Site of
Rupture

On December 4, 1989, Andreasstrasse transformed from a site of oppression to a site of liberation.

On this day courageous Erfurt residents occupied these Stasi headquarters as part of the Peaceful Revolution. It was the first occupation of a Stasi headquarters in the GDR. Soon thereafter, Stasi headquarters in other German cities were also occupied.

1. Occupation of a Stasi District Office in the GDR

The occupiers call in the military prosecutor, they hope he will enforce their demand for admission to the Stasi district administration office; Thüringer Allgemeine Newspaper, photo: Sascha Fromm

Military prosecutor (right, in uniform) in conversation with a representative of the State Security (left, in a suit); Gesellschaft für Zeitgeschichte e.V.

many file folders were found empty; Gesellschaft für Zeitgeschichte e.V., photo: Wolfgang Haase

Search for files in the Stasi district administration office; Thüringer Allgemeine Newspaper, photo: Sascha Fromm

Torn files seized during the occupation; Gesellschaft für Zeitgeschichte e.V., photo: Wolfgang Haase

The occupiers found the remains of burned files in the boiler room; Thüringer Allgemeine Newspaper, photo: Sascha Fromm

The first occupation of a Stasi district administration office took place on December 4, 1989, in Erfurt; photo: Andreas Giessler

Occupation of the Stasi district administration office with a detention centre in Andreasstrasse; Gesellschaft für Zeitgeschichte e.V., photo: Wolfgang Haase

Major General Josef Schwarz, head of the Stasi detention facility, must answer to the occupiers; Thüringer Allgemeine Newspaper, photo: Sascha Fromm

Blockade of the rear entrance by a vehicle of the city administration, photo: Andreas Giessler

Excerpt from the cube of the Peaceful Revolution, the drawings are based on these historical photos; drawing: Simon Schwartz

Stasi employees were in the process of destroying evidence of their human rights violations. But the occupiers saved what they could and stored the seized Stasi files in the empty prison cells. This was a milestone of the Peaceful Revolution and the beginning of the reappraisal of the SED dictatorship in Thuringia. It is also why, today, this story has a particular place at Andreasstrasse: on the cube of the Peaceful Revolution, the symbol of our Memorial and Educational Centre. To complete the artwork, historical images were compiled into a collage by the Potsdam agency freybeuter. The artist Simon Schwartz (Hamburg) was responsible for the artistic anonymization of the collage.

Barbara Sengewald

*1953 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, now Chemnitz

Dissident in the GDR and a participant in the 1989 Peaceful Revolution

“After the occupation of the Stasi headquarters, many people suddenly pitched in to dissolve the repressive apparatus of the state, the all-dominating octopus of the state security. We streamed out into the city to follow up on the many tips given to us by members of the community. We tracked down conspiratorial apartments, destroyed telephone interception systems, found underground bunkers.”

On December 5, 1989, one day after the occupation of the Stasi headquarters, a citizens’ committee was founded in Erfurt; Barbara Sengewald was also there. The primary goal: the dissolution of the Stasi. Because most people in Erfurt no longer trusted ‘the old-guard’ and their institutions, this committee quickly also began to devote itself to other municipal tasks.

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Harald Ipolt

*1959 in Gotha

Accusation: ‘Incitement against the state’ according to §220 of the Criminal Code of the GDR
Detained in Andreasstrasse from June to December 1978

“When I arrived at Andreasstrasse, I was first interrogated for three weeks straight. Every day, from morning to night. The worst thing for me was the interrogator’s comment on the first day: ‘If you think that was enough to buy yourself at ticket to the West, you’re wrong.’ I didn’t want to go to West Germany. I wanted to stay in order to make a difference.”

In 1978, 18-year-old Harald Ipolt learned of the popular uprising that shook the SED dictatorship on June 17, 1953, and was brutally crushed by Soviet troops, by watching West German television. While East German media outlets were silent about the uprising, Ipolt wanted to memorialize it. He wrote ‘Long live the 17th of June’ in chalk on the streets of Gotha and ended up in prison for it.

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