The system of repression

To understand the retreat of the people and the seemingly weak resistance, one must understand the methods used to enforce the dictatorship. The SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) ruthlessly enforced the dictatorship of the proletariat. Anyone who resisted was undermined, imprisoned, expelled, convicted, and executed. In 1950, the Soviet Union reintroduced the death penalty. By the time of Stalin's death in 1953, more than 1,000 death sentences had been handed down and carried out in Central Germany.
... Evelyn Zupke (Commissioner for Victims of the SED), Lars Rohwer (Member of the German Bundestag), and Alexandra Titze (Vice President of the Federal Archives – Stasi Records Agency) will discuss the documentation of repression and the significance of the Stasi files for society and the future.

Moderator: Dr. Joachim Klose (Konrad Adenauer Foundation)

This panel discussion is part of the event series "A Second German Dictatorship After National Socialism? On the Implementation of Dictatorship in the GDR." The series is dedicated to the student Herbert Belter, who was sentenced to death by a court in Moscow and executed there.

Admission is free. Registration through the Konrad Adenauer Foundation is requested.


As part of the following event, a guided tour of the Stasi Records Archive will take place. You will have the opportunity to get a glimpse inside the archive. Registration is required due to limited space. Please register by emailing einblick-ins-geheime@bundesarchiv.de or calling +49 30 18 665-6699. The tour will take place at 5:00 p.m. in "Building 7".


IN GERMAN