Former GDR opposition: “Losing great civil rights activists”: Gerd Poppe is dead

He requested against the GDR and, after reunification, warned the Greens a more realistic view of foreign policy-now Gerd Poppe is dead. The former GDR citizens died on Saturday at the age of 84 in a Berlin hospital, as the historian Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk confirmed the German Press Agency. According to Kowalczuk, together with Poppe’s family, Kowalczuk was at the side.

“The most free fighter heart I know has just stopped beating forever. My friend, my great role model Gerd” Poppoff “Poppe – has now fought – he has now lost this last fight,” Kowalczuk wrote on the platform X. The historian called Poppe a “pioneer of the 1989 freedom revolution”. Born in Rostock Poppe, only four days after his 84th birthday died.

Foreign policy spokesman for the Greens

Poppe has been involved in opposition circles since the 1960s. In 1985 he founded the opposition group Initiative Peace and Human Rights (IFM) together with Bärbel Bohley and Wolfgang Templin. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, as a member of the Bündnis 90, he first belonged to the freely elected People’s Chamber, after reunification to the Bundestag.

From 1994 he was a foreign policy spokesman for the Bündnis 90/The Greens. Four years later, he did not run for the Bundestag again, but became the first representative of the Federal Government for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid. He held the office until 2003.

The Federal Foundation for processing the SED dictatorship wrote in an obituary that Poppe had belonged to that small group of men and women who have had a perspective in the GDR since the 1970s against the communist dictatorship-“with words, with attitude, with personal risk”. “He was a co -founder of opposition groups, was arrested, could not be intimidated. Poppe stood for an opposition that was non -violent, true to principles and future.” After 1990 he did not withdraw, but took on responsibility.

“With him, the Federal Foundation not only loses a co -founder, but a clever, discrete and persistent co -designer. And we all lose a person who has shown how long the way of education must be – and how rewarding it is,” said the foundation.

Bundestag faction: Poppe laid the foundation stone for green foreign policy

The Green Bundestag faction called Poppe one of the pioneer of the peaceful revolution, who contributed significantly to the overthrow of the SED regime: “With Gerd Poppe we lose a great civil rights activist and steadfast fighter for freedom, peace and human rights in the GDR, in the Federal Republic of Germany and worldwide.”

“Early with his work as a foreign policy spokesman and representative of the Federal Government for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid laid the foundation for our realistic, humanitarian foreign policy and fought against the dictatorships of the world throughout his life,” said the parliamentary group. Poppe’s life and work is a role model and legacy for the party.

The Green politician Katrin Göring-Eckardt wrote on X that the Greens owed a lot to Poppe, especially a realistic course in foreign policy. “He will be very absent and his advice in these fragile times in which freedom is threatened everywhere,” emphasized the former Bundestag Vice President.

Green Group leader Britta Haßelmann called the news of Poppes’ death “very sad”. She emphasized her “respect for his tireless commitment to freedom and democracy” on X.

Poppe also paid tribute to the former Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow. “May Gerd Poppe be easy. A strong personality has set off on the last way,” wrote the left-wing politician on X.