Citizens' Office (Association)
The Bürgerbüro e. V. - Association for the processing of consequential damage caused by the SED dictatorship was founded in Berlin on June 17, 1996 by East German civil rights activists together with politicians and well-known personalities.
The founders included Ignatz Bubis , Bärbel Bohley , Wolf Biermann , Freya Klier , Helmut Kohl , Vera Lengsfeld , Arnold Vaatz and Konrad Weiß .
The aim of the association is to help people who have suffered serious injustice in the GDR and who are still suffering from it today. In many cases, human rights violations and state persecution by the GDR authorities are not or only insufficiently recognized. The current rehabilitation laws do not always apply .
The Citizens' Office helps with psychological advice, practical support, for example in dealing with authorities, or by referring to knowledgeable lawyers. It also tries to raise public and political awareness for the concerns of the victims of totalitarian socialism. Based on the experiences with those affected, individual aspects of GDR injustice are researched and scientifically presented.
The Federal Presidents Roman Herzog , Johannes Rau and Horst Köhler obtained information through visits to the citizens' office and paid tribute to its work.
On June 17, 2009, the GDR citizens' movement was awarded the Point Alpha Prize 2009. The prize money of 25,000 euros went to the citizens' office on behalf of the event.
Known Members (Former Members)
- Ignatz Bubis (1927–1999), politician (FDP) and chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany
- Uwe Bastian (* 1957), civil rights activist and publicist
- Wolf Biermann (* 1936), songwriter and poet.
- Bärbel Bohley (1945–2010), civil rights activist and painter
- Jürgen Fuchs (1950–1999), civil rights activist and writer
- Ralph Giordano (1923–2014), journalist, publicist, writer and director
- Katja Havemann (* 1947), civil rights activist and author
- Ralf Hirsch (* 1960), civil rights activist
- Freya Klier (* 1950), author and director
- Helmut Kohl (1930–2017), politician (CDU) and former Federal Chancellor
- Vera Lengsfeld (* 1952), civil rights activist and politician (CDU)
- Ehrhart Neubert (* 1940), civil rights activist and theologian
- Hildigund Neubert (* 1960), singer, GDR opposition, ThLStU
- Christa Nickels (* 1952), politician (Alliance 90 / The Greens)
- Günter Nooke (* 1959), politician (CDU)
- Siegfried Reiprich (* 1955), physicist, GDR dissident
- Rudolf Scharping (* 1947), politician (SPD)
- Cornelia Schmalz-Jacobsen (* 1934), politician (FDP)
- Wolfgang Templin (* 1948), civil rights activist and publicist
- Arnold Vaatz (* 1955), politician (CDU)
- Konrad Weiß (* 1942), civil rights activist, film director and publicist
Editing
- Uwe Bastian, Hildigund Neubert : Shamelessly exploited. The system of forced labor for political prisoners of the SED state. 2003.
- Freya Klier : Oskar Brüsewitz: Life and Death of a Courageous GDR Pastor , Citizens Office, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-00-013746-7 ; 3rd, unchanged edition at: Polymathes, Leipzig 2013, ISBN 978-3-942657-08-2 .
- Andreas Bertram, Jens Planer-Friedrich, Regine Sarstedt: Wine with too much vermouth. The social, individual and economic situation of the former applicants for leaving the GDR and the question of their identity. 2003.
- Bettina Ernst-Bertram, Jens Planer-Friedrich: Pastor's children in the GDR. Outsiders between disadvantage and privilege. 2008.
- Freya Klier: Michael Gartenschläger - Fight against the Wall and Barbed Wire , Citizens Office, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-027999-7 .
- Jens Planer-Friedrich, Esther Schabow: “You are blocking your future!” Persecuted students - your social, individual and economic situation today. Citizens' Office, Berlin 2010.
- Friederike Reininghaus, Esther Schabow: “Nobody can give me back my childhood!” Instructing children and young people in special homes and youth work centers in the GDR until 1989. Citizens' Office, Berlin 2013.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See MDR: Point Alpha Prize to the GDR Citizens Movement ( Memento from 23 August 2009 in the Internet Archive ).