Hans-Joachim Lietsche

Hans-Joachim Lietsche was born in East Berlin in 1959 and grew up in Prenzlauer Berg. During his apprenticeship as a construction and art glazier, he and other young people produced flyers – including one featuring the message "Human right no. 1 – freedom of expression!" – and distributed these over a period of several months in various districts in East Berlin.

State Security arrested him on 18th November 1979. He was initially taken to the remand centre on Kissingenstraße in Berlin-Pankow. In June 1980, he was sentenced to eight months in prison for "public disparagement". Heinz-Joachim Lietsche served the remainder of his sentence in prison in Berlin-Rummelsburg.

At the end of July 1980, Lietsche was released from prison in East Berlin. Under duress from the GDR authorities, he completed his military service as a construction soldier and then worked as a glazier for the Berlin-Mitte municipal housing administration.

He has been guiding groups of visitors through the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial since 2016.