Preliminary Inventory to the GDR Oral History Project Interviews 1990-1994
Processed by The Hoover Institution staff; machine-readable finding aid created by
Xiuzhi Zhou
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford University
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Phone: (650) 723-3563
Fax: (650) 725-3445
Email: archives@hoover.stanford.edu
© 2001
Hoover Institution Archives. All rights reserved.
Preliminary Inventory to the GDR Oral History Project Interviews 1990-1994
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford University
Stanford, California
Contact Information
- Hoover Institution Archives
- Stanford University
- Stanford, California 94305-6010
- Phone: (650) 723-3563
- Fax: (650) 725-3445
- Email: archives@hoover.stanford.edu
- Processed by:
- The Hoover Institution staff
- Date Completed:
- 1996
- Encoded by:
- Xiuzhi Zhou
© 2001 Hoover Institution Archives. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: GDR Oral History Project interviews
Date (inclusive): 1990-1994
Collection number: 94066
Creator:
GDR Oral History Project
Collection Size:
8 manuscript boxes, 9 card file boxes
(5 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Sound recordings and transcripts of interviews of East German government and Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands leaders,
and East German dissidents, relating to political processes and policymaking in East Germany from 1945 to 1990. Project directed
by A. James McAdams, and sponsored by the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace and other organizations.
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives
Language:
German.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
Publication Rights
Photocopying limited to two pages per transcript without permission of Archivist. (use request for extra photocopies)
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], GDR Oral History Project interviews, [Box no.], Hoover Institution
Archives.
Access Points
Communism--Germany (East)
Dissenters--Germany (East)
Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands.
Germany.
Communism.
Germany (East)--Politics and government.
Phonotapes.
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace.
McAdams, A. James.
Introduction
by James McAdams, Principal Investigator
In 1994, the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University opened a major new archive, a collection
of over 80 oral histories of leading politicians and policymakers from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). The GDR
Oral History Project was initiated in 1990 by Professor A. James McAdams of the Helen Kellogg Institute for International
Studies at the University of Notre Dame. It was made possible largely through the financial assistance of the National Council
for Soviet and East European Research. Other supporters included the Center for German Studies at the University of California,
Berkeley, and the John Foster Dulles Program in Leadership Studies at Princeton University. The Hoover Institution supported
the transcription of all of the interviews in the collection.
The aim of the GDR Oral History Project was to record on tape some of the still vivid memories of the former leaders of East
Germany, so that in 50 or 100 years (the amount of time Socialist Unity Party [SED] general secretary, Erich Honecker, predicted
the Berlin Wall would last) future students of German history would have a unique source for assessing the driving motivations
of the individuals who once made up the country's dominant political culture. Of course, no series of interviews alone can
realistically relate the entire history of a state. Nevertheless, the researchers felt they could preserve for posterity a
segment of that experience by interviewing a select group of individuals who could reasonably be characterized as the East
German political elite.
In particular, the Oral History Project chose to interview four types of politically significant individuals. In the first
group, we emphasized well-known representatives of the SED, such as former members of the ruling politburo and central committee,
like Kurt Hager, Karl Schirdewan, Günther Kleiber, Herbert Häber, Werner Eberlein, Egon Krenz, and Gerhard Schürer. The second
group was broader, comprised largely of members of the party and state apparatus. In this case, our goal was to identify a
sample of policy implementers, from diplomats to department heads. Thus, we focused on key departments of the SED central
committee, such as Agitation and Propaganda and International Affairs, and sections of state ministries, such as the foreign
ministry department charged with East German-Soviet relations. Our third group of interviewees was comprised of so-called
policymaking intellectuals. This disparate group, with representatives ranging from economist Jürgen Kuczynski to socialist
theoretician Otto Reinhold, primarily included individuals who had some tangential relationship to policymaking; we particularly
emphasized former members of SED policy institutes, such as the Academy of Social Sciences and the Institute of Politics and
Economics. Finally, as the Oral History Project grew, we decided to develop a fourth group of interviewees in order to cast
light upon the transition from the GDR to unified Germany. This category was drawn from former dissidents who became politicians,
including such wide-ranging personalities as Markus Meckel, Lothar de Maiziere, Jens Reich, and Wolfgang Ullmann.
[Footnote: Since the opportunity arose to conduct interviews with individuals in the former Soviet party apparatus who
had dealings with the GDR, we also conducted several interviews in Moscow. However, the Soviet-East German relationship never
evolved into a formal interview category.]
From the beginning of the project, the organizers were confronted with a question that all oral historians face: how to find
an appropriate balance between the competing norms of "richness" and "rigor." Rigor involves the kind of rigidly-structured
interviews that will lend themselves to social scientific generalization and even quantification; richness, in contrast, favors
the unique political and personal story of each individual to be interviewed. On the side of rigor, we provided all our interviewers
with a concrete set of core questions to guarantee that the interviews would not be entirely random. Nearly everyone interviewed
was asked previously formulated questions about their family background and social class, their particular path to political
engagement, their views on the German national question, their perceptions of the outside world, and their personal experience
with policymaking in the GDR.
Yet, if we leaned in any particular direction in developing the project, it was in favor of richness. Clearly, we did not
have the resources to interview the number of representatives of the GDR elite that would have been required for quantitative
social-science analysis. We also found that it was best to tailor many of our questions to the individuals' own experiences,
since we were dealing with very different sorts of people, with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Some, for example, had
worked closely with major figures like Walter Ulbricht; others had been uniquely positioned to understand major events, such
as the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. We did not want any of these memories, however idiosyncratic, to be lost to future
historians. Finally, we believed that after the formal questions were posed, it was crucial to let our discussion partners
speak for themselves about what mattered most in their lives. Sometimes they took the interview in directions that we could
not have anticipated.
Not surprisingly, we initially approached our interviews with certain guiding preconceptions about how our discussions might
progress and what we might discover. As the Oral History Project developed, some of these assumptions were borne out; but
provocatively, others were not. In every case, however, our successes and failures turned out to be enormously revealing about
the nature of the project itself and about East German history.
Our first preconception was that we might have a hard time getting some of the most senior SED officials to talk openly about
their past. This concern turned out not to be serious; in the majority of cases, they seemed to speak freely about their experiences,
particularly when we assured them that we were not interested in "sensationalist journalism." With only a few exceptions-primarily,
those facing criminal prosecution-it was quite easy to gain access to these former leaders, even to individuals who had granted
no other interviews to westerners. We had an unexpected advantage: for the most part, we were Americans, indeed Americans
from the well-known Hoover Institution. In the perception of many of our interviewees, we were worthy victors. Many were actually
thrilled to welcome representatives of the "class enemy" into their living rooms, provided that we would not turn over their
interviews to one of the "boulevard newspapers," like the Bildzeitung. Three eastern German social scientists also conducted
interviews for us. They had the advantage of knowing how to speak the "language" of their former leaders. On balance, our
main advantage seemed to be that no members of the Oral History Project came from former West Germany, which was still regarded
by our interviewees with suspicion.
In retrospect, the readiness of these individuals to speak with us should probably not have been so surprising. After all,
by depositing their thoughts in a major archive, we were assuring them that we were taking their experiences seriously and
perhaps even guaranteeing that their lives had not been lived in vain. This is no mean consideration in view of what happened
to the GDR. Naturally, future scholars will have to come to their own conclusions about the honesty and sincerity of each
interview. Occasionally, we detected moments of outright dishonesty. Sometimes our interviewees simply refused to talk about
embarrassing moments in their lives (e.g., association with the Stasi). There was also a recurring tendency for younger individuals,
or those lowest in the old hierarchy, to portray themselves as something they were not before 1989-such as, closet reformists
or enthusiastic supporters of Mikhail Gorbachev. There were also frequent problems with memory; some older interviewees could
remember the "anti-fascist struggles" of the late 1920s with absolute clarity, but could not recall the 1950s at all.
These sorts of problems afflict all oral histories. Yet, there were many moments when we could not help but be struck by the
candor of our interviewees. Many showed a surprising readiness to talk about issues that we expected to be embarrassing to
them. The best example of this was the Berlin Wall, which they nearly always defended in animated terms. From the first days
of the interview project, there was also a telling recognition among the leading representatives of the SED elite that they
had lost the battle with the West and that they were beginning to accept this reality. Thus, there was none of the crazed
rambling and denial that one found in previously published interviews with Erich Honecker. Among several interviewees, there
was even a notable respect for their former opponents, such as East German dissident, Bärbel Bohley, and the late West German
Green, Petra Kelly. Undoubtedly, there were many points where one wanted more self-criticism from our discussion partners.
Yet, some of our interviewers wondered whether this same quality would have been available from comparable politicians in
the West. As one eastern German interviewer reflected: "Any political elite has to confront issues involving moral integrity
in the daily course of its activities, and each individual must make his peace with truth as he can."
Our second preconception was that we could use such interviews to uncover new facts about the GDR. No doubt, anyone listening
to the hundreds of hours of tapes in this collection will encounter a number of interesting facts about distinct events in
the East German past (for example, about the mysterious death of planning minister Erich Apel in 1965, about the lack of East
German involvement in the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, and about the banning of the Soviet publication, Sputnik, in
1988). Moreover, the interviews also serve to undermine many of the stereotypes that scholars have cultivated about some of
East Germany's best-known politicians; sometimes the "good guys" turn out to be not so good in the recollections of their
former associates, and the "bad guys" not nearly so bad.
Yet, one of our most interesting findings is how little most policymakers, including many members of the SED's highest circles,
actually knew about some of the most important events and controversies of the East German past. We feel that this says a
lot about the nature of politics in the GDR. This really was a system that kept all politically significant facts restricted
to very few people. We discovered that even at politburo meetings, leaders discussed very little of substance. The most important
decisions were frequently made by two or three individuals walking in the woods on a weekend. In these instances, expertise
rarely played a major role.
Even if we did not acquire the full stories about some of the events in the East German past that interested us most, the
opportunity to discuss such issues as the construction of the Berlin Wall or the SED's opposition to Gorbachev was unique.
Indeed, future scholars may find that these interviews provide a natural complement to the mountains of written documents
that have recently become available to us in such collections as the Central Party Archives in Berlin. For in the latter case,
we have huge new reservoirs of historical facts, but we frequently lack the personal perspectives necessary to interpret them.
A third preconception was that we would learn much more about policymaking processes in the GDR. This turned out to be true,
although not for the reasons we envisioned. Initially, we thought that by interviewing individuals at different levels of
the decision-making apparatus of the SED, we would be able to construct a rough flow chart of authority, showing how decisions
moved upward, downward, or outward in a complex hierarchy. Not only did we never encounter such structures, but we received
constant affirmation that, but the 1980s, no well-established hierarchies existed at all. As we have already suggested, absolute
power was concentrated in very few hands, and all other expressions of political activity took place on a highly informal
and personalistic basis. Even the SED politburo had the character of a rubber stamp; to the extent that there were differences
among its members-and these did exist on some questions-they were only expressed on a private basis over the lunch table at
the ruling body's Tuesday meetings. It is striking that even those who might have been considered personal cronies of SED
General Secretary Erich Honecker did not feel that they controlled very much. They, too, felt like cogs in the socialist wheel.
In contrast to this image of a faceless, even amorphous policymaking culture, there was also provocative agreement in many
of the interviews that politics in the GDR had not always been so uniform and that it had changed particularly since the 1950s.
Those individuals who were politically active in East Germany's first decade were practically unanimous in conveying an image
of policymaking during that period that is conspicuously more collegial than anything later experienced in the GDR. Among
them, there was a consensus that East Germany's first leader, Walter Ulbricht, was only a primus inter pares in the early
1950s, and that those around him could and did oppose his views on a regular basis. These findings seem to concur with the
written records of the Central Party Archives.
Finally, we came closest to meeting our fourth preconception: that we could record our interviewees' views on the great issues
and great debates of the GDR past. In this case, we were listening to people's perceptions that they could remember, regardless
of how well they know the details of an issue. They could say what was important to them, and what was not. Many spoke passionately
about matters that had once been life or death questions for their country. This was, above all, true of the long-disputed
German national question. In contrast to some Western scholarship, which has held the GDR's national policy to be little more
than a tactical diversion, all of the interviews conveyed a strong sense that, at least until the early 1960s, if not later,
the SED leadership really did believe that it was offering a valid German path to socialism. Walter Ulbricht emerges as practically
obsessed with the issue, and much of his downfall in 1970-1971 can be explained in terms of this obsession.
Similarly, the Oral History Project offers a very nuanced perspective of the complex relations that existed between the GDR
and its superpower ally, the Soviet Union. It will not surprise anyone to hear that some differences existed between East
Berlin and Moscow. But future scholars may be impressed by the extent of these differences, as recorded in the interviews,
and by how far back they reach in East German history (e.g., in Ulbricht's efforts to push through the economic reforms of
the New Economic System in the 1960s, despite manifest Soviet opposition). Additionally, the Oral History Project affords
a unique perspective on the East German-Soviet conflict that emerged in the 1980s with the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev's reformist
leadership. Standard Kremlinological approaches to the study of communist leadership might lead one to expect the East German
politburo to have been divided into factions of "Gorbachev opponents" and "Gorbachev supporters," with comparable divisions
existing with the Soviet leadership over policy to the GDR. But aside from a few slight exceptions, we were surprised to find
almost no evidence of factional divisions over the GDR's relationship with Moscow.
Of all the great issues of the East German past, the interviews offer a very clear picture of the evolution of East Berlin's
relations with the Federal Republic of Germany. They depict an exceptionally close relationship between the two German states,
in fact, one that defies all assertions that the essence of West German policy was to hold the German question open for some
future resolution. With German reunification now an accepted fact, future scholars may be intrigued to hear, form the eastern
German perspective, how seriously Bonn took the leaders of the GDR and how much of West German policy was based upon the assumption
that the Berlin Wall would remain in place for "50 or even 100 years."
In sum, while the GDR Oral History Project does not presume to offer a complete or unbiased perspective on East Germany's
history, we believe it is a valuable source of information and interpretations for future scholars to use as they seek to
make sense of the GDR's past. We are not aware of any comparable, publicly accessible projects on the GDR's history, particularly
in Germany itself, although much smaller interview collections on the history of inter-German relations in the 1960s and the
roots of the East German revolution of 1989 are being assembled. Nor do we know of any similar efforts to capture the memories
of comparable political elites in other East European states, although the Hoover Institution is now beginning a similar interview
project on the old Soviet elite. Therefore, we hope that the Oral History Project will serve as an inspiration to researchers
seeking to lay the foundations for future scholarship on countries as diverse as Poland, Romania, Hungary, and the former
Czechoslovakia.
The GDR Oral History Project would not have been possible without the generous assistance of a number of experts on the history
of the GDR. Aside from A. James McAdams, interviewers for the project included Thomas Banchoff, Heinrich Bortfeldt, Catherine
Epstein, Dan Hamilton, Gerd Kaiser, Jeffrey Kopstein, Olga Sandler, Matthew Siena, John Torpey, and Klaus Zechmeister. Elena
Danielson of the Hoover Archives played a central role in the project, cataloguing all of the interviews and arranging for
their transcription.
All of the interviews in the collection are equally accessible to any interested scholars, provided that interviewees have
not previously requested copyright restrictions on the use of the material. For further information on the collection, contact
the Hoover Archives.
For background information, contact: Professor A. James McAdams, Helen Kellogg Institute of International Studies, University
of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556
Container List
Box 1
Lev Bezymenskii interview by Olga Sandler
June 25, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000086_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 1 cassette and transcript (in Russian). Regards Soviet-German relations. Narrator is a journalist
Lothar Bisky interview by Heinrich Bortfeldt
April 6, 1993
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000088_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is head [?] of
Zentralinstitut für Jugend-forschung; Kultursoziologe at the
Akademie für Gesellschaftswissenschaften; Rektor der Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen.
Siegfried Bock interview by A. J. McAdams
May 18, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000089_a01 and 94066_a_0000090_a01
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a diplomat; Envoy to the European Conference of Safety and Cooperation
in Helsinki and Geneva; ambassador to Romania.
Bärbel Bohley interview by John Torpey
April 2, 1993
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000091_a01 and 94066_a_0000092_a01
Scope and Content Note
CV, 2 cassettes, no transcript (audio quality poor). Narrator is an artist; co-founder of the oppositonal group
Neues Forum; co-founder of
Frauen für den Frieden.
Joachim Böhm interview by A. J. McAdams
December 5, 1990
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000093_a01 and 94066_a_0000094_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is deputy director, ZK Dept. Regards relations with socialist countries.
Michael Brie interview by Matthew Siena
December 23, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000095_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is professor für sozialphilosophie at the Humboldt-University, Berlin.
Manfred Buhr interview by K. Zechmeister
December 23, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000096_a01 and 94066_a_0000097_a01
Scope and Content Note
CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a philosopher; director of
Zentralinstitut für Philosophie at the Academy of Sciences; vice president of the International Hegel-Society; co-editor of
Philosophisches Wörterbuch.
Peter-Michael Diestel interview by Bortfeldt
December 15, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000098_a01
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is dr. jur.; co-founder of
DSU; member of the
Volkskammer DDR-Innenminister; president of the
CDU-Fraktion im Landtag Brandenburg.
Stefan Doernberg interview by Bortfeldt
November 10, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000101_a01 and 94066_a_0000102_a01
Scope and Content Note
CV, 2 cassettes and transcript (not literal). Narrator is a historian; Generalsekretär des DDR-Komitees für europäische Sicherheit;
director of the
Institut für Internationale Beziehungen (Potsdam-Babelsberg).
Stefan Doernberg interview
January 15, 1993
Scope and Content Note
1 [?] tape and transcript missing
Stefan Doernberg interview by Gerd Kaiser
July 27, 1993
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000104_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 cassette and transcript
Fred Ebeling interview by Torpey
August 23, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000105_a01 and 94066_a_0000106_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 cassettes (echoing, but understandable). Narrator is a member of
Demokratischer Aufbruch
Fred Ebeling interview by Torpey
January 28, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000107_a01 and 94066_a_0000108_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes (echoing, but understandable)
Werner Eberlein interview by Torpey
February 2, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000109_a01 and 94066_a_0000111_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a member DDR Politbüro 1983-89; son of KPD co-founder Hugo Eberlein;
member of the edit. board of
Neues Deutschland; Russian interpreter for Ulbricht & Honecker.
Konrad Elmer interview by Thomas Banchoff
December 5, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000112_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a SPD member, Bundestag
Rainer Eppelmann interview by Dan Hamilton
November 9, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000113_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a pastor; co-founder of
Initiative Demokratischer Aufbruch (DA), its candidate for Berlin in 1990.
Rainer Eppelmann interview by Banchoff
December 5, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000114_a01 and 94066_a_0000115_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes and transcript
Box 2
Oskar Fischer interview by McAdams
March 9, 1993
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000116_a01 and 94066_a_0000117_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a party official; Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Peter Fischer interview by Siena
December 23, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000118_a01 and 94066_a_0000119_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is an engineer and economist; assistant at the
Hochschule für Ökonomie, Berlin; assistant of Sigmund Rothstein,
Verbandsprasident der jüdischen Gemeinden in Berlin; friend of Biermann and Irene Runge.
Peter Florin interview by McAdams
March 10, 1994
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000120_a01, 94066_a_0000121_a01 and 94066_a_0000122_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 3 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a government official; member of
SED-ZK; representative of GDR by UN in New York; chairman of UNESCO committee; ambassador to CSSR.
Hans-Dieter Fritschler and Landolf Scherzer interview by Kaiser
September 7, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000136_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 cassette and transcript. Narrators are SED leaders in Thüringen. Also includes 2 newspaper articles (with photos of Fritschler
and Scherzer):
(1) · Peter Pragal, "Jetzt kocht 'Der Erste' auch mal Kaffee für die Partei," in
Berliner Zeitung, May 16-17, 1992, p. 61; and
(2) · Landolf Scherzer, "Das letzte Gefecht," in
Die Zeit, January 2-5, 1990, pp. 9, 10, 12
Joachim Gauck interview by Torpey
April 23, 1993
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000132_a01 and 94066_a_0000133_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is Bundesbeauftragter für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der
ehemaligen DDR;
Pastor, co-founder of
Neues Forum.
Lea Große interview by Kaiser
February 13, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000137_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a communist since 1927 who was sentenced to 5 years in prison in 1935 for communist
underground activities;
Programmleiter beim Sender "Freies Deutschland" in Moscow,
hefredakteurin beim Rundfunk Dresden.
Gregor Gysi interview by Bortfeldt
July 6, 1993
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000134_a01
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 cassette and transcript (corr., pencil marks). Narrator is a lawyer; one of the few to have defended oppositionists;
advocate of
Neues Forum; Leader of the renewed
SED-PDS
Klaus Gysi interview by Siena
January 3, 1990
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Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000135_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 photos, CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a government official; Head of the Department of Publishing House
Volk und Wissen; minister of Culture; ambassador to Italy; secretary of state for church matters.
Klaus Gysi interview by Siena
December 28, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000138_a01 and 94066_a_0000139_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes and transcript
Box 3
Herbert Häber interview by McAdams
March 19, 1990
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000140_a01 and 94066_a_0000141_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 photos, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a party official; Member DDR Politbüro.
Herbert Häber interview by McAdams
March 8, 1993
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000142_a01 and 94066_a_0000143_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes and transcript
Kurt Hager interview by McAdams
December 3, 1990
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Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000150_a01 and 94066_a_0000151_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a Government official; leading ideologist; member of the
ZK of
SED, secretary responsible for the
ZK für Kultur und Wissenschaft.
Kurt Hager interview by McAdams
July 11, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000152_a01 and 94066_a_0000153_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes and transcript
Kurt Hager interview by Catherine Epstein
August 6, 1993
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000154_a01 and 94066_a_0000155_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes and transcript (corr., pencil marks)
Erich Hahn interview by Bortfeldt
February 28, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000156_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a Professor of Marxist and Leninist Philosophy; candidate of
SED-ZK since 1976.
Brunhilde and Helmut Hanke interview by K. H. Plagemann
July 22, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000157_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 cassette (beginning missing) and transcript. Narrator is Mayor of Potsdam since 1961; member of the Staatsrat.
Wolfgang Harich interview by McAdams
December 1, 1990
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000158_a01 and 94066_a_0000159_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator taught Marxist Philosophy at the Humboldt Univ. until arrested for "Bildung
einer konspirativen staatsfeindlichen Gruppe" in 1956; released from prison in 1964; publisher's reader at the
Aufbau Verlag.
Wolfgang Herger interview by Torpey
September 16, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000160_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 1 cassette (audio quality poor, echo), no transcript. Narrator is a party official; member DDR Politbüro.
Wolfgang Herger interview by Torpey
January 30, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000161_a01 and 94066_a_0000162_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes and transcript
Box 4
Frank-Joachim Herrmann interview by McAdams
March 11, 1994
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000163_a01 and 94066_a_0000164_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a Mitarbeiter des ZK der SED; editor-in-chief of the
"Berliner Zeitung".
Uwe-Jens Heuer interview by Banchoff
November 14, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000165_a01
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 cassette and transcript, 1 election brochure. Narrator is a Professor of law; was advising the
ZK in questions concerning
Staats-und Wirtschaftsrecht at the
Zentralinstitut für sozialistische Wirtschaftsführung.
Stephan Hilsberg interview by Banchoff
June 14, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000166_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 1 cassette. Narrator is a Computer scientist; co-founder of the SPD (East); member of the Bundestag.
Gustav Just interview by Torpey
July 14, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000167_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a Member of
Gruppe Harich, SPD member
Brandenburger Landtag.
Gustav Just interview by Torpey
February 1, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000168_a01 and 94066_a_0000169_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes. 1 article: Hanno Kühnert, "Die Schüsse im Leben des Gustav Just," in
Die Zeit, Apr. 16, 1993, p. 16.
Dietmar Keller interview by Banchoff
November 25, 1991
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000170_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator held Various positions within the
Kultur-ministerium; minister of culture in 1989, open to reforms.
Karl-Heinz Kern interview by McAdams
May 22, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000171_a01 and 94066_a_0000172_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a Chemist; diplomat; GDR ambassador to Great Britain.
Günther Kleiber interview by Zechmeister
November 26, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000173_a01 and 94066_a_0000174_a01
Scope and Content Note
CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is an Electrical engineer; various party positions linked to the fields of
Elektrotechnik, Elektronik, data processing;
Stell-vertretender Ministerprasident der DDR;
Minister für Allg. Maschinen-, Landmaschinen-und Fahrzeugbau.
Gerd König interview by McAdams
March 9, 1993
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000175_a01 and 94066_a_0000176_a01
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a Diplomat; ambassador to the CSSR.
Ernst Krabatsch interview by Banchoff
March 25, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000177_a01
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a Diplomat; member of the GDR delegation to intern. conferences on various occasions.
Egon Krenz interview by Bortfeldt
May 31, 1990
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000178_a01 and 94066_a_0000179_a01
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is General secretary and head of
Staatsrat after Honecker's retirement; chief executive of the country during the transition period (Oct. 18 - Dec. 3, 1989); expelled
from the SED in Jan. 1990.
Box 5
Jürgen Kuczynski interview by Bortfeldt
January 10, 1991
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 cassette and transcript, 1 note anouncing K's new book:
Ein hoffnungsloser Fall von Optimismus. Memoiren 1989-94, Berlin: Aufbau Verlag, 1994. Narrator is an old communist; economist; professor of Economic History at Humboldt Univ.,
Direktor des Instituts für Geschichte der Wirtschaftswiss. der Akad. der Wissenschaften.
Manfred Lötsch interview by Torpey
February 27, 1991
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 1 cassette (bad audio quality), no transcript. Narrator is a Reform-oriented sociologist at the Acad. of Social Sciences,
Berlin.
Manfred Lötsch interview by Torpey
January 28, 1992
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0000203_a01 and 94066_a_0000204_a01
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes (audio OK in the beginning), transcript missing.
Lothar de Maizière interview by Hamilton
November 12, 1991
Scope and Content Note
CV, 3 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a Lawyer; becomes head of the
CDU of the
DDR in 1989; last Prime Minister of the GDR.
Lothar de Maizière interview by Bortfeldt
November 4, 1992
Scope and Content Note
1 cassette and transcript
Moritz Mebel interview by Bortfeldt
February 27, 1991
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a Chefarzt für Urologie an der Charité.
Markus Meckel interview by Banchoff
June 10, 1991
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a Pastor; co-founder of the East German Social Democratic Party; foreign
minister of the
DDR (April - August 1990).
Daniil Efimovich (Melanid) Mel'nikov interview by Sandler
July 1, 1992
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 1 cassette (in Russian) and transcript. Regarding German-Soviet relations. Narrator Worked at TASS and for the
SovInformbiuro.
Hans-J. Misselwitz interview by Bortfeldt
June 3, 1993
Scope and Content Note
1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a Biochemist; pastor;
Parlamentarischer Staatssekretar (SPD) beim Außen-ministerium (under
de Maizière)
.
Hans Modrow interview by Bortfeldt
March 17, 1993
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a Dr. phil. in
Wirtschaftswissenschaften; within the
SED for democratic reforms; on Nov. 13, 1989, elected head of the
DDR- Ministerrat, successor of Stoph; Proposes gradualist unification plan in Feb. 1990.
Claus Montag interview by McAdams
July 9, 1991
Scope and Content Note
1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is Head of
Abteilung Außenpolitik der USA des Inst. für internat. Beziehungen an der Akademie für Staats- und Rechtswissen- schaft der
DDR
. Publications on East-West relations.
Botschaftsrat.
Erwin Müller interview by McAdams
May 21, 1992
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a Schlosser. Jounalist. Editor-in-chief of "
Was und Wie.
"
Harald Neubert interview by McAdams
December 4, 1990
Scope and Content Note
2 photos, 1 cassette and transcript. No commercial use without permission. Narrator is a Professor of History
. Leiter des Instituts für internationale Arbeiterbewegung an der Akademie für Gesellschaftswissenschaften beim ZK der SED.
Box 6
Erich Nickel interview by McAdams
March 12, 1994
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a Librarian. Historian. Author of
Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. In the GDR published under the title:
Die BRD. Ein Überblick. Emigrated in 1989.
Boris Orlov interview by Sandler
June 23, 1992
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 1 cassette (in Russian) and transcript. Narrator is a Historian at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow (
Institut nauchnoi informatsii po obshchestvennym naukam). Special interest: German Social Democrats.
Rainer Ortleb interview by Banchoff
December 19, 1991
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a Mathematician. Since 1968 member of the
LDPD, then
LDP. Head of the
LDP (Feb. 2, 1990).
Karl-Ernst Plagemann interview by McAdams
November 17, 1990
Scope and Content Note
1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a Mitarbeiter am Institut für internat. Beziehungen an der Akad. für Staats-und Rechtswissenschaft
der DDR, Potsdam-Babelsberg.
Jens (and Christian in Engl.) Reich interview by Siena
December 28, 1989
Scope and Content Note
2 photos, CV, 1 cassette. Side A: Christian (in Engl.), no transcript Jens (in German and Engl.) and transcript, quality ok;
Christian (in Engl.), no transcript. Side B: Christian (in Engl.), no transcript. Narrator is a Microbiologist. Co-founder
of the protest movement
Neues Forum.
Jens (and Christian in Engl.) Reich interviwe by Siena
December 23, 1991
Scope and Content Note
1 cassette and transcript
Klaus Reichenbach interview by Banchoff
May 6, 1992
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is an Engineer. Lawyer. 1990
Landesvorstand der CDU Sachsen. Member of the
Volkskammer. GDR minister.
Otto Reinhold interview by McAdams
March 23, 1990
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript with errata sheet. Narrator is Director of the Academy of Social Sciences [
Akad. für Gesellschaftswissenschaften]
Otto Reinhold interview by Bortfeldt
January 29, 1991
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes and transcript
Rolf Reißig interview by McAdams
May 19, 1992
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript with errata sheet. Narrator is a Professor at the Acad. of Social Sciences.
Irene Runge interview by Siena
December 19, 1991
Scope and Content Note
2 photos, 2 cassettes and transcript (corr., many pencil marks). Narrator is a Sociologist, anthropologist, journalist.
Landolf Scherzer (see Fritschler)
Scope and Content Note
Narrator is a Writer. Author of
Der Erste, Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1986, an account of Fritschler's political work.
Box 7
Hans Schindler interview by McAdams
October 3,1991
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a
Dipl. Staatswissenschaftler, Fachrichtung Außenpolitik (Potsdam/Babelsberg). Secretary at the ambassy in Moscow.
tellvertretender Botschafter in Bonn (1979-85). 30 Jahre Mitarbeiter Karl Seidels.
Karl Schirdewan interview by McAdams
July 9, 1991
Scope and Content Note
CV, 3 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is an old communist. Member of ZK Politbüro. Together with Wollweber dismissed for
opposing Ulbricht. Then
Leiter der Staatl. Archivverwaltung der DDR in Potsdam.
Gregor Schirmer interview by McAdams
March 7, 1993
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a Govern. official. Deputy Minister of Education.
Gerhard Schürer interview by McAdams
July 10, 1991
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 cassette and transcript with errata sheet. Narrator is a Member of ZK. Head of
Staatliche Plankommission.
Karl Seidel interview by McAdams
July 8, 1991
Scope and Content Note
CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a Diplomat.
Botschaftsrat in Moscow.
Leiter der Abteilung BRD im Ministerium für Auswärtige Anglegenheiten.
Wolfgang and Regina (called "Lotte") Templin interview by Torpey
August 29, 1991
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is Wiss. Mitarbeiter am Zentralinstitut für Philosophie der Akad. der Wissenschaften.
Co-founder of
Initiative Frieden und Menschenrechte (IFM). 1988 arrested and expelled
. 1989
Sprecher der IFM am Runden Tisch. (Lotte:
IFM activist. Arrested together with Wolfgang T.)
Wolfgang and Regina (called "Lotte") Templin interview by Torpey
February 3, 1992
Scope and Content Note
3 cassettes and transcript [Lotte on tape #3], no transcript of last cassette (poor audio quality: it is late, W.T. telling
jokes.)
Box 8
Ferdinand Thun interview by McAdams
March 10, 1993
Access Information
Use copy reference number: 94066_a_0003441
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is Foreign Ministry chief of protocol
Wolfgang Ullmann interview by Banchoff
November 12, 1991
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 CV, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is Dr. theol, pastor
, Dozent für Kirchen-geschichte. Delegate of the movement
Demokratie Jetzt to the Round Table. Minister under Modrow.
Manfred Uschner interview by McAdams
April 10, 1991
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is Mitglied des Politbüros des ZK der SED. For 14 years Hermann Axen's personal
referent.
Manfred Uschner interview by Zechmeister
March 10, 1993
Scope and Content Note
2 cassettes and transcript
Hans Voss interview by McAdams
May 22, 1992
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, CV, 2 cassettes and transcript. Narrator is a Diplomat. Consul in Burma and Cambodia, ambassador to Romania and Italy.
Günther Wirth interview by Zechmeister
December 2, 1992
Scope and Content Note
3 cassettes and transcript, 1 postscriptum by Wirth. Narrator is a Member of the
Hauptvorstand der CDU der DDR, editor-in-chief of the journal
Standpunkt.
Vincent von Wroblewski interview by Siena
December 17, 1991
Scope and Content Note
1 photo, 1 cassette and transcript. Narrator is a Philosopher. Interpreter (French). Editor of the Rowohlt Sartre-edition.
