White Circle (GDR)
The White Circle was a protest group of people wishing to leave the GDR that came into being in Jena in 1983 . The name comes from the white ribbons that those wishing to leave the country knotted on the antennas of their cars as identification symbols.
The White Circle was regarded by the GDR leadership as a "hostile-negative group" and was monitored by the State Security . Some of its members were arrested and deported to the Federal Republic .
literature
- Joachim Nawrocki: The party's fear of the white circle. Jena's brave demonstrators put the SED in a tight spot . In: Die Zeit, 33/1983, August 12, 1983, online.
- Elker Schmidt (pseudonym): The unbearable burden of citizenship. Jena's White Circle, a refreshing trick of the state apparatus . In: Gerbergasse 18 , issue 2, issue 2/1996, pp. 13-15.
- Henning Pietzsch: The “White Circle” - escape as a last resort , in: Henning Pietzsch: Youth between Church and State. History of church youth work in Jena 1970-1989 Böhlau, Cologne 2009, pp. 238–244.
- Henning Pietzsch: The “White Circle” in Jena - an example of the change in the forms of protest by those wishing to leave the country in the 1970s and 1980s . In: Leonore Ansorg , Bernd Gehrke , Thomas Klein , Danuta Kneipp (eds.): “The country is still - still!” Change in rule and political opposition in the GDR (1971–1989). Böhlau, Cologne 2009, pp. 291–302.
- Heidelore Rutz: Knock. My path to freedom: from the GDR exit application to the release of prisoners . Munich 2015.
- Heidelore Rutz: Knock. The “White Circle” in Jena and my path to freedom. In: Gerbergasse 18 , issue 84, issue 3/2017, pp. 34–39.