Society for the protection of civil rights and human dignity

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
GBM statutes booklet

The Society for the Protection of Citizenship and Human Dignity e. V. (GBM) was founded on May 3, 1991 in Berlin by dismissed GDR scientists, lawyers, artists and former employees of the Ministry for State Security . Since December 10, 1992, the association has been entered in the register of associations at the Charlottenburg District Court . The GBM is non-profit.

The GBM was a founding member of the Human Rights Forum in 1994 , from which it was expelled in 2012 after refusing to distance itself from its statements about the building of the Wall .

Political scientists, historians and victims' associations of the GDR dictatorship accuse the GBM, and in particular the Stasi Insider Committee, of GDR apology , misrepresentation of history and revisionism of history .

Social background

Head of the magazine "Icarus"
Head of the magazine "Akzente"

media

From 1994 the GBM published the quarterly journal for social theory, human rights and culture: Icarus , the publication of which was discontinued in 2012 for financial reasons. Akzente , the GBM's monthly newspaper, is also published .

In addition, the GBM is the publisher of various political books about the post-reunification period as well as some volumes of cartoon. According to the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2007, "the GBM publications (...) show a clear distance between the authors and the Federal Republic of Germany and its political system".

Membership structure

Shaping the public image elderly people with and without SED - Executive -Vergangenheit who have lost their positions or reputation as members of the East German functionary elite or as artists, scientists or lawyers for the 1990th The GBM sees itself as independent of parties.

In 2010 the GBM said it had 2500 natural members in 30 local chapters in eastern Germany.

Various other associations are connected as corporate members, including the Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support . Its members are not counted among the GBM members.

Blue rose as the GBM logo

The GBM mark is a blue rose. The logo was designed by the former GDR state artist Walter Womacka .

Political and scientific classification

The historian Christian v. In 1998 Ditfurth classified the GBM as closely intertwined with the PDS , as well as the Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support and the Initiative Community for the Protection of Social Rights . In 1999, the GDR civil rights activist Konrad Weiß and in 2006 the Thuringian Ministry of Social Affairs said that the Stasi people are now well organized in associations such as the Society for Civil Rights and Human Dignity or the Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support. The historian Hubertus Knabe described the members in 2007 as “GDR nostalgics”, whose activities were “an organized struggle for the interests of Stasi and SED cadres”.

In a publication by the Bavarian State Center for Political Education in 2006, it was listed as an example for organizations that deal with the political and legal support of SED and MfS activities.

In 2004 the GBM obtained an injunction against the author Anna Funder , who had made accusations against the GBM in her book Stasiland . The NDR undertook to “refrain from, claim or spread in the future that Stasi officers had founded the society to protect civil rights and human dignity”. This was claimed on the Anne Will talk show (broadcast injustice does not go away: the long shadow of the GDR on September 30, 2007).

According to a report by the Tagesspiegel in April 2008, the Berlin internal administration saw the GBM as an “amalgamation of old Stasi members”. In a detailed report from the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2007 it says: “There is no evidence of any influence on GBM club life by former MfS members. [...] If former MfS employees represent a relevant group in the GBM, they do not use the framework of the GBM for their agitation. [...] The GBM has probably not had a coordinating function for the appearances of former, mostly high-ranking Stasi officers at public events since 2002. "This report also states:" The GBM's understanding of democracy and legitimacy still corresponds to that of the SED of 1946 until 1989. ”He sees the GBM as a“ platform for people who after 1990 lost their offices or reputation as members of the GDR functional elite or as artists, scientists or lawyers ”.

Goals and Activities

The association names the "protection of human dignity", the "exposure of human rights violations" and "contributions to the internal unity of Germany" as the primary purpose. In a report from 2007, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the State of Berlin wrote: "The focus of the association's work is on preserving GDR traditions as well as supporting members in providing pension advice." The GBM is thus "on the one hand an interest representative, on the other hand the GDR customs and tradition association" . In a detailed report by Deutschlandfunk from 2009 it was said that the GBM was "a curious mixture of a pensioners' association that tries to raise the pensions of East Germans, a human rights organization and the GDR nostalgia association."

In May 2011, the GBM submitted a complaint to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights about the violation of economic and social rights, especially by people in the eastern federal states, which the committee partially accepted in its report of July 12, 2011. In an article in Spiegel published on July 11, 2011, the committee's working methods were criticized.

The GBM was also involved in a report by several organizations to the UN committee.

Working groups

  • Human rights
  • Friends of Art from the GDR
  • German section of the European Peace Forum epf
  • Berlin Alternative History Forum
  • Insider committee for the critical reappraisal of the history of the MfS (independent until 1997)
  • Solidarity - cultural and educational trips

Editing

The GBM has published six " white papers " since 1992 under the general topic of "Unrest in Germany":

  • White Paper I: Discrimination in the new federal states. Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-928556-06-1 .
  • White Paper II: Science and Culture in the Accession Area. Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-928556-13-4 .
  • White Paper III: Education and Pedagogy in the Accession Area. Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-928556-29-0 .
  • White Paper IV: Church in the Fall. As a pastor in Kapellendorf. With an afterword by Dieter Frielinghaus . Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-929994-42-9 .
  • White Paper V: Injustice in the Rule of Law. Criminal law and winning justice in the acceding area. Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-929994-43-7 .
  • White Paper VI , 1999, 1st ed.

other activities

The GBM organizes "retirement consultations" and art exhibitions. In 2010 an artist lexicon of the GDR was presented.

Membership in organizations

After the GBM had been asked in vain to publicly distance itself from statements about the building of the Wall, it was excluded from the Human Rights Forum on May 23, 2012 .

Human rights award

The GBM annually awards what it calls a human rights prize , which, according to the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is awarded to people who are ideologically close. Previous winners are:

literature

  • Scott Calnan: The effectiveness of domestic human rights NGOs: a comparative study. Hotei Pub, 2008, ISBN 978-9004170216 .
  • Norman Bock: Post-Communist History Revisionism. The transfiguration of the SED dictatorship. In: Society. Economy. Politics Vol. 58, No. 3 (2009), pp. 377–386.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jan Thomsen: GBM sees itself denigrated as a "Stasi association" ( memento from October 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) , Berliner Zeitung , July 3, 2008; accessed May 8, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Berlin Senate Department for Home Affairs and Sport, Department for the Protection of the Constitution: Report in the Committee for Protection of the Constitution of the Berlin House of Representatives from March 14, 2007 and April 18, 2007 ( Memento from April 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF ; 284 kB)
  3. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: The GBM should no longer be non-profit: SPD and CDU: observe Stasi associations. Accessed April 23, 2020 (German).
  4. ↑ a b Annual Report 2012. Forum Menschenrechte , p. 6 , accessed on April 25, 2019 ( PDF download ). . For the background cf. the wording of the disputed declaration: [1] (PDF, there pp. 1–2) or [2] (html).
  5. ↑ Eckhard Jesse : Facts and realizations, no myths and legends . Germany Archive , October 10, 2011, online on the website of the Federal Agency for Civic Education .
  6. ↑ Hubertus Knabe according to a press release ( memento from May 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial from April 7, 2008
  7. ^ Rainer Wagner: Protest against the activities of the "Society for the Protection of Civil Rights and Human Dignity (GBM)". (pdf) April 3, 2008, archived from the original on July 30, 2014 ; accessed on June 6, 2018 (PRESS RELEASE).
  8. ↑ Christian v. Ditfurth: Ostalgie or left alternative. My journey through the PDS. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3462027069 ( PDF; 435 kB )
  9. ↑ Konrad Weiß: Where the GDR is ventilated. From the strange hustle and bustle of the Bonn club of GDR spies ( memento from October 4, 2006 in the Internet Archive ). In: Berliner Morgenpost . April 12, 1999
  10. ^ Claus Peter Müller: SED regime: The victims are still suffering . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 17, 2006
  11. ↑ Hubertus Knabe The perpetrators are among us. Propylaea, 2007, ISBN 3-549-07302-X , p. 43.
  12. ↑ Steffen Alisch: We don't need such a so-called memorial, the MfS memorial Berlin-Hohenschönhausen. (pdf) In: Insights and Perspectives No. 02/2006. Retrieved June 6, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Lars-Broder Keil: "Nobody wants to appear as a bad boy in history" . In: The world . August 8, 2006
  14. ^ Stasi allegations against association in Lichtenberg - SPD parliamentary group: district should end cooperation . In: Der Tagesspiegel . April 6, 2008
  15. ↑ Reports in the Committee for the Protection of the Constitution (VSA) of the Berlin House of Representatives, dealt with in public and non-public meetings on March 14, 2007 and April 18, 2007, p. 4
  16. ↑ Michael Meyer: The Schönfärber. About attempts to reinterpret GDR history. In: Deutschlandfunk . February 19, 2009, accessed May 1, 2014 .
  17. ↑ Comments of the Society for the Protection of Civil Rights and Human Dignity (GBM) relating to the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Federal Republic of Germany, presented to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in view of its consideration of the fifth periodic report of the Federal Republic of Germany in May 2011 ( MS Word ; 81 kB), accessed on September 19, 2011
  18. ↑ Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant (PDF; 63 kB), accessed on September 19, 2011
  19. ↑ Alexander von Neubacher: Poverty: Gloomy picture . In: Der Spiegel . No. 28, July 11, 2011, p. 80.
  20. ↑ Parallel Report On Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PDF; 662 kB)
  21. ^ Dietmar Eisold (ed.): Lexicon Artists in the GDR. A project of the society for the protection of civil rights and human dignity e. V. Verlag new life , Berlin, 2010, ISBN 978-3-355-01761-9 .
  22. ↑ Members WPC