Working group of formerly persecuted social democrats

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Working Group of Formerly Persecuted Social Democrats (AvS) is a working group of party members within the SPD who were persecuted during the time of National Socialism or in the GDR because of their membership of the Social Democrats .

history

After the end of National Socialism , former social democratic resistance fighters and concentration camp inmates formed an informal group. Initially, many Social Democrats who had previously been persecuted by the Nazis participated in the all-German, essentially non-partisan association of those persecuted by the Nazi regime (VVN). In the Soviet occupation zone , where unwilling social democrats were not allowed to form an independent party and were also persecuted, the VVN increasingly fell into the wake of the SED in the course of Stalinization . During the Berlin blockade , tensions in the VVN intensified, but the unity of the association could still be preserved.

Separation from the VVN

At the Düsseldorf party congress (September 12-14, 1948), the delegated Social Democrats finally passed an incompatibility resolution for simultaneous membership in the SPD and the VVN. Reason: the VVN was "communist infiltrated". In 2010 the decision was repealed. At the suggestion of the SPD leadership around Kurt Schumacher , the AvS was founded at the end of 1948 and social democratic former VVN members joined it. Also with regard to simultaneous membership in the SPD and the Bund der Vote von der Naziregime (BVN), an incompatibility decision was issued on May 9, 1953 at the suggestion of the SPD party executive. Eberhard Brünen said in a letter to Hermann Runge that the BVN had a clear political character and - like the VVN - had developed into an evil political entity.

From the beginning, the aim of the working group was to educate people about National Socialism and, from the 1980s, also to fight against the rise of the New Right . The AvS often provided contemporary witnesses for the Nazi era for various organizations' events. Unlike the competing VVN, the AvS did not succeed in continuously developing independent activities.

Cooperation and merger with SED victims

In 1997 the AvS decided to also work with social democrats persecuted by the SED ( Social Democratic Working Group of Former Political Prisoners ). In the period that followed, joint seminars and events were held. The working group of formerly persecuted social democrats and the working group of political prisoners in the Soviet Zone / GDR have come together. The party executive unanimously confirmed the merger to form the working group of formerly persecuted and imprisoned social democrats (AvS) during its closed meeting on January 17, 2016.

structure

The AvS today has very few very old members from the resistance against the Third Reich. The AvS publishes an information service six times a year and participates with speakers in seminars and contemporary witnesses in events (e.g. in schools) on the subjects of extremism and National Socialism . The federal chairmanship was vacant from Susanne Miller's death on July 1, 2008 until the end of October 2016. In the election of the board of directors on October 29, 2016, Wolfgang Kopitzsch was elected chairman and Holger Martens deputy chairman. The assessor Lothar Tautz comes from among the SED victims. The seat of the AvS is in Berlin , in the SPD districts it is represented by memorial commissioners and federal committee delegates.

Board

The federal executive committee consists of the following people:

aims

  • The aim is to "keep the traditions of resistance against the Nazi regime and the communist dictatorship in the SPD alive [...]" and to bring the experiences and knowledge gained from them into today's politics.
  • The population should become aware of the resistance as an "indispensable part of democratic culture". The "recognition of the resistance and suffering of the victims" should be consolidated in society.
  • It has set itself the goal of vigorously combating “neo-Nazi, extremist, anti-Semitic and racist organizations and endeavors”, and to take care of memorial sites.

The AvS also attaches great importance to the protection of minorities and victims of persecution, to emphasize the concerns of former victims and to work with organizations at national and international level that pursue similar interests. Last but not least, efforts are being made to make documents about the resistance public after a scientific review.

literature

  • Dieter Rieke (ed.): Social democrats as victims in the fight against the red dictatorship. Working materials on political education, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn 1994 pdf-online

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Günter Beaugrand, "Contemporary witness at the editorial table: The Association of the Persecuted of the Nazi Regime (VVN) and the Association of the Persecuted of the Nazi Regime (BVN) in the mirror of their press organs", in: Historisch-Politische Mitteilungen , Vol. 4, Issue 1 (October 1997 ), Pp. 261–281, here p. 263.
  2. ↑ a b Kristina Meyer, “Persecution, Displacement, Mediation: The SPD and their Nazi Victims”, in: The Practice of Reparation: History, Experience and Effects in Germany and Israel , Norbert Frei, José Brunner and Constantin Goschler (eds. ), Bonn: Federal Agency for Political Education, 2010, (= series of publications by the Federal Agency for Political Education; Vol. 1033), pp. 159–202, here p. 169. ISBN 978-3-8389-0033-9 .
  3. ↑ Kristina Meyer, "Persecution, displacement, mediation: The SPD and their Nazi persecuted", in: The practice of reparation: History, experience and effects in Germany and Israel , Norbert Frei, José Brunner and Constantin Goschler (eds.), Bonn: Federal Agency for Civic Education, 2010, (= publication series of the Federal Agency for Civic Education; Vol. 1033), pp. 159–202, here p. 171. ISBN 978-3-8389-0033-9 .
  4. ↑ Kristina Meyer, "Persecution, displacement, mediation: The SPD and their Nazi persecuted", in: The practice of reparation: History, experience and effects in Germany and Israel , Norbert Frei, José Brunner and Constantin Goschler (eds.), Bonn: Federal Agency for Civic Education, 2010, (= series of publications by the Federal Agency for Civic Education; Vol. 1033), pp. 159–202, here p. 170. ISBN 978-3-8389-0033-9 .
  5. ^ Richard Stöss : The extreme right in the Federal Republic: Development - Causes - Countermeasures , Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1989, p. 245.
  6. ↑ Susanne Miller: I would live again like this , pp. 197–203. At the time of the integration of the Social Democrats persecuted in the GDR, see the documentation An interim balance sheet of the coming to terms with the Soviet Zone / GDR dictatorship 1989–1999 . X. Bautzen Forum of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Leipzig Office, May 7 and 8, 1999, p. 14 (greeting from S. Miller). Friedrich Ebert Foundation (PDF, 390 kB)
  7. ↑ https://avs.spd.de/aktuelles/

Web links