Michael Richter (historian)

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Michael Richter (born December 11, 1952 in Berlin ) is a German contemporary historian and aphorist .

Life

Richter attended the Polytechnic High School in Ilfeld and graduated from high school in Gotha . There he was a member of Hanns Cibulka's poetry circle . From 1974 he studied Protestant theology at the Humboldt University in Berlin . During this time he was a member of the Young World poetry circle , took part in poetry seminars and published his first aphorisms, including a. in Eulenspiegel , in the new German literature and in spirits . In 1978 he was at his own request expelled because he "of Marxism-Leninism on the ground" located. After he had not been given a place to study philosophy, he submitted an application to leave the country .

After moving to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1981, he studied history, political science and Protestant theology at the universities in Hanover and Bonn . From 1986 to 1989 he worked as a research assistant at the Archive for Christian Democratic Politics . In 1989 he received his PhD from the University of Bonn. phil. PhD . From 1989 to 1994 he was a research assistant at the Department of Eastern European History at the University of Bonn. In 1993 his volume of aphorisms, Wortbruch , was published by Verbum-Verlag in Berlin, with a foreword by Johannes Gross .

Since 1994 he has worked as a research assistant at the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research at the TU Dresden . He published several books and articles on the history of the Soviet Zone / GDR . Most recently, The Peaceful Revolution was published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen in 2009 . Departure to democracy in Saxony 1989/90 . So far, three volumes of aphorisms have been published by Mitteldeutscher Verlag Halle (Saale).

In November 2010, allegations became known, according to which judges from 1979 to 1981 even worked for the Ministry for State Security as IM "Thomas" (Reg.-Nr. XV 1693/79, MfS AIM 6927/83, part I / 1 345 pages, part II / 1 64 pages). He himself had disclosed this to friends "already in the GDR", in the Gießen emergency reception center and to acquaintances and employers. The MfS then classified him as an “enemy of the GDR” and imposed an “entry ban forever”. (BStU file, pp. 285 ff.). The Gauck authority wrote in a statement on October 31, 1991: “Advertising was based on the following: coercion […]. There is no incriminating information about other people in their hit reports. They tried to evade the tasks set by the MfS employee, provided a plausible reason could be presented. According to the files, the initiative for the exit application came from them. ”(The special commissioner of the federal government for the personal documents of the former state security service, Tgb.-Nr. 8509/91 / AU 2-Sch). Richter also informed the board of trustees of the Hannah Arendt Institute and was employed despite his MfS contacts. After a more recent review of Richter's files by the Federal Commissioner for the State Security's records, the institute dismissed the historian on November 24, 2010 without notice. The dismissal was overturned by the Dresden Labor Court and the Chemnitz Regional Labor Court and the allegation of a significantly more extensive IM activity was rejected. Richter continued to work at the Hannah Arendt Institute, but worked at the Sorbian Institute Bautzen since April 2012 on the basis of an out-of-court settlement and a secondment until his retirement in July 2018 .

Michael Richter lives in Hanover.

Content criticism

After Federal President Horst Köhler gave information from the book “The Peaceful Revolution. Aufbruch zur Demokratie in Sachsen 1989/90 ” in a speech on the 20th anniversary, these turned out to be untruths. Koehler said, referring to Richter: "Tanks were standing in front of the city, the district police had instructions to fire on orders without consideration. The cardiac surgeons of the Karl Marx University have been trained in the treatment of gunshot wounds, and in the Leipzig city hall blood plasma and body bags were laid ready. "This information is incorrect, judges conceded against the DPA one that he was" contradictory for his study, unfortunately, and Part of the inaccurate testimony of eyewitnesses ”.

Publications

Historical monographs (selection)

Volumes of aphorisms

  • Breach of word, aphorisms . With a foreword by Johannes Gross. Verbum printing and publishing company for church and public, Berlin 1993.
  • Contradictions. 1000 new aphorisms . Mitteldeutscher Verlag , Halle (Saale) 2006.
  • Vocabulary. Aphorisms . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2007.
  • Objection. Aphorisms from species-appropriate thinking . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2009.
  • Wortburg. Aphorisms . Books on Demand , Norderstedt 2013, ISBN 978-3-7322-5362-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Michael Richter - unmasked MfS informers. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung . November 18, 2010, p. 3.
  2. Because of spying for the MfS: Hannah Arendt Institute dismisses Stasi researcher Richter  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.mdr.de  
  3. Ingolf Pleil: Stasi informers from the Hannah Arendt Institute in Dresden delegated to Bautzen. In: Dresdner Latest News, April 26, 2012.
  4. ^ Köhler lies, from: Arnold Schölzel in Junge Welt, October 12, 2009 (accessed October 12, 2009)
  5. Dramatic details in Köhler's speech probably wrong, in: Sächsische Zeitung of October 10, 2009 (accessed on October 12, 2009)  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.sz-online.de  
  6. Germany: Displeasure with Köhler's speech about the turnaround, in ORF.at of October 11, 2009 (accessed on October 12, 2009)