Victims' commissioner: East German repression must not be played down

Evelyn Zupke, the commissioner responsible for the victims of the former East German dictatorship, told dpa that she had heard political leaders equating the reunified German government's actions with the repressive structures of the former socialist state.

"Those who speak like this trivialize the dictatorship and play with people's fears, especially those who were politically persecuted," she said.

Zupke is a former civil rights activist who protested against the government of East Germany and its ruling party, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), in the 1980s.

The Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament, appointed her to the role in 2021.

The commissioner disagreed with a speech delivered last week by a senior politician from The Left party - a successor of the SED - in the first session of the new parliament after February's parliamentary elections.

In his speech, Gregor Gysi, who was leader of the SED during reunification, stated that while people in the former East Germany gained more freedom, they also lost a lot with reunification.

Zupke said that Gysi's stance only reflects how privileged people, such as SED party officials, experienced life in the former East Germany.

"For every single political prisoner who was freed from prison, for every single person who could use their freedom for the first time, the efforts and challenges [of reunification] were more than worth it," Zupke said.