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At the memorial for the victims of communist tyranny, Evelyn Zupke does not want to "wait and tumble around for years"
Photo: IMAGO/Frederic Kern / IMAGO/Future Image
The federal commissioner for the victims of the SED dictatorship, Evelyn Zupke, spoke out in favor of better compensation for the victims of forced labor in prisons in the former GDR.
Zupke announced a hardship fund for this on "Deutschlandfunk".
She expressly praised the Swedish company Ikea, which had already voluntarily agreed to pay millions in compensation.
"Ikea is in the starting blocks," said Zupke.
However, the payment is linked to the willingness of other companies to also participate in the fund.
The commissioner referred to studies according to which around 250,000 prisoners had to do forced labor in GDR prisons.
Several Western companies would have benefited from this, including Quelle, Otto, Aldi, C&A, Woolworth and Siemens.
Zupke announced a round table with representatives of affected companies.
The processing of this complex and the hardship fund are "a very important concern".
Zupke also criticized delays in the construction of the planned memorial for the victims of communist tyranny.
The laying of the foundation stone should now take place on June 17, 2023, the 70th anniversary of the popular uprising in the GDR.
Society owes it to the victims that "we don't wait and fuss for years."
Zupke, born in Binz on Rügen in 1962, is a highly valued representative of civil resistance against injustice in the former SED state.
At the end of the 1980s, the remedial teacher was active in the East Berlin opposition group Weißenseer Friedenskreis and played a key role in uncovering systematic election fraud in the GDR.
After that, she was one of the organizers of the protests against the fraud.
After the fall of the Wall, the non-party Zupke continued to be involved in political groups such as the Weißensee Round Table, before increasingly turning to the social sphere.
Since 2020, Zupke has been a member of the advisory board for the hardship fund of the Berlin Commissioner for Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship.
svs/AFP