The City of Berlin is reportedly planning to change the curriculum for schoolchildren in the German capital, removing the study the history of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from the curriculum.
That GDR period was the Communist dictatorship which ruled East Germany from 1949 to 1990.
In an open letter on January 14, to Berlin education councillor Katharina Günther-Wünsch of the Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), historians have sounded the alarm about the proposed change.
The signatory organisations include the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship [the SED was the East German Communist Unity Party], the Berlin Association of History Teachers and the Association of History Teachers in Germany.
Lea Honoré, chairwoman of the Berlin Association of History Teachers, told state broadcaster RBB yesterday: “I do not know why they want to change it.
“But it can’t be right that in Berlin of all places, such an important topic as the history of the GDR is no longer compulsory in schools.”
The letter’s authors wrote: “According to the proposed regulations, in-depth study of the history of German division, the GDR, and its overcoming will no longer be compulsory for many students in the future. We consider this decision to be a serious mistake and urge you to refrain from implementing it.”
It continues: “Dealing with dictatorship, division, and democratic renewal is not a subject that can be chosen at will, but rather an indispensable part of historical and political education. It forms a central basis for democratic judgment and political orientation.”
The historians are worried that the change in the curriculum may leave students unaware of the dangers of Communism.
“Without compulsory in-depth study in upper secondary school, there is a real danger that even more students will leave school without having systematically studied the Communist dictatorship, the division of Berlin and Germany,” they said.
Others surmised that the plan may actually be the covert goal of the change.
Entrepreneur Christian Burkart wrote on X: “How are you supposed to make socialism appealing to people when recent history has demonstrated that socialism is inhumane and does not work? Better focus on the Nazi era for the fifth time in school!”
A spokesperson for Günther-Wünsch said the Councillor had received the letter and would review the matter.
She is the girlfriend of Berlin’s Mayor Kai Wegner who has repeatedly been accused of promoting left-wing policies belying the principles of his own CDU, led by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
