Susanne Kucharski-Huniat

After leaving school in the 10th grade, I completed an apprenticeship as a bookseller (my training company was the Leipzig Commission and Wholesale Book Trade (LKG)) and then went on to study part-time at the Leipzig College of Bookselling. Influenced by my parents, I initially got involved in society – I was a pioneer, then a member of the Free German Youth, the Society for German-Soviet Friendship, the Free German Trade Union Federation and became an SED candidate at the age of 19. I was a candidate for two years. During these two years, my world view changed completely. Events such as the expatriation of Wolf Biermann, the departure of many artists and writers who influenced me, such as Reiner Kunze, Günther Kunert and Solidarność, strengthened my growing rejection of the GDR system.

In 1979, at the age of 21, I also met the Leipzig artist Günther Huniat and through him I gained access to artistic circles, student groups, people from different professional groups and from Western countries. I was involved in various artistic and political activities. I became increasingly critical and really challenged my employer. I designed wall newspapers with critical content. I was confronted. I didn’t want to be accepted into the SED. My father implored me not to join the opposition as I would ruin my whole life. I became a member of the SED and tried to initiate and change things from within. That only brought trouble. At a members’ meeting of the SED party organisation of the LKG in 1983, I explained why I no longer wanted to and could no longer be a member of the SED – and would therefore leave the SED. However, it was not planned or possible for me to leave the party of my own accord. Party expulsion proceedings were initiated against me, at the end of which I was expelled from the SED. This ultimately led to my employment contract being terminated. I had previously resigned from the FDJ and the FDGB. I couldn’t find a job in my profession. In 1985 and 1986, I worked as a light pauser in the company of a friend’s parents, then as a specialised saleswoman and from May 1988 to August 1990, through the mediation of the author Bernd Lutz Lange, as a secretary at the Jewish Religious Community in Leipzig. The work in the Jewish community enriched me immensely and has had an impact on my life to this day.

Leipzig, the GDR, was my home. I didn’t want to be driven out, I wanted to change things here. Freedom, especially freedom of expression, free access to the media, literature and the arts in general, an end to hypocrisy and nepotism, a clean environment, an improvement in the position of women, an end to SED rule, the rule of law – these were things I was committed to. From the end of September 1989, I took part in Monday demonstrations. My greatest wish was for a political “revolt” that would lead to changes in the system. The GDR should be fundamentally reformed.

Read more: in Report zum 09.10.1989
The entire interview plus photo collection will be available in the Open Feminist Democracy Archive | OfemDA, which is currently being created. See here