Even the tone of a speech can trigger emotions: people with traumatic dictatorship experiences do not always find their way around institutions and authorities. The state commissioner for the processing of the SED dictatorship promotes more sensitivity.
Erfurt (dpa/th) – According to Peter Wurschi, the state commissioner for dealing with the SED dictatorship, people with traumatic dictatorship experiences need to be treated more sensitively in state institutions. There is a significant number of people who were traumatized in the GDR and now react differently in today’s authorities or homes than people without this experience, Wurschi told the German Press Agency.
Affected are former political prisoners, ex-prisoners, people who were housed in children’s homes or had other traumatic experiences with state institutions. All East Germans have had dictatorship experiences, but not all have been traumatized. “Not everyone gets trauma from the same experience either.”
On Friday and Saturday there will be a specialist conference on the subject in the Thuringian state parliament with the title: “Trauma without end? – Perspectives on counseling for people who have experienced dictatorship”. While the lectures on Saturday are aimed at a specialist audience, the opening on Friday is open to everyone.
Wurschi said the conference’s main purpose was to raise public awareness. People who have experienced traumatic dictatorships often have problems finding their way around state institutions – for example when submitting applications – “because they have had bad experiences with the power of the state”.
Even the slightly too loud click of a door lock can restore the memory of being locked up in a prison or in a children’s home – “with all the bad experiences or fears that are stored”.
As an example, Wurschi cited the youth work center in the GDR, where there had been systematic violence. “It was actually like a juvenile prison – with drill and the breaking of individuality.”
According to Wurschi, not only noises, but also the tone of a speech or the choice of words in a letter can evoke unpleasant emotions in those affected.
According to his own statements, he received more than 1,000 inquiries from people who have questions about rehabilitation or fate clarification in the current year alone. Applications for rehabilitation would then often be made. Such requests would have to be formulated in legal language that would have to dispel any doubt in order to describe a factual situation. For many of those affected, this does not reflect their own biography. “One feels once again at the mercy of someone who, in case of doubt, does not understand what has been experienced in a home,” said Wurschi. The necessary administrative approach and the emotions experienced often did not go together. The aim is to take the realities of life of those affected so seriously that they also feel that they are in good hands in counseling.
