Caritas Führer

"Once, when I was still in first grade, I experienced that all the children who went to religion had to get up. There were six of us in the class that were involved. We all stood up. I was curious because I thought the teacher wanted to know what we were doing [in religion class]. I would like to tell her. But something completely different happened. She said to the other children, `Look well at these children - they are retarded. They still go to church with their parents. They still believe in God. But the young pioneers know that none of that exists. It's all nonsense. That's why you can laugh at them now.' Then our classmates, maybe not all of them, but they laughed and mocked us. And that affected me deeply."

"I was in school at the time. I walked into the classroom and the seventh grade had a notice board set up. I stopped by the board because there was a newspaper article that said - I don't remember exactly, but it basically said that in the German Democratic Republic every student can learn and develop according to his or her abilities and talents. I read that and I thought it was a lie. My sister can't. And then I shouted out loud: 'What it says here is a lie!' And then I tore the article down. I didn't think about it beforehand, it was an impulse. I was so outraged at the injustice... And then other students came and tore down other articles. I had nothing to do with it anymore, but it was taken out on me. An avalanche started in the school. It was discovered and our class was asked who was it, who did it. I reported myself and thought I could explain it all. I did it for my sister. I was ten, I was a kid. But the teacher saw it differently. She said that I had encouraged the others to do it, that we had destroyed the political creed of the seventh grade. That's how she exaggerated it. And then I was taken to the principal's office for questioning, a real questioning, as we know it from literature. Two people from the Stasi sat there too, two men. My class teacher, the two principals and me. And then they cross-examined me. They asked me from different sides: "Who put you up to this? What newspaper do your parents read? Do they have a church newspaper? Do tehy read Neues Deutschland?´ From all sides, as is the custom with such tactics. They did it until I cried and stopped answering."