Gauk, Joachim

In the German Democratic Republic

Joachim Gauk was born in the family of the captain of the vessel, then his father became a naval officer. Joachim's mother was a qualified office worker. Mother was a member of the NSDAP from 1932, father - from 1934. At the end of World War II, his father was captured by the British, from where he returned to Rostock in the summer of 1946. He began working at the Rostock shipyard as a labor safety inspector.

In 1951, he was arrested on charges of espionage in favor of Western countries, as well as in anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda. However, he was not convicted in open court proceedings and simply “disappeared” and the family did not know anything about his fate until 1955, when he was released after Konrad Adenauer 's visit to the USSR .

The arrest and imprisonment of his father greatly influenced the political views of Joachim. Already at school, he did not hide his anti-communist positions, resolutely refusing, in particular, to join the ranks of the pro-communist Union of free German youth . He wanted to become a journalist, but anti-communist views closed the way for him to study journalism.

Instead, Gauk became the pastor of the Protestant church in Mecklenburg . The activities of the pastor in the GDR were very difficult because of the hostility of the regime to the church, so Gauk has long been subject to observation by the Ministry of State Security of the GDR . In his dossier, Gauk was described as an “incorrigible anticommunist” (“unverbesserlicher Antikommunist”) ^[7] . 1982–1990 Hauck led the work of the church council of Mecklenburg.

Political activities

In 1989, Gauk became a member of the New Forum, the democratic opposition movement, and was elected to its leadership. He participated in most of the most significant rallies and demonstrations against the ruling regime. At the free elections on March 18, 1990, the People's Chamber of the GDR was nominated by the opposition Alliance 90 (as part of the New Forum, the Democracy Now Movement and the Initiative for Peace and Human Rights) and was elected a deputy. On October 2, 1990 , the day before the unification of Germany , the People's Chamber of the GDR elected Gauka as Commissioner for the management of the Stasi archives. The next day, this appointment was confirmed by Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker and Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl . Since 1992, his position has become known as the "Federal Commissioner for the Management of the Stasi Archives". He worked in this post until 2000.

In subsequent years, his name was named among the possible candidates for deputies of the Bundestag from the SPD, and even as a potential candidate for the post of federal president from the CSU in 1999 (as opposed to Johannes Rau ) ^[8] , as well as from the CDU / CSU and FDP blocs in the subsequent years ^[9] .

In 1998, Gauk contributed to the publication in Germany of the Black Book of Communism , writing an additional chapter on the German Democratic Republic. Together with the former Czech President Vaclav Havel, he initiated the creation of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism (2008). His signature is also under the Declaration of the Crimes of Communism (2010). These documents call for the condemnation of communism, the dissemination of knowledge about the crimes of the communist regimes and the punishment of the participants in these crimes. The Prague Declaration also contained the idea of ​​creating a European Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism, which was ultimately approved by the European Parliament on April 2, 2009 .

On the occasion of his 70th birthday in 2010, Gauk received special congratulations from Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel , who called him "a true teacher of democracy" and "a tireless defender of freedom, democracy and justice" ^[10] , and the British newspaper Independent called Gauk " Germany's response to Nelson Mandela " ^[11] .

Currently, Gauck heads the organization Gegen Vergessen - Für Demokratie (“Against Oblivion - For Democracy”), which fights left and right extremism, advocates for democratic values ​​and contributes to the comprehension of the historical truth regarding the two totalitarian regimes in German history.

Participation in presidential elections

On June 3, 2010, Joachim Gauck was nominated by the Social Democrats and Greens for the post of Federal President of Germany . It is noteworthy that Gauk is neither a member of the SPD, nor a member of the Green Party (although the Alliance 90, in which Gauk previously consisted, merged with West German Greens in 1993) and after the nomination, he would accept the proposal from the CDU, if it were he has done ^[12] . Gauk once described himself as a “left-wing liberal conservative” ^[13] , and after his nomination he declared: “I am neither red nor green, I am Joachim Gauk” ^[14] .

Gauk is respected by politicians of an extremely wide political spectrum, his main rival Christian Wulff , as well as political leaders of the ruling parties, have said that they greatly respect Gauk for his life and work. The only party that, in principle, rejected Gauk’s candidacy for the presidency, was the German Left , which interpreted Gauk’s nomination of the SPD and the Greens as a refusal to cooperate with themselves, since the left are the successors of the former SED and contain factions that the federal authorities consider extremist .

In the June 30, 2010 elections, Gauk lost to Christian Wulf in the third round, receiving 490 votes against 624 from an opponent.

After the scandal erupted in December 2011 involving Christian Wolfe receiving a private loan and putting pressure on the free press to silence the information she received, Gauk’s name again became known as a possible compromise as Federal President in the event of K. Wolfe’s resignation.

On February 20, 2012, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that parliamentary parties had agreed on Gauck’s candidacy for the nomination for the post of federal president.

“Joachim Gauk’s activities are imbued with ideals of freedom and responsibility, and this is what binds me to him, despite the differences between us,” said Merkel.

March 18, 2012 Gauk was elected Federal President of Germany, receiving 991 of 1,232 votes. March 23, 2012 officially took office ^[15] .

June 3, 2016, said he was ready to give up the fight for the presidency in the next elections (2017) ^[16] .

Gauk was awarded the Order of Merit for the Federal Republic of Germany, 1st degree (officer's cross), as well as the Grand Officer's Cross of the same order.

Hannah Arendt Prize (1997).

Since 1999 - Honorary Doctor of the Theological Faculty of the University of Rostock , since 2001 - Honorary Doctor of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Jena .

In 2010 he became the winner of the literary prize of Hans and Sophie Scholl for the book of memoirs “Winter in the middle of summer”.

On October 5, 2016, during the official visit of the King of Sweden Carl XVI to Germany, Gustav Joachim Gauk was knighted of the Order of the Seraphim.

Gauk has four children from marriage, three of whom moved to Germany as early as the 1980s. Since 1991, Gauk lived separately from his wife, however, there was no official divorce. Since 2000, his girlfriend has been Bavarian journalist Daniela Schadt.

• Alexey Mokrousov. www.Gauck.de: pastor and his country. Non-Russian experience of the Gauk Commission // Index. Dossier on censorship. 2001. No. 14.