Berlin-Hohenschönhausen: Memorial staff: recall of Knabe needed – Berlin

Employees of the Stasi Memorial have, in a statement, motivated the decision of the board of directors to dismiss the former director and board of directors, Hubertus Knabe. "We consider this step to be necessary given the situation," says the two-page letter. It has so far been signed by three employees, SED victims, and responders who occupy groups of visitors at the memorial.

The draft was drafted after a meeting on Tuesday and will now be signed by other freelancers, witnesses and historians. The authors contradict critics who recognize "an allegedly complex intrigue" in the reference. Boy was not shot by others, "but only by himself". He lists a number of reasons.

According to him, the "boy fell" over his years of action and omission, looking elsewhere and in the middle of his autocratic leadership style and climate of fear and intimidation responsible, and especially because of its inability to bring the content of the work up to scientific standards. ".

In their letter, the undersigned also speak of respect and respect for women who "have made known the abuses dating back to 2010". Several women had pointed out in a letter to the Senator of Culture, Klaus Lederer (left), the structural badism and harbadment of the member for Knabe.

At the same time, the employees express their surprise at the appearance of Knabe. Boy had appeared in the memorial on Monday. This was possible despite the termination until 31 March and the release by a preliminary injunction from the Berlin District Court. There, Knabe had managed to put him back in his office for the moment. Then the board of directors, comprising Lederer as chairman, Dieter Dombrowski (CDU) as representative of the victims' badociations and representative of the Minister of Culture Monika Grütters (CDU), Sunday, at the time of the meeting. an extraordinary meeting, decided to call Mr Knabe immediately.

Fancy of the future: a "change of cultural leadership"

The board of directors relied on several reasons for this: a broken trust relationship, the impression that Knabe had probably directed the memoir on the principle of "adequacy before legality", but also l & rsquo; # 39; injunction. The was still Monday by the district court at the request of Lederer provisionally suspended. The boy had to leave the memorial after a few hours. Added to this are the initial reasons for the dismissal: By his leadership style, Knabe should have tolerated and even promoted the badual harbadment of employees by his deputy.

The referees of the memorial criticize in their letter the fact that the boys make themselves the decisions of the court but ignore the decisions of the board of directors. This adds to the reputation of the place "other serious damage". For the future, the signatories want a "change of cultural leadership, a substantial appreciation of each other's achievements", a "scientific development of the commemorative work" and the participation of contemporary witnesses and historians. The authors want above all "a pluralist memorial, in which different approaches have room and where the position of the council is considered inviolable".

"The Berlin court decides independently"

More recently, the dispute over Knabe's dismissal had become clearer. Arnold Vaatz, deputy head of the union faction, has made serious allegations against Kultursenator and chairman of the board of trustees, Lederer, state minister for culture and Dieter Dombrowski, who is head of as representative of victims' badociations on the board of directors. Lederer was guilty of "serious violations of the law". There was "clear evidence" of a "near-crime" in which Knabe's replacement was planned.

The "staged decapitation attack against the memorial" served the left-wing party to irrigate the memory of the dictatorship of the SED, Vaatz said. Because the representatives of the former dictatorship of the SED hated boys, it was clear that he had been removed from office by political pressure and "the exploitation of anonymous accusations". And Grütters and Dombrowski had participated in this "political plot for the Gleichschaltung der Gedenkstätte". Vaatz also accused Lederer of exerting political pressure on the district court, which again suspended Knabe's injunction.

A spokesman for the State Minister for Culture, who has repeatedly contradicted intriguing suspicions, said: "We do not share the allegations, nor can we understand them." Lederer said that Allegation that he allegedly exerted pressure on the District Court "seriously disqualifies those who raise these allegations". Senator Justice Dirk Behrendt (Greens) spokesman said: "The Berlin court will decide in complete judicial independence".