Peace Council of the GDR

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Letterhead with dove of peace

The Peace Council of the GDR was a social organization in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which according to statute "for world peace, détente, for peaceful coexistence of states of different social systems, for disarmament, freedom, national independence and for the abolition of neocolonialism and racism and for anti-imperialist solidarity ”. The GDR Peace Council was not part of the independent peace movement, but an organization controlled and dependent on the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which did not question the armaments and war policy of the Soviet Union . It consisted of about 300 people, mostly functionaries of the SED, the bloc parties and mass organizations of the National Front as well as people from cultural and political life and from the churches .

Within the SED, the Peace Council had been assigned to the Central Committee's Foreign Information Department since 1975 , which had been headed since 1966 by Manfred Feist , Erich Honecker's brother-in-law .

The GDR Peace Council was a member of the World Peace Council and sent representatives to the National Front. Picasso's dove of peace was the signet of the Peace Council .

history

After the end of the Second World War , the German Peace Society (DFG) , founded on November 9, 1892, was reconstituted in the western zones of Germany. In the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ) and later in the GDR, the applications for approval were not granted. The German Committee of Fighters for Peace , from which the Peace Council of the GDR emerged, was formed there on May 10, 1949 from the organizing committee and from the group of conference participants for the 1st World Peace Congress in 1949 .

Over the years his name has been changed several times:

  • May 10, 1949: Constitution in Berlin as the German Committee of Fighters for Peace
  • December 1950: German Peace Committee
  • January 1953: German Peace Council, Emil Fuchs was part of the Presidium
  • June 1963: Peace Council of the GDR
  • 1990: The Peace Council was established in reunified Germany as Deutscher Friedensrat e. V. newly founded.

After the central committee of the fighters for peace (to which the Catholic church historian Archpriest Max Rauer and the Schwerin cathedral preacher Karl Kleinschmidt belonged), peace committees were founded in the states (later districts ), districts and communities of the GDR. These were later transferred to the peace councils of the states or districts and districts. The increasingly dominant role of the National Front in the all-round propagation of state peace policy led in 1962/63 to the restructuring of the Peace Council into the Peace Council of the GDR, to the dissolution of all subordinate branches and their merger with the corresponding local committees of the National Front. The Peace Council thus became a mere propaganda instrument of the SED in order to upgrade the position of the GDR in the comparison of systems.

Role in the GDR

In the Peace Council, the party and government-related “peace movement” was institutionally bound. His political aim was opposition to NATO . As the SED front organization , it was supposed to influence opposition movements in the Federal Republic of Germany in line with Soviet security policy. With the help of the Peace Council, the SED wanted to influence the protest movement against rearmament .

In 1955, the German Peace Council held initial talks with the German Peace Society (DFG) of the Federal Republic and developed proposals for the solution of the Berlin and Germany question in the German Commission established in 1957 , the basis of which until the 1960s was the goal of reunification based on mutual understanding.

The party and state leadership of the GDR saw itself as the leader of peace efforts in the country. This culminated in the assertion, which became the omnipresent slogan: “Whoever strengthens socialism strengthens peace!” This one-sided peace propaganda became an instrument of submission in the GDR. The building of the Wall in 1961, the introduction of compulsory military service in the GDR in 1962 and the violent suppression of the Prague Spring by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968 caused major crises of credibility .

The Peace Council was an organization controlled and dependent on the SED and was subject to instructions from the SED Politburo . Until 1981, the Peace Council was headed by Politburo member Albert Norden . Peace Council employees were increasingly monitored by the MfS , as the Peace Council also had contacts with Western peace groups. The Stasi suspected that the official representatives could be exposed to the " political-ideological diversion " of the West. Department III, main subject area 2, was responsible (from 1953 to 1981) and was also responsible for all mass organizations of the National Front. Thanks to the cooperation between the two organizations, the MfS also received all letters that the Peace Council received from the West. The Peace Council served the MfS as a cover address for Western contacts and provided information about Western peace groups. The Peace Council served the SED as a "financial hub" to pass foreign currency on to the headquarters of the World Peace Council in Helsinki. He was just as unable to criticize the armaments and defense policy of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact as it was to advocate civil rights in the Eastern Bloc .

With the strengthening of the opposition peace movement, which the SED described as “disruptive” and “anti-peace”, the Peace Council fell into political sideline.

Funding and Activities

The Peace Council was financed by state funds and donations.

The Peace Council organized or participated in the following activities, among others:

Editorial activity

The Peace Council was the editor of:

  • Voice of peace . periodical communications from the German Peace Council
  • Peace watch . International magazine published by the Kongress-Verlag Berlin
  • and several books, including:
    • Fritz Köhler: Peace, Science and the Responsibility of Scholars . Peace Council of the GDR, Berlin around 1969.
    • Documents of the World Peace Movement - October 1962 to December 1974 .

Medals and Awards

The Peace Council awarded the following medals and awards:

  • Badge for the strengthening of the peace movement in silver (around 1950)
  • Carl von Ossietzky Medal
  • Medal for services to peace , later " German Peace Medal "
  • Arnold Zweig Plaque
  • Walter Friedrich badge
  • Emil Fuchs badge
  • Badge of honor for long-term membership

organization

The management had a secretariat with at times around 50 full-time employees who organized the work according to the specifications of the party leadership of the SED and which was controlled by the Central Committee department Friendly Parties and Organizations . In particular, the central functions of the secretariat were occupied by SED functionaries. In addition, about ten unofficial employees (IM) of the State Security worked there . In 1990 there were 23 people in the GDR who were entitled to additional benefits through their direct employment in the Peace Council.

A Christian working group existed within the organization of the Peace Council . From 1955 to 1967 the theologian and CDU functionary Walter Bredendiek , who played an important role in shaping it, was the secretary and responsible for the guidance of the Christian working group .

Presidents:

Vice Presidents:

General Secretaries:

literature

  • Long live the German Democratic Party ... In: Der Spiegel . No. 35 1984 ( online - Aug. 27, 1984 ).
  • Ulf Rathje, Christoph Stamm: Unity of socialism and peace . On the origin and development of the GDR Peace Council (holdings DZ 9). In: Communications from the Federal Archives 12/2004, Issue 2, pp. 62–71.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Ploetz, Hans-Peter Müller: Remote-controlled peace movement ?: GDR and USSR in the fight against the NATO double resolution, p. 288
  2. ^ Appeal of the Peace Council of the GDR on June 28, 1965
  3. ↑ History of the DFG ( Memento of the original from January 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed November 15, 2009)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dfg-vk.de
  4. ^ Anne Hartmann, Wolfram Eggeling: Soviet Presence in the Cultural Life of the Soviet Zone and the Early GDR 1945–1953. Akademie Verlag Civilization, 1998, ISBN 3-05-003089-5 , p. 89.
  5. ^ Georg Wilhelm: The dictatorships and the Protestant church ; P. 384 .
  6. ↑ Emil Fuchs and the beginnings of the Christian working group in the Peace Council of the German Democratic Republic .
  7. ↑ Ehrhart Neubert : History of the Opposition in the GDR 1949–1989 , p. 197 .
  8. ↑ http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1125&language=german .
  9. ↑ http://www.dhm.de/magazine/plakate/schluss_damit/institutioneller_ Background.htm
  10. ↑ Clemens Vollnhals: The Church Policy of the SED and State Security: an interim balance sheet , p. 157
  11. ↑ Ehrhart Neubert: History of the Opposition in the GDR 1949–1989 , p. 96
  12. ↑ Clemens Vollnhals: The Church Policy of the SED and State Security: an interim balance sheet , p. 158
  13. ^ GDR: Throne and Altar . In: Der Spiegel . No. 50 , 1986 ( online ).
  14. ↑ Ehrhart Neubert: History of the Opposition in the GDR 1949-1989 , p. 96
  15. ↑ Michael Ploetz, Hans-Peter Müller: Ferngelenkte Friedensbewegung ?: GDR and USSR in the fight against the NATO double resolution , p. 289
  16. ^ MfS-Handbuch, published by BStU, Berlin 2008, p. 59 , accessed March 5, 2014
  17. ↑ a b Udo Baron: Cold war and hot peace: the influence of the SED and its West German allies. on the party 'The Greens' , p. 31
  18. ↑ Michael Ploetz, Hans-Peter Müller: Ferngelenkte Friedensbewegung ?: GDR and USSR in the fight against the NATO double resolution , p. 289
  19. ↑ First meeting . In: Der Spiegel . No. 16 , 1985 ( online ).
  20. ↑ Michael Ploetz: Remote-controlled peace movement ?: GDR and USSR in the fight against the NATO double resolution , p. 318
  21. ↑ Karl-Heinz Baum: Inner Peace - seen from the outside
  22. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesarchiv.de
  23. ↑ http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/pdf/deu/Chapter12Doc1NEW1.pdf accessed February 24, 2008
  24. ^ Dean Reed website , accessed December 13, 2009
  25. ↑ International Peace Watch
  26. ↑ http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/74087406
  27. ↑ year of publication 1976, 320 pages http://www.friedenspaedagogik.de/datenbank/detail.php?id=24280
  28. ↑ Clemens Vollnhals: The Church Policy of the SED and State Security: an interim balance sheet , p. 156
  29. ↑ request of the group of the PDS to pension rights German Bundestag Printed Matter 13/7118 of 28 February 1997
  30. ↑ Walter Bredendiek: Emil Fuchs and the beginnings of the Christian working group in the Peace Council of the German Democratic Republic , booklets from Burgscheidungen No. 112, Burgscheidungen 1964.
  31. ↑ Clemens Vollnhals: The Church Policy of the SED and State Security: an interim balance sheet , p. 156.
  32. ↑ Dirk Menzel: Liberal Religious Education and Free Protestantism , p. 91 .