskultur-ddr.de socialist way of life, and depict the Villa Schöningen oppositional milieus of the 1980s. Kunst & Geschichte an der Glienicker Brücke • Villa Schöningen Berliner Straße 86 The exhibition contains a large number of 14467 Potsdam objects, photographs and documents, videos The Villa Schöningen houses a permanent phone: 0331 2001741 and interviews, all of which are viewable at exhibition on the history of the house itself email: [email protected] media stations. Background information is and of . The exhibition www.villa-schoeningen.de available for each of the exhibition’s themes focuses on the period between 1961–89 via integrated computer databases. Audio when the inner-German border ran just guides featuring background­ stories of some outside its front door and Glienicke Bridge select objects round off the exhibition. was frequently used for prisoner swaps between East and West. Two items have For school students, a »chronology in been added to the exhibition since 2013: objects« captures the GDR’s temporal »Life in the Death Strip« (»Das Leben im dimension and embeds it in historical Todesstreifen«) and »The Lindenberg context between 1945 and 1990. training. File / Udo in the GDR« (»Die Akte

37 • Memorial Foundation Lindenstraße wel­comes visitors as an open space for learning about history, both individually or Located in the heart of Potsdam’s city in the context of guided tours, con­tempo­ centre, the Lindenstraße Memorial rary witness interviews, workshops or symbolises both political persecution and public events. Guided tours are available in violence under Germany’s various 20th English and other languages. The memorial century dictatorships, as well as demo­ also offers an exhibition guide in English, cracy’s ultimate triumph during the Spanish, French, Polish and Russian for Peaceful Revolution of 1989 / 90. individual visitors, which is free of charge.

A multimedia exhibition in the former court Stiftung Gedenkstätte Lindenstraße and prison building complex leads visitors Lindenstraße 54 through the different historical periods. At 14467 Potsdam the heart of the exhibition are the people phone: 0331 289 6136 incarcerated and convicted of political crimes fax: 0331 289 6137 under the Nazi regime, the period of Soviet email: [email protected] occupation and the SED dictatorship – and www.gedenkstaette-lindenstrasse.de those who helped bring down the SED dictatorship in 1989 / 90. The memorial

38 Contact Imprint Photo credits : The photos show everyday scenes from the GDR and are from the Dr. Jens Hüttmann Published by the Federal Foundation for stock of the Federal Foundation for the Head of School Education the Study of Communist Dictatorship in Study of the Communist Dictatorship: page phone: 030 319895-209 East Germany 2, 12, 15, 16, 18 / 19, 22 (middle), 26 Bundes­ email: j.huettmann@bundesstiftung- stiftung Aufarbeitung / Harald Hauswald / aufarbeitung.de Editorial Board: ; page 20 Bundes­stiftung Anna v. Arnim-Rosenthal Auf­arbeitung / Harald Schmitt / Bild Anna v. Arnim-Rosenthal Dr. Jens Hüttmann Schmitt_294; page 22 Bundesstiftung Contemporary Witnesses and Kronenstraße 5 Aufarbeitung / Klaus Mehner / Bild Remembrance Culture 10117 Berlin 89_1110_POL_DDR-Wende_06 (left), phone: 030 319895-233 Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung / Harald fax: 030 319895-421 www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de Schmitt, Bild Schmitt_159 (right). The email: zeitzeugenbuero@bundesstiftung- www.facebook.com / BundesstiftungAuf- photos on page 28 show scenes of the aufarbeitung.de arbeitung opposition in Prague (November 1989) and Gdansk (August 1980): Bundesstiftung Translation: Jan-Peter Herrmann Aufarbeitung / Harald Schmitt/Bild H. Design: ultramarinrot Schmitt 02, Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung/ Print: vierC print+mediafabrik Harald Schmitt / Bild Schmitt_208, Front cover: Federal Government / Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung / Harald Klaus Lehnartz Schmitt / Bild Schmitt_213. Page 38 Berlin 2017 Memorial Foundation Lindenstraße, photographer Günter Schneider.

39 Bundesunmittelbare Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts