Dangerous transfiguration of history in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Justice Minister Jacqueline Bernhardt (44, Die Linke) apparently does not want to clearly recognize the GDR regime around the ex-dictators Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker, which systematically spied on millions of people, killed state opponents and imprisoned hundreds of thousands for political reasons, as an injustice state and a dictatorship.
Instead, the minister in the cabinet of state chief Manuela Schwesig (47, SPD) said of the “Schweriner Volkszeitung” (SVZ): “An injustice has happened in the GDR, but to say now that this is an injustice state … That is a legally undefined term . This term implies that it destroys the life’s work of the East Germans, and I would not agree with that. “
And Bernhardt went even further in the interview: The press office of the Ministry of Justice did not approve questions that were asked and answered. So it says on the questions, “How do you define a dictatorship?” And “There was no separation of powers. That is the clear identification of a dictatorship. Would you not agree with that? “, Only:” … “.
Another answer “has been massively changed by the press office of the Ministry of Justice,” says the SVZ. What Bernhardt really answered remains unknown. Finally, the question “Would you agree with the term dictatorship?” Was printed and the answer: “A no would be wrong here. The GDR had a dictatorship without democratic control. “
This is how the GDR regime suppressed its people
As a reminder: The injustice in the SED dictatorship happened systematically. These included:
- the cancellation of privacy (postal secrecy, bugs, wiretapping of telephone calls),
- Propaganda and censorship
- Recruiting unofficial employees (IM) for the purpose of scouting out friends, partners, relatives, work colleagues
- Restrictions on freedom
- the order to shoot at the border (at least 140 fatalities on the Berlin Wall) as well as waves of imprisonment, forced collectivization and political pressure on those who think differently.
The all-powerful SED, the absence of an opposition, the power of the great Soviet brother and the military, no separation of powers, the absence of free and secret elections, no fair jurisdiction, show trials, no free press helped. Instead: propaganda and coercion.
The life of the GDR citizens was permeated down to the smallest detail by the political ideology of THE ONE Party (SED, “The party is always right”), and society as a whole became political. It began with school propaganda, continued in youth groups and, in terms of educational technology, ended with the admission procedures at universities – these usually required loyalty to the regime and, for men, service at the armed forces (NVA). Loyalty to the regime and career advancement were subsequently more than closely intertwined in the GDR.
These are all historical facts. To call that not clearly as injustice and dictatorship, falsifies history, is not tenable in any objective discourse.
And contrary to what Bernhardt said, a denial of this fact pulls the life of the East Germans into the mud, who fought against the regime, who suffered under this regime, who lost friends and family who had no freedom for years. They were exactly right.
That’s what the Federal Minister of Justice says
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (44, FDP) tweeted on Thursday morning: “The GDR was an unjust state. This injustice was directed against the people in the GDR. The majority of the people were right. The GDR state, its organs and rulers systematically committed injustice. There can be no doubt about that. ”
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