The exhibition vividly shows how the SED intervened in people's lives. The focus is on the mechanisms of their rule
How does a dictatorship gain and maintain its power? In 1946, 80 years ago now, the SPD and KPD were forcibly united to form the SED - the ruling party in the GDR, which claimed to represent the "true interests of the people" and enforced and secured its rule by a wide variety of means.
The exhibition "The party is always right. The SED in Everyday Life in the GDR" by the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the Past vividly shows how the Socialist Unity Party of Germany intervened in people's lives. The focus is on the mechanisms of its rule: ideological training, control, repression and the constant demand for loyalty. How did the party secure its monopoly on power with the help of the police, judiciary and state security? How did it simultaneously create a system of social dependencies and habituation and how strongly was this felt in the everyday lives of different people?
How complex and often contradictory the fates and life stories are that originate from this time, what challenges and wounds life in a dictatorship could mean, what private space could sometimes be gained: We would like to make this tangible in the supporting program - always with ears for your and your stories.
