RT Article
T1 Die Schuldfrage im Erfahrungsfeld des gesellschaftlichen Umbruchs im östlichen Deutschland: Annäherungen
JF Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte
VO 4
IS 2
SP 445
OP 461
A1 Beintker, Michael 1947-
LA German
PB Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
YR 1991
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1817495852
AB In the autumn of 1989, the „peaceful revolution" started a process of social change in the eastern part of Germany, which prompted a self-critical evaluation of the last forty years in the German Democratic Republic. The question of guilt and complicity for the human, moral, political, economic and ecological damages caused by the socialist regime has now to be addressed, and responsibility has to be recognized and accepted. This concerns not only those persons in the socially-stabilising functional centres who directed and supported the regime, but also the mass of the people who accommodated themselves to the will of the rulers because of their fears of penalties or repression. The churches too have to face questions regarding their failures. But from the point of view of the Christian faith, guilt and complicity have to be seen in light of God's act of reconciliation. In the assurance of forgiveness, guilt can be addressed, without giving way to the tendency to self-righteousness or to witch-hunting.