Roland Jahn
Roland Jahn (born July 14, 1953 in Jena ) is a German journalist and head of the Stasi records authority BStU . As a dissident , SED opponent and civil rights activist , he was part of the opposition in the GDR . In 1983 he was one of the founders of the opposition peace community in Jena and was forcibly expatriated in the same year . On January 28, 2011, the Bundestag elected Jahn as the new Federal Commissioner for the records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic (BStU). Marianne Birthler handed over the office to her successor on March 14, 2011.
Life
As a civil rights activist in the opposition to the GDR
After graduating from high school in 1972, Jahn did basic military service with the People's Police in Rudolstadt and in 1975 began studying economics in Jena . His opposition began with public protests against Wolf Biermann's expatriation . On May 1, 1977, he carried a blank white poster at the official May rally to criticize the censorship in the GDR . On charges of Marxist “knowledge gaps”, he was de-registered in 1977 and from then on worked as a transport worker at VEB Carl Zeiss Jena on probation in production . In 1978 he met Petra Falkenberg and in 1979 their daughter was born. Jahn continued to demonstrate openly against the SED dictatorship. In 1982 he sent postcards with his own photo on which half of his face was made up as Hitler and the other half as Stalin . In the local newspaper he placed a funeral advertisement in memory of the unexplained death of his friend Matthias Domaschk , who died on April 12, 1981 in the Stasi remand prison in Gera . He also stuck the advertisement secretly in the city center of Jena as a public flyer . After a protest at the military parade on May 1, 1982, he was arrested and interrogated several times. On September 1, he was held in custody for six months because he had put the Polish national flag with the words “ Solidarność z polskim narodem” (Solidarity with the Polish people) on his bicycle. He was sentenced to 22 months' imprisonment for "publicly degrading the state order" and "disregarding state symbols", but was released after international protests and reports in the German media. While in custody, he was forced to sign an exit application , which he withdrew after his early release. In March 1983 he founded the Jena Peace Community with members of the opposition such as Frank and Eve Rub and others from the area around the Junge Gemeinde Stadtmitte such as Dorothea Rost and Andreas Friedrich, which advocated a social peace service and called for political participation with demonstrations and other activities.
The Jena Peace Community was unique in that it worked outside of public and church structures. In order to smash them, the Stasi carried out the "counter strike". From May 18, 1983 over 40 opposition peace activists from Jena and Apolda were deported to the West. On June 8, 1983, Jahn was also forcibly expatriated from the GDR. He was summoned to the housing office on a pretext, where a Stasi detachment arrested him, brought him to the Probstzella border station in toggle chains and locked him in the last compartment of the next interzonal train to Bavaria .
Activity as a journalist
After his forced departure, Jahn lived in West Berlin . He wanted to go back to the GDR and initially refused to accept the passport of the Federal Republic. He drew the attention of UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar to the arbitrary act of expatriation. In 1985 Jahn - coming from a trip abroad - secretly traveled to East Berlin and Jena via Berlin-Schönefeld Airport. Here he met opponents of the SED such as Gerd and Ulrike Poppe , Martin Böttger and Ralf Hirsch , who advised him to continue his support for peace and human rights groups in the GDR in the Federal Republic . From 1985 to 1987 he worked on the study project "Opposition in the GDR" at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research . As a freelance journalist under the pseudonym Jan Falkenberg , he and Peter Wensierski produced numerous articles on the opposition, human rights violations and everyday life in the SED state in the 1980s for the ARD magazine Kontraste of the broadcaster Free Berlin , including an article on environmental pollution in Bitterfeld , which with the help of was shot by Siegbert Schefke , employee of the environmental library . Jahn also worked as a freelance journalist for the daily newspaper , which reported on its East Berlin page on opposition activities in the eastern part of Berlin. Jahn and Jürgen Fuchs became the most important supporter of the GDR opposition in West Berlin . Among other things, he co-initiated “ Radio Glasnost ” in 1987 , which was broadcast by the West Berlin broadcaster Radio 100 . Until the end of 1989 he was followed and wiretapped in the West by the Ministry for State Security (MfS). The Stasi led the OV "Weinberg" against him , in which decomposition measures are documented.
The Peaceful Revolution accompanied Jahn with monthly contrasts contributions through demonstrations, occupations of the Stasi -Zentralen and maintaining power struggle of SED functionaries. Later he devoted himself again and again to topics of coming to terms with the SED dictatorship. On November 9th, 2009 he was a speaker with civil rights activist Katrin Hattenhauer at the “Festival of Freedom” at the Brandenburg Gate .
From 1991 Jahn worked for Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg , later Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg , as editor for the political magazine Kontraste , from 2006 as head of the service and deputy editor-in-chief.
Worked as federal commissioner for the Stasi files
On November 30, 2010, on the recommendation of the Minister of State for Culture Bernd Neumann , the Federal Cabinet decided to propose Jahn to the German Bundestag for election as Federal Commissioner of the Stasi Records Authority . In the vote in the Bundestag on January 28, 2011, he received 535 votes across factions, 21 MPs voted no and 21 abstained. Two out of 579 votes were invalid. On March 14, 2011, he received his certificate of appointment at the German Historical Museum.
On April 24, 2011, Jahn declared that he wanted to part with the employees with a stasi past in his authority. He justified this with the credibility of his authority in dealing with the history of state security and the respect for the victims. With an expert opinion, he is having the legal framework for a transfer of the 47 known former Stasi employees to other federal authorities examined. In early May the domestic policy spokesman leaning SPD - Bundestag faction , Dieter Wiefelspütz , Jahns plans vehemently. The Stasi records authority is "not a facility that deals with manhunt". In contrast , the CDU parliamentary group supports Jahn's approach. On September 30, 2011, the Bundestag passed the amendment to the Stasi Records Act , which in Section 37a regulates a ban on former Stasi employees working in the Stasi Records Authority. After violent arguments between the SPD and the CDU / CSU , Jahn was re-elected for a second term on June 9, 2016.
Prizes and awards
Roland Jahn was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon on October 8, 1998 . In 2005 he received the unit price of the Federal Agency for Civic Education . On September 3, 2010 he received the Solidarność Medal of Gratitude . In 2014 he received the Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media from the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig .
On June 8, 2018, Jahn received an honorary doctorate from the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena .
Voluntary work
Jahn has been on the advisory board of the Robert Havemann Society , the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial , since 1999, on the advisory board of the Foundation for Coming to terms with the SED dictatorship since 1999 and was on the advisory board of the Berlin Wall Foundation from 2006 to 2010 .
Books
- Roland Jahn: We adapted. Survival in the GDR , Piper, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-492-05631-1 .
Movies
- Contrasts: On the trail of a dictatorship. 3 DVDs, with a booklet by Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, ed. from the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting Corporation (rbb), Bonn 2005
- Gabriele Denecke: Roland Jahn - the Stasi investigator. Documentation, rbb, Berlin 2011
literature
- Hubertus Knabe : The infiltrated republic - Stasi in the west . Propylaea, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-549-05589-7 .
- Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk : Freedom and Public. Political samizdat in the GDR 1985 to 1989 (= publication series of the Robert Havemann Society. 7). Robert Havemann Society, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-9804920-6-0 .
- Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: Endgame. The 1989 revolution in the GDR. Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58357-5 .
- Ehrhart Neubert : History of the opposition in the GDR 1949–1989 . Ch. Links-Verlag, Berlin 1997; 2nd edition Federal Agency for Civic Education 2000, ISBN 3861531631
- Ehrhart Neubert & Thomas Auerbach: It can be different. Opposition and resistance in Thuringia 1945–1989. Böhlau-Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3412088048
- Gerald Praschl : Roland Jahn. A rebel as head of the authorities. Biography. Ch. Links-Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86153-641-3
- Siegfried Reiprich : The dialogue that was prevented. My political de-registration. A documentation. Robert Havemann Society, 1996, ISBN 3980492028
- Tom Sello : Roland Jahn. In: Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk & Tom Sello (eds.): For a free country with free people. Opposition and Resistance in Biographies and Photos. Robert Havemann Society in connection with the Foundation for the processing of the SED dictatorship, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3938857021 , pp. 321-324
- Roland Jahn: Knowing how it was. In: Michael Hacker, Stephanie Maiwald, Johannes Staemmler, Judith C. Enders , Adriana Lettrari, Hagen Pietzcker, Henrik Schober & Mandy Schulze (eds.): Third Generation East. Who we are, what we want. Links, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86153-685-7 , pp. 73-75
- Short biography for: Jahn, Roland . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
- Landscapes of Lies. Conversations with Jürgen Fuchs . With a foreword by Roland Jahn. Edited by Doris Liebermann . Audiobook, 2 CDs, Audiobook Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-389903396-0
- BStU (ed.): Brochure Aktion "Gegenenschlag" - The smashing of the Jena opposition 1983. Berlin 2013, 85 pages, A4 format, without ISBN. With numerous MfS documents on or about Roland Jahn.
Web links
- Literature by and about Roland Jahn in the catalog of the German National Library
- Federal Commissioner Roland Jahn CV, interview and comments, speeches on the BStU website
- Biography with picture, audio and video contributions on jugendopposition.de
- BStU press release of May 7, 2002: Contemporary witness chat with Roland Jahn "Expatriated from the GDR as an opposition member - spied on by the State Security in West Berlin"
- Interview with Roland Jahn in Horch und Guck , special issue Matthias Domaschk , 2003, pp. 64–66 "Matz accompanied me in prison in thoughts."
- Roland Jahn in conversation with Jürgen König: Jahn: The time of reconciliation can only be determined by the victims . DLF, Interview of the Week , April 24, 2011
- Gerald Praschl: Roland Jahn: How the resistance got into western television - portrait, published in SUPERillu, issue 6/2011, pages 2-5
- History winner. In: Focus , 11/2011
- Interview. In: Focus , March 5, 2012
- Dossier at Spiegel Online
- Revenge is not my mind - Roland Jahn. A portrait. In: MDR Figaro . July 14, 2013, accessed July 13, 2014 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Text archive of the Bundestag. Resolutions of the Bundestag on January 27 and 28. Roland Jahn elected as the new officer for Stasi documents. Retrieved January 28, 2011
- ^ A new boss for the "Pharmacy Against Forgetting" ( Memento from March 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). In: Tagesschau.de . Retrieved March 15, 2011.
- ^ A b c youth opposition in the GDR: Roland Jahn, overview
- ↑ Interview with Roland Jahn in Horch und Guck , special issue Matthias Domaschk ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2010 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. , 2003, pp. 64–66 “Matz accompanied my thoughts in prison.” ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2011 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.
- ↑ Illustration of the flag on the side of the German Historical Museum German-Polish “friendship” under the sign of socialism
- ↑ a b c d e f biography of Roland Jahn on jugendopposition.de ( Federal Agency for Civic Education / Robert Havemann Society ), accessed on March 27, 2017.
- ↑ Gerold Hildebrand: Ten are sometimes more than ten thousand . The Peace Community Jena 1982/83, in: Gerbergasse 18 ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2007 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. . Forum for History and Culture, 2nd year, issue 6 (3/1997), pp. 2–7.
- ^ Youth opposition in the GDR: demo 83
- ^ Youth opposition in the GDR: "Counter strike" campaign
- ↑ The "counter strike" - a terrific own goal . Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk on the "Counter Strike Action"
- ↑ Interview with Roland Jahn: The expatriation on jugendopposition.de ( Federal Agency for Civic Education / Robert Havemann Society ), accessed on March 27, 2017.
- ↑ Brochure "Gegenenschlag" campaign - The smashing of the Jena opposition in 1983. In: bstu.bund.de (PDF)
- ^ Letter from Roland Jahn to the UN Secretary General of June 13, 1983
- ↑ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk : Endgame. The 1989 revolution in the GDR. CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58357-5 , p. 352.
- ↑ Election in the GDR - an absurd ritual. In: tagesschau.de . May 7, 2014, accessed May 7, 2014 .
- ↑ Gerald Praschl: Roland Jahn - How the resistance came on western television. In: praschl.net
- ↑ Roland Jahn: Support for the GDR opposition on jugendopposition.de ( Federal Agency for Civic Education / Robert Havemann Society ), accessed on March 27, 2017.
- ^ Youth opposition in the GDR: Radio Glasnost
- ^ Jacqueline Boysen: The West Berlin mouthpiece of the GDR opposition. In: DLF , August 13, 2009
- ↑ Many of Roland Jahn's phone calls to the East German opposition scene were published in an edition for the first time in 2014. Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk , Arno Polzin (ed.): Be brief! The opposition's cross-border telephone traffic in the 1980s and the Ministry of State Security . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2014. ISBN 978-3-525-35115-4
- ↑ Background and documents
- ↑ Contrasts - On the trail of a dictatorship. DVD and dossier from bpb and rbb
- ↑ 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall - this is how Berlin celebrated. In: Welt Online , November 9, 2009
- ↑ The Federal Cabinet proposes Roland Jahn as the new Federal Commissioner for the Stasi records authority. ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2010 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. Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, Press Release No. 456, November 30, 2010
- ↑ SED opponent Jahn becomes master of Stasi files. In: Spiegel Online , January 28, 2011
- ↑ dpa: Stasi files should remain open - forever. In: Merkur , March 14, 2011
- ↑ Jahn does not want to continue to employ ex-Stasi employees ( memento from April 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: Tagesschau.de , accessed on April 24, 2011
- ↑ The dispute over the Stasi federal commissioner escalates. In: Fokus.de , May 7, 2011, accessed May 9, 2011
- ^ Mielke's kitchen helpers. In: Focus , May 9, 2011
- ^ The resolutions of the Bundestag on September 29 and 30. Retrieved September 30, 2011
- ^ Re-election of Roland Jahn - head of the Stasi records authority wants to broaden their horizons. In: Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved June 20, 2017 .
- ↑ Office of the Federal President
- ^ Winner of the 2005 Unity Prize Category Media - Observations on Unity Roland Jahn. ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2010 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. In: Einheitspreis.de , accessed on October 20, 2011
- ↑ Gerald Praschl: Poland says thanks to eleven Germans. (No longer available online.) In: SUPERillu . Burda, September 3, 2010, archived from the original on September 3, 2010 ; Retrieved September 3, 2010 . 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.
- ↑ mdr.de: Jena: Civil rights activist Roland Jahn receives an honorary doctorate | MDR.DE . ( mdr.de [accessed June 8, 2018]).
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Jahn, Roland |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Falkenberg, Jan (pseudonym) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German GDR civil rights activist |
DATE OF BIRTH | July 14, 1953 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Jena |