Freedom

With the fall of the Wall on 9 November 1989, a totalitarian system was defeated. The spirit of freedom was greater than the cynicism of power.

Values have changed alongside political and social changes, and we so strongly take it for granted that we are free. Globalisation and accelerating life processes are leaving less and less time for reflection.

Suppression of the past and underappreciation for reality lead to the former employees of the GDR’s state security apparatus wishing to claim interpretational sovereignty over the second German dictatorship, namely that the successor parties to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), the PDS and the Left have become socially acceptable.

Today the matter of confronting the history of the appalling injustice done unto Germans between the Elbe and the Oder requires less tactics, and more courage with the truth. Yet truth is not only a matter of sincerity, but also of revised understanding.

In order to induce this understanding we must face the facts directly and call them by name. When the Chinese sage Confucius was asked what he would do first if he had to reform a country, he said, „I would improve language usage.“ His listeners looked at him in confusion. He explained, „If the language is not correct, than that which is said is not that which is thought. Yet if that which is thought is not that which is said, the work cannot be done.“

History will forever put us in positions that we cannot predict. Yet in all times freedom remains the greatest good, even if we are not always aware of it.