Ronald Sassning

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Ronald Sassning (born July 7, 1934 - † November 18, 2017 ) was a German historian . He dealt with Ernst Thälmann's biography while in the GDR . After the fall of the Wall and the peaceful revolution in the GDR , he presented new documents on the arrest of Ernst Thälmann and distanced himself from earlier, official party reports.

Life

Sassning studied history at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena , where he was a research assistant in the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the Historical Institute in 1961 and was responsible for the source edition for the university's 400th anniversary in 1958. 1971 was Sassning Head of Department at the District Party School of the SED in Bad Blankenburg .

From 1973 to 1976 Sassning studied social sciences at the party college "Karl Marx" with the central committee of the SED in East Berlin . In 1976 he completed his studies as a social scientist. In 1979 he completed his doctorate A on the subject of “The anti-fascist resistance struggle under the leadership of the KPD in Germany after the Stalingrad Battle ” with Siegfried Vietzke , Karlheinz Pech and Gerhard Fricke at the party college “Karl Marx” (with special consideration of the party's illegal political and ideological educational work until the summer of 1943) ”. He then became a senior scientific assistant at the chair for history of the SED. Sassnings PhD B took place in 1986 on the topic “Ernst Thälmann and we. The historical achievements of Ernst Thälmann - Legacy of the SED in the further shaping of the developed socialist society of the GDR and for the maintenance of world peace ”.

From 1987 to 1989 Sassning worked as a lecturer for the history of the KPD at the party college "Karl Marx" . In 1990 he became a research assistant at the Federal Arbitration Commission of the SED / PDS for the rehabilitation of victims of Stalinism in the USSR and GDR .

plant

Sassning stood out primarily with his work on Ernst Thälmann's biography . In 1985 he was responsible for an, according to René Börrnert, "above-average glorifying anniversary publication for Thälmann's 100th birthday Ernst Thälmann - that's us ". Sassning had put Thälmann as an "immortal son" in the communist founding league, whose relay was taken over by the SED leaders.

After the turning point and the peaceful revolution in the GDR, Sassning published new findings on Thälmann's arrest on the basis of previously unpublished sources, with which he corrected the representation of the SED. According to his account, Thälmann fell victim to conspiratorial recklessness. The KPD leadership was insufficiently prepared for the transition to illegality, while the party's own security system had failed. In addition to Hermann Hilliges, the club's treasurer, who was designated by the SED as the sole “Thälmann traitor”, there were other confidants, including Alfred Kattner and Herbert Wehner . Sassning also stated that the GDR State Security had decisively intervened in the history of the SED and tried to withhold important documents from publication.

In 2000 Sassning summed up:

“The unmistakable contradiction between the claim of the SED and GDR leadership to the alleged fulfillment of Ernst Thälmann's legacy on the one hand and the deteriorating conditions in the GDR on the other intensified noticeably in the 1980s. In the beginning the model of the indefatigable tribunes against imperialism, fascism and war as well as for a better socialist future for the people still met with approval, over time the rituals of a heroic past seemed rather tiring. But the social problems should be covered over by the alleged winner's enthusiasm for history. Under these circumstances, historical facts, which would have tainted Thalmann's ideal, appeared to be even more burdensome than before and were completely undesirable. Everything stayed the same until the end. "

- Ronald Sassning : History in the sights of the Stasi of the GDR .

Fonts

  • The Jena Easter Conference 1916 and its current teachings. Materials and documents for the 50th anniversary. District Commission for Research into History local labor movement, Gera 1967.
  • Fighters against fascism, role models for the youth. , Gera 1976.
  • Rudolf Scheffel. SED district leadership, Gera 1976.
  • Ernst Thälmann and us. The historical achievements of Ernst Thälmann - legacy of the SED in the further shaping of the developed socialist society in the GDR and for the maintenance of world peace. Party high "Karl Marx" at the ZK d. SED, Publications Department, Berlin 1986.
  • (Ed.): Ernst Thälmann on the struggle for peace. A documentation (selection). Berlin, party college "Karl Marx" 1988.
  • (Ed.): During Ernst Thälmann's imprisonment under the Nazis. Legends and Reality. Helle Panke, Berlin 1997.
  • (Ed.): The arrest of Ernst Thalmann and the "Kattner case". Background, course, consequences. Helle Panke, Berlin 1998.
  • History in the sights of the Stasi of the GDR. How the SED leadership, state security and historians dealt with the fate of Thälmann, Kattner and Wehner. Social sciences Forum, Berlin 2000.
  • Traces of blood on July 20, 1944. The murder of Ernst Thalmann and its background. Jena Forum for Education a. Science, Jena 2004, ISBN 3935850247 .
  • Looking back on Ernst Thälmann. Dealing with the KPD leader in the conflict of opinions. , Jena 2006, ISBN 3935850387 .

literature

  • Lothar Mertens : Lexicon of the GDR historians. Biographies and bibliographies on the historians from the German Democratic Republic. Saur, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-598-11673-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ René Börrnert: How Ernst Thalmann faithfully and boldly! The Thälmann image of the SED in everyday education in the GDR. Klinkhardt, Bad Heilbrunn / Obb. 2004, ISBN 9783781513211 , pp. 61, 55.
  2. ↑ René Börrnert: How Ernst Thalmann faithfully and boldly! The Thälmann image of the SED in everyday education in the GDR. Klinkhardt, Bad Heilbrunn / Obb. 2004, ISBN 9783781513211 , pp. 70f.
  3. ↑ Quoted from René Börrnert: How Ernst Thälmann loyal and daring! The Thälmann image of the SED in everyday education in the GDR. Klinkhardt, Bad Heilbrunn / Obb. 2004, ISBN 9783781513211 , p. 46.
personal data
SURNAME Sassning, Ronald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1934
DATE OF DEATH 18th November 2017