Authoritarian Regime Victims' Advocate: bolstering insights on Dictatorship as a Dictatorship - Enhancing Understanding of East Germany as a Dictatorship: Suggestions by the Victim Ombudsman
Evelyn Zupke, the SED Victims' Commissioner, is sounding the alarm about forgetting the true essence of the DDR, warning that we must never lose sight of its role as a dictatorship. Her annual report, presented thirty-five years after German reunification, underscores the importance of understanding the oppressive nature of the regime and the repercussions it had on its subjects.
Zupke advocates for pumping debt-financed billions from the infrastructure fund into memorial sites. According to her, every euro invested in reminding us of our past is an investment in our democratic future. With many facilities requiring urgent renovations, she expressed concern that the institutions aren't receiving adequate funding.
Her second demand? The Bundestag should set aside funds in the budget for the memorial to victims of communism, which is planned for the heart of Berlin.
Is democracy more important than a dictatorship?
Zupke addresses the concern that more than half of East Germans believe they have no political power and that we only experience a facade of democracy. "Whether democracy or dictatorship, it's all the same," she echoed. While the difficulties faced after reunification may seem a direct result of the transition, Zupke explains that much of the hardship was rooted in the DDR era and cautioning us not to confuse cause and effect.
Zupke's mission is to provide the voices of politically persecuted DDR citizens a platform in the discussion. "For me, as the victims' commissioner, the challenges of reunification have more than paid off for every political prisoner who can now live in freedom," she said.
Improved situation for SED victims
This year has brought significant improvements for former political prisoners, thanks to reforms in compensation payments, according to Zupke. Victim pensions have been increased and are no longer tied to the beneficiary's income, making them a "true honorary pension." People with professional disadvantages can receive higher compensation, and health damages caused by repression are easier to recognize. "What a relief for those who have suffered," Zupke declared.
Zupke estimates the number of SED victims to be in the six figures, with over 250,000 imprisonment victims and about 136,000 people who were placed in children's homes, youth work camps, forced labor camps, and other facilities. Other victim groups include thousands of minors who were victims of state-sponsored doping, various fragile women who were mistreated in closed medical wards, and women infected with hepatitis C through contaminated vitamin D ampoules.
Zupke's report on the anniversary of the DDR uprising
Zupke has filled the role of federal commissioner for the victims of the SED dictatorship since 2021. The release of her annual report coincides with the anniversary of the DDR uprising on June 17, 1953, when around one million East Germans in East Berlin and over 700 locations throughout the DDR took to the streets to protest against their working conditions, demanding free elections and German unity. The DDR leadership and Soviet occupation troops brutally suppressed the protests, leaving at least 55 dead, tens of thousands injured, and 15,000 arrested.
Evelyn Zupke's relentless pursuit aims to enlighten future generations about the atrocities committed by the DDR regime, ensuring that its dark history is never swept under the rug.
- Evelyn Zupke
- DDR
- SED
- Dictatorship
- Democracy
- Berlin
- Bundestag
- East Germany
The Commission, led by Evelyn Zupke, is proposing to extend the period of validity of budgetary allocations in the policy-and-legislation sector to cover the funding of memorial sites related to the DDR dictatorship. Central to this effort is the planned memorial to victims of communism, specifically in the heart of Berlin, which the Bundestag should prioritize in the general-news budget. Despite concerns that more than half of East Germans believe they have no political power and experience only a facade of democracy, Zupke emphasizes the importance of remembering the DDR's dictatorship to preserve the value of contemporary democracy.
