Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Susanne Baer

“Rewriting (Legal) History: An Exhibition on Women Lawyers in the GDR and East Germany” is a teaching project by Louisa Hattendorff in the winter semester 2025/26.

 

As part of the seminar, students from Gender Studies and Law, in cooperation with the German Women Lawyers Association (Deutscher Juristinnenbund), developed an exhibition on women lawyers in the GDR and East Germany. In four chapters, the exhibition addresses law, education, and professional careers of women lawyers in the GDR, presents their biographies, examines their role within the authoritarian state system, and explores how German reunification and the transformations of the 1990s continue to affect women lawyers in and from East Germany today. Interactive elements invite visitors to participate and reflect.

The exhibition will be on view from 11 February to 10 April 2026 in the foyer of the Faculty of Law at Humboldt University of Berlin (Bebelplatz 2, 10117 Berlin).

Here you can read the exhibition texts. Unfortunately, images cannot be made available online due to copyright restrictions.

 

Introduction

Student exhibition
Women lawyers in the GDR & East Germany

"The statement that Lady Justice in Germany is not a woman did not apply to the GDR. The Soviet-influenced GDR judiciary gave the communist German dictatorship a female face."¹

What is it about? In the seminar "Rewriting (Legal) History: Exhibition on Women Lawyers in the GDR" in the winter semester 2025/26 at Humboldt University, we asked ourselves: What was it like to be a woman lawyer in the German Democratic Republic (GDR)? And how does this history affect us today? In the exhibition "Women Lawyers in the GDR & East Germany", we attempt to approach an answer.

The first two chapters deal with the history of the GDR, the last two with the history of the transformation and unification of Germany. We examine history from two perspectives: we look at both the historical and legal context and the biographies of womenlawyers in order to bring history to life. We repeatedly take a look at the history of Humboldt University (HU). In Chapter 1, we present the understanding of law, legal education and professions in the GDR. In Chapter 2, we recount the biographies of womenlawyers in the GDR across three generations and examine their role in the authoritarian state system. In Chapter 3, we examine the peaceful revolution, unification and transformation of the 1990s, and in Chapter 4, we ask how history affects women lawyers in and from East Germany today. Before each chapter, there is an interactive element that invites participation and reflection.

Who contributed? The project is a collaboration with the German Women Lawyers Association (djb). Chapters 1 and 2 are based on the djb's 2011 exhibition "Women Lawyers in the GDR". We have updated and abridged the content. Chapters 3 and 4 are based on our own research; for Chapter 4, we spoke with contemporary witnesses. "We" are students of gender studies and law, who grew up in East and West Germany, are in our 3rd to 13th semester and had little or no contact with the history of the GDR and its transformation. The seminar was led and the exhibition curated by Louisa Hattendorff.

What else is there to say? The exhibition can only offer an introduction to these complex and often controversial topics and is primarily intended to stimulate further thought and discussion. To this end, there are reading and listening recommendations in many places. We welcome your feedback at louisa.hattendorff@hu-berlin.de. Enjoy!

¹ djb (ed.), Juristinnen in Deutschland: die Zeit von 1900 bis 2003, 2003, S. 44 (own translation).

 

Chapter 1

Interaction 

Have you already studied the GDR in your degree programme?

• No, I haven't dealt with the GDR in my studies yet.
• Yes, I already dealt with the GDR during my studies.

 

What do you estimate was the proportion of women in legal professions in the GDR in 1989?

• Under 10 %
• Approximately 27 %
• Approximately 40 %
• Above 50 %

 

1 · Law in the GDR

Women as lawyers. For a long time, women were denied access to legal professions in Germany; they had to fight hard to gain it. Although they were formally allowed to enter legal professions from 1922 onwards, this access was effectively restricted again under National Socialism. After 1945, the situation for women lawyers developed differently: in the Federal Republic of Germany, it was not until the 1980s that more and more women entered the legal profession, while in the GDR, women were promoted in the judiciary from the outset. With success: in 1989, the proportion of women in the legal professions in the GDR was 40%, the highest in the world.¹ In this exhibition, we ask ourselves, among other things: What factors were decisive in this? Were women able topursue careers just like their male colleagues? Were women in the GDR judiciary really equal?

Law and the constitution in the GDR. The GDR was officially founded on 7 October 1949. Law had a dual function in the new state: as an instrument for dismantling the bourgeois legal system and as an instrument for building a new society. The firstconstitution of 1949 regulated the organisational foundations of the state and also contained "citizens' rights". However, these were not fundamental rights as we know them from the Basic Law. The section on fundamental rights in the GDR constitution followed a collectivist concept. Fundamental rights served primarily to integrate the individual into the state-imposed order; individual freedom was only recognised insofar as it served the fulfilment of state objectives. The state organisational regulations ensured this function through the principle of the unity of powers. There was no independent judicial control, and judicial independence was restricted because judges were elected and could be dismissed by the People's Chamber. The constitutions of 1968 and 1974 consolidated the GDR as a centralised unitary state under the leadership of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The legal acts referred to as constitutions in the GDR were therefore not modern constitutions that constituted a democratic constitutional state. Lawyers in the GDR were generally representatives of this system and only rarely opposed it.

Politicisation of legal education. In the Soviet occupation zone, the judiciary underwent extensive denazification: 80% of judges and prosecutors were dismissed.² In order to quickly fill the vacant positions, people's judge schools were established – a form of education outside the university system. This provided an opportunity to break the male dominance in the judiciary: the proportion of women among the graduates of the first three courses was around 25%.³ This led to a noticeable increase in the proportion of women in the judiciary. At the same time, university education became politicised. The GDR, for example, introduced compulsory lectures on Marxist-Leninist state theory. In addition, seminar groups of the Free German Youth (FDJ), the youth organisation of the GDR, were formed for the entire duration of the course. On the one hand, lawyers were disciplined through their education. On the other hand, this was achieved through personnel policy in the profession – for example, through transfers, disciplinary or party proceedings. Jurisprudence free from the values of the state was undesirable. This severely restricted the scope of action forwomen lawyers.

¹See Statistisches Jahrbuch der DDR 1990 (Statistical Yearbook of the GDR 1990), p. 448; own calculation, female scientists not included. ²Hans Wrobel, Verurteilt zur Demokratie: Justiz und Justizpolitik in Deutschland 1945-1949 (Condemned to Democracy: Justice and Judicial Policy in Germany, 1945–1949), 1989, p. 101 ff. ³Hilde Benjamin u.a., Zur Geschichte der Rechtspflege der DDR 1945-1949, 1976, p. 111. Literature: Michael Stolleis, Sozialistische Gesetzlichkeit, Staats- und Verwaltungsrechtswissenschaft in der DDR, 2009; Hilde Benjamin u.a., Zur Geschichte der Rechtspflege in der DDR 1945-1949, 1976; Christian Booß, Gelenkter Rechtsstaat: MfS, SED und ihr Einfluss auf Rechtsanwälte, 2016, https://www.bpb.de/themen/deutsche-teilung/stasi/218426/gelenkter-rechtsstaat-mfs-sed-und-ihr-einfluss-auf-rechtsanwaelte.

 

2 · Women lawyers in the GDR

Prescribed emancipation. The proportion of women in the GDR judiciary was uniquely high worldwide. One reason for this was the GDR's state policy of promoting women. This included socio-political measures such as the expansion of childcare. This enabled many women to access education and careers, as they were often solely responsible for care work. In 1958, the "Interessenvertretung für Juristinnen" (IfJ – translation: „Interest Representation for Women Lawyers“) was also founded. Its aim was to help women lawyers fulfil their dual role as mothers and working women, and it did not pursue feminist legal policies like the djb. At the same time, the IfJ served to socially control and discipline its members. Due to its proximity to the state and censorship measures, the IfJ lost the trust of its members. In addition, women's committees were established from 1952 onwards to promote the employment of women in the judiciary. This was later followed by women's advancement plans, for example at universities.

The 'feminisation' of the legal profession was also possible because the law was of secondary importance in the GDR. Law and justice lost importance; unlike today, they were not independent institutions, but tools for securing the power and control of the SED. A pattern emerges within the legal professions: the closer the proximity to the state, the lower the prestige and the poorer the income, the more women there are. However, all legal professions had one thing in common: women were underrepresented in leadership positions. The legal profession was also affected by the division of Germany.

 

Women judges	50,0 %
Women prosecutors	28,3 %
Women solicitors	22,8 %
Women notaries	63,7 %

Proportion of women in legal professions. See Statistisches Jahrbuch der DDR, 1990, p. 448; own calculation.

Women judges and prosecutors. In 1989, there were just as many men as women working in the courts. However, the proportion of women in the Supreme Court was only 24.1%. There was a clear thematic segregation: female judges often worked in areas considered ‚feminine', such as family law, juvenile criminal law and guardianship. In the public prosecutor's office, the proportion of women stagnated at just under 23%.

Women lawyers and notaries. The state pushed independent lawyers into law societies in order to better control them. However, access to these societies was in the hands of male colleagues, who predominantly accepted men. The income was good. In 1989, the proportion of women in the legal profession was less than 20%. The situation was different in the notarial profession: the state notarial system introduced in 1952 had the task of communicating the new socialist law. The previously prestigious and well-paidprofession developed into a poorly paid profession with the lowest social status among the legal professions. At 68%, the notarial profession had the highest proportion of women.

Female scientists. Women had the hardest time at universities. Until 1945, science and research in Germany were a bourgeois male domain. In 1962, one third of students were women, but there were only a few female scientists in law faculties. They were confronted with sexist stereotypes and defamation; for example, male colleagues questioned their academic performance. Despitegovernment support programmes, the results remained sobering: in 1989, only 5% of professorships were held by women. In this respect, the GDR hardly differed from the Federal Republic.

Literature: Deutscher Juristinnenbund (ed.), Juristinnen in Deutschland: die Zeit von 1900 bis 2003, 2003, p. 44-58; Gisela Shaw, Women Lawyers in the New Federal States of Germany, in: Ulrike Schultz, Gisela Shaw. (Eds.), Women in the World’s Legal Professions, 2003, p. 323-339; Gunilla Budde, Frauen der Intelligenz: Akademikerinnen in der DDR 1945 bis 1975, Göttingen 2003; Anna Kaminsky, Frauen in der DDR, Berlin 2020.

 

3 · Women lawyers as perpetrators

"We wanted justice and got the rule of law." – Bärbel Bohley, civil rights activist

Criminal prosecution. The criminal prosecution of the SED dictatorship began in 1989 after the peaceful revolution by the GDR judiciary and continued after unification in the Federal Republic until 2005. After unification, the public prosecutor's office initiated around 75,000 preliminary investigations in which approximately 100,000 people were charged. It brought charges against 1,450 individuals, of whom approximately 54% were convicted. The prosecution and conviction rates were thus significantly lower than those for general criminal cases. Most individuals were charged with acts of violence at the German-German border (also known as 'Wall shooters’), followed by proceedings for perversion of justice and crimes committed by employees of the Ministry for State Security („Stasi“). The criminal prosecution was viewed differently by the former population of the GDR. Many welcomed the contribution that the criminal proceedings had made to clarifying and acknowledging the crimes. Others were disappointed by the limited nature of the criminal prosecution; they wanted justice.

In addition, those affected can apply for compensation, have judgments overturned and receive compensation for professional disadvantages on the basis of the SED Injustice Rectification Acts. Since 1998, the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship has been accompanying the reappraisal process through educational and awareness-raising work.

Perverting the course of justice. The criminal prosecution of injustices is subject to strict constitutional limits. The principle of legality in Article 103(2) of the Basic Law requires that the act must have been punishable at the time it was committed. Lawyerswere prosecuted primarily for perversion of justice in criminal proceedings, including Irmgard Jendretzky, who is featured in this exhibition. Perversion of justice was already punishable under Section 244 of the Criminal Code of the GDR for judges and public prosecutors, among others. This refers to the deliberate misapplication of the law in order to give a party to the proceedings an advantage or disadvantage – for example, when judgements were not based on the law but were politically motivated.

 

Perversion of justice	49,1 %
Violence at the border	0,0 %
Stasi crimes	5,7 %
Ill-treatment of prisoners	19,8 %
Denunciation	63,7 %
Electoral fraud	10,5 %

Percentage of women among defendants by type of offence (selection). See Klaus Marxen / Gerhard Werle / Petra Schäfter, Die Strafverfolgung von DDR-Unrecht. Fakten und Zahlen (The Prosecution of Injustice in the GDR: Facts and Figures), 2007, p. 35, Table 17.

Women lawyers in court. Women were significantly underrepresented in proceedings concerning injustices committed in the GDR – as they were in general criminal cases – relative to their share of the population. They accounted for 17.5% of all defendants in these proceedings. However, proceedings concerning perversion of justice were a special case: women accounted for almost half of the defendants in these proceedings. However, proceedings for perversion of justice were a special case: in these cases, women accounted for almost half of the defendants. Their share in perversion of justice proceedings thus even exceeded the proportion of women among GDR judges and prosecutors, which stood at 40.8% in 1989. In addition, more than three-quarters (76.8%) of all accused women were prosecuted for perversion of justice. The reasons for the comparatively high proportion of women in proceedings for perversion of justice have not yet been investigated.

Literature: Klaus Marxen / Gerhard Werle / Petra Schäfter, Die Strafverfolgung von DDR-Unrecht. Fakten und Zahlen, 2007; Ute Hohoff, An den Grenzen des Rechtsbeugungstatbestandes. Eine Studie zu den Strafverfahren gegen DDR-Juristen, 2001; Christiane Wilke, Östlich des Rechtsstaats: Vergangenheitspolitik, Recht und Identitätsbildung, in: Sandra Matthäus / Daniel Kubiak (ed.), Der Osten. Neue sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf einen komplexen Gegenstand jenseits von Verurteilung und Verklärung, 2016, p. 163-193.

 

Chapter 2

Interaction

How many women lawyers from the GDR do you know?

• I don't know any women lawyers from the GDR.
• I know a woman lawyer from the GDR, namely... 
• I know several women lawyers from the GDR, namely... 

 

4 · First Generation

The first generation of women lawyers in the GDR received their training during the Weimar Republic or under National Socialism.Many of them were persecuted for political, anti-Semitic and racist reasons during this period. Almost without exception, they camefrom middle-class families. From 1945 onwards, this generation of women lawyers experienced a period of profound socialupheaval. Between 1945 and 1949, there was a far-reaching change in personnel in the judiciary of the Soviet occupation zone and in the entire civil service. Denazification freed up many positions, giving women the opportunity to enter legal professions. Some were able to continue their careers, which had been interrupted by National Socialism. With the establishment of the communist system of rule in the Soviet occupation zone, they were faced with a decision: adapt and pursue a career, leave the country, or retreat to less exposed activities, such as the bar or the notary's office?

Hilde Benjamin (1902–1989) worked as a solicitor for workers from 1928 onwards. In 1933, her solicitor's licence was revoked. After 1945, she rose quickly through the ranks. From 1949 to 1953, she was a judge at the Supreme Court. In 1953, she became Minister of Justice, making her the first woman worldwide to hold this office. She promoted women in the GDR judiciary, advocated for modern family law and opposed the ban on abortion. From 1967, she was a professor at the Academy of Political and Legal Sciences in Potsdam-Babelsberg. She had been a member of the SED since 1946, previously of the SPD and KPD, and held many offices during her career. She had one son; her husband was murdered in 1942 in the Mauthausen concentration camp.

Controversies Until 1945, Hilde Benjamin actively fought against the Nazi regime. As a jurist and politician, however, after 1945 she became deeply entangled in the repressive system of the SED dictatorship. In addition to her commitment to promoting women in the GDR, she bears shared responsibility for serious human rights violations. As Vice President and Chair of the Criminal Senate of the Supreme Court, she imposed two death sentences in politically motivated show trials. As Minister of Justice, she ordered three more and exerted influence over the political judiciary of the GDR. She shared the SED’s instrumental understanding of law, contributed to the tightening of political criminal law, and advocated for the retention of the death penalty. Her person, actions, and legacy are therefore the subject of ongoing debate and regularly provoke strong reactions. However, the discourse surrounding her remembrance should be critically examined under the following aspects:¹ Hilde Benjamin was repeatedly compared to the Nazi jurist Roland Freisler (“Red Freisler”²), who co-organized the Holocaust and, as President of the so-called People’s Court (Volksgerichtshof), was directly responsible for 2,600 death sentences. A comparison between Hilde Benjamin and Roland Freisler relativizes the scale of National Socialist crimes. The discussion about Hilde Benjamin is also marked by strong sexism. Particularly in West German reporting of the 1950s and 1960s, her appearance was evaluated and disparaged (“unshaven lady” and “dark fuzz on her upper lip”³; “ugly woman with dark, evil eyes”⁴). She was portrayed as a “power-hungry fury.”⁵ This can be described as a form of “demonizing feminization.”⁶ ¹Für einen Überblick und weitere Nachweise: Eva Schumann, Juristinnen im deutsch-deutschen Vergleich – eine längere Einführung, in: Göttinger Rechtszeitschrift, Sonderausgabe 2025: Karrierewege und Wirken von Juristinnen in der BRD und der DDR, S. 1-32 (20 f.). ²Wassermann, Freisler und Benjamin als Exponenten totalitärer Justiz, DRiZ 1994, 281-285, 283. ³Zwischen Recht in rot, in: Der Spiegel v. 17.03.1959, Nr. 12/59, S. 22-34. ⁴Die ‚Henkerin von Waldheim‘, in: Südkurier v. 05.12.1952, S. 2. ⁵Kritisch Brentzel, Die Machtfrau. Hilde Benjamin 1902–1989, 1997, S. 281. ⁶In Anschluss an Charlie Kaufhold: Amelie Schillinger, Hilde Benjamin – die erste Justizministerin der Welt, in: djbZ 3/2022, S. 116-120, 117.

Liselotte Kottler (1909–2003) passed her law exams and obtained a doctorate, but was unable to practise as a solicitor during the Nazi era due to restrictions on her profession. In 1946, she was admitted to the bar and mainly defended clients accused of political defamation and incitement against the state. Since 1948, she had also been a solicitor and notary. She was not a member of the SED and suffered repression because of her work as a solicitor. Her husband brought two children into the marriage, and together they had a daughter.

Gertrud May (1882–date of death unknown) represented notaries and solicitors in her first year of practice before joining the judicial service in 1926. During the Nazi era, she was transferred but was able to continue working. In 1945, she was reinstated as a judge. From 1946 onwards, she worked in the state administration of Saxony, as well as in voluntary jurisdiction. She was politically conservative. From 1945 onwards, she was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. She remained unmarried throughout her life.

Paula Mothes-Günther (1898–1971) campaigned for women to be admitted to the bar state examination while she was a student and in 1929 became the first woman to be admitted to the bar in Leipzig. In 1945, she was disbarred because of her membership in the NSDAP. She had to close her law firm. Later, she was able to work as a legal assistant in law firms. She was married and had three sons.

Literature: on Hilde Benjamin see Andrea Feth, Hilde Benjamin, eine Biographie, 1997; Marianne Brentzel, Die Machtfrau. Hilde Benjamin 1902–1989, 1997; Heike Wagner, Hilde Benjamin und die Stalinisierung der DDR-Justiz, 1999; djb, Juristinnen. Lexikon zu Leben und Werk, 2024, p. 47-49; on Liselotte Kottler see djb, ibid., S. 308-310; on Gertrud May vgl. djb, ibid., S. 379-380; about Paula Mothes-Günther see djb, ibid., S. 416-418; for all portrayed women laywers see panels 1.1 – 1.4 der djb exhibition„Juristinnen in der DDR (Women Laywers in the GDR)“, 2011.

 

5 · Second Generation

The second generation of women lawyers in the GDR began their legal training and careers in the GDR – often in people's court courses, but also at universities. The women lawyers of this generation largely identified with the ideals of the labour movement and welcomed the radical restructuring of the judiciary with its personnel changes. They benefited greatly from the increasing state promotion of women. They reacted differently to judicial repression. As people's judges, they often placed themselves at its service and thus became perpetrators through the application of political criminal law. Another part of them hoped for democratic reforms of the political system.

Margarethe Braune (1926) completed her studies in law and political science in 1950. During her legal clerkship, she worked as a deputy judge. She initially worked as a housewife and in her husband's law firm, and was admitted to the bar herself in 1954. From 1984 onwards, she worked in a collective of authors on a handbook for lawyers. After unification, she did not seek re-admission to the bar. She was a member of various GDR organisations, but not of a political party. She has one son.

Anita Grandke (1932) studied law in the first reformed year at the HU. From 1959 to 1964, she established a research group at the Academy of Sciences that analysed the situation of women in the GDR. In 1969, she was appointed professor of family law at the HU. She published the standard work on family law in the GDR as well as practical guides and expressed her views as an expert in the press and on television. In 1956, she joined the SED. She is married and has three daughters.

Students in the seminar “Rewriting (Legal) History: Wikipedia for Forgotten Lawyers” wrote a Wikipedia article on Anita Grandke in the winter semester 2024/25 (in German).

Gerda Grube (1920–1966) completed Saxony's first course for lay judges. As a lay judge, she embodied "the archetype of the GDR lawyer“¹. From 1946 onwards, she was quickly promoted: from youth and criminal judge to head of a local court to senior positions in the Ministry of Justice, where she was involved in the political guidance of judges and participated in criminal law reforms. From1958, she was director of the Schwerin district court, then deputy director at the regional court. She was a member of the KPD, later the SED, and held party positions. She was married and had one daughter.

Irmgard Jendretzky (1918-2010) was trained in a people's judge course and, from 1947 onwards, served as a judge, mainly in criminal cases. In 1950, she participated as a judge in the Waldheim trials, in which five of those she convicted were executed. In the same year, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of the GDR. Due to accusations of a lack of party conformity, she was not re-elected as a judge in 1957. Until her retirement, she worked as an editor at the Central Publishing House of the GDR. She was initially a member of the KPD, then the SED. She was married. In 1997, she was convicted of perversion of justice, manslaughter and deprivation of liberty for her role in the Waldheim trials.

¹ Hilde Benjamin, Nachruf für Gerda Grube (obituary for Gerda Grube), NJ 1967, S. 39. Literature: For all, see panels 2.1 – 2.4 of the djb exhibition "Juristinnen in der DDR" (Women Lawyers in the GDR), 2011; for Anita Grandke, see Johanna Sander, Anita Grandke und der Fünfte Familienbericht von 1994 (Anita Grandke and the Fifth Family Report of 1994), in: Göttinger Rechtszeitschrift. Volume 8, 27 February 2025; see panel no. 2.2 of the old exhibition. 

 

6 · Third Generation

The third generation of women lawyers in the GDR was socialised within the established GDR system – as members of the FDJ (Free German Youth) and SED (Socialist Unity Party), with working mothers and, as long as they remained politically loyal, with the same educational opportunities as their brothers. The legal profession was also already strongly influenced by women. This generation of women lawyers experienced noticeable relief through socio-political measures such as extensive childcare. Unification was experienced as a profound turning point. It divided biographies, bringing professional opportunities for some and the end of their careers for others.

Dietlind Baumann (1950) studied law at HU from 1969 to 1974. In 1975, after a brief stint as a notary assistant, she was appointed notary herself. Until 1985, she was head of the Grevesmühlen State Notary's Office, and from 1986 onwards, she was head of the Rügen State Notary's Office. In 1990, she became a notary in her own practice there. The order situation was good due to the many property sales and company formations at that time. She had been a member of the SED since 1970 and later worked as a trade union leader. She has one daughter from her first marriage.

Ute Hanisch (1947–2024) studied law at HU from 1966 to 1971. In 1972, she became a judge at the Altentreptow District Court, where she became the youngest director in the GDR in 1974. This was followed by senior positions at courts in the Neubrandenburg district, the chairmanship of a criminal division in 1985 and her appointment as director of the Erfurt District Court in 1987. She was politically active from an early age in the Pioneers and the FDJ. As a member of the SED, she took on party functions. After unification, she was admitted to the bar and opened her own law firm in Neubrandenburg. She has been involved in the djb since 1992. She has three children from her first marriage.

Sarina Jegutidze (1957) studied law at Voronezh State Lenin University from 1975 to 1980. Until 1990, she worked as a research assistant at the Academy of State and Legal Sciences. In the 1980s, she earned her doctorate and gave lectures on perestroika in the Soviet Union. She published articles on electoral law, among other topics, and worked in a People's Chamber working group on electoral law. She worked at the University of Potsdam until 1991, after which she was admitted to the bar. In 1999, she was elected judge of the Brandenburg Constitutional Court. She had been a member of the SED since 1981.

Cathrin Junge (1962) began training as a construction worker, after graduating from high school, and before studying law at HU University in 1984. In 1988, she became a family court judge in Hohenschönhausen. She also served as a magistrate on a rotating basis and, in this capacity, issued an arrest warrant for a “refugee from the Republic”. In 1986, she became a member of the SED, and in 1989, automatically a member of the PDS. After the peaceful revolution, her transfer to the Berlin judicial service was critically examined. In 1992, she was accepted after political and legal disputes.

Literature: For all references, see panels 3.1 – 3.4 of the djb exhibition ‘Juristinnen in der DDR’ (Women Lawyers in the GDR), 2011. Photos: Dietlind Baumann, private collection; Ute Hanisch, private collection; Sarina Jegutidze, private collection; Cathrin Junge, private collection.

 

Chapter 3

Interaction

Which word do you use?

There are many different terms used to describe the developments that took place in the former GDR in 1989/90. 

• Peaceful Revolution – This term refers to the period between 1989 and spring 1990, when citizens of the German Democratic Republic brought down the SED regime through mass demonstrations and occupations of buildings belonging to the Ministry for State Security, among other actions.
• 'Wende' – In October 1989, SED leader Erich Honecker resigned. His successor, Egon Krenz, announced a political “turning point”, but was unable to gain the trust of society. The term for this period became established in common parlance. In contrast to the “peaceful revolution”, the term refers to a change from above rather than a change from below.
• Reunification – This refers to the official accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990. The term is somewhat vague when it comes to the question of what is actually being “reunited”: the two German states emerged from the occupation zones of the victorious powers. Previously, the National Socialist German Reich existed in this territory. The term is widely used in everyday language.
• Unity/(re)unification – A more neutral term than “reunification”, which corresponds to the Unification Treaty and the official name for today's public holiday on 3 October, “German Unity Day”. “Unification” emphasises the process, “unity” the result.
• Accession – This term refers, on the one hand, to the legal and formal accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic under Article 23 of the Basic Law (old version). On the other hand, it is used to emphasise or even criticise the fact that it was not two states on equal footing that were united, but rather that the GDR acceded to the FRG.
• (Hostile) takeover – This term is used to express criticism of the processes involved in unification and to emphasise the imbalance in the ‘unification’. ‘Hostile takeover’ also refers to the competition between the socialist and capitalist systems. The term is mainly used as an expression of a political stance, not in research.

 

7 · German-German Unification

The GDR in crisis. Economic misery and political repression led to growing discontent in the GDR in the 1980s, which the government was no longer able to control. The Soviet policies of transparency (glasnost) and modernisation (perestroika), as well as the success of the Solidarność trade union in Poland, had an additional destabilising effect and encouraged protest. Political citizens' movements addressing issues such as women's rights and environmental pollution grew stronger. The church often provided these groups with the necessary safe space for their organisation. In 1989, the situation came to a head: systematic election fraud in the local elections in the GDR on 7 May 1989, a new wave of applications to leave the country, the peaceful Monday demonstrations from September 1989 onwards and the opening of the border with the subsequent fall of the Berlin Wall heralded the end of the GDR regime.

You can find more information on the Monday demonstrations on the website of the Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung (in German). 

You can listen to the perspective of the United Left on the peaceful revolution in the GDR in 1989 in the podcast  "Geschichte der kommenden Welten" (in German). 

The legal framework of unification. Under pressure from civil society, the “Zentraler Runder Tisch (Central Round Table)” (ZRT) was formed. As a joint committee made up of bloc parties and citizens' movements, it was to remain in place from December 1989 until free democratic elections could be held. There was controversy over how the political transition should be structured legally: While civil rights movements sought a new all-German constitution in accordance with Article 146 of the Basic Law and thus a democratic re-founding, the East German CDU, as part of the bloc parties, demanded the rapid accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic in accordance with Article 23 of the Basic Law (old version). With the victory of the ‘Alliance for Germany’supported by the West CDU in the People's Chamber elections in March 1990, this course prevailed. The ZRT did present a draft constitution, but it was no longer politically implemented. The path to unification, including monetary union and the accession of the new states to the scope of the Basic Law, was paved. The Unification Treaty came into force on 3 October 1990.

From a planned economy to a market economy. The transition from a planned economy to a market economy meant a radical change in the lives of millions of people. Even before the Unification Treaty was signed, the Treuhandanstalt was created to privatise state-owned enterprises. West Germans benefited most from this: around 85% of medium-sized and large enterprises went to West Germans.¹ If companies could not be adapted to the capitalist imperatives of efficiency and competitiveness, they were liquidated. The plant closures and mass layoffs left hundreds of thousands of people unemployed.

¹ Marcus Boick, Die Treuhandanstalt 1990–1994 (The Treuhand Agency 1990–1994), 2015, p. 92. Literature: Ulrich Mählert, Von der Friedlichen Revolution zur deutschen Einheit (From the Peaceful Revolution to German Unity), 2019.

 

8 · East Germany today

Unequally united. Life in eastern and western Germany remains unequal to this day. The economic differences are particularly striking: the average wealth of eastern German households is currently 50% lower, with particularly large differences in property ownership and capital income; wage levels are also 30% lower on average.¹ East and West Germans are also unequally represented: the ‘positional elites’, i.e. leadership positions in politics, business and the judiciary, for example, are disproportionately often occupied by West Germans.²

Female, married, unemployed. East German women in particular are affected by these differences: in the 1990s, women were twice as likely to be unemployed as men and received lower pensions because, unlike in the GDR, paid ‘baby year’ leave was not recognised in the Federal Republic. West German employment offices referred married women to their husbands for financial support, who were given priority in finding work. The dismantling of state support structures and insufficient childcare facilities in the Federal Republic also had to be and still has to be absorbed primarily by mothers. Even today, there are still accusations that the realities of women's lives are not sufficiently taken into account in political decisions.

 

Politics	21,4 %
Business	0,0 %
Science	8,9 %
Justice	2,7 %
Media	10,3 %
Civil Society	11,1 %

Proportion of East Germans in Germany's elite positions (selection). See Alexander Hentschel et al., Aktuelle Ergebnisse aus dem Elitenmonitor (Current findings from the Elite Monitor), in: Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany (ed.), Report 2025. 35 Jahre: Aufgewachsen in Einheit? (35 Years: Growing up in unity?), 2025, pp. 102–106 (103, Table 4).

Lawyers in transition. Profound changes also affected the legal system. After unification, the justice system of the eastern German states was gradually adapted to that of the Federal Republic. The centralised court structure was converted into a multi-tiered system, and labour, finance, social and administrative courts were established. This increased the demand for lawyers both in the civil service and in the liberal professions. Those working in the judiciary and administration of justice in the GDR had to reapply and were vetted for service in the judiciary.

There were also upheavals for prospective lawyers: at the beginning of the 1990s, training was restructured from the single-stage system of the GDR to a two-stage system. The content of the studies was adapted to the requirements of unified Germany. Today, with the exception of Berlin and Brandenburg, the first state law examination in the eastern German states can only be taken at one university per state. This means that there are significantly fewer law students and places for trainee lawyers in the eastern German states than in the western German states.³ Furthermore, East Germans currently occupy only 2.7% of senior legal positions.⁴ It was not until 2020, 30 years after unification, that an East German, Ines Härtel, was elected as a judge of the Federal Constitutional Court.

¹ Figures according to Charlotte Bartels / Theresa Neef, Einkommens- und Vermögensunterschiede drei Jahrzehnte nach der Wiedervereinigung: Die anhaltende wirtschaftliche Teilung zwischen Ost- und Westdeutschland (Income and wealth disparities three decades after unification: The continuing economic divide between eastern and western Germany), in: The Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany (ed.), East and West. Free, united and imperfect, Berlin 2024, pp. 47-53 (47); ²Alexander Hentschel et al., Aktuelle Ergebnisse aus dem Elitenmonitor (Current findings from the Elite Monitor), in: Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany (ed.), Report 2025. 35 Years: Growing Up in Unity?, 2025, pp. 102–106 (103); ³Federal Office of Justice: Training Statistics 2023; ⁴Alexander Hentschel et al., Aktuelle Ergebnisse aus dem Elitenmonitor (Current findings from the Elite Monitor), in: Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany (ed.), 35 Jahre: Aufgewachsen in Einheit? (35 Years: Growing Up in Unity?), p. 103. Literature: Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (ed.), 25 Jahre Deutsche Einheit. Gleichstellung und Geschlechtergerechtigkeit in Ostdeutschland und Westdeutschland (25 Years of German Unity. Equality and Gender Justice in East Germany and West Germany), 2015.

 

Chapter 4

Interaction

Are you from eastern or western Germany?

 

9 · East German women lawyers

German unification was a profound upheaval for people in the former GDR – with consequences that are still felt today. For posters 9 and 10, we spoke with women lawyers from eastern and western Germany to gain a better understanding of how the division and unification of the country affected the years of transformation and continues to do so today.

“Of course, it was the case that during my studies I did not have a single female professor […], nor did I have any role models from East Germany at all.” – Liane Wörner, Professor and Chair of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Comparative Criminal Law, Medical Criminal Law, and Legal Theory

Opportunities, breaks and hurdles. Liane Wörner, born in Schmalkalden in 1975, and Katja Nebe, born in Merseburg in 1972, are scientists who were born and raised in the GDR and bring with them different experiences from their studies, family life and careers. Nebe decided to study in Halle and experienced a family-friendly culture there during her academic career. She saw public childcare in the east as an advantage over the “old” federal states. For this reason, Nebe initially took equality and work-life balance for granted. Parallel to this experience, they encountered West German-influenced expectations, networks and prejudices in their professional careers.

Wörner experienced stigmatisation because of her origin, socialisation, gender and professional career despite motherhood. There were no role models: "Of course, I didn't have a single female professor during my studies and certainly no role models from the east. That's why I thought for a long time that it would be impossible to achieve.‘ Today, Wörner is a professor, but: ’To this day, I still have to fight for the recognition that others receive automatically, especially for an East German biography to be perceived as an enriching and positive experience. The contribution that this can make to society today is widely underestimated or even ignored."

"East Germany — no idea, it’s all lumped together." – Jessica, reflecting on her time as an East German lawyer in West Germany; today she is a probationary judge in East Germany

The struggle for recognition. Nebe also recounts how she had to fight for recognition of her achievements. For her professorship in Bremen, the authorities unusually requested a third reference, informally justified by insiders on the basis of three ‘weak points’: “female”, an interest in social law in addition to labour law, and ‘from the East’. The suspicion of stigmatisation hurt her. She also sees disadvantages in the EU sphere: even excellent knowledge of Russian as a second foreign language instead of English or French often meant worse cards.

Lawyer Jessica* puts it this way: ‘You have to prove more than a man, and if you come from East Germany, you get the feeling that you have no idea.’ One person, who wishes to remain anonymous, describes herself as a ‘winner of unification’ but nevertheless emphasises a disadvantage due to the ‘stigma of the East’.

Maria Wersig, law professor and former president of the djb, born in Weimar in 1978, also perceives differences between East and West. Still a child when the Berlin Wall fell, she completed her legal training in Berlin from 1998 onwards. For her, the differences are particularly evident among colleagues with the same level of education. Later, she realised: ‘The further I got, the fewer other people from the East I met.’

"And if the GDR had not collapsed, I would never have become a judge." – Daniela, judge

The fall of the Berlin Wall as an opportunity. Judge Daniela*, born in 1979 in the GDR, looks back on this period with a predominantly positive view: ‘For my generation, the fall of the Berlin Wall was great.’ She completed her A-levels and law studies in unified Germany – a dream that, she says, would have remained out of reach for her under the GDR’s prescribed educational system. Nevertheless, she does notice differences: ‘When [...] colleagues from the West arrived [...], I thought, wow, they're really laying it on thick.’ She sees her East German identity as an advantage in her home region: she is considered ‘one of them,’ which can strengthen trust and willingness to communicate. At the same time, she believes that the East-West divide has now been overcome: ‘That's over [...] and it's also good [...] that society has grown together.’ Lawyer Jessica also believes that the East-West conflict will fade into the background with the next generations. Wörner and Nebe are contributing to this: Wörner addresses her socialisation in research and teaching, and Nebe consciously presents herself as a ‘woman from East Germany with a GDR biography’ in order to break down stigmas and promote exchange.

In the rbb podcast “Bruch – Women Between East and Now”, five more women share their life stories (in German).

* At the person's request, only their first name is used.

 

10 · West German women lawyers in East Germany

Two worlds. With German unification in the 1990s, West German lawyers were recruited for civil service in East Germany. Although there were trained lawyers, not all of them, especially those from older generations, were taken on in the civil service, resulting in a shortage of personnel. For women, this meant that two different worlds collided: in the Federal Republic, women lawyers were structurally disadvantaged – and in some areas still are. The proportion of women in university studies, legal training and the judiciary remained low for decades, and there was a lack of targeted support. In the GDR, on the other hand, women in legal professions were supported by the state – with the result that in 1989, approximately 40% of lawyers in the GDR were women. What was it like for West German women lawyers who came to the East, and how did East German women lawyers feel about this?

"You do your job without regard to the person – East or West doesn't matter." – Viola, judge

'Wossis' – West German Ossis? Petra*, born in 1963, studied in Cologne and Nuremberg, passed her second state examination in 1993 and is now a magistrate in Saxony. She came across job vacancies in the new federal states by chance: ‘I was walking past a display case and read that the Free State of Thuringia and the Free State of Saxony needed young lawyers.’ The decisive factor was above all the career prospects. She describes the start of her career as ‘Exciting. But uncertain, of course, and I was afraid of being rejected.’ In practice, she found herself confronted with fewer reservations that she could attribute to her young age, her gender or her West German origins. Viola* was also born and raised in West Germany. After studying law and working in a tax consultancy firm, she moved to Saxony in 1998 to work in the civil service. She explains the attitude of West Germans as follows: ‘They simply didn't have that many trained lawyers yet.’ At the same time, she emphasises that this is also related to the lack of older lawyers being taken on. In her everyday working life, her origins played a minor role: ‘You do your job without regard to the person – East or West doesn't matter.’

"I did the same work [...] and others earned less." – Petra, judge

Unequal pay. East or West did not matter when it came to pay. West German lawyers received higher salaries than their East German colleagues for the same work. Petra is critical of this: "I was a little ashamed of it. I did the same work [...] and others earned less.‘ Viola reports that she was six months too late for the allowance: ’I didn't get it anymore."

Thus, after German unification, the development of the judiciary also became an encounter between different professional biographies, experiences and ideas of equality – a negotiation process whose traces are still visible today.

* At the person's request, only their first name is used.

 

At the end 

In this exhibition, we asked ourselves what it was like to be a woman lawyer in the GDR and how this history continues to have an impact today.Many questions remain unanswered. We hope that the exhibition will encourage reflection, further thought and discussion.

Authors of the exhibition:

Chapter 1: Namiko Kammin, Mathilde Teichmann, Clara Schiffling, Joyce Zahn, Alex Maurer
Chapter 2: Monika Mostafavi, Carolin Kökert, Antonia Seidahmadi, Merle Hochwald, Liv Wiesner, Alisa Scharf
Chapter 3: Anna Kowalkowski, Anke Grünow, Simon Fink, Lina Audehm
Chapter 4: Merle Veith, Annalena Meyer, Sophia Dorn, Alina Kahrimanović, Nova Olivia Baumann, Klara Heichen
Teaching and supervision: Louisa Hattendorff

Thank you very much! Special thanks go to the contemporary witnesses Prof. Dr. Katja Nebe, Prof. Dr. Liane Wörner, Prof. Dr. Maria Wersig, Jessica, Daniela, Petra, Viola and an anonymous person who shared their personal experiences and perspectives with us.

The exhibition would not have been possible without the dedicated cooperation of the German Women Lawyers Association (Deutscher Juristinnenbund e. V.). We are very grateful to Prof. Dr. Maria Wersig, who provided academic support for the exhibition, and to Prof. Dr. Rosemarie Will and Dr. Marion Röwekamp, whose 2011 exhibition ‘Women Lawyers in the GDR’ served as the basis for our exhibition and which we were allowed to revise. Anke Gimbal, Amelie Schillinger and Alem-Adina Weisbecker provided extensive support at the office.

The decentralised women's representatives Mette-Luise Hellerich and Marthe Schlüter made it possible to print the exhibition posters using funds from the Women's Supporting Commission. Prof. Dr. Rosemarie Will, Prof. Dr. Maria Wersig, Clara Marz, Amelie Schillinger and Johanna Mittrop shared their knowledge as guests at the seminar, discussed with us and answered questions. Elisabeth Dohle carefully edited the exhibition texts.

Thanks are also due to the many others who made the exhibition possible, including the staff in event management, fire safety, security, the caretaker's office, the print shop, the examination and study offices, the administrative management and the dean's office of the Faculty of Law. Prof. Dr. Susanne Baer and the team at the Chair of Public Law and Gender Studies create a place where creative teaching projects like this one have a home – and they supported the project every step of the way.

Feedback to: louisa.hattendorff@hu-berlin.de