Biographies
The Fifties

Helmut Brandt
The prominent member of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) was imprisoned for several years.
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Georg Dertinger
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of East Germany was one of the highest functionaries imprisoned by the Stasi.
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Max Fechner
The former GDR minister of justice was not only a victim but also a perpetrator of systematic political persecution.
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Karl Wilhelm Fricke
The journalist was one of several hundred people who were kidnapped by the Ministry of State Security.
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Wolfgang Harich
He was one of the best-known spokesmen for reform communism in the GDR.
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Walter Janka
He was one of the most prominent reformist intellectuals who demanded the democratization of East Germany after the death of Stalin.
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Walter Linse
Dr. Walter Linse was one of 1,200 Germans who were executed by the Soviet military court.
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Paul Merker
The communist was the highest-ranking German official taken into custody in the GDR.
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The Sixties and Seventies

Rudolf Bahro
Rudolf Bahro was one of the most famous communist dissidents in the late GDR.
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Heinz Brandt
The former SED official was one of the most famous kidnapping victims of the GDR state security service.
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Jürgen Fuchs
The writer and psychologist was one of the best-known critics of East German secret police.
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Gerulf Pannach
The musician and songwriter was one of the famous East German artists imprisoned after the expatriation of songwriter Wolf Biermann in 1976.
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Michael "Salli" Sallmann
Michael "Salli" Sallmann was one of the more prominent poets and songwriters of the critical East German art scene.
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The Eighties

Bärbel Bohley
The artist was one of the leading figures of the peaceful revolution in East Germany in autumn 1989.
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Freya Klier
In the late 1980s, the artist played a large role in the overthrowing of the SED communist dictatorship.
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Stephan Krawczyk
The singer-songwriter was a prominent critic of the SED dictatorship in the late 1980s.
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Vera Lengsfeld
The politician was one of the leading figures of the East German civil rights movement.
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Ulrike Poppe
In the 1980s, Ulrike Poppe was one of the leading figures of the grass-roots civil rights movement in the GDR.
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