"Permanent departure. Difficult ways out of the GDR"
Book launch on 15 October, 7 pm, online format
On Thursday, 15 October at 7 pm, the two editors Jana Göbel and Matthias Meisner will present the 2019 book "Ständige Ausreise. Difficult ways out of the GDR". The event will take place online. Participation is free of charge and interested parties will receive the access link after registering at the VHS.
Journalists from all over Germany have compiled 24 stories in this anthology. They talk about their motives for leaving the GDR. And they ask: How did people live in the time between submitting an application and leaving the country, when it was better not to fall in love, when they were sitting on packed suitcases for months or years?
After reading passages from the book, all those present are invited to take part in a discussion.
Anyone who applied to leave the GDR and thus applied for "release from GDR citizenship" had to expect harassment. People were also sometimes called traitors and egotists by colleagues, neighbours and even their own families. By 1989, almost 400,000 people had left the GDR by applying for "permanent emigration" because they did not want to risk their lives trying to escape. Many waited a long time to actually be allowed to leave the country.
This event is a co-operation between Weiterdenken - Heinrich Böll Foundation Saxony and the Chemnitz Adult Education Centre.
Link to the event