Monday Circle Suhl

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The Montagskreis Suhl is an important example of the opposition youth culture in the GDR in southern Thuringia in the late phase of the GDR . It was established in 1977 as an independently acting and self-governing discussion and action group under the roof of the church ( St. Marien Church (Suhl) ). Since the end of 1982, the Monday group was continued as a young community , which was close to the "Open Work" (0A) until 1990 and worked together with the Ecumenical Environment Circle and the Peace Circle Suhl.

Members of the Monday group took an active part in demonstrations and in the occupation of the district administration of the State Security in the fall of 1989 . The district became nationally significant through its commitment to the Social Peace Service (SoFD) 1981–1982 in the southern Thuringian region, for its environmental activities, as a collecting basin for critical adolescents and young adults, through its diverse artistic program work and through its focus on the community of Taizé in the first years of its existence.

The self-governing model was also adopted by other circles, including the Montagskreis Suhl impulses for the foundation of the Montagskreis Weimar in the early eighties. Guests and speakers included Heino Falcke , Paul Oestreicher , Egbert Herfurth , Michael von Hintzenstern, Wolfgang Hilbig , Edelbert Richter , Bernd Winkelmann (Einkehrhaus Bischofrod), Walter Schilling , Curt Stauss, but also representatives of the World Ecumenical Council of Churches and the Taizé Community .

The founders and active representatives of the district were observed and processed by the police and state security in numerous operational processes until 1989. Among others, Stefan Dumke, Maik Mantau and the social deacon Gerhard Schulz were imprisoned for conscientious objection to military service, and there were also arrests because of their commitment to the Polish trade union movement Solidarność and because of the application to leave the country ( exit application ). Heinz Jacob and Jürgen Wollmann, as deacons for youth work, and with Heino Falcke , Werner Krusche and Harald Schultze , the leadership of the Evangelical Church of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony also repeatedly campaigned for those affected . The commitment to new forms of self-determined life also received support from representatives of the Catholic Church such as Hugo Aufderbeck until 1981 and Peter Mattheiß and Martin Montag in the 1980s.

In 1983, the punk band Andreas Auslauf was founded in the area around the Montagskreis , after previous NDW or punk band foundings such as Fünfahrplan , Roter Stern or Infragrün (Wolf Scheidt and Tommi Topp, later founders of Messer Banzani ) did not exist or were dissolved had to. Artists such as Clemens Wallrodt (1960-1995, born as Clemens Seiffert), 1990 co-founder of the East Berlin art house Tacheles , photographers such as Carola Löffler (1963-1995) and Joachim Dette, visual artists such as Christiane Krömer and Ulrike Markert came from the circle around the Montagskreis ; the theater and literary scholars Carmen Wolfram and Klaus Michael (eds. of magazines "Liane", " Moosbrand ", founding of Druckhaus Galrev ), the playwrights and musicians Werner Brunngräber and Hartmut Sauer, the theologians Christiane Markert-Wizisla (1961-2007, 2001-07 women's representative of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg), Peter Eichfeld (until 2002 state police pastor of Saxony-Anhalt ), politicians such as Christoph Matschie (1999 to 2014 state chairman of the SPD in the Free State of Thuringia , 2009 to 2014 Thuringian minister of culture) or Peter Wurschi (since 2018 State Commissioner of the Free State of Thuringia to come to terms with the SED dictatorship, ThLA).

After 1990, the youth cultural opposition history was dealt with by the Suhl branch of the Gauck authority (exhibition), the foundation for dealing with the SED dictatorship and the University of Leipzig .

literature

  • Bernd Winkelmann, Brigitta Wurschi: Awakening 89. Small chronicle of the autumn events in 1989 in the district town of Suhl. Published by the New Forum Suhl in 1990.
  • Anke Silomon: 'Swords to Plowshares' and the GDR. The peace work of the Protestant churches in the GDR within the framework of the peace decades 1980-1982. Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen 1997, ISBN 3525557337 .
  • Harald Schultze: Reports of the Magdeburg church leadership on the conferences of the provincial synod 1946-1989. (Works on contemporary church history) Verlag Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3525557604 .
  • Peter Wurschi: Rennsteigbeat. Young subcultures in the Thuringian region 1952-1989. (European dictatorships and their overcoming. Writings of the Ettersberg Foundation, Volume 11), Weimar a. a. 2007 ISBN 9783412200145
  • Bernd Winckelmann: Peaceful Revolution 1989/90 - The work of Christian grassroots groups: An experience report from the former Suhl district. Salier Verlag Leipzig and Hildburghausen 2009, ISBN 3939611565 .
  • Anne Stiebritz: Discussions on Open Work. Uwe Koch - Walter Schilling - Arnd Morgenroth - Wolfgang Thalmann - Thomas Auerbach. Verlag Garamond Jena 2010, ISBN 3941854038 .
  • About Stefan Dumke's imprisonment: The Maxhütte in Unterwellenborn. Searching for traces in ruins. Documentary, director: Anna Schmidt. Broadcast MDR August 17, 2011.
  • Open work of the Evangelical Churches in the GDR. Thuringian horizons. Edited by Stephan Geiß and Anne Stiebritz. Verlag Garamond Jena 2012, ISBN 3941854666 .
  • Experienced GDR history. Contemporary witnesses report. (In it Curt Stauss on the role of Taizé and young communities in the GDR) Edited by Peter Bohley, Ch. Links Verlag Berlin 2014, ISBN 9783861537892 .
  • Anne Hahn: 'Wrong development': Thuringian punks in the 80s. Punks in Thuringia in the 80s were constantly under observation by the Stasi and were supported by the churches. Thuringian regional newspaper October 19, 2014.