World
October 13, 2024 11:40
berlin - Egon Krenz, the last leader of East Germany, remains unchanged in his pro-Russian beliefs since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Despite some former colleagues expressing regret for the dictatorship, Krenz is unapologetic and continues to find support among seniors.
Egon Krenz has hardly changed since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The former leader of the DDR still believes in the socialist utopia and maintains close ties with Russia. Some of his former colleagues, like Guenter Schabowski, expressed remorse for the dictatorial regime, but not Krenz. Nowadays, the former FDJ leader is pleased to be in the spotlight again.
The 87-year-old Krenz still commands a loyal following, especially among seniors. His one-man show at Rosa Luxemburg Square, named after a Jewish-Marxist martyr, is completely sold out. The headquarters of Die Linke, the successor to Krenz's ruling SED party, is just around the corner. The event brings back memories of the DDR, which was absorbed by West Germany, with salutes to socialist allies in Cuba and personal greetings to a Russian diplomat.
In modern Berlin, the DDR is romanticized as a peculiar country. Tourists can enjoy a Trabi safari in smelly Trabants, stay in a Plattenbau apartment for next to nothing, or visit an Ostalgie museum with East German memorabilia, all without touching on the dark aspects of the dictatorship.
For Krenz, Russian President Putin, a former KGB spy in Dresden, bears no responsibility for the bloody war in Ukraine. He dismisses the notion of a 'dangerous Russia' as a mere 'fairy tale'.
Invited by the leftist newspaper Junge Welt, Krenz takes the stage to applause for his powerful voice. He portrays the DDR as having stood peacefully alongside the Soviet Union, conveniently omitting mentions of militarization, propaganda, and the Red Army’s invasion of Prague in 1968.
Krenz, who was imprisoned after the fall of the Berlin Wall for his role in the murders of DDR refugees, condemns NATO as aggressive, pointing to the 1999 bombing of Belgrade during the Kosovo conflict. He criticizes the German government for not engaging in 'negotiations' with Russia, omitting the recent refusal of a phone call from Moscow to Chancellor Scholz. He rightly notes that his NVA soldiers remained in the barracks in 1989 after he ousted Erich Honecker.
Krenz uses his platform to launch a frontal assault on the Federal Republic of Germany, equating the DDR’s legacy with notions of 'stagnation, the Berlin Wall, the Stasi, and barbed wire'. Despite being a child-friendly land, according to him, he fails to acknowledge the authoritarian youth camps and instead advocates for dialogue with the Kremlin.
He boasts of the millions of flats built in post-war East Germany, highlighting the absence of 'speculators, the unemployed, or social coldness' in his autocratic DDR. Krenz laments the 'obscene gap between rich and poor', resonating with the lower wages and assets in East Germany compared to the West.
Rejecting any animosity towards Russia, he denounces the portrayal of the DDR's 40-year history as akin to twelve years of National Socialism under Hitler. Krenz warns against stigmatizing East Germans and opposes arming Ukraine or stationing American missiles in Germany, cautioning the left-liberal government to heed his advice.