Abstract
Over the last five years a number of unofficial journals have sprung up in the GDR, many of them published openly by independent peace, environment and human rights groups. The authorities have reacted by arresting and expelling many of the activists involved — but face a new spirit of determination among the younger generation. A Swiss journalist reports.
Ever since the GDR authorities' incursion into the library of the East Berlin Zionsgemeinde (Zion Community Church) in November 1987 (see Index 2/1988), people in the West have been aware of the existence, apart from the state or church press, of several unofficial journals in the GDR. One of these is Grenzfall, deemed by the authorities to be ‘hostile to the state’. According to the East Berlin public prosecutor Gläsner, the publication of Grenzfall violates GDR criminallaw. This was the official justification for the massive action taken by State Security officials on the night of 25 November 1987, allegedly for the purpose of seizing copies that had just come off the press.