EAST GERMAN COMMUNISTS STRANGLE ACADEMIC FREEDOM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-02771R000100320002-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 30
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 3, 1998
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: January 1, 1959
• Content Type: REPORT

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EAST GERMAN COMMUNISTS STRANGLE ACADEMIC FREEDOM
German University Tradition
The world-wide.renown of German universities as out-
standing institutions of learning and scholarship derives
from the spirit of liberalism and dedication to research
and the pursuit of knowledge which became such an integral
part of university tradition during the early nineteenth
century. Under the guidance of such men as Wilhelm von
Humboldt (1767-1835), Hegel (1770-1831), Fichte (1762-1814),
Schleiermacher (1786-1834), and Alexander von Humboldt
(1769-1859), the German university became characterized
by the twin ideas of academic freedom and university
autonomy.
The outstanding feature of the system was the freedom
of the professor to teach what he chose and the student to
learn what he chose. Although always supported by the
State and therefore subject to supervision, the universi-
ties were autonomous in matters of academic concern, with
the University Senate being the highest authority.
The German university spirit has been graphically
described by C. H. Becker, German scholar and politician
(1876-1933), in a speech to the Third Annual Congress of
European Student Relief in July 1924:
"Pure knowledge is a sacred matter for the Germans.
He who dedicates his life to it has priestly rank,
but he also has sacred duties and bears a heavy
responsibility. The nation willingly gives the
scholar a prominent social position, not because
he forms future servants of the state or develops
candidates for industry, but because the nation
recognizes the necessity that-the servants of
knowledge must be free and independent.
",..I believe that there is no country in the
world, no matter how free, in which the freedom
to teach of the university professor is as un-
conditionally and generally advanced and protected
as in Germany. The strongest governmental powers
must yield before this demand of the intellectual
tradition of Germany ...Even Humboldt believed that
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he could keep the state apart from his educational
structure... The university watches carefully over
its rights as an academic corporation. Its rights
are manifold and significant...."
West German Practices
Although academic freedom and university autonomy were
non-existent during the Hitlerite era, the traditional
system was reinstituted with only slight modifications in
West German universities following the end of the war.
Indeed, not only did universities again become autonomous,
rejecting any political interference in academic affairs,
but, when necessary, a university has been able to make
its influence and prestige felt to the extent of reversing
a political decision deemed potentially dangerous to aca-
demic freedom. The G8ttingen University incident is a
case in point.
On 26 May 1955, the Rector of G8ttingen University as
well as all members of the University Senate resigned,
and a few hours later the student government organization
called for a student strike on the following day. The
unprecedented actions were a protest against the appoint
ment of one Franz Leonhard Schluter as the new Minister,
of Cultural Affairs in the cabinet of the Lower Saxony
Land.
Like all West German universities, 08ttingen is
supported by the State government, and the State Ministry
of Cultural Affairs is charged with responsibility for
the general activities of the university, although the
institution is autonomous as regards administrative and
educational activities. The university faculty and
students thought this autonomy was endangered by Schliter's
appointment. They felt that Schluter, only 34 years old,
was too young to have the maturity required to be charged
with educational matterd and, perhaps more significantly,
that his past activities, including political flirting
with the neo-Nazi right, showed him to be an ambitious,
unprincipled political opportunist.
Although the State government had made the Schluter
appointment to assure a working majority in the State
parliament, it was unable to withstand the pressure of
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the university, whose stand received the warm support of
all other West German universities, of a large part of
the West German public , and of the entire population
of the town of G8ttingen itself. On 4 June, Schluter
requested a leave of absence and on 9 June he submitted
his resignation. Thereupon, the danger to its cherished
autonomy having passed, the university resumed its normal
activities.
State Control in East Germany
Such action today by an East German university would
be both inconceivable and impossible. In East Germany
(German Democratic Republic - DDR), the traditional uni-
versity system, interrupted by the Nazis, has not been
restored, Indeed, the rigid State control of education
imposed by the Hitler regime has been further intensified
and perfected by the DDR Communist regime.
.Education in the DDR, unlike that in West Germany,
is no longer aimed at educating and perfecting the person-
ality and abilities of an individual as an end in itself,
which also. incidentally serves and benefits the whole of
society. It is pure and devoted service to the State,
which selects the student, decrees what he may learn,
maintains him financially, and assumes responsibility
for testing periodically not only his abilities but also
his unwavering loyalty to the Communist State and society.
Similarly, only scholarship and research which serves to
confirm the established policies and ideology of the
State is permitted.
The number of students in a DDR university and in
its separate disciplines does not depend on the number
.prepared but on the master-plan of the moment. Slavish
imitation-of the Soviet model has turned the DDR univer-
sities into nothing more than an assemblage of specialized
technical institutes. 'hose who deny the existence of
the mind and spirit fear nothing so much as the mind,
therefore no individual thinking--the essence of an
educated mind--is allowed. Communism demands not a uni-
versally cultivated whole man but rather a trained func-
tionary capable of carrying out orders but without any
sense of responsibility for, or perspective of, the
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whole. Intelligence and ability are rated second to
political reliability. Hence DDR education is characterized
by political indoctrination and by the compulsory study of
one specialized subject and, more than that, specializa-
tion within.one subject.
To achieve Communism's aims, first the Soviet occupa-
tion regime and, since 1949, the DDR regime have carried
out policies which have destroyed the integrity of the
East German universities and radically transformed their
membership and organization. These policies have destroyed
all trace of university autonomy and academic freedom.
On the basis of a study made in 1956, the Sixth
International Student Conference found that "there exists
in East Germany a clear pattern of suppression of free
educational practices, university autonomy and academic
freedom through governmental intervention....there is a
political control over and inside the university and its
teaching body which prevents universities from fulfilling
their traditional purposes."
Although the subjection of East German universities
to political control began immediately upon the Soviet
occupation in 1945, the crowning touch came in 1951 with
the creation of an independent State Secretariat of
Higher Education, which was given complete authority
over appointments of professors, outlines of courses,
assignment of required reading, and every other aspect
of university life, including even such minor administra-
tive matters as the number of wastebaskets an institution
might buy. The State Secretariat was especially charged
with the promotion of compulsory courses on Marxism-
Leninism.
In the original decree the authority of the State
Secretariat was limited only by a provision that the
technical ministries were to retain operational control
of the technical institutions in their respective fields.
This restriction was later lifted by the 32nd Plenary
Session (1957) of the Central Committee of the Socialist
Unity Party (East German Communist Party - SED), which
authorized the placing of "all institutions of higher
education--with the exception of the School of Education
at Potsdam, the Pedagogical Institutes, and the schools
for the Fine Arts--under the control of the State Secre-
tariat in order to assure unified political, scientific,
technical, and organizational leadership."
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In West Germany, the university rector is elected by
the university senate and is the effective head of the
university, with responsibility for the total administra-
tion of the university, including the academic and research
programs. In East Germany, the rector is still elected by
the Senate, but he has been largely reduced to a ceremonial
figurehead and administrative inferior. No longer is he
responsible to the Senate,'but rather to the State Secre-
tary, who must approve his election as well as that of
the deans of the individual faculties.
The major impingement on the position of the rector
results from the third implementation regulation to the
1951 reorganization law. The regulation provided that
the State Secretary was to appoint directly at each univer-
sity four prorectors charged with (a) research, (b) scien-
tific affairs, (c) student affairs and (d) the basic (and
compulsory) Marxist-Leninist and Russian language courses.
On 28 March 1957, the scientific prorectorship was renamed
the "Prorectorate for the Coming Academic Generation,"
with authority over the counseling and encouragement of
future academicians and the duty of ratifying the rector's
decisions regarding the appointments and dismissals of
scientific assistants. Final authority, of course, remains
with the State Secretary. On 8 April 1957, the student
affairs prorectorate was expanded and given authority over,
all matters of academic study so that a "consistent social-
istic personnel policy in student matters" might be
guaranteed.
The 1951 decrees had reduced the University Senates
to impotence although their traditional membership--rector,
faculty deans, and faculty representatives--remained largely
unchanged. But by a regulation of 13 February 1958, even
this element of university life was completely subverted
to political control. By virtue of the regulation Univer-
sity Senates are no longer composed solely of academic
figures but must include also representatives of mass organ-
izations--the Free German Youth (FDJ) and the Free German
Trade Union Federation (FDGB)--to assure a politically
reliable majority,
By July 1958 the new regime was in effect and the
Senates at each of the DDR's seven major institutions of
higher learning, for example, included a safe majority
of SED members:
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Senate Members
Institution Total Membership No. of SED Members
Berlin (Humboldt U.)
24
15
Leipzi (Karl Marx U.)
22
Halle (Martin Luther U.)
25
16
Jena (Friedrich Schiller U.)
17
11
Rostock (U. of Rostock)
22
13
Griefswald (Ernst Arndt U.)
17
12
Dresden Institute of
Technology
26
14
Status of DDR Teachers
The DDR has admittedly expended great effort and large
sums on its educational system, for in common with other
Communist states it sees the best hope for its stability
and permanence in capturing and molding the minds of the
coming generation. Hence, not only have the seven long-
established major institutions (see above) been expanded
but a large number (39) of specialized institutions of
university rank have been established, thus raising the
number of university students from about 12,000 in 1946 to
between 75,000 and 100,000 today.
The faculty members of these institutions are, in
general, well treated. Salaries range up to three times
as much as those received by their West German colleagues.
The payscale ranges from 7,400 to 24,000 marks per year,
with an extra 300 to 600 marks per year to teachers in
Berlin. In addition there are increments for national
prize winners, "Heroes of Labor," members of the Academy
of Scientists, and for "distinguished" teachers, scientists
and engineers. University faculty members can also count
on increased pensions, special fees for guest lectures,
advantages.in the purchase of a wide range of goods,and
State assistance in the building of private homes.
In return for these privileges, members of the univer-
sity teaching staff renounce intellectual integrity,
acquiesce in the attacks on the traditional autonomy of
the universities, mouth the pseudo-scientific jargon of
the Communist ideology, and evidence their loyalty to the
ruling regime. They must accept the fact that the East
German educational system now exists solely to serve Party
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policy and aims. Kurt Hager, Secretary of the SED Central
Committee, stated quite frankly at a university conference
in early 1958 that "when some non-Party scientists raise
the question whether the Party has the right to interfere
in the affairs of the universities, we must answer that
the Party not only has the right but the duty."
Since Communism claims to have the one valid truth--
the so-called law of historical evolution--all scholarship,
research and teaching must conform to this pseudo-religious
gospel. Both professors and students, regardless of the
field, must work within the framework of the "scientific
principles" of Marxism-Leninism. "Soviet science" must
be slavishly imitated, and the "objectivism of bourgeois
scholarship," as unprejudiced empirical research is called,
is strictly forbidden. Scholarship, in other words, must
only be the interpreter of a priori given truths.
As an East Berlin radio broadcast of 27 January 1958
declared, "the universities of the DDR must finally over-
throw the idea of science for science's sake...." Shortly
thereafter, in a lecture to teachers at Plauen, Werner
Lorenz, Secretary of the Chemnitz SED Bezirk Committee,
declared that a teacher who failed to promo ess Marxism-
Leninism must be viewed in the same light as an illiterate
who attempted to teach others how to read and write. Werner
Herings, Deputy Director of the Scientific Department of
the SED Central Committee, touched on the same matter in
an article published in the 28 February 1958 issue of
Neues Deutschland, the official SED organ. According to
Herings, the Party expects from a Marxist scholar or
scientipt that he canvasses for the Party, that he reso-
lutely repels and fights against alien and bourgeois
opinions, and that he makes every effort to creatively
leaven all disciplines of science with the weltanschauung
of the workers, class, Marxism-Leninism."
The official DDR view of education and research was
perhaps stated with even greater clarity by Kurt Hager
at the 3rd Higher Education Conference of the SED, held
in East Berlin on 28 February-2 March 1958. "The point
is," he declared, "to secure a fundamental change in the
content and methods of research, training, and education
at universities and colleges so as to achieve the complete
conformity of higher education with the requirement of
socialist development." Acording to Hager, this meant
that; (a) lecturers and students must acquire the tenets
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of dialectical materialism? (b) socialist principles must
be applied in research;.(c~ teaching, trainin and educa-
tion must be guided by socialist maxims; and (d) new bases
for the selection and admission of students must be
established.
Since scholars and educators do not serve the ends
of true education but rather the political goals of the
State, their research is accordingly restricted. The
State Secretariat maintains rigid control over any re-
search requiring the expenditure of funds, particularly
the work of institutes and seminars, and approved research
is strictly confined to utilitarian objectives, which do
not usually lend themselves to the enrichment of instruc-
tion. Moreover, the publication of research papers is
in the hands of State-controlled publishing houses, so
that any scholar who dares to undertake research not
officially approved finds himself unable to publish the
results.
As might be expected, control in the social sciences
is especially rigid. In the field of history, for example,
the truth must be avoided or warped to accord with the
current Party line and Communist ideology. Economic re-
search and publications must reflect the Marxist theme of
capitalist exploitation and Communist achievement, what-
ever may be the facts. In psychology, choice of research
problems must be made within an officially approved area,
for example, the psychology of work or of sports. Psycho-
logical research along Western lines (study of personality,
social psychology, clinical psychology, e'tc.) is virtually
unknown,
The restriction of research to politically desirable
objectives is especially reflected in a program drafted
for the Karl Marx University (Leipzig) by the local SED
office in-1958. The program provided, for example, that
the Institute of the History of Religion should become
"a center of atheistic research and propaganda" and the
Institute of Slavistics, "a center serving to canvass for
the achievement of the Soviet Union and the Slavic People's
Democracies."
Educators face restrictions not only on research but
on teaching itself. The system now in force in the DDR
reduces professors and lecturers to little more than
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parrots who pass on verbatim what has been approved by
the State Secretariat. The subject and content of lectures
are no longer at the discretion of individual professors
but are rigidly fixed by the State Secretariat, which
prepares a minutely detailed syllabus and study plans
for every course, including even the reading to be
assigned. At the beginning of each academic year, pro-
fessors and lecturers are required to put the complete
text of their lectures--prepared in accordance with the
State-Secretariat's.syllabus--at the disposal of the
students. In this way, planted informers and Party-line
students can spot the slightest deviation from the
approved text and denounce the professor involved.
In matters of discipline, faculty members are not
responsible merely to the University Senate. Charges
can be filed by any member of the teaching staff, the
director of personnel, or by the leadership of the mass
organizations represented at the university, such as the
FDJ, Heads of government agencies can also order disci-
plinary action against a university faculty member; while
the State Secretary can dismiss any faculty member even
without charges if he so desires.
Curricula
Since the aim of DDR universities is to produce
politically reliable technicians, the former general edu-
cation courses have been scrapped in favor of courses on
Marxism-Leninism. As early as 1948 compulsory political
lectures were introduced for all students. In 1950, a
minimum course in "social sciences" was announced, which
included lectures in political economy, historical and
dialectical materialism, modern history, government, and
political and social problems of the day. Works of Marx,
Lenin, Stalin, Plekhanov, as well as DDR Communists such
as Ulbricht and Norden, were made prescribed reading.
Today, the basis of the DDR university system is a
3-year compulsory "Social Sciences Basic Course," covering:
"(a) Foundations of Marxism-Leninism, (b) Foundations of
Political Economy, and (c) Dialectical and Historical
Materialism." The avowed aim is to ensure full understand-
ing and agreement with the aims and fundamentals of Marxism
as the basic philosophy underlying all learning. Failure
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by a student in the intermediate examination in the course
is grounds for dismissal, as are two absences from course
lectures. The final examination in the course must be
passed before a student is allowed to sit for the final
examination in the subject of his specialty.
This system, copied from the Soviets, understandably
puts a premium on outward performance. Students, whatever
their true feelings about Communism, must and do become
word-perfect in the terminology of dialectical materialism
and fully able to recite from Marxist scriptures when asked
to do so. They must move through their student life in a
mask, forced to accept a minimum of conformity in order to
survive and to be able to avail themselves of the chance
to attend a university.
The propagandistic tone of all textbooks and teaching
materials has created among DDR students a great desire
for factual information. Libraries, of course, have been
purged of all books at variance with the Communist line.
The search for undistorted material accounts in large
part for the attraction to students of West Berlin, where
data, which they can believe may be found. This extends
also to teachers. At an SED conference in East Berlin on
13 May 1957, for example, Ulbricht complained that teachers
at the Academy of State and Law were using Marx and Engels
superficially as textbooks but carried on basic study with
the help of Western law books. He also complained about
the preference of both students and professors for factual
instruction rather than "socialistic education."
Other compulsory elements of the university curriculum
are Russian language and literature, and sports and mili-
tary training. To become eligible to graduate, a student
must have successfully passed the marksmanship course and
demonstrated a competence to handle the Soviet literature
in his field as well as general political texts.
The compulsory Russian courses are strongly resented,
especially by students in fields where other foreign lan-
guages would be more valuable. In 1.957, for example, medi-
cal students at the Jena University approached their dean,
Prof. Hofmann, with the request that obligatory Russian
courses be dropped. The dean agreed with the justice of
the request and, with unusual daring, declared publicly
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that "this demand has the full support of the Faculty
Council, including me. I would like to say that in my
opinion, it is not only the Russian lessons which burden
our medical students but also others, such as, for instance,
political economy." Needless to say, the requirements were
not changed.
These compulsory courses--social science, Russian and
sports--occupy almost one-third of a student's total class
work. In law, for example, they consume 1,041 of the
3,459 class-hours of the 4-year course; in history it is
1,557 out of 4,o64 class-hours; and in philosophy 1,406
out of 4,455 class-hours. Similar ratios pertain in the
other disciplines.
Several examples can be cited to show the ridiculous
extremes to which this emphasis on political courses is
carried. A mathematics teacher would normally (in the
West, at least) be expected to be proficient in mathematics.
In the DDR, however, he must primarily demonstrate his
ability In "dialectical and historical materialism, the
Marxist-Leninism theory of cognizance, the Marxist-Leninist
theory of basis and superstructure, and the materialistic
roots of mathematics." A teacher candidate in German
literature must, above all else, prove competence in some-
thing called "Stalinist Science of Speech."
One result is that many East German degrees are not
recognized in West Germany on the grounds that the holder's
education has not been adequate. While West-Germany gener-
ally recognizes degrees in mathematics, medicine and physics,
it absolutely refuses to accept those in law and political
science; while degrees in the humanities, history and philos-
ophy may or may not be, depending on the individual involved
and wFere he studied.
University Admissions
Article 35 of the DDR Constitution asserts that "every
citizen has an equal right to education." Article 38 de-
clares that "Members of all classes of the population shall
be given an opportunity to acquire knowledge in colleges
of the people,' while Article 39 asserts that "the school
career of youth must on no account depend on the social
or economic position of the parents."
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In practice, these constitutional guarantees are
completely ignored. Not the Constitution but SED decisions
and regulations issued in pursuance thereof by the State
Secretariat determine who shall and who shall not'be per-
mitted to acquire an education. Ability and intelligence
are no longer a criteria for university admission, which
is handled on an entirely non-academic basis. Social
origin and Party activity of applicants and their parents
and "active support of government policy" have become
the guiding criteria.
By regulation, at least 60 percent of the students
at institutions of higher education must be of worker-
peasant origin. The system means that a laborer with
no talent may well be admitted, while a gifted child is
refused admission because he had the wrong parents.
To assure the admission only of "those who have proved
their devotion to the Workers' and :Peasants' State," ad-
mission procedures have been taken out of the hands of the
rector. By virtue of a regulation of 24 February 1958,
the. Admissions Board at each university is composed of:
N a the Prorector for Academic Affairs, as chairman;
b the Prorector for Socio-Political Basic Studies, as
de uty chairman; (c) the respective dean or faculty head;
(d) FDJ and FDGB representatives; (e) a representative of
the sponsoring industrial firm; and (f) the respective
branch chief of the Prorectorate for Academic Affairs, as
secretary.
This admission policy, coupled with-the great expan-
sion of the university system, has undoubtedly made univer-
sity education available to many of the lower classes, who
might not otherwise be able to attend college. Whereas.
only five percent of German university students were from
worker families before the war, more than 50 percent of
all DDR students are from that class. It must be noted
in this connection, however, that many of the students are
children of members of the Party and state bureaucracy,
who are "workers" only by definition. Actual working
class students are probably not more-than 25 percent.
Social origin, however, is not the only admission
criteria. The DDR regime has long tried to force students
to devote their vacations to physical labor, but without
result. Speaking to the FDJ Central Council in January
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1958, Hans Dahlem, Deputy State Secretary for Higher Edu-
cation, complained that in 1957 only 38 percent of the
then 73,000 university students had undertaken such
practical work during their vacations. Of the 1,100 medi-
cal students at Jena University, only 60 had responded.
This desire to involve students in physical labor has
now been solved in a somewhat different manner. On 4 May
1958, the State Secretariat issued a regulation providing
that henceforth no student would be admitted to a univer-
sity until he had served for one year in industry or agri-
culture or in the army. The explanation of the regulation
by State Secretary Dr. Wilhelm Girnus, published in the
same day's issue of Neues Deutschland, reveals the absurd
mentality governing education in the DDR as well as the
total subjection of higher education to political require-
ments:
"The main purpose of this practical year is not to
familiarize the high school graduate with the tech-
nical details of the production process. It is to
instigate the student to establish close ties with
the workers, class and the entire process of so-
cialistic production.
"For example, it will do no harm to a student of
German language and literature to handle dung on
a people's-owned farm. On the contrary, it will
help him later on during his professional study
to come to understand much better the importance
of the farmer for the entire field of literature.
"We must express with absolute clarity that stu-
dents who are not committed to the task of social-
istic development without reservation no longer
have a right to be at our universities and other
institutions of university rank, for the academic
spirit can only be socialistic."
Also, any youth who has refused or neglected to join
the FDJ is automatically suspect and therefore denied ad-
mission to college. For the same reason, youths who have
refused to take the youth dedication oath (Jugendweihe)--
the Communist atheistic substitute for church confirmation--
is also denied the right to acquire a university education.
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Since the Fall of 1958, matriculating university
students have also been required, as the final part of
the admission process, to take a loyalty oath:
"My education is made possible by our Workers' and
Peasants, State, and I therefore assume the obliga-
tion to support the policy of the DDR Government at
all times and to pursue the studies of the principles
of dialectical and historical materialism, which, at
the end of my studies, will be used to further Social-
ist construction. During my course of study I will
cooperate in Socialist construction in industry and
agriculture and be prepared to contribute to the
strengthening of the defense of the DDR.... "
An alternate version was administered to the 1,600 new
students at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig in
September 1958:
"I vow to carry out my studies at the Karl Marx
University in the spirit of socialism, to support
actively the policy of the DDR Government, and to
acquire a comprehensive knowledge on the basis of
historical materialism."
Scholarships
Those students who do win admission to a university or
institution of university rank and who conform, at least
outwardly to the demands made on them, are treated exceed-
ingly well. Tuition fees were abolished on 1 January 1957,
and at least 94 percent of the students receive monthly
stipends (scholarships) from the State, as compared to
only 25 percent in West Germany.
By law, workers and peasants and their children are
entitled to a stipend of 180 marks per month, while State
employees, members of the creative intelligentsia and
persons enjoying special privileges and the children of
members of these groups get 130 marks per month. Bonuses
are also paid for excellence of work, so that it is possible
for a student to receive as much as 480 marks per month.
In addition, every student receives social and accident
insurance and access to free medical care and cheap stu-
dent restaurants. In return, however, he must surrender
his mind to the State.
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Student Discipline
Student government is unknown in the DDR, nor, are
students allowed to form any sort of club or association.
All student activities are strictly controlled and must
take place within the framework of the local branch of
the FDJ, the only youth organization permitted.
Discipline and control are carried out primarily
through a so-called seminar system. At the time of his
first registration, every student is assigned to a seminar
of about 20 persons, in which he generally remains through-
out his university days. The seminar has the official
task of assisting the faculty in "training the academic
youth to become qualified scientific workers for the devel-
opment of socialism."
The seminar meets weekly under the nominal chairmanship
of a teaching assistant to discuss and interpret the week's
lectures. Attendance is compulsory and is carefully checked
by the seminar secretary, who actually is in charge. Chosen
on the basis of political activity by the seminar in cooper-
ation with the FDJ--which means, in effect, that he is
appointed by the FDJ--the secretary maintains a record of
the progress of each student, checks course lecture attend-
ance and fulfillment of study requirements, notes political
tendencies, etc. The secretary's role is important since
an adverse report by him on any student will result in
the student's expulsion.
The aim of the seminars seems to be threefold: (1) to
guide t e student's political development along the proper
lines, (2) to check on any possible deviationist tendencies,
and (3) to occupy whatever leisure time may be left to the
student after his classes.
To further control students and assure their political
reliability, the regime has severely restricted student.
travel to areas and countries where they might be tainted
by the air of freedom. By virtue of a decree issued by
the State Secretariat on 24 May 1957, students (high school
as well as university) are forbidden to travel to NATO
countries (including West Germany) without special written
permission. In practice this excludes all visits in a
private capacity with the exception of visits to close rela-
tives in West Germany or participation in events organized
or officially sanctioned by the proper DDR authorities.
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Violation of the travel restriction is grounds for
expulsion, for student discipline has become a State,
rather than merely a university, concern. Although the
university may still take action in cases of academic
failures, most expulsions are for political reasons.
The insecurity of the student's position was graphically
illustrated by the Bollhaus case. In September 1958,
Robert Bollhaus, an.engineer at the VEB Leipzig Iron
and Steel Plant, was sentenced by a Leipzig court to
eight months in jail for "preparing to defect from the
DDR." Immediately thereafter, his son--for the sole
reason of being his son--was expelled from Leipzig Uni-
versity, and it was also decreed that his daughter would
not be admitted to high school.
Teacher-Student Defections
On 1 September 1958, the 400th. anniversary of the
founding of the University of Jena (Friedrich Schiller
Universitaet) was officially celebrated, The East German
regime had left nothing undone to make it an impressive
occasion, and guests from universities in every country
in the world, except South Korea, South Vietnam and the
Republic of China, had been invited to participate in
the ceremonies honoring the institution where Karl Marx,
the archpriest of Communism, was once a student. But
in spite of all the regime's efforts, the affair was a
dismal and embarrassing failure, for the scheduled offi-
cial host, the Rector of the University, was conspicuously
absent.
On 21 August, Prof. Joseph Haemel, the Rector, had.
traveled to East Berlin in answer to a summons by the
State Secretary for Higher Education, who had decreed
his presence at a press conference on 22 August, arranged
as part of. the anniversary celebration. Once in Berlin,
Haemel took advantage of the situation to slip into West
Berlin and there request asylum.
At a press conference in West Berlin on 26 August,
Haemel explained why, after seven years as Rector, he had
abandoned his job, his possessions and his future to seek
refuge in the West as thousands of his fellow East Germans
had been--and still are--doing monthly. "My inner convic-
tions," he declared, "did not allow me to share the guilt
of guiding my school towards the completely alien ideas of
their so-called socialism."
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Haemel then discussed the inner conflict that rages in
all East German educators and scientists. They are ex-
tremely well-paid and are doing useful work, yet the restric-
tions on travel and on contacts with Western colleagues, the
dislike of seeing their children educated as Communists, the
perversion of the East German universities into political
indoctrination centers, and the suppression of academic free-
dom and corruption of the spirit of research all make accept-
ance of the Communist system increasingly "unbearable."
Haemel was quite pessimistic about the future and expressed
the view that the East German universities were engaged in
"a long, losing battle to retain intellectual freedom against
Communist encroachments."
Haemel's defection was not an isolated incident. Among
the stream of East Germans constantly seeking asylum in the
West, there is an increasing number of teachers, professors,
and students, who, like Haemel, have found the Communist
educational policies unbearable. The number of such refugees
has increased markedly since the SED 5th Party Congress in
July 1958 ordered the institution of a more stringent party
program in the field of education.
The defections have been in such numbers that the DDR
education system has been seriously affected. As Haemel
.noted in his press conference, the resulting vacancies are
always filled but always with poorly trained and inexperi-
enced persons with the most questionable academic qualifi-
cations, providing they are politically reliable. The in-
evitable result, Haemel noted, was a striking drop in univer-
sity standards:
One need only to consider the figures on defections
during the period 1954-1958 to gain an idea of their impact
on the DDR education system:
Total
1954-1958 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958
School teachers 12,600 2,045 2,720 2,45 3 2,293 3,089*
University pro-
fessors and
assistants 393 28 56 43 58 208**
Students beyond
High School
8,561
879 1,835 1,431 1,894 2,522
* Of this total, 1, 0 were old teachers and 2,045 new"
teachers (i.e., trained after 1954).
** Of this total, 109 were "old" professors and 99 "new"
professors.
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The above figures relate only to the end of 1958, but
the stream still continues and appears to be increasing.
During the single brief period of 1 March-18 April 1959,
a total of 95 professors, lecturers and assistant lecturers
defected to the West. Included was the venerable Dr. Herbert
Koch, 79, Professor of Classic Archeology at Halle Univer-
sity, where he had taught for 28 years.
The defectors have included many of East Germany's
most distinguished scholars, including some whose reputa-
tions are world-wide. They represent every scientific
establishment and institution of higher learning in the
DDR, and every discipline. Most have been influenced by
the same factors which induced Prof. Haemel to defect--
the lack of academic freedom and perversion of the educa-
tional system. As an outstanding example, one can cite
Dr. Friederich Leutwein, Director of the East German Insti-
tute for Mining, Professor at the Freiburg Mining Academy,
and the DDR's foremost expert in the field of applied
geology and geophysics. Upon his arrival in the West in
late September 1958, he explained that he could not bring
himself to accept the new SED educational policies.
In some cases the desire to escape political persecu-
tion was the motivating factor. For example, Dr. Erich
Reizenstein, Professor of Classical Philology at Halle
University, defected in late 1958 after Dr. Girnus, the
State Secretary for Higher Education, had charged him
with having "attitudes inimical to the state." Dr. Hans
Haussherr, head of Halle' s History Department, fled on
1 December 1958 after he had published an article in which
he assepted that every German should have the right to
vote in free elections. Four days later he was followed
by Dr. Heino Maedebach, Director of the Sculpture Depart-
ment of the East Berlin State Museums, who had written an
article for a West German newspaper on a sculpture collec-
tion returned to East Berlin by the Soviets in October and
had refused an SED demand that he send a correction to the
paper in regard to his failure to have mentioned a speech
by DDR Premier Grotewohl praising the return as "a generous
gift from the Soviet Union."
None of these defectors put any faith whatever in the
assurances of Article 9 of the DDR Constitution, which
asserts that
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"All citizens have,-within the limits of the laws
applying to all of them, the right to utter their
opinions freely and openly and for this purpose
to meet peacefully and unarmed. Nobody making use
of this right can be persecuted."
Educators, like all other elements of the DDR population,
are quite aware that., the Constitution notwithstanding,
the slightest expression of disapproval of the Party line
means jail for the speaker. In fact, writing in Neues
Deutschland on 21 December 1958, Erich Wollweber, then
Ministers for State Security, declared that "it is only
natural that a so-called 'free' discussion cannot and
must not be tolerated in the DDR...."
The exact number of educators and students who now
languish in DDR jails and concentration camps is not avail-
able, but it is known to be high. They include even dedi-
cated Communists, who made the mistake of failing to follow
the Party line in all its details. The most outstanding
example is, of course, Prof. Wolfgang Harich, who was
sentenced to 10 years in jail in May 1957 for suggesting
that East German Communists should assert their independence
from Moscow.
The Two Berlin Universities
The contrast between the university systems in East
and West Germany can be seen today with striking clarity
in Berlin.
In East Berlin, not far from the Brandenburg Gate,.,is
located the once famous Friedrich Wilhelm University of
Berlin, founded in 1810 by the Prussian scholar and states-
man, Wilhelm von Humboldt. It was this institution which
began the cultural regeneration of a Germany shattered by
Napoleon and which shaped the tradition of academic freedom
that came to characterize all German universities during
the nineteenth century.
By the end of World War II in 1945, the battered
University had ceased to operate. Faculty and students,
however, were eager to resume, and at first the Soviets
seemed to share their aim. Plans were soon formulated to
reopen the University, at first renamed Linden University,
after Unter den Linden on which it is located, and later
Humboldt University, after its founder.
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The Russians announced that this would not be merely
the reopening of the old school but the formation of a
new one. There is, indeed, no resemblance between. the
old and the new. The model of German academic freedom and
scholarship has become the model of politically oriented
technical training. The humanities have been discarded
in favor of dialectical materialism, the library and book-
stores have been purged of the fruits of centuries of
German scholarship. The writings of the German philosoph-
ical schools are represented by one slim volume of Hegel,
which can be favorably interpreted by the Communists. For
the rest, the student must be content with the works of
Marx, Engels, Lenin and other Soviet writers.
As in other DDR institutions, dialectical materialism
has been made the basis of all study at Humboldt University.
When one professor ventured the opinion that East Germany
was backward in mathematical research, he was pointedly told
that he would have to show in class how dialectical material-
ism could be made useful for such research. The application
of 'democratic centralism" ended the traditional university
autonomy and made the University Senate an echo of the
central educational authorities.
The purge soon began of all professors and students who.
resisted the destruction of the University's traditions'and
standards. Many resigned, some were dismissed, others were
arrested, to be heard of no more. The first student martyr
was Gerhard Wradzidlo, a student leader in the medical
school, who was arrested in March 1947 and subsequently
sentenced to 25 years in jail on charges of opposing Commu-
nist influence on the University and protesting the adorn
ment of university buildings with Communist emblems.
A series of other incidents followed. Finally, during
the winter of 1947-1948, the Soviet authorities silenced
the student newspaper Colloquim and expelled three student
editors. Both the faculty and student body vigorously pro-
tested the expulsions, and the University Senate officially
demanded of the authorities that the three students be re-
instated. The protests were curtly rejected. An additional
cause for discontent was the disregard by the authorities
of the results of a student council election, in which 90
percent of the students elected were anti-Communists,
It was finally realized that the Soviets would never
permit any degree of academic freedom. Students began to
meet secretly in West Berlin to discuss the possibility of
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establishing another university where the traditions and
standards of the once respected Friedrich Wilhelm Univer-
sity could be continued. The idea was favorably received
by West Berlin officials and supported by the Americans.
In June 1948, the decision was taken to found a new Free
University of Berlin to provide an alternative to "the
charnel-house for academic thought," as one of its pro-
fessors described Humboldt University.
Classes began in December 1948 with more than 2,000
students, most of them former students at Humboldt. At
first, the Free University functioned in a collection of
old buildings, barracks and private homes; but the spirit
and not the surroundings was the important element. Con-
tributions from students, faculty and private citizens
sustained the Free University at first. Later, contribu-
tions by the Ford Foundation, the US Government, and the
West Berlin and West German regimes have made possible the
construction of an imposing and well-equipped set of class-
rooms, laboratories, dormitories, and other university
buildings.
In its 10 years, the student body has grown from 2,100
to 11,000, one-fourth of them women and more than 3,000 of
them refugees from the DDR. Defectors from the DDR also
comprise a large percentage of the faculty. In its library
of 120,000 volumes (plus 40,000 dissertations) may be found
all the works which are denied to Humboldt students. And
in its six faculties--medicine, veterinary medicine, law,
economics and the social sciences, arts and mathematics,
and the natural sciences--students pursue, their studies
unhampered by compulsory political indoctrination courses.
The Free University stands as a monument to the desire
of German youth for true education and as a continuing
center of academic freedom in Berlin. In the Free Univer-
sity, unlike its sister institution in East Berlin, the
University Senate stands guard over the University's
cherished autonomy. No state official presumes to tell
the professors what they must say or the students what they
can learn. Here, intellectual capacity is the governing
criteria for admission.
The establishment and success of the Free University
have done much to maintain the free intellectual spirit of
Germany. While it can do little to help students in the
DDR, it stands as a haven for those fortunate to reach its
doors and as a symbol of protest against the ruthless sup-
pression of free thought by the Communist rulers of East
Germany.
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EAST GERMAN COMMUNISTS STRANGLE ACADEMIC FREEDOM
May 1959
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The Dresden Student Show Trials
On 13 April 1959, the ancient university city of Dresden
witnessed the beginning of an example of Communist "Justice."
Five students from the Dresden Institute of Technology, who
had earlier been arrested with 15 others, had been declared
"ringleaders" of what the Communist judge called a "National-
ist Student Union." For their temerity in daring to organize
a group not sanctioned by the regime, the five youths were be-
ing tried on charges of sabotage, terrorist activities, wish-
ing to topple the East German SED regime, possession of weapons,
collaboration with "Western Intelligence" organizations, etc.
The trial was only the latest in a long series involving
students and educators who had been foolhardly enough to ex-
press dislike for the Communist regime and its policies. Des-
pite the guarantee of free speech included in the DDR Consti-
tution, any expression of opposition to the prevailing system
is considered by the Government as high treason and punished
accordingly. In 1958, 18 students from Jena University Were
sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 to 15 years for "anti-
state activities," which consisted of no more than drafting a
10-point program asking for free elections and the return of
economic enterprises to private ownership.
The defendants in the recent Dresden "trial" were Gerhard
Bauer, Arnim Streiter, Hans-Lutz Dalpke, Christian Ramatschi,
and Dieter Brendel, all aged only 20 or 21. Fritz Reuter,
SED Secretary for Dresden Bezirk, charged that the defendants
had "sought the establishment of a Germany along Yugoslav
lines." Such a desire, known in Communist circles as "Titoism"
or "deviationism," implying a wish for true national independ-.
ence and escape from Moscow's control, is the most horrendous
crime possible in Communist eyes.
But since the Moscow-controlled rulers of the DDR wanted
to avoid publicizing the existence of any "deviationist" ten-
dencies in East Germany, the court and the prosecutor pre-
ferred to try the youths on other charges. They accused the
defendants of having been "influenced by western newspapers and
radio organizations" and of having committed the horrible crime
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of writing a letter to the BBC. Since the letter had protested
against an ""Anti-Atomic Resolution" adopted by the West Berlin
Student Congress, the court decided that the defendants had
"become the helpers of the war-mongers."
The trial ran true to form. The defendants dutifully arose
and outdid each other: in their confessions. This is not sur-
prising, for a long period of "investigative custody" had pre-
ceded the trial, and it need hardly be explained what "investi-
gative.custody" means in a Communist country. What the DDR.
secret police (SSD) do not recall of the refinements worked
out by Hitler's Gestapo, they have been taught by the Soviet
secret police which, after more than 40 years of experience,
have '.become masters of their art. In, reporting on the trial
in its 15 April issue, the Berlin newspaper BZ remarked that
one could "see the hand of the SSD in every aspect of this
farce....The accused are saying what the SSD has told them to
say. 11
Daring the trial, the Western press was barred from the
courtroom because of "lack of space," and the only non-Commu-
nists admitted were three West German. student observers, who
were forbidden to take notes. They later told Western news-
papermen that they had been disgusted by what they saw of DDR
"justice."
The DDR authorities have never clarified the circumstances
of the arrest of the five defendants and their 15 companions
(whose fate remains a mystery)) but it appears to stem from the
increasing student unrest which has existed in East Germany since
the Hungarian Revolution and the Wolfgang Harich affair. The
political basis of the trial is quite clear from the fact. that
Dr. Leim, the Public Prosecutor, declared in his summation that
the principal reason for the harsh sentences requested was the
fact that Dr. Adenauer was standing for the office of President
in West Germany and that this necessitated a high degree of
vigilance in East Germany. Needless to say, Leim did not ex-
plain what this had to do with the charges against the youths
on trial.
The fal7rication or gross exaggeration of much of the "evi-
dence" presented can be seen from several examples. The court
and prosecutor persistently referred to the connections of the
defendants with "criminal organizations," yet no attempt was
made to prove their alleged connection with US Intelligence.
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Their references to the West German Ministry of All-German Af-
fairs and the West Berlin group known as "Fighters Against In-
humanity" only showed that the students had failed to establish
contact with them.
The charges of "sabotage" and "terrorist activities" were
based on the fact that several pistols and chemicals "suitable
for the manufacture of explosives" were found in the defendants'
possession. The court curtly refused a request by the defense
counsel to show that the pistols were defective and incapable of
being fired. The defense counsel, in fact, were warned by the
court not to ask any questions which might be construed as in-
dicating the innocence of their clients. It would be hard to
find clearer proof of the farce of Communist justice: the
final verdict is always decided before the trial begins.
Some of the, evidence presented can only be termed ridiculous.
Like high-spirited youths are prone to do throughout the world,
they probably got together as a "secret society" to discuss
political questions and to indulge in high-blown "bull sessions."
This is easily explained by the complete lack of any freedom of
speech and thought in the DDR.
Their plans and discussions could only be termed as youth-
ful, immature, ill-advised, and ill-conceived bravado, but
hardly serious plotting to overthrow the regime by force of arms.
Yet, the prosecution undertook to show on the basis of the
admissions and confessions of the defendants while in "investi-
gative custody" that they had on various occasions discussed the
feasibility of "joining an attempt at a coup, which might pos-
sibly be initiated from the West, in an attempt to gather unto
ourselves a good measure of power." Allegedly they even debated
the probable use of tanks and other weapons.
As evidence of their terrorist activities, the defendants
are said to have confessed that when one of their group--Gernat
Frey, who turned state's evidence at the trial--indicated he
wanted "out," they decided he must leave the country to avoid
endangering their cause. They also had considered killing him
with either an injection of air, an excessive dose of insulin
or a poisoned air gun pellet. In regard to the disposition of
the body, one of the "vicious ringleaders" suggested that it be
sewn in a sack and dumped in an area where "a landslide could be
started to cover it up."
A-3
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These were the types'of conversations pounced upon by the
prosecution to prove the "atmosphere of terror" ascribed to
the defendants.
The verdict handed down at the end of the trial could be
expected by anyone with knowledge of Communist justice. The
sentences were: Bauer, 10 years; Streiter, 8 years; Dalpke,
71 years; Ramatschi, 7 years; and Brendel, 5 years. The only
surprising fact was that the combined sentences totalled one
and one-half years more than those demanded by the prosecutor.
It is rare for a Communist prosecutor to understate his re-
quirements, but the court explained that it was so acting be-
cause the five students "constituted a serious threat to or-
ganized society."
The DDR regime must rest on very shaky ground, indeed, if
the high ,inks of a few students are sufficient to jeopardize
its existence.
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Resume of Trials Against Students in East Germany
The Informationsburo West has published from its files a
resume of political thought trials which have been waged a-
gainst the students since the establishment of the East German
Republic.. The students were charged with being "counter-revo-
lutionary elements." From 1951 to the end of 1958 there have
been 16 such trials as a result of which 56 students from uni-
versities and high schools in the Soviet Zone have been sen-
tenced to a total of 329 years in the penitentiary.
The most important have been:
June 1951: The Provincial Court of Dresden sentenced music
student Roif Schabe to seven years in the penitentiary. Rea-
son: Schabe sent so-called "peace letters" to West Germany in
which he inveighed against the East German Government and "at-
tempted to find accomplices in this activity inimical to the
government."
August 1951: The Provincial Court of Halle sentenced 11 stu-
dents of the Martin Luther University to terms ranging from
10 to 15 years for "attempting to overthrow the government."
May 1952: The Provincial Court of Muehlhausen sentenced a female
agricultural student' named Friedgart Hense'to four years and
music student Hans Rummel to five years in the penitentiary.
Reason: in their discussions the two students had demonstrated
a "point of view inimical to the State," and had "illegally
worked against the GDR."
July 1952; 'The Provincial Court of-Muehlhausen sentenced the
students of the Dresden Technical High School, Gunther Schlage,
Erich Schmidt and Waltraud Niether, to a total of 22 years in
the penitentiary. Reason: the three students had made up
pamphlets and distributed them and the content "of these pamph-
lets was of such a nature as to endanger the existence of the
workers' and peasants' state."
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September 1953: The District Court of Halle sentenced student
Jurgen Burkhardt to six years in the penitentiary. ?Reason: it-
was alleged that Burkhardt had been surprised by the Peoples'
Police distributing pamphlets "hate mongering against the GDR."
Furthermore, he had spread hatred "heard over the Western radio
stations."
October 1953: The City Court of Berlin sentenced students of
the Technical School for Interior Architecture and Wood Technique
in Berlin, Klaus Krelle, Hans-Georg Haut and Hans Joachin Her-
mann, to a total of four and one-half years in the penitentiary.
Reason: the students "had taken part in the fascist provoca-
tion of 17 June" and had forced members of the People's Police
to release some workers who had already been arrested.
Januar1954: The District Court of Gera sentenced a student of
re richSchiller University of Jena, Lutz Ehrhardt, to three
and one-half years in prison. Reason: he had distributed li-
terature "inimical to the State."
April 1954: The District Court of'Halle sentenced dentist stu-
dent Klaus Kother to eight years in prison. Reason: he had
"belonged to the leading group of the 17 June 1953 putsch."
August 1955: The District Court of Rostock sentenced medical
students of the University of Greifswald Klaus Rintelen and
Peter Klopf to 10 and 8 years in prison respectively and'three
other students to several years in prison. Reason: they had
protested that the traditional` old medical faculty of the uni-
versity was being transformed into a place for the medical
training 'of members of the National People's Army and had in-
cited fellow students to join a "political strike."
October 1957: The District Court of Suhl sentenced high school
students of the Electro-Technical High School of Ilmenau, Rolf
Schubert, Dietrich Lanzrath, and Jurgen Maack to a total of 10
years in prison. Reason: they had formed an "illegal counter-
revolutionary group."
November 19571 The District Court of Leipzig sentenced student
Leo Derrick to 15 months in prison. Reason; after the "counter-
revolution"in Hungary he had tried to set up similar groups in
the GDR and had leftist revisionist tendencies.
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December 1957: The District Court of Leipzig sentenced theo-
logical students Andreas Jentsch and Wolfgang Wohllebe to a
total of four years in prison. Reason: "activities inimical to
the State" and "contact with Dr. Schmutzler who had been sen-
tenced for attitudes inimical to the State."
June 1958: The District Court of Rostock sentenced students
of the Marine Architecture faculty of the University of Ros-
tock Klaus Worofsky and Carl-Peter Hendrich to a total of four
years and five months in prison. Reason: they had protested
against the firing for political reasons of the chief of the
faculty Professor Geerts and had incited their fellow students
to boycott his successor's lectures. This, the State called
"an organized putsch against the power of the State."
September 1958: The District Court of Halle sentenced philo-
sophy students Heinrich Blobner and Seifert of the Martin Luther
University each to seven years in prison. Reason: they had
organized "illegal meetings with students from West Germany."
Se tember 1958: The District Court of Gera sentenced four
students of the Fredrich Schiller University of Jena Thomas
Ammer to 15 years, Peter Herrmann and Gert Froemmel to 14 years
each, and Friedhelm Froehlich to 8 years in prison. Reason:
the accused had drawn up a 10-point "counter-revolutionary pro-
gram" in which, among other things, they demanded free elections
and the liquidation of unprofitable agricultural cooperatives.
In three other trials the same court in October sentenced 24
students of the Jena University to more than 58 years in prison.
The reason given in each case was "a platform inimical to the
State and-the formation of inimical groups in high schools,
having counter-revolutionary alms."
Approved For Release 1999/08/2k IA-RDP78-02771 R000100320002-1
 Approved For Release 1999/08/24: CIA-RDP78-02771 R000100320002-1
Secret Trial of SED Docents, Die Welt, 25 April 1959
Under exclusion of the public, the Potsdam District Court
has sentenced three former docents of the East Berlin Univer-
sity to eight years in prison each.
The men are sociologists Crueger, Lauer and Saar. All
three belong to the SED. About a year ago all of them sud-
denly disappeared from the ken of man. Only now has the
news trickled out that they had been sentenced in a secret
trial.
From the scanty information known about the charges,
it would appear that for some considerable time the three
men had called for a change of personnel in the SED Politburo
and the Central Committee, the firing of party chief Ulbricht
and the transformation of the "National People's Army" into
a "Democratic People's Militia." Furthermore, they had
dreamed of a "parliamentarization" of the East Zone. For
six months representatives of the SED Central Committee had
been seeking the perpetrators of this "conception inimical
to the Party." More than half the docents and lecturers
were changed before it was possible to identify Crueger,
Lauer and Saar as the originators of the ideas. A particu-
larly damaging accusation against: them was the fact that
they had brought in from the West forbidden Marxist litera-
ture--such as the writings of Trotsky and Rosa Luxemburg.
B-4
Approved For Release 1999/08/24: CIA-RDP78-02771 R000100320002-1