The conference of the State Commissioner "Condemned in Schwerin - shot in Moscow" provides information about the repression in the north of the Soviet Occupation Zone/GDR and discusses the handling of the Schwerin Lenin statue as a problematic artistic legacy.
With the end of the war in 1945 and the liberation from the Nazi regime, the Soviet occupying power established a new dictatorship in eastern Germany. To mark this occasion, the State Commissioner for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship, Burkhard Bley, is hosting a public conference at the Campus am Turm (Hamburger Allee 124, 19063 Schwerin) on September 25, 2025 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. The event is free of charge and open to all interested parties. Please register by September 16, 2025 by sending an email to tagung@lamv.mv-regierung.de or calling 0385/734006.
Prof. Jörn Happel from Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg will place the communist repression of Soviet power in its historical context with a view to the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) and Lenin's role. Rostock historian Dr. Natalja Jeske will report on the fate of those sentenced to death by a Soviet military tribunal in Schwerin. Amélie zu Eulenburg from the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship will discuss the visual legacy of the GDR in public spaces. As a relative of a prisoner sentenced to 25 years of forced labor in the GULag, Stefan Krikowski, chairman of the Lagergemeinschaft Workuta/GULag Sowjetunion e.V., will present two other fates of persecution in addition to the fate of his father.
In a panel discussion, the different positions on dealing with the statue in Schwerin will be exchanged and a social dialog on viable solutions will be encouraged. The conference will be moderated by Birgit Schröter. At the end, the large sculpture can be viewed near the conference venue.
