For the project
"Wir sind Friedrichsfelde", the podcast "
Chancellor and Berghain" (Alex Yusupov and Dima Vachedin) recorded a special episode about the history of
Dorfkirche Friedrichsfelde, which in the early 1980s became a site of unusual events and gatherings: peace activists, representatives of environmental movements, dissidents, feminists, and countercultural groups met there — all under the surveillance of the Stasi.
Key topics of the episode:
- The complex relationship between the church and the state in the GDR — the Protestant population sharply declined from 80% to 25% over several decades;
- Sermons accompanied by electronic music and unconventional forms of engaging with young people;
- Walks through the revolutionary cemetery and comparisons of various Liebknechts;
- An attempt to answer the question of why even a "peaceful revolution" can "devour its own children" — i.e., why the ideals and actual consequences of historical events often diverge;
- A discussion of how the church may have contributed to paving the way for German reunification.
You can listen to other episodes of the podcast
here.