Section 16: Wall chart II

Rundgang 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Criticism by a school student – and the consequences

In 1989 a school student in year 9 wrote an essay which was destined to be fraught with consequences. He criticised the policies of the ruling SED, attacked the poor value for money of East German cars, and condemned the violent intervention of the East German police among pop fans who had gathered in East Berlin to listen to a Michael Jackson concert performed on the other side of the Berlin Wall; he even questioned the sense of the Berlin Wall itself. The essay was passed on by the student’s teacher to the headmistress, who in turn sent it to the local education authority – from where it reached the Stasi. Even the student’s mother came in for criticism when news of the affair reached her boss. The headmistress drew up a ‘personality profile’ on the student which, had East Germany survived, would have ruined his chances of a normal career.

The last Stasi document concerning further action in this case was written as late as the end of October 1989.