Giving victims a voice: Pupils show an exhibition about contemporary witnesses of the SED regime

Fürstenfeldbruck - Their names cannot be found in any history books, their life stories are hardly known. Nevertheless, Michael Brack, Edgar Steinmetz, Christian Rötsch, Rainer Schneider and Karl-Heinz Richter are currently the focus of an exhibition entitled “Contemporary Witnesses of the SED Regime” in the rooms of the Kester Haeusler Foundation. The special thing about it: For the first time, the foundation is supporting a project by high school students at Graf-Rasso-Gymnasium.

“We wanted to give the victims of the SED regime a voice,” said Philipp Seibold on behalf of his classmates at the opening of the exhibition.

It was also important to create “a dignified framework for these fates”, according to Seibold.

With the help of their teacher, the 13 students in the P-History seminar scoured Internet forums for former GDR citizens, conducted online interviews, worked out the historical background, selected images and designed a flyer.

Personal living conditions of contemporary witnesses

The five large display boards on which visitors can now read the personal circumstances of the selected contemporary witnesses were also created in the course of this project.

All in all, impressive and shocking reports that show how strongly the socialist party and its ideology determined the reality of life of every individual.

They convey very concrete ideas of how quickly one had to expect reprisals in the GDR if one criticized the regime.

"Get to know" contemporary witnesses on the laptop

Those who want to “get to know” the pupils' interview partners even better can view excerpts of the original interviews on one of the laptops that have been set up.

The individual fates are supplemented by information boards which, for example, deal with the history of the Berlin Wall, the economic system of the GDR or the Ministry for State Security.

“With us, the students ran into open doors with this concept,” says Karin S. Wolfrum, representative of the board of the Kester-Haeusler-Foundation.

After all, the foundation has been running its own research institutes for years, has offered other projects on the subject of the GDR and has set up a library with books from the GDR.

In addition, there is an original segment of the Berlin Wall in the garden of the Haeusler Villa, which can also be viewed during the exhibition.

Open October 30th and 31st

The exhibition “Contemporary witnesses of the SED regime” can be seen on October 30th and 31st from 11am to 4.30pm in the Haeusler Villa, Dachauer Straße 61 in Fürstenfeldbruck.

At 2 p.m., the author and journalist Ralf Gründer gives a lecture on Berlin wall art.

Admission is free, registration is required for the lecture.

3G rules apply.

Jutta Thiel