University of Rostock reveals shadow of SED rule in new show!

University of Rostock reveals shadow of SED rule in new show!

On March 8, 2025, the University of Rostock will open a new exhibition that addresses the effects of SED rule on research and teaching between 1945 and 1989. This initiative is under the patronage of former Federal President. D.Dr. h.c. Joachim Gauck and highlights the integration of the university into the socialist system of the GDR.

The exhibition, which takes place in the atrium of the Konrad-Zuse-Haus, Albert-Einstein-Str. 22 in Rostock, which can be visited until April 4, 2025, offers a deep insight into the development of the university under the influence of Marxism-Leninism and the control of the state security. It documents the repression against dissidents that was characteristic of this time. Peaceful protests in the fall of 1989 ultimately led to a reform process within the university structures, whereby the university began to free itself from political tutelage uni-rostock.de reported.

The role of the SED

The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) was founded in 1946 in the Soviet occupation zone and was the result of the merger of the KPD (Communist Party of Germany) and the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany). Under the pressure of the Soviet occupying power and against the resistance of the SPD, a hierarchical organization emerged that followed the principle of “democratic centralism”. The SED dominated the politics, economy and society of the GDR and refused the reforms of the USSR from the mid-1980s, which ultimately led to its renaming to SED-PDS in 1989 and later to “THE LEFT”, as on bpb.de is presented.

The SED played a decisive role in legitimizing its rule through controlled historical science. Historians were assigned specific tasks to support the political agenda of the party leadership. As early as the 1950s, within the framework of the GDR's centralized historical scholarship, a strong interest in its political function to legitimize SED rule became clear bpb.de clarified.

Exhibition and research

The exhibition in Rostock is based on extensive file research that was carried out in the Federal Archives, the Stasi Records Archive, the archives of the University of Rostock and the M-V State Main Archives. The aim is to document previously unknown or differently classified facts and fates. The scope, diversity and consequences of political-ideological conformity at the university are comprehensively presented. The exhibition is accessible free of charge Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

In summary, the new exhibition is an important step in shedding light on the complex connections between science and politics during the SED rule. It offers visitors the opportunity to deal with the historical reality and the challenges that the University of Rostock and its members faced.