State Secretary for Church Affairs

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The State Secretary for Church Issues in the GDR , as head of the State Secretariat for Church Issues, was responsible for relations between the state and the churches and religious communities.

Structures and tasks

Following the example of the USSR and other socialist states, this body was established in 1957. The aim was to prevent “any attempt by church authorities to interfere in state affairs, particularly in matters of schooling and education”. In addition, the state secretaries should check whether the laws and ordinances "still correspond to the current state of social development in our republic." Church representatives saw the institution as a "state secretariat against church affairs".

Behind the State Secretary there was an agency that grew over the years. In 1957 this consisted of 25 employees. In 1979 there were already 40 to 45 employees.

Since then, all negotiations between the churches and religious communities and the heads of state institutions have had to be conducted through the State Secretary. Direct talks between individual ministries and churches were not permitted. However, since the 1970s, the respective state secretary brokered so-called technical discussions between ministry and church representatives. The fundamental conversation between Erich Honecker and the Protestant church leadership in 1978 was also prepared by the State Secretary.

The State Secretary was not assigned to a single ministry, but directly to the Council of Ministers. Tasks were administrative issues such as the approval of church representatives to go abroad. In addition, he had to represent and enforce the politics of the SED and the state vis-à-vis the churches and religious communities . On the other hand, he should pass on church wishes to the appropriate government agencies.

Ultimately, it was about pushing back the churches in society and limiting them to the narrow church space. At the same time, the “development and consolidation of state consciousness” should be promoted in the churches.

State Secretaries

State secretaries were usually SED functionaries. In the first few decades the state secretaries had mostly belonged to the KPD during the Weimar Republic , were in the resistance or were persecuted by National Socialism . Contacts with the Christian resistance were also established. The first State Secretary was Werner Eggerath , followed by Hans Seigewasser and Klaus Gysi . It was followed in 1988 by Kurt Löffler and after the beginning of the fall (now with the rank of minister in the Modrow government ) Lothar de Maizière .

The largely influential deputies came from the Christian Democratic Union of Germany . The first was Fritz Flint , followed by Hermann Kalb .

The State Secretary hardly had any real influence on legislation and the issuing of ordinances on church issues. The working group on church issues at the Central Committee of the SED was more important. However, the personal political reputation of Seigewasser and Gysi also strengthened their ability to influence church politics.

Development of Church Policy

In connection with the appointment of a State Secretary in 1957, church policy towards the churches was tightened. Relations with the EKD were broken off. Instead, Eggerath tried to play off the individual regional churches against each other. His successor also avoided meeting representatives of the EKD and sharply criticized the regional churches that adhered to the pan-German organization. After the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR was founded in 1969, State Secretaries Seigewasser and Gysi came closer to the churches.

The Protestant churches recognized the state secretaries as representatives of the state. Opposing this, they urged the observance of the equal rights and equality of the churches assured by Honecker in 1978. The Catholic Church was more reluctant in this regard. Only representatives of the Bishops' Conference negotiated with the State Secretary. The Catholic Church also tried to negotiate with the state and party leaders on key issues such as the relationship with the Church in the Federal Republic of Germany, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction or the relationship with the Vatican, bypassing the State Secretary.

literature

  • Hartmut Zimmermann (Ed.): GDR manual. Volume 2: M-Z. 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, Cologne 1985, ISBN 3-8046-8642-7 , p. 1299 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Johannes Wallmann : Church history in Germany since the Reformation (= UTB . 1355). 6th, revised edition. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 2006, ISBN 3-16-149038-X , p. 300.
  2. ^ Armin Boyens: The State Secretariat for Church Issues. In: Clemens Vollnhals (ed.): The church policy of the SED and state security. An interim balance sheet (= analyzes and documents. Scientific series of the federal commissioners for the documents of the State Security Service of the Former German Democratic Republic (BStU). 7). 2nd, revised edition. Links, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-86153-122-4 , pp. 120-138, here pp. 137 f.